Basic Trope: Southerners in the military are portrayed as xenophobic, gun-toting Blood Knights who disobey orders and aren't trusting of their squad's resident minority or New Meat member.
- Straight: Billy Bob Stevenson from Arkansas is a corporal in service with the USMC, scores top marks in target shooting with a 12-gauge shotgun, likes to blow stuff up, and has less respect for the protocol than his fellow Marines.
- Exaggerated:
- Billy Bob is pretty much a cowboy in military service, solving all his problems with More Dakka and flagrantly disobeying orders with and without reason. The Marines still keep him on, because he's just that good.
- Billy Bob is basically a walking Hillbilly Horrors who makes Mook Horror Shows out of even the most hardened of his enemies and even horrifies his teammates, but the Marines continue to keep him in because he's that effective a fighter.
- Downplayed: Billy Bob is a USMC corporal with a stereotypical Southern accent and an affinity for shotguns, but just as strict about orders as the rest of the squad.
- Justified: Billy Bob joined the military just recently, and hasn't yet grown into respecting the protocol and his superiors.
- Inverted: Billy Bob is a brilliant intelligence analyst who only fired a gun one or two times in his life.
- Subverted:
- One of the Marines mentions another one named "Billy Bob", and the new guy immediately assumes he's a stereotypical shotgun-toting Southerner. When he meets Billy Bob in person, he turns out to be a Corporal Tough with great respect for the chain of command and military tradition...
- Alternatively, Billy Bob who speaks in a Southern accent turns to be a Warrior Poet who frequently muses on What a Senseless Waste of Human Life war is.
- Double Subverted:
- ...unless he gets his hands on a Grenade Launcher or a minigun - and when he does, he actually screams "Yee-haw!" as he lays waste to the enemies.
- Billy Bob's Warrior Poet tendencies, however, take the form of simplistic yet brilliant folk wisdom, like "If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging." and "Never ask how stupid someone is, 'cause they'll turn around and show you."
- Parodied: The Southern Fried Private of the work is none other than Alice Stevenson, who is nonetheless the best in the company thanks to her harsh Southern upbringing.
- Zig Zagged: Bob has a thick Southern accent and acts kind of silly, but is sometimes competent, Depending on the Writer.
- Averted: Billy Bob is no different to all the other Marines, despite his Southern origin.
- Enforced: The author has something against Southerners.
- Lampshaded: "And this is Billy Bob. He's our crazy Southerner."
- Invoked: The captain specifically recruits Billy Bob because he needs a Southerner's creativity.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Billy Bob got into the USMC precisely to get away from the chaotic Southern life, so he's more serious about following orders than most other Marines.
- Discussed: "What about the new guy?" "You mean Billy Bob?" "Yeah, him." "Well... he's from Arkansas. I don't think it's going to be too conductive to proper procedure."
- Conversed: "Ever notice how there's always a redneck on the squad in these military shows?"
- Deconstructed:
- Billy Bob gets a lot of hazing and trashtalk for supposedly being a stereotypical Southern redneck. In reality, he's not, and would be a regular serviceman if his squaddies didn't keep throwing blanket parties for him.
- Billy Bob's cowboy behavior gets him busted and court-martialed.
- Reconstructed:
- The discrimination and stereotyping only pushes Billy Bob to become a better soldier and defy their expectations.
- Billy Bob maybe an insubordinate jerkass but the military still keeps him around because he still valuable as either a genuinely skilled soldier or a useful distraction for the enemy.
- Played For Laughs: Billy Bob's squad ends up in a hastily-assembled group of human Space Marines when aliens make First Contact and ask humanity to help against an interstellar threat - and much humor is derived from his folksy approach to extraterrestrial wonders and dangers.
- Played For Drama: Billy Bob is only in the military because he couldn't find a better career choice in his Dying Town - or conversely, deliberately enlisted with the difficult goal of living up to the military legacy of his family/community.
- Played For Horror:
- The story starts off in a War Is Hell situation... but when things get worse and take turn for the cosmic, Billy Bob suddenly reveals to The Squad that this isn't the first time he has come up against this kind of threat...
- Billy Bob becomes a Sociopathic Soldier in the service and returns home to turn his family into a rip-off of the Sawyers.
- Billy Bob is prime Sociopathic Soldier material because he already was pretty unhinged from living Deep South (or the Sinister Southwest).
Back to Southern-Fried Private! Yee-haw!
