History Literature / Starfist

** General Alistar Cazombi, Joint Chiefs of Staff personnel officer, winner of the secession war on Ravenette, head of the Joint Chiefs, nicknamed "Cazombi the Zombie" for his muted expressions for most of his life following an incident that earned him the highest decoration the Confederation gives out.
* HollywoodTactics: Everywhere, but especially with the complete lack of any kind of combined arms force in any army. Armored vehicles beyond the "Light" category are not used. (To be fair, the universe's equivalent of the RPG-7 will one-hit-kill any tank able to move under the weight of its own armor.) The FIST fights basically as an enormous light infantry unit with a few vehicle-mounted weapons (the crew-served blasters on the Dragons), some artillery depending on how close they're deployed to their bases (often not close considering one FIST is usually deployed to deal with a whole planet's problems), some CAS, and access to [[DeathFromAbove orbital artillery]].

* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The Dragon is a hovercraft capable of carrying 40 marines and armed with a massive plasma cannon. Said cannon evaporates upward of 100 enemy infantrymen or bores a hole from front to back in an IFV. This is a universe where said IFVs are armed with 75mm autocannons that bounce off the Dragon's frontal armor.

* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The Dragon is a hovercraft capable of carrying 40 marines and armed with a massive plasma cannon.

Since both authors have served in the Army and Marine Corps., the action is as realistic as it can be, with down time shown as boring, tedious work that is hardly ever exciting. Projectile weapons are not as useless as one might think, though laser and plasma are the preferred choice for battle.

* AntiVehicle: The existence of the "Straight Arrow" (an advanced anti-tank missile launcher that essentially extinguished mechanised warfare InUniverse) is an important plot point in the backstory and on the book ''Steel Gauntlet'' (where a warlord develops [[TankGoodness several tanks]] and raises enough hell to force the Marines to BreakOutTheMuseumPiece (the knowledge to mass-develop Straight Arrows).)

* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The Dragon is a hover craft capable of carrying 40 marines and armed with a massive plasma cannon.
* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: Baccacio]] in the fourth book, culminating in a RedemptionEqualsDeath scenario. Except this was a cover as Baccacio was moonlighting as a pirate under the fake name George Cameron.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Dean's boot-camp buddy [=McNeal=], who like Dean himself is unusual for ''not'' being mixed-race, is one of the first named Marines to die on Elneal.

* ColdSniper: Schultz, at least personality wise. Actually averted in later books; Schultz has feelings, rather strong ones, but they're nearly impossible to detect unless he decides to express them through violence.

* EnsignNewbie: Subverted in theory, played with in practice. All Marine officers have been commissioned after an enlisted term of service. Baccacio from the first book is still considered an EnsignNewbie because his enlisted term works out to under three years even before you subtract transit time aboard spacecraft. van den Hoyt, from the third and fourth books, is said to have been in for ten years before he takes command of Third Platoon, Company L.

** General Anders Aguinaldo, Marine force commander for Diamunde, Commandant of the Confederation Marine Corps, and commander Task Force Aguinaldo...which is tasked with repelling Skink hostile contacts and eventually invading the Skink homeworld.

* Awesome Personnel Carrier: The Dragon is a hover craft capable of carrying 40 marines and armed with a massive plasma cannon.

* Awesome Personnel Carrier: The Dragon a hover craft capable of carrying 40 marines and armed with a massive plasma cannon.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The intelligent amphibian alien race with lethal acid guns called "Skinks". Their overarching goal seems to be the extermination of humanity and are depicted as violent fanatics.

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: Baccacio]] in the fourth book, culminating in a RedemptionEqualsDeath scenario.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Some of the covers are ''highly''...suspect.

'''This Series contains examples of:'''

* AlmightyJanitor: Dave "Hammer" Schultz, he's never risen above Lance Corporal, but he's feared and respected by all who know him. He actually goes "on point" because he knows he's the best and that he'll be able to protect his fellow Marines by taking point.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Intelligent Amphibian Alien Race with lethal acid guns called "Skinks". Their overarching goal seems to be the extermination of humanity and are depicted as violent fanatics.
* AnyoneCanDie: You know the guy Dean makes good friends with in Boot? He's not getting out of the first book alive. Recurring characters die with surprising frequency, and [[spoiler: Bass is apparently KIA for an entire book, while Dean, who is as close to TheProtagonist as the books get, disappears for most of Wings of Hell with serious injuries.]]

* BootCampEpisode: The start of First to Fight was pretty much Dean's training at boot camp.

** Completely and utterly busted up in Double Jeopardy. Schultz cracks under fire, although as it's Schultz, his symptoms don't present as anything the psychologist can identify.

* FourStarBadass: General Anders Aguinaldo, Marine force commander for Diamunde, Commandant of the Confederation Marine Corps, and commander Task Force Aguinaldo...which is tasked with repelling Skink hostile contacts and eventually invading the Skink homeworld.
** General Alistar Cazombi, Joint Chiefs of Staff personnel officer, winner of the secession war on Ravenette, head of the Joint Chiefs, nicknamed Cazombi the Zombie for his muted expressions for most of his life following an incident that earned him the highest decoration the Confederation gives out.

* {{Invisibility}}: The Confederation Marines BDU's and even their weapons are made with light reflective fabric that gives all the Marines Predator-style invisibility. You can see their outline, but only someone who knows what to look for will spot it easily. This makes shooting them a bit difficult.

* TheNeidermeyer: Ensign Bacaccio in ''First To Fight.'' His massive lack of experience, refusal to consider his [=NCOs'=] advice, and absolute panic when confronted with a non-textbook scenario, gets a fairly major chunk of Company L killed in a tribal raid.

* StayInTheKitchen: There are no mixed-sex Marine units at all, and very few female Marines in general. (So far we've only seen one, Bella Dwan from Force Recon, and even the other Force Recon snipers regard her as psychotic.) WordOfGod indicates that we won't be seeing a change in this policy anytime soon.

* TokenMinority: Played with. In the 25th century, ''not'' being mixed race makes you a minority. The series "Main" character is distinctive for having pale skin, freckles and red hair; the guy he makes friends with in boot camp is just as unusual for being black.

* TrappedBehindEnemyLines: The second half of ''FirstToFight.''

* WarfareRegression: On the backstory, the creation of the "Straight Arrow" AntiVehicle missile completely annihilated the concept of tank warfare, making combat a business done purely by infantry with pretty minor support by other types of combined arms (such as artillery, close air support, orbital bombardment and APCs).
* WarIsHell: Steel Gauntlet had this with soldiers still having nightmares about it even after a few years.

* ContemptibleCover: Pretty much all of them.

* FourStarBadass: General Anders Alguinado, Marine force commander for Diamunde, Commandant of the Confederation Marine Corps, and commander Task Force Alguinado...which is tasked with repelling Skink hostile contacts and eventually invading the Skink homeworld.

* BadAss: Schultz in general, being Badass and only being severely wounded ''once'' so far. Also Bass, who managed to almost single-handedly take down the [[strike:[[GodwinsLaw Nazis]]]] fascist government of Kingdom.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: So far, only one Skink hasn't been bent on killing every human in existence

* AbsentAliens: Subverted. We know the aliens are there, but humanity doesn't. At least until just after the war on Ravenette.

* AbsentAliens -- Subverted. We know the aliens are there, but humanity doesn't. At least until just after the war on Ravenette.
* AFatherToHisMen -- Conorado is this way to his men.
* AlmightyJanitor -- Dave "Hammer" Schultz, he's never risen above Lance Corporal, but he's feared and respected by all who know him. He actually goes "on point" because he knows he's the best and that he'll be able to protect his fellow Marines by taking point.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil -- So far, only one Skink hasn't been bent on killing every human in existence
* AnyoneCanDie -- You know the guy Dean makes good friends with in Boot? He's not getting out of the first book alive. Recurring characters die with surprising frequency, and [[spoiler: Bass is apparently KIA for an entire book, while Dean, who is as close to TheProtagonist as the books get, disappears for most of Wings of Hell with serious injuries.]]
* AntiVehicle -- The existence of the "Straight Arrow" (an advanced anti-tank missile launcher that essentially extinguished mechanised warfare InUniverse) is an important plot point in the backstory and on the book ''Steel Gauntlet'' (where a warlord develops [[TankGoodness several tanks]] and raises enough hell to force the Marines to BreakOutTheMuseumPiece (the knowledge to mass-develop Straight Arrows).)
* ArmorIsUseless -- Played straight, subverted, and averted to varying degrees. The force field armor protects against plasma blasts, but do nothing against projectiles. Body armor is superb against projectiles, but loses to lasers. Headshots are instant death, helmet or no. Armor on vehicles was rendered useless by the "Straight Arrow" (a super-powered man-portable missile that can one-hit-kill anything that can move under its own power). In later books, the Skinks' railguns are easily able to OneHitPolykill whole fireteams of armored Marines, to say nothing of their vehicles.
* TheAtoner -- [[spoiler: Baccacio]] in the fourth book, culminating in a RedemptionEqualsDeath scenario.
* BadAss -- Schultz in general, being Badass and only being severely wounded ''once'' so far. Also Bass, who managed to almost single-handedly take down the [[strike:[[GodwinsLaw Nazis]]]] fascist government of Kingdom.
* BadassArmy -- The Confederation Marines.

* BlingOfWar -- The men of 34th FIST make fun of the local "Feldpolizei" on Wanderjahr for their blaze orange and sky blue field uniform, which combined with their insistence on marching in square formation through areas infested with rebel guerrillas, is getting their asses kicked by said guerrillas. Then again, Marine "dress reds" are pretty blingy too...
* BootCampEpisode -- The start of First to Fight was pretty much Dean's training at boot camp.
* TheBrigadier -- Sturgeon, commander of 34th FIST.
* ColdSniper -- Schultz, at least personality wise. Actually averted in later books; Schultz has feelings, rather strong ones, but they're nearly impossible to detect unless he decides to express them through violence.

* ContemptibleCover -- Pretty much all of them.
* CustomUniform -- Chameleons are exclusive to Confederation Marines (and a select few well-equipped rebel groups).
* DeadpanSnarker -- PFC [=McNeal=] in ''First To Fight.''
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything -- Some of the covers are ''highly''...suspect.
* EnsignNewbie -- Subverted in theory, played with in practice. All Marine officers have been commissioned after an enlisted term of service. Baccacio from the first book is still considered an EnsignNewbie because his enlisted term works out to under three years even before you subtract transit time aboard spacecraft. van den Hoyt, from the third and fourth books, is said to have been in for ten years before he takes command of Third Platoon, Company L.
* FantasticCasteSystem -- The Skinks are genetically separated into different castes, ranging from generic Fighters to Leaders and rising degrees of Master.

* HollywoodTactics -- Everywhere, but especially with the complete lack of any kind of combined arms force in any army. Armored vehicles beyond the "Light" category are not used. (To be fair, the universe's equivalent of the RPG-7 will one-hit-kill any tank able to move under the weight of its own armor.) The FIST fights basically as an enormous light infantry unit with a few vehicle-mounted weapons (the crew-served blasters on the Dragons), some artillery depending on how close they're deployed to their bases (often not close considering one FIST is usually deployed to deal with a whole planet's problems), some CAS, and access to [[DeathFromAbove orbital artillery]].
* InsertGrenadeHere -- Without the grenades. The Marines use their blasters on tanks in this manner on Diamunde and Ravenette.
* {{Invisibility}} -- The Confederation Marines BDU's and even their weapons are made with light reflective fabric that gives all the Marines Predator-style invisibility. You can see their outline, but only someone who knows what to look for will spot it easily. This makes shooting them a bit difficult.
* TheMenFirst -- For their initial deployment on Elneal, Conorado orders his platoon commanders to "distribute armor by reverse order of rank; if there isn't enough to go around, you're going as bare as I am." Later on when acid-neutralizing chameleons for fighting the Skinks are distributed, it's strongly implied the same thing happens.
* TheNeidermeyer -- Ensign Bacaccio in ''First To Fight.'' His massive lack of experience, refusal to consider his [=NCOs'=] advice, and absolute panic when confronted with a non-textbook scenario, gets a fairly major chunk of Company L killed in a tribal raid.
* NewMeat -- Dean and [=McNeal=] are this upon reaching 34th FIST. Dean survives it; [=McNeal=] isn't so lucky...
* OfficerAndAGentleman -- Ensign van den Hoyt was chosen in ''Steel Gauntlet'' to be a body guard for a diplomat for precisely this reason. Most Marine officers fit the trope too, the better to contrast them with the frequently incompetent, selfish or vindictive officers of other forces.
* PlanetOfHats -- Thorsfinni's World, where 34th FIST is based, is an entire planet of Nordic mashup culture. Mostly averted with the other worlds described in the series, though.
* PuttingOnTheReich -- Dominic de Tomas's fascist government on Kingdom.
* SergeantRock -- Any NCO is guaranteed to be this, whether he's an E-5 or not, even whether he's a Marine or not. The Confederation Army's [=NCO=]s are also painted favorably when we encounter them.

* SemperFi -- Really, you think?
* SmugSnake -- The Skink commanders shown so far typically view themselves as {{Magnificent Bastard}}s, but they're trying to play elaborate psychological games with someone whose psychology they ''don't understand'', leaving them at the SmugSnake level at best.
* StayInTheKitchen -- There are no mixed-sex Marine units at all, and very few female Marines in general. (So far we've only seen one, Bella Dwan from Force Recon, and even the other Force Recon snipers regard her as psychotic.) WordOfGod indicates that we won't be seeing a change in this policy anytime soon.

* TankGoodness - Averted, thanks to highly effective man-portable anti-armor weapons. The novel ''Steel Gauntlet'' is pretty much [[LampshadeHanging one large lampshade hung on this]].
* TokenMinority -- Played with. In the 25th century, ''not'' being mixed race makes you a minority. The series "Main" character is distinctive for having pale skin, freckles and red hair; the guy he makes friends with in boot camp is just as unusual for being black.
* TheAllegedComputer -- Gunny Bass and his ongoing travails with a new piece of equipment in the Marine kit, the "Universal Positionator Up-Downlink" or [[FunWithAcronyms "U-PUD."]] It's supposed to be a super-GPS, motion sensor and radio all in one. However, it ''never once'' performs as advertised in the entire series. Gunny's displays of profanity-laced {{Angrish}} every time he's forced to deal with the thing become a RunningGag by Book Two.
* TrappedBehindEnemyLines -- The second half of ''FirstToFight.''

* WarIsHell -- Steel Gauntlet had this with soldiers still having nightmares about it even after a few years.

* AntiVehicle: The existence of the "Straight Arrow" (an advanced anti-tank missile launcher that essentially extinguished mechanised warfare InUniverse) is an important plot point in the backstory and on the book ''Steel Gauntlet'' (where a warlord develops [[TankGoodness several tanks]] and raises enough hell to force the Marines to BreakOutTheMuseumPiece (the knowledge to mass-develop Straight Arrows).)
* ArmorIsUseless -- Played straight, subverted, and averted to varying degrees. The force field armor protects against plasma blasts, but do nothing against projectiles. Body armor is superb against projectiles, but loses to lasers. And headshots are instant death.
* TheAtoner -- [[spoiler: Baccacio]] in the fourth book
* BadAss -- Schultz in general, being Badass and only being severely wounded ''once'' so far. Also Bass, who managed to almost single-handedly take down the [[strike:[[GodwinsLaw Nazis]]]] fascist government of Kingdom

* BootCampEpisode -- The start of The First to Fight was pretty much Dean's training at boot camp
* TheBrigadier -- Sturgeon, commander of 34th FIST

* CustomUniform -- Chameleons are exclusive to Confederation Marines (and a select few well-equipped rebel groups)

* OfficerAndAGentleman -- Ensign Vanden Hoyt was chosen in Steel Gauntlet to be a body guard for a diplomat for precisely this reason. Most Marine officers fit the trope too, the better to contrast them with the frequently incompetent, selfish or vindictive officers of other forces.
* PuttingOnTheReich -- Dominic de Tomas's fascist government on Kingdom

** It's played straight so often the appearance of a Sergeant Nton who ''isn't'' a SergeantRock near the end of Kingdom's Fury comes as a complete surprise.

* TokenMinority -- In the 25th century, not being mixed race makes you a minority. The series "Main" character is distinctive for having pale skin, freckles and red hair. Everyone else is basically Tiger Woods.

* TrappedBehindEnemyLines -- The second half of Book I

* WarfareRegression: On the backstory, the creation of the "Straight Arrow" AntiVehicle missile completely annihilated the concept of tank warfare, making combat a business doen purely by infantry with pretty minor support by other types of combined arms (such as artillery, drones, orbital bombardment and APCs).

* AlmightyJanitor -- Charles Schultz, he's never risen above Lance Corporal, but he's feared and respected by all who know him. He actually goes "on point" because he knows he's the best and that he'll be able to protect his fellow Marines by taking point.

* TrueCompanions
* WarIsHell -- Steel Gauntlet had this with soldiers still having nightmares about it even after a few years

* HollywoodTactics -- Everywhere, but especially with the complete lack of any kind of combined arms force in any army. Armored vehicles are not used, supposedly because of the advent of highly effective man-portable antitank weapons, despite modern armies having superior infantry antitank weapons and tanks still being tactically crucial in the modern day. The FIST fights basically as an enormous light infantry unit with a few vehicle-mounted weapons (the crew-served blasters on the Dragons), very limited CAS and access to [[DeathFromAbove orbital artillery]].

* WalkingTechbane -- Gunny Bass and his ongoing travails with a new piece of equipment in the Marine kit, the "Universal Positionator Up-Downlink" or [[FunWithAcronyms "U-PUD."]] It's supposed to be a super-GPS, motion sensor and radio all in one. However, it ''never once'' performs as advertised in the entire series. Gunny's displays of profanity-laced {{Angrish}} every time he's forced to deal with the thing become a RunningGag by Book Two.

* HollywoodTactics -- Everywhere, but especially with the complete lack of any kind of combined arms force in any army. Armored vehicles are not used, supposedly because of the advent of highly effective man portable antitank weapons, despite modern armies having superior infantry antitank weapons and tanks still being tactically crucial in the modern day. The FIST fights basically as an enormous light infantry unit with very limited CAS. When your tactics are worse than those found in Star Wars, you know you have a problem.

* SergeantRock -- Any NCO is guaranteed to be this, whether he's an E-5 or not, even whether he's a Marine or not; the Confederation Army's [=NCO=]s are painted favorably when we encounter them.

* AntiVehicle: The existence of the "Straight Arrow" (an advanced anti-tank missile launcher that essentially extinguished mechanised warfare InUniverse) is an important plot point in the backstory and on one book (where a warlord develops [[TankGoodness several tanks]] and raises enough hell to force the Marines to BreakOutTheMuseumPiece (the knowledge to develop Straight Arrows).)

* ArmorIsUseless -- Played straight, subverted, and averted to varying degress. The force field armor protects against plasma blasts, but do nothing against projectiles. Body armor is superb against projectiles, but loses to lasers. And headshots are instant death.

* MagnificentBastard -- A common foil for our heros, probably the most common. A large {{Lampshade}} is hung on the realistic difficulty of defeating large, well-designed organizations with sheer brilliance is typically hung on them, however. Even those smart enough to dodge directly engaging the Marines end up tangling with the rule of law.

* {{Nakama}}

* HollywoodTactics -- Everywhere, but especially with the complete lack of any kind of combined arms force in any army. Armored vehicles are not used, supposedly because of the advent of highly effective man portable antitank weapons, despite modern armies having superior MANPADS and tanks still being tactically crucial in the modern day. The FIST fights basically as an enormous light infantry unit with very limited CAS. When your tactics are worse than those found in Star Wars, you know you have a problem.