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Anime and Manga
"Kill a man off the battlefield and you're a murderer. Kill a man on the battlefield and you're a hero!'
— Luciano Bradley, Code Geass
Comic Book
"You kill because you like it, Frank. Maybe it was in you all along, but... I believe you got a taste for it in Vietnam. I know about all that scout sniper work on your second tour, I know something happened on your third, you see I believe some... darkness... reached out to you, Frank. And I believe you told it yes. After that, all it would take was a catastrophe of some kind, just to drive you over the edge. And now you use your family as an excuse for something dreadful."
— Microchip, The Punisher MAX #3, "In the Beginning"
Films — Live-Action
"You guys aren't soldiers... you're fucking barbarians!"
—Nico Toscani, Above the Law (1988)
Pvt. Joker: How can you shoot women and children?
Door Gunner: Easy— you just don't lead 'em as much! Ain't war hell?
Door Gunner: Easy— you just don't lead 'em as much! Ain't war hell?
"There are four types of people who join the military. For some, it's family trade. Others are patriots, eager to serve. Next you have those who just need a job. Then there's the kind who want the legal means of killing other people."
— Jack Reacher, Jack Reacher
"Ten years I been ferryin' Kansas Redlegs, Union cavalry, Missouri guerillas... you name it. Mad dogs, them guerillas. You look sideways at 'em... they kill ya."
—Sim Carstairs, The Outlaw Josey Wales
Literature
Marek Lambrois. Corporal of a back line military police platoon assigned to the local cluster in a couple of possible worlds, deserters all in a couple of others. He was aggression enhanced by trans-weblink anti-alg coding. The squad's fighting profile was notched to the top level at all times. They were bastards who were now pre-programmed bastards.
— A Dry, Quiet War, by Tony Daniel
Takeshi Kovacs: See, the thing is, [the UN Envoy corps]'re looking for borderline psychopathic tendencies. That's why they do most of their recruiting from the military in the first place.
Trepp: I've got borderline psychopathic tendencies.
Kovacs: Yeah, I don't doubt it, but the point is, the number of civilians with those tendencies and a sense of team spirit is pretty limited. They're opposing values. The chances of them both arising naturally in the same person are almost nil. Military training takes the natural order and fucks with it. It breaks down any resistance to psychopathic behavior at the same time as it builds fanatical loyalties to the group. Package deal. Soldiers are perfect Envoy material.
Trepp: I've got borderline psychopathic tendencies.
Kovacs: Yeah, I don't doubt it, but the point is, the number of civilians with those tendencies and a sense of team spirit is pretty limited. They're opposing values. The chances of them both arising naturally in the same person are almost nil. Military training takes the natural order and fucks with it. It breaks down any resistance to psychopathic behavior at the same time as it builds fanatical loyalties to the group. Package deal. Soldiers are perfect Envoy material.
"Cut a man down boldly! Man is as soft as dough. Don't think about the why and wherefore. You're a Cossack, and it's your business to cut down without asking questions. To kill your enemy in battle is a holy work. For every man you kill God will wipe out one of your sins, just as he does for killing a serpent. You mustn't kill an animal unless it's necessary, but destroy man! He's a heathen, unclean; he poisons the earth, he lives like a toadstool!"
— Alexei Uryupin, And Quiet Flows the Don
There was no need to confuse her by pointing out that they had all been stoned, most of the grunts smoked up well on Cambodian Red, and their West Point lieutenant - who was only one step away from the checkpoint between the lands of sanity and madness - on the peyote buttons that he chewed whenever they were on patrol. Rainbird had once seen this looey shoot a pregnant woman with a semiautomatic rifle, had seen the woman's six-month fetus ripped from her body in disintegrating pieces; that, the looey had told them later, was a West Point Abortion.
Our orders came just after noon. The Rebels were believed to be moving north; I was to take my forces and intercept them. I was not to leave any of my forces behind as guards for the captured Rebels. The orders were no more specific than that... but they could not be misunderstood.
I had them executed in mid-afternoon. I pulled the guards back into a half circle, and had them open fire on the Rebels inside the holding pen. It took most of five minutes before the screaming stopped and I could be certain all seven hundred were dead.
There was no time to bury them.
We marched south to the next battle.
I had them executed in mid-afternoon. I pulled the guards back into a half circle, and had them open fire on the Rebels inside the holding pen. It took most of five minutes before the screaming stopped and I could be certain all seven hundred were dead.
There was no time to bury them.
We marched south to the next battle.
— Kardue'sai'Malloc, The Butcher of Montellian Serat, Empire Blues: The Devaronian's Tale
Harry: Have you, personally, ever changed the outcome of a war?
Fidel Gussman: Fuck no! We're just fucking soldiers. We kill some guys, they kill our guys, we kill their guys back - none of it fucking means anything, you know? Just numbers on a page, and only when the numbers get big enough do the fat cats who decide this shit sit down and go, "Wow, let's make the decisions we were always gonna have to make anyway." I'm no threat to temporal events, partner - I'm just the fire in the stove. And you know the best bit? [grins] None of it fucking matters. Not one bullet, not one drop of blood. None of it makes any fucking difference at all.
Fidel Gussman: Fuck no! We're just fucking soldiers. We kill some guys, they kill our guys, we kill their guys back - none of it fucking means anything, you know? Just numbers on a page, and only when the numbers get big enough do the fat cats who decide this shit sit down and go, "Wow, let's make the decisions we were always gonna have to make anyway." I'm no threat to temporal events, partner - I'm just the fire in the stove. And you know the best bit? [grins] None of it fucking matters. Not one bullet, not one drop of blood. None of it makes any fucking difference at all.
Live-Action TV
"I've seen his like before: an evil man marching in a cloud of pipeclay. And because he kicks up salutes, obeys every officer, he's bombproof to all but us. We who come up from the ranks, we're smart to him."
— Richard Sharpe, Sharpe Sharpes Company
Michael: We worked together in the Balkans, 'ninety-one, 'ninety-two. It was a crazy time. He seemed somewhat sane in comparison.
Fiona: And now he kills people for a living.
Fiona: And now he kills people for a living.
"Dear Frederick, thank you for your nice letter. But I'm actually a US Marine who was born to kill, where you have clearly mistaken me for some sort of wine sipping communist dick suck. And although peace probably appeals to tree-loving-bisexuals like you and your parents, I happen to be a death-dealing, blood-crazed warrior who wakes up everyday just hoping for the chance to dismember my enemies and defile their civilizations. Peace sucks a hairy asshole, Freddie. War is the mother-fucking answer."
— Corporal Ray Person, Generation Kill
"We're all sent here to kill Japs, weren't we? So what the hell difference does it make what weapon we use?!"
— Private Eugene Sledge, The Pacific
Music
"And they gave me a piece of paper that said 'Kid, see the Army psychiatrist in Room 604', so I went up there and said "Shrink, I wanna kill. Now I wanna— I wanna kill, kill, I wanna see blood 'n' guts 'n' gore 'n' veins in my teeth. I wanna eat dead, burnt bodies, I mean. Kill. KILL! KILL!' And I started jumpin' up and down yellin' 'KILL, KILL, KILL' and he started jumpin' up and down and we was both jumpin' up and down yellin' 'KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!' And the sergeant came over to me, pinned a medal on me, sent me down the hall, and said 'You're our boy.'"''
— "The Alice's Restaurant Massacree", Alice's Restaurant
When Pete was only in the seventh grade, he stabbed a cop.
He's real R.A. material and he was glad to swap,
His switchblade and his old zip gun,
For a bayonet and a new M-1.
It makes a fella proud to be a soldier
He's real R.A. material and he was glad to swap,
His switchblade and his old zip gun,
For a bayonet and a new M-1.
It makes a fella proud to be a soldier
— "It Makes a Fella Proud to Be a Soldier", An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer
Video Games
Heat of the desert, dust settles on my face
Without a compass, the soldier knows no disgrace
Out of the ashes, the eagle rises still
Freedom is calling to all men who bend their will
Without a compass, the soldier knows no disgrace
Out of the ashes, the eagle rises still
Freedom is calling to all men who bend their will
— Lyrics to "The Hot Wind Blowing", Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
"I killed 12 dumbass scientists and not one of them fought back. This sucks."
— HECU Marine, Half-Life
Moebius D: I... I lost...? Impossible! I won't accept it! I am D of the Moebius! The man who was Blackblaze Dirk! I won't be beaten by some idiot upstarts!
Taion: Blackblaze Dirk...
Noah: You've heard of him?
Taion: I read about him in a textbook. An Agnian soldier from long ago who'd gone mad. Rather then take lives with his Blade, he'd behead his enemies with talon-like swords, bring them back, and add them to his collection.
Mio: So that's who we're dealing with...
Taion: Blackblaze Dirk...
Noah: You've heard of him?
Taion: I read about him in a textbook. An Agnian soldier from long ago who'd gone mad. Rather then take lives with his Blade, he'd behead his enemies with talon-like swords, bring them back, and add them to his collection.
Mio: So that's who we're dealing with...
Web Animation
"I've got a boner for murder!"
— Sarge, Red vs. Blue
Webcomic
"Most mercenaries won't do certain things no matter how much you offer to pay them.
Most patriots won't do certain things no matter how much they love their country.
But sociopaths ... they'll accept any justification for the chance to do things nobody else can stomach."
Most patriots won't do certain things no matter how much they love their country.
But sociopaths ... they'll accept any justification for the chance to do things nobody else can stomach."
— General Karl Tagon (Ret.), Schlock Mercenary (October 7, 2010)
Schlock: Hey, we don't need an employer. We're here, the mob is down there, and we're already dressed for dancing.
Tagon: Sergeant, we're not going to go down there and start shooting just for the fun of it. We're soldiers, not sociopaths.
Schlock: Not sociopaths. NOT. hmmmm... I guess I ought to go set the guys straight on that one.
Kerchak: I like the way you bring out the best in your troops, Tagon.
Tagon: Sergeant, we're not going to go down there and start shooting just for the fun of it. We're soldiers, not sociopaths.
Schlock: Not sociopaths. NOT. hmmmm... I guess I ought to go set the guys straight on that one.
Kerchak: I like the way you bring out the best in your troops, Tagon.
Web Video
"See, he's not even trying to plant a gun on him or hide the body. That's a bad sign. Like this is just another day at work for him."
— Gordon Freeman, Freeman's Mind, after witnessing a soldier gun down an unarmed civilian
Western Animation
Tom Jumbo-Grumbo: Well, BoJack, surely, even you would agree that the troops are heroes.
BoJack Horseman: I don't agree to that. Maybe some of the troops are heroes but not automatically. I'm sure a lot of the troops are jerks. Most people are jerks already, and it's not like giving a jerk a gun and telling him it's okay to kill people suddenly turns that jerk into a hero.
BoJack Horseman: I don't agree to that. Maybe some of the troops are heroes but not automatically. I'm sure a lot of the troops are jerks. Most people are jerks already, and it's not like giving a jerk a gun and telling him it's okay to kill people suddenly turns that jerk into a hero.
— Bojack Horseman, "BoJack Hates The Troops"
