Sergeant Rock: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

 

 

Has a very, ''very'' high chance of being [[Made of Iron]].

 

{{examples}}

** A better example would be Lt. Belfangan Clouseau.

* Combat Instructor Captain Nanoha Takamachi of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. Don't be fooled by the girly title; Nanoha can and will vaporize anything in her way, and she expects ''you'' to do the same, no excuses. She's respected by her entire unit because they know all their harsh training is because she wants them to be the strongest.

* Lieutenant Natarle Badgiruel from ''[[Gundam Seed]]'', as a foil to the [[Cool Big Sis]] / [[Team Mom]] [[The Captain|Captain]] Murrue Ramius.

** Wait she's a lieutenant....making her a commissioned officer....

* Hiruma from ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' acts like one to his team. He may be a serious [[Jerkass]] that his teammates fear, but they all genuinely respect him and are genuinely loyal to him.

* Lady Une from ''[[Gundam Wing]]'', actually called the Iron Lady for her stern and cold demeanor. However, she makes a few questionable decisions (such as [[Hostage Situation|holding the space colonies hostage]] in order to defeat the Gundams), causing her beloved commander Treize to encourage her to "act more gracefully". {{spoiler|This causes her to develop a [[Split Personality]] which is a [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] whose one goal is to serve Treize; by the end of the series she resolves the personality conflict and combines the competence with the kindness to become [[A Mother to Her Men]].}}

 

* The ''literal'' sergeant rock in ''Bizarro Comics'' [[Green Lantern]] Reserves story.

** Kilowog's successor as drill sergeant, Stel, is rockier than rock, being made of metal.

* Parodied by [[Alan Moore]] in his series ''[[Supreme]]'' with "Sergeant Strong and his Gold-Brickin' Dogfaces." Parodied ''again'' by Moore in the Image crossover ''Judgment Day'' with "Battlin' Baron and his Roarin' Roughnecks." (These also parody Nick Fury and his Howlin' Commandos, but the art style is clearly meant to evoke Sergeant Rock.)

* Captain Simon Savage from ''Captain Savage and His Leatherneck Raiders''. [[Marvel Comics]] really love this trope.

 

* Tom Sizemore's Sergeant Horvath from ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]''. {{spoiler|His reaction to being shot ''twice'' is "I just got the wind knocked outta' me, I'm fine."}}

* Barnes in ''[[Platoon]]'' - at least to most of the platoon. Even the Heads respect (and fear) his abilities, even if they want him dead.

* Colour-Sergeant Bourne in ''[[Zulu]]''.

* Sgt Maj Basil Plumley, from ''[[We Were Soldiers]]'', potrayed by Sam Elliott. Straight Up Badass with his .45 Automatic (which he carried because he felt the new, plastic M-16 to be [[Shur Fine Guns|unproven]] compared to his previous, much more solid-feeling weapons.)

'''Plumley:''' "How do you know what kind of goddamn day it is?" }}

'''Plumley:''' "What are you, a fucking weather man now?" }}

'''Plumley:''' "Sir, the time comes I need one, they'll be plenty lying on the ground." }}

'''Plumley:''' "Ain't no such thing, today." }}

* After learning the ropes from his [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]] instructor, Carl Brashear goes on to become a Naval Master Diver and reaches the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer in ''[[Men of Honor]]''.

* Sergeant Major Rawlins, played by [[Morgan Freeman]], in the 1989 movie ''[[Glory]]''.

* In ''[[Heartbreak Ridge]]'', Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway played by ''[[Clint Eastwood]]'' is made of this trope.

* The unnamed Sergeant played by Lee Marvin in ''[[The Big Red One]]''.

* John Styker (John Wayne) in ''[[Sands Of Iwo Jima]]'' (and about any other war movie John Wayne made).

* Sarge from ''[[Cars]]'', who is an anthropomorphic [[World War II]] army jeep.

 

* Literary example: In the later ''[[Discworld]]'' novels, Detritus the troll becomes the drill sergeant in charge of training new troops, also notable because Detritus is [[All Trolls Are Different|literally]] ''made'' of rock.

* In the later ''[[Sharpe]]'' books, Patrick Harper takes on this role.

** [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|Sgt. Zim]] also counts, once {{spoiler|he takes to the field and captures the Brain Bug.}}

* From the ''[[Starfist]]'' series of books, Hammer Schultz is a perfect example.

** May be a subversion, since Schultz is a Lance Corporal.

*** Gunnery SGT Bass is a more appropriate persona for SGT rock.

* Master Chief Petty Officer Tenn Graneet, head gunner on the [[Death Star]], was like this to his men. He wasn't a bad boss at all provided that they did their jobs well.

** [[X Wing Series|Wedge Antilles]] might be softer than most examples on this page, being [[Mildly Military]] and a [[Reasonable Authority Figure]] who will handily forget regulations and rules if it's in someone's best interest. Even so, to the [[Ragtag Band of Misfits]] on their [[Last Second Chance]] who he forms into Wraith Squadron, he can at times be ''extremely'' cruel. He berates and scorns Kell Tainer for cowardice and folding up when people need him; cuts down Tyria Sarkin for attacking another pilot; all but taunts Castin Donn for being [[Fantastic Racism|uneasy around nonhumans]]; mocks Myn Donos. It actually helps them shape up, and the same people he's cruelest to, when they make the effort, he is extremely protective. He looks out for them.

* [[Dale Brown]] books have [[Ranger]] Sergeant Major Ray Jefferson and [[Semper Fi|Marine Corps]] now-Master Sergeant Chris Wohl, who won't take any nonsense from their officers.

* Colonel TR Steele of the ''[[Tour of the Merrimack]]'' series. Not kind, not polite, but definitely the person you want watching your back when fighting a [[Horde of Alien Locusts]].

* Valiar Marcus from ''[[Codex Alera]]'' is a somewhat odd example of this trope, because {{spoiler|In addition to being an experienced centurion and managing to be given "Valient" as his actual legal name, he's also Fidelius Ex Cursor, a spy}}

** And Billy Jack from the ''Civil War'' series.

** Most of the Ghosts fit this trope to some extent. Corbec, despite being a Colonel, is well loved by the men and is always in the thick of the fighting. Other's who fit the trope are pretty much any of the Sergeants (Especially Mkoll) and most of the captains (especially Kolea).

 

** In this episode, Chief O'Brien displayed a very real and important function of senior non-commissioned officers, in advising and mentoring a junior officer. In his very gentle way, he also showed Mr. Worf that it was also good to be firm with subordinates at the end of the episode.

'''O'Brien''': ''Oh'', you can do it in twelve. }}

* Sergeant Major Jonas Blaine, NCOIC of Alpha Team, ''[[The Unit]]''.

* In ''[[The Pacific]]'', Sgt. John Basilone fits this trope, but not as much as badass Sgt. Elmo 'Gunny' Haney.

 

** Gunnery Sergeant Harker of the Catachan Devils is one tough bastard, known for hauling around a Heavy Bolter [[I Call It Vera|that he calls "Payback"]].

** Colour Sergeant Jerran Kell of the Cadian 8th serves as the loyal bodyguard of Lord Castellan Ursarkar Creed and makes sure that the men under the Castellan's command obey his orders to the letter.

 

** The Master Chief qualifies as well -- 'Master Chief Petty Officer' and 'Sergeant Major' are the same pay grade. One's just Navy, and the other Army or Marines.

*** Though people who've only played the games would know the Master Chief as more of a [[One-Man Army]], he's shown in the Expanded Universe to be a capable leader (in fact, he's the de-facto leader of most of the Spartan-IIs).

** In the sequel, there's Sgt. Foley, is willing to put himself and his squad at risk to get the job done. In one instance, he disobeys a retreat order so that they could continue to cover evacuating civilians.

** The first game (and its expansion) has a textbook example in Sgt. Moody, who spends every minute of screentime calming [[New Meat|panicking privates]], bawling out cowardly medics and performing minor miracles at [[The Captain|Captain Foley's]] request.

** He's also got elements of the [[General Ripper]] (violent and paranoid), [[Colonel Kilgore]] ("This is not a camping trip, Sheila! This is war, AND I LOVE IT!"), and of course, the [[Sociopathic Soldier]] ("I am going to enjoy killing each and every one of you sorry sacks of scum!")

 

* Duke from ''[[G.I. Joe]]''.

* Though he was underused as such, Ironhide from ''[[Transformers]]'' (the original) was intended as this kind of character. It shows on occasion.

 

* Gunnery Sergeant Jackson from v4 of ''[[Open Blue]]''. Considering he and his squad had to keep up with a sword-tossing [[Warrior Monk]] and a highly agile [[Tyke Bomb]] armed with a [[Sinister Scythe]] [[Religion Is Magic|blessed]] with [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|elemental lightning]], he's pretty [[Badass Normal]] indeed.

* Sarge from ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' is a walking parody of this trope. He seems more concerned with keeping up the appearance of this than actually accomplishing anything, and his compotence is directly perportional to how closely his situation parallels how he '''thinks''' warfare should go (which is not often.) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhSwZTVK_mQ#t=01m45s Claims to have been personally trained] by [[Halo|Sgt. Avery J. Johnson]] (listed above under [[Video Games]].)

 

* The late General Esteban from ''[[A Loonatics Tale]]'' was such an outstanding military officer in general that, even though he lacked the capacity to address his men in any tone but "enraged bellow", he was beloved and well-respected by the men and women under his command, and in death is well-regarded by ''both'' sides of a bitter war during which he served.

 

* Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller, the legendary United States Marine Corps officer whose service would take him from Haiti and Nicaragua, to the bloody Pacific in World War 2, to the frozen hell of the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. He would earn five Navy Crosses for his service and is, to this day, considered the greatest Marine to have every lived. Known for the famous line: "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." Once he became an officer, he more than qualified as a [[Colonel Badass]], and later, when he became a Marine Corps general, a [[Four-Star Badass]]. He is very much a [[Memetic Badass]] among the Corps and is the example all Marines aspire to.

* This is the policy for unit commanders in the Israeli army. The head of the unit is the first guy in and the last guy out.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Authority Tropes]]

[[Category:Meaningful Titles]]

[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]

[[Category:The Squad]]