History Main / RedshirtArmy

* Surprisingly {{inverted}} in ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'', a rare occasion in a story focused on action and [[WarArc warfare]] like this fanfic. One would reasonably expect that an army without a main or plot-important character would be immediately [[TheWorfEffect worfed]], for the purpose of building up some major antagonist. Such a circumstance does not happen AT ALL. Replenishing and preserving manpower are often of utmost importance InUniverse, because sustaining heavy losses are, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome well]], [[AndThatsTerrible bad]]. Troops on the good guys' side are generally portrayed as [[MenOfSherwood competent]] -- while not as badass as [[BadassCrew Kyril and his apprentices]], their true strength lies in superior tactics (HollywoodTactics? Nah), as well as the ability to strike at multiple places at once (they flank the enemy ''all the time'') with their numbers. Of course, causalties ''are'' expected in warfare, but it's not portrayed in an egregious manner (as in, the whole army gets wiped out or something like that).

* In ''Fanfic/RWBYGrimmDarkness'', countless Atlesian soldiers become this at the end of Chapter 7, [[spoiler: when Weiss's father is revealed to be the [[BigBad main villain]] and has every soldier aboard his ship mercilessly slaughtered by the Dark Trinity and Neo. ''Then'' he has a whole military base of them killed off by combat mechs he commissioned for the military, ''[[UpToEleven and then]]'' has his ship open fire on the two escorting it, killing all soldiers aboard them]]!

* Justified in ''Literature/TheWinterWar'' by Antti Tuuri. While the Russians resume their offensive [[UpToEleven with even bigger numbers]], a fresh but unexperienced regiment takes over the Taipale front, as the narrator's unit moves to rest. The front line doesn't hold for a day.

** In the first mission of ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', the two unnamed suit-clad Maverick cyborgs do quite well against Desperado mooks but get their arses handed to them quite easily by Sundowner. Jetstream Sam mops the floor with the rest. At least the Maverick guys get to die to bosses, though; the soldiers of the African country take this UpToEleven, being slaughtered en masse by the ''mooks'' you go through by the dozen.

* ''LightNovel/HeavyObject'': Units attached to Objects serve as this, primarily existing to die in droves in order to support their Elite and inconvenience the protagonists. Even the 37th Maintenance Battalion itself consists almost solely of red shirts to the point that [[MauveShirt Myonri]] pointed out having no deaths during an operation was unusual.

*** In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' the BigBad Hela even slaughters [[spoiler:The Warriors Three, some of Thor's closest friends]] and thus people one would expect to have PlotArmor, along with the rest of the Asgardian army completely effortlessly, devolving them to this role, [[TheWorfEffect simply to show off how powerful she is while she still only has a tiny fraction of her full power]]. [[NightOfTheLivingMooks Then she resurrects all of them from the dead to serve as her new army]], turning them into the [[{{Mooks}} bad guy version of this trope]].

** Tony Stark's escort/bodyguards in ''Film/IronMan1''. This actually ''does'' serve as a plot point, as it is this massacre that convinces Tony Stark to stop making weapons.
** Whenever the Asgardian army in the ''Film/{{Thor}}'' movies fights anyone they fall in droves unless they're one of the supporting or main characters. The only time they're ever seen so much as winning a fight is when Odin is telling the story of his father's fight against the Dark Elves in the backstory of ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', which may have been an embellished telling anyway. In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' this gets taken UpToEleven with the BigBad Hela, who even slaughters [[spoiler:The Warriors Three, some of Thor's closest friends and thus people one would expect to have PlotArmor along with the rest of the Asgardian army completely effortlessly, devolving them to this role]], [[TheWorfEffect simply to show off how powerful she is while she still only has a tiny fraction of her full power]]. [[NightOfTheLivingMooks Then she resurrects all of them from the dead to serve as her new army]], turning them into the [[{{Mooks}} bad guy version of this trope]].

* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'': "We Die Standing".

* ''Film/OlympusHasFallen'': All of the secret service agents and Capitol Police guarding the White House get slaughtered by the bad guys, and the rescue attempt by the military fails spectacularly with the deaths of most of soldiers, forcing Gerard Butler to save the day himself.

* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', while the main character (an engineer in his forties, in average shape) is able to dispatch Necromorphs by the dozen, a military ship (~100 soldiers) is taken over by a single, non-replicating Necromorph. [[EpicFail Fail]]. This can be somewhat justified by the fact that standard military weapons are less effective against necromorphs. However, even that necromorphs are more resilient to body shots than dismembering, they CAN be killed that way, it just needs a lot of firepower (about whole ammunition clip, depends on difficulty). Which fully armed warship with contingent of marines definitely HAD. So thats a very weak excuse.

* ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina''. A squad of Chang Sing warriors provide the muscle as Jack, Wang, and Egg Chen storm Lo Pan's wedding.

* In ''Film/AustinPowersInternationalManOfMystery''; the Ministry of Defense's assault team is adorned with red getup as they charge Dr. Evil's layer.

* Most of the characters from ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' are in one. Military training is essentially designed to weed out the weaker, less skilled, and less determined of the bunch by being [[TheSpartanWay physically and psychologically grueling]], but even the hardy recruits who manage to graduate can easily die in battle against the Titans. The manga has LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, but after the front line troops in the Survey Corps suffer several high casualty events, the ''only'' survivors of the final engagement are the main characters and one random guy.

* Hibiki from ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'' runs into a SpaceNavy version in episode 11. They share their backstory with him just long enough to be wiped out by the bad guys and cause him to suffer some SurvivorsGuilt.

* In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', the [[spoiler: loyal]] SHIELD agents that guard the Triskelion get mowed down left and right by the [[spoiler: HYDRA infiltrators]] and the Winter Soldier after Captain America reveals the truth. To be fair, in their case it wasn't that the SHIELD agents were incompetent, just massively out-manned and outgunned. In even fights, such as the battle for the main control room, the SHIELD agents manage to give as good as they get.

* In fact, individually deadly warriors often become hopelessly inept in large numbers. Consider the [[ConservationOfNinjutsu phenomenon of ninjas in groups]], and the army of mutants in ''Film/XMenTheLastStand''; in the latter, less than a dozen demonstrated any special ability except rushing forward blindly, to the point that the previously completely ineffective human army kicks their butts. It was mentioned that those mutants were the ones with [[WhatKindOfLamePowerisHeartAnyway lame powers]]. Plus, the army had power-neutralizing weapons. A flesh wound in the shoulder turns Joe Random Rock Thrower into Joe Blow. And for the most part the mutants were all untrained civilians. The most they ''could'' do was rush forward blindly and get cut down.

* The US military in ''Film/Godzilla2014''. Not that they're incompetent though, just that they're facing off against something that can emit electromagnetic pulses which disables electronics, something that the military relies on heavily. And small arms fire, or even tank shells against heavily armoured creatures that even nukes can't really harm doesn't do much to slow them down. Fortunately they realize that Godzilla is more interested in hunting the [=MUTO=]'s than attacking humans. The army is well aware of their red shirt status, but they're willing to bite the bullet to [[HeroicSacrifice save as many lives as they can.]]
** This trope is actually something of an InvokedTrope /DiscussedTrope, as when the Mutos and Godzilla are heading towards San Francisco Admiral Stenz says something along the lines of "I am throwing away hundreds of lives every minute just trying to steer ''one'' of those things away from populated areas, and there are two more of them."
** Downplayed with the drop troops in the climax, as they manage to take back the stolen nuke from the [=MUTO=]'s nest and take it to a near by boat. Although they do get killed by the Female MUTO, they manage to distract her long enough for Ford Brody to move the boat.

* Tony Stark's escort/bodyguards in ''Film/IronMan1''. This actually ''does'' serve as a plot point, as it is this massacre that convinces Tony Stark to stop making weapons.
* Creator/PeterJackson:
** ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy uses this ''a lot''. There's Haldir's Elves at Helm's Deep; Faramir's company in both the defeats at Osgiliath; most of Minas Tirith's guard; and most of the Rohirrim when going up against the Mûmakil.
** ''Film/KingKong2005'' also has this with the crew of the ''SS Venture'' seemingly existing only to die by the hands of the many dangers of Skull Island. Although later in the film it is mentioned by Carl Denham that only 17 of the party apparently died, it seems to be a lot more.

* ''Film/StarTrek2009'', of course. The ''Narada'' wipes out Earth's entire defense fleet in seconds and most of the Starfleet Academy graduating class with it. The only reason the ''Enterprise'' survived was that it got there late thanks to Sulu leaving the parking brake on, and [[BigBad Nero]] chooses to let them watch as he destroys Vulcan.
* In ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' we have the Starfleet task force fighting the Borg at Earth prior to the arrival of the Enterprise. They are doing far better then the fleet at Wolf 359 years prior, but they're still getting curb-stomped.
** ''The Enterprise'' security force continues the franchise tradition. However, they are shown to be quite competent, it's just that they're facing off against the Borg who can NoSell pretty much everything the security officers can throw at them.

* Whenever the Asgardian army in the ''Film/{{Thor}}'' movies fights anyone they fall in droves unless they're one of the supporting or main characters. The only time they're ever seen so much as winning a fight is when Odin is telling the story of his father's fight against the Dark Elves in the backstory of ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', which may have been an embellished telling anyway. In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' this gets taken UpToEleven with the BigBad Hela, who even slaughters [[spoiler:The Warriors Three, some of Thor's closest friends and thus people one would expect to have PlotArmor along with the rest of the Asgardian army completely effortlessly, devolving them to this role]], [[TheWorfEffect simply to show off how powerful she is while she still only has a tiny fraction of her full power]]. [[NightOfTheLivingMooks Then she resurrects all of them from the dead to serve as her new army]], turning them into the [[{{Mooks}} bad guy version of this trope]].

* The AD Police of the ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'' universes, to the point where they've earned the FanNickname "About-to-Die Police." Slightly lampshaded in the non-canon ''Bubblegum Crisis: Grand Mal'' comic where an AD Police grunt stands in front of a wall memorial of fallen officers and retorts against a comment on how overarmed and overpowered the AD Police are.

* Taken to absurd levels in ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTintin''; Sir Francis's crew has British soldiers wearing red. When the pirates board the ship, they are effortlessly wiped out by the pirates leaving Sir Francis to fend off the pirates on his own. Despite Sir Francis's efforts, the battle is lost and the surviving crew members are forced to leap off the ship later anyways.

** The Season 7 finale actually ''subverts'' audience expectations with the airport security guards when they attempt to rescue Kim Bauer. While most of them ''are'' killed, they actually do manage to kill both of her captors, a pair of extremely well-trained agents.
*** Heck, one of them actually manages to shoot Kim's male captor through a car windshield ''one-handed'' after already ''getting shot'' by said captor.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', despite the ANBU Black Ops supposedly being the strongest ninjas, they are usually killed off pretty quickly.

* In ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'', Jason recruits only the best athletes and warriors in all Greece to accompany him in his quest, but they never actually do much except distract [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Talos]] while Jason goes around to get his ankle. Oh, and those two guys who admittedly put up an admirable effort (but still both die) against the skeletons at the end. Oh, and that one guy who jumps in the sea after the traitor Acastus and subsequently gets killed in an underwater fight by said traitor.

* Very plausible example from ''Film/TheRock''. Commander Anderson's SEAL team enters Alcatraz through the shower room, and as they are about to move up, they encounter what appears to be a laser tripwire. In reality, said tripwire is a custom-designed motion detector built to ''look'' like a tripwire; disarming it like it is a tripwire results in it signaling an intrusion. As the SEAL team disarms it, Hummel's Marines realize what's happening and surround the [=SEALs=] as they enter the showers from an elevated position, boxing them in from good cover. In the subsequent shoot-out, the SEAL team is slaughtered to the last man. [[note]] Interestingly, there was actually a real case in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_invasion_of_Panama Operation Just Cause]] that similarly(though less drastically) went badly for the [=SEALs=] when they ended up in a firefight after their cover approach failed. It was found that they had focused on insertion rather than infantry tactics (unlike the Marines), though this was largely fixed by the time the movie took place. [[/note]]

* Surprisingly {{inverted}} in ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'', a rare occasion in a story focused on action and [[WarArc warfare]] like this fanfic. One would reasonably expect that an army without a main or plot-important character would be immediately [[TheWorfEffect worfed]], for the purpose of building up some major antagonist. Such a circumstance does not happen AT ALL. Replenishing and preserving manpower are often of utmost importance InUniverse, because sustaining heavy losses are, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome well]], [[AndThatsTerrible bad]]. Troops on the good guys' side are generally portrayed as [[MenOfSherwood competent]] -- while not as badass as [[BadassCrew Kyril and his apprentices]], their true strength lies in superior tactics (HollywoodTactics? Nah), as well as the ability to strike at multiple places at once (they flank the enemy ''all the time'') with their numbers. Of course, causalties ''are'' expected in warfare, but it's not portrayed in an JustForFun/Egregious manner (as in, the whole army gets wiped out or something like that).

* Surprisingly {{inverted}} in ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'', a rare occasion in a story focused on action and [[WarArc warfare]] like this fanfic. One would reasonably expect that an army without a main or plot-important character would be immediately [[TheWorfEffect worfed]], for the purpose of building up some major antagonist. Such a circumstance does not happen AT ALL. Replenishing and preserving manpower are often of utmost importance InUniverse, because sustaining heavy losses are, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome well]], [[AndThatsTerrible bad]]. Troops on the good guys' side are generally portrayed as [[MenOfSherwood competent]] -- while not as badass as [[BadassCrew Kyril and his apprentices]], their true strength lies in superior tactics (HollywoodTactics? Nah), as well as the ability to strike at multiple places at once (they flank the enemy ''all the time'') with their numbers. Of course, causalties ''are'' expected in warfare, but it's not portrayed in an [[JustForFun/Egregious egregious]] manner (as in, the whole army gets wiped out or something like that).

* The battle in the next-to-the-last ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' book involves one that survives. The US army launches a military force consisting, essentially, of hundreds of soldiers accompanied by a couple dozen {{Sixth Ranger}}s. And this military force's goal is a suicide mission worthy of the best of them: to launch an attack, in plain view, against a spaceship that "could blow asteroids out of the sky." Ordinarily a SixthRanger ranks much higher on the SortingAlgorithmOfMortality. But in this case, Visser One orders the Sixth Rangers killed first, because he takes them more seriously in both a strategic and a [[ItsPersonal personal]] sense. And the Animorphs manage to sabotage his ship too late to save the Sixth Rangers, but in time for the ordinary soldiers to survive. When they are the survivors, and some kids with superpowers are the casualties, it's a clear example of a plot that thwarts the usual laws of the SortingAlgorithmOfMortality. There is also the Auxiliary Animorphs. Toby's Hork-Bajir army get killed a lot, too, near the end of the series.

* ''Series/{{Jericho}}'': The fictional company Ravenwood (a loose allusion to Blackwater), who is supposed to be full of ex [=SEALs=] and other Special Ops guys, gets their ass handed to them by guys with no military experience, including a deaf mute girl with a shotgun.