History Main / SoldiersAtTheRear

** The series is about a group of mainly elderly men in the Home Guard who were meant to be Britain's last line of defence should the German army invade. Since Britain was not invaded, the closest they get to encountering the enemy is occasionally guarding some POWs.

%% The entire point of Sergeant Bilko's career in ''Series/ThePhilSilversShow''.
* Joe Walker from ''Series/DadsArmy'' will do almost anything to stay off the frontlines.

* In ''Film/{{Battleground}}'', Hollie cracks under German bombardment, runs back into the town of Bastogne, and gets himself put on KP duty. This backfires when Bastogne is surrounded and the "rear" disappears, and backfires even worse when Hollie is killed by a German bomb.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', Gerald's dad joined the army during a time of war. During training, he accidentally shot his commanding officer and was assigned a desk job. While he didn't fight in the war, when transporting some documents he ran across an injured soldier and brought him to the nearest medic, saving his life.

* Inverted in the episode, "Friends and Enemies," when Col. Potter found that an old friend, who was assigned to garrison duty in fuel logistics far behind the lines, took it upon himself to attend to a matter at the front when he could have easily sent a subordinate. Once there, the officer, obsessed with his GloryDays being in action, illegally took command of a combat unit out of his chain of command and ordered to take a hill it was previously ordered to leave alone. As such, the unit suffered heavy casualties to satisfy the officer's battle lust and Potter is forced to report his friend to Command when he should have remained a REMF.

The story in RealLife is, naturally, different. The military is a big organization, and a lot of necessary jobs don't involve getting immediately shot at by random [INSERT BAD GUY HERE]s. In fact, in modern armed forces, there's roughly 10-15 [=REMFs=] working in support for every soldier actually pulling a trigger at the front. This doesn't mean the REMF isn't resented, mind you, he's still a REMF who isn't deep in the shit at the moment - many frontline grunts won't care and still hold grudges. There is one and precisely ''one'' universal exception: Medical personnel. Doctors and nurses may never see direct combat, but rare indeed is the front line grunt who will speak ill of the people who stitch them or their buddies back together if things go wrong.

* The Military Police in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' are internal peacekeepers and the king's PraetorianGuard, and can go their entire careers without so much as ''seeing'' a Titan. The ass-backwardsness of selecting the ''most'' elite soldiers to do the ''least'' fighting is {{lampshaded}}.

The story in RealLife is, naturally, different. The military is a big organization, and a lot of necessary jobs don't involve getting immediately shot at by random [INSERT BAD GUY HERE]'s. In fact, in modern armed forces, there's roughly 10-15 [=REMFs=] working in support for every soldier actually pulling a trigger at the front. This doesn't mean the REMF isn't resented, mind you, he's still a REMF who isn't deep in the shit at the moment - many frontline grunts won't care and still hold grudges. There is one and precisely ''one'' universal exception: Medical personnel. Doctors and nurses may never see direct combat, but rare indeed is the front line grunt who will speak ill of the people who stitch them or their buddies back together if things go wrong.

** Captain Nixon never fired his gun in combat, a fact he lamented. May qualify as he spent much of the war cultivating his alcoholism. Probably doesn't, as he jumped out of a plane into three separate war zones and spent a lot of time freezing in a hole in Bastogne. He ended up being the one of the very few members of 101st Airborne to get three Jump Stars.

* Many of Bill Mauldin's cartoons are about soldiers who aren't allowed in the rear because they don't look soldierly enough. "It's either enemy or off-limits."

The story in RealLife is, naturally, different. The military is a big organization, and a lot of necessary jobs don't involve getting immediately shot at by random [INSERT BAD GUY HERE]'s. In fact, in modern armed forces, there's roughly 10-15 [=REMFs=] working in support for every soldier actually pulling a trigger at the front. This doesn't mean the REMF isn't resented, mind you, he's still a REMF who isn't deep in the shit at the moment - though many frontline grunts won't care and still hold grudges. There is one and precisely ''one'' universal exception: Medical personnel. Doctors and nurses may never see direct combat, but rare indeed is the front line grunt who will speak ill of the people who stitch them or their buddies back together if things go wrong.

Often, and perhaps against the stereotype, the children of important and/or wealthy people do join the military because they want to serve. Fortunately or unfortunately, the military brass aren't morons and know that if the child of a VIP dies on their watch, they're in for a world of trouble. Thus, through no fault of his or her own, the kid with the silver spoon might spend the war behind a desk somewhere typing up reports. The same thing can apply to celebrities: had UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli accepted his conscription during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, he most likely would have been this giving exhibition matches to entertain troops, as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Louis Joe Louis]] did during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (though Louis was not drafted).

Often, and perhaps against the stereotype, the children of important and/or wealthy people do join the military because they want to serve. Fortunately or unfortunately, the military brass aren't morons and know that if the child of a VIP dies on their watch, they're in for a world of trouble. Thus, through no fault of his or her own, the kid with the silver spoon might spend the war behind a desk somewhere typing up reports. The same thing can apply to celebrities: had Creator/MuhammadAli accepted his conscription during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, he most likely would have been this giving exhibition matches to entertain troops, as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Louis Joe Louis]] did during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (though Louis was not drafted).

-->'''Darling:''' There's nothing cushy about life in the Women's Auxiliary Balloon Corps.

** In ''Blackadder Goes Forth'', Captain Darling is happy to be General Melchett's aide-de-camp because that way he doesn't have to be in the trenches. In the last episode he gets sent there anyway.

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'' [[TheCaptain Captain]] Otto Midas is a rare positive example, though he technically ''isn't'' a REMF anymore at the time, being assigned to the frontlines and thus becoming something of a ModernMajorGeneral. Still he's AFatherToHisMen and, being [[BadassBureaucrat a skilled desk pilot]], he knows his strengths and limitations, steadfastely standing by his crew.

* Richard Marcinko, author and former SEAL, has several of these in his ''RogueWarrior'' series. Some are inspired by service members and even [=SEALs=] he knew.

** Poor [[TheWoobie Nog]]. He joined Starfleet and was the TeamPet and a good engineer. Then [[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E08TheSiegeOfAR558}} he gets sent to AR558]]. He idolizes the {{ShellShockedVeteran}}s, until the WhamEpisode goes in full effect....

* The movie ''Film/{{Soldier}}'' deals with a Sorting Algorithm of perfect soldierdom. The first generation of perfect soldiers were chosen at birth and trained therefrom. The second generation were genetically engineered. The first generation are led by a battle-tested son of a bitch (Gary Busey). The second generation are led by a REMF (JasonIsaacs). In the end, the first generation kills the second, and all the angels applaud.

Often, and perhaps against the stereotype, the children of important and/or wealthy people do join the military because they want to serve. Fortunately or unfortunately, the military brass aren't morons and know that if the child of a VIP dies on their watch, they're in for a world of trouble. Thus, through no fault of his or her own, the kid with the silver spoon might spend the war behind a desk somewhere typing up reports. The same thing can apply to celebrities: had Creator/MuhammadAli accepted his conscription during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, he most likely would have been this giving exhibition matches to entertain troops, as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Louis Joe Louis]] did when he joined the Army (he was not drafted) in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

Often, and perhaps against the stereotype, the children of important and/or wealthy people do join the military because they want to serve. Fortunately or unfortunately, the military brass aren't morons and know that if the child of a VIP dies on their watch, they're in for a world of trouble. Thus, through no fault of his or her own, the kid with the silver spoon might spend the war behind a desk somewhere typing up reports. The same thing can apply to celebrities: had Creator/MuhammadAli accepted his conscription during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, he most likely would have been this giving exhibition matches to entertain troops, as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Louis Joe Louis]] did when he joined the Army (he was not drafted) in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII

Often, and perhaps against the stereotype, the children of important and/or wealthy people do join the military because they want to serve. Fortunately or unfortunately, the military brass aren't morons and know that if the child of a VIP dies on their watch, they're in for a world of trouble. Thus, through no fault of his or her own, the kid with the silver spoon might spend the war behind a desk somewhere typing up reports. The same thing can apply to celebrities: had Creator/MuhammadAli accepted his conscription during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, he most likely would have been this giving exhibition matches to entertain troops.