Basic Trope: A character doesn't like the policies of their nation's government, but fights for it anyway.
- Straight: John remains a soldier of Country X, even though he detests the expansionist wars his government instigated.
- Exaggerated: John continues to serve in Country X's military after its corrupt government has slaughtered everyone else in the world.
- Downplayed: John belongs to/sympathizes with the political party that's out of office, but serves in his country's military anyway.
- Justified: John escaped from a horrible existence in Country Z, so he is grateful to his adopted country, where he isn't starving to death.
- Inverted:
- John wholeheartedly supports his government's abhorrent actions, and may even enjoy carrying them out.
- John is a brutal general who repeatedly and openly goes against his government's benevolent policies. However, because of his exemplary track record for scoring victories against impossible odds, and because the country is on the brink of defeat, they have no choice but to tolerate him.
- Alternatively, John is a raging activist against his government's policies and publicly states that he hates his country. (See also My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting.)
- Subverted: At first, John seems content to serve his people while disliking his government, until he finally quits the military and becomes an activist against his government's actions.
- Double Subverted: He then rejoins the military, concluding that even if his government isn't right, he still has to protect his friends, family, and neighbors when the war reaches his doorstep.
- Parodied: John remains a noble servant of his people, even after his government orders its military to visit another country and eat all their pie.
- Zig Zagged: John is fighting an internal struggle between his duty for Country X and his abhorrence towards their policies and actions. He goes back and forth trying to decide whether he will continue fighting or finally go Screw This, I'm Outta Here.
- Averted:
- John never mentions his political feelings toward his country.
- John is loyal to his country, but still chooses to do what's right.
- Enforced: The writers and producers of this film are staunchly anti-military and trying to show how John's twisted sense of duty solves nothing.
- Lampshaded: "John would do anything for his country, even if that 'anything' isn't exactly moral."
- Invoked: John is a soldier that can't stand to watch his country invade all its neighbors and slaughter their people, but signs up for more action, because it's the only thing he knows how to do.
- Exploited: President Slayer commissions a military recruitment film depicting John as the ultimate hero for his dedication to his country first and himself second.
- Defied: John is a soldier, but can't stand to watch his country's actions, so he decides to quit the military and emigrate.
- Discussed: "John don't like what the government is doing. I asked him why he doesn't just quit the military, and he said that he doesn't fight for the government, but his country."
- Conversed: "Why does John keep fighting for his country even though they ordered mass killings of civilians last episode?"
- Deconstructed:
- John remains a soldier of Country X and ultimately must obey orders given to exterminate his own family and friends. John cannot live with himself after this, and takes his own life.
- Alternatively: John joined the military because he had heard through his whole life that his nation is fighting for a better world for its people, but as he experiences the war firsthand, he realizes that it was all just propaganda, excuses and/or lies played by a greedy and corrupt system in order to hide its true agenda from the people, that is to take control over the world and its resources, human lives be damned. When he figures it out, John feels that he and his fellow soldiers have been duped and that his nation has sold out its ideals it claims to struggle for. He still fights for it because he doesn't want to face charges of desertion and treason, and also even if it all was a lie, he's still respected by his countrymen back home for his military service.
- Reconstructed:
- John never doubts himself, even when ordered to exterminate everyone he loves. He is that loyal.
- Or, John dislikes his government's policies but remains in the military, deciding that the best way he can change the system is by working his way up to a high position and reforming it from within once his words begin to hold weight.
- Played For Laughs: John extolls the virtues of cola over milk to anyone who will listen because his grandfather made the family's fortune with his cola company.
- Played For Drama: John is patriotic because he feels his life is empty, and the only thing that makes him feel important or powerful is insane devotion to his nation.
I'm a soldier. I will go back to My Country, Right or Wrong, no matter how many electrons have to be enslaved.
