History Main / ArmedFarces

* In the second mission of ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare2'' the rest of the US Rangers don't seem to take combat seriously as they spend most of the time listening in on their phones and watching videos instead of fighting, only doing so if ordered. The sole Afghan ally doesn't ''even'' bother to fight at all and spends all day eating. Notably, this was excised for the 2020 remaster where the one Afghan ally and the other Rangers are now doing something (blindfiring from cover and mapping out coordinates respectively).
* "Meet The Soldier" trailer for ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is a perfect example. [[spoiler:Although the Soldier was never actually in the army.]]
** ''Team Fortress 2'' in general, really. As opposed to a typical realistic military FirstPersonShooter, everything uses a cartoony style and the different playable classes are larger-than-life humorous personalities.

* ''WeaternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines'' could be considered the Air Force, considering they take orders from an unseen General. More Air Farce, based on their track record of screwing up in every episode.

* ,,WeaternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines'' could be considered the Air Force, considering they take orders from an unseen General. More Air Farce, based on their track record of screwing up in every episode.

* ''Film/TheDawnsHereAreQuiet'' is a 1972 Russian movie set in [=WW2=]. A cunning and not especially militarily-inclined Sergeant has wangled a posting to the quietest part of the Eastern Front, a backwater of the Finnish Front where neither the Russians nor the Finns are inclined to do anything overly hostile to each other. In this section of the Kola Peninsular, a long way from any actual fighting, Sergeant Vaskov is sent a draft of [[SweetPollyOliver keen recruits]] to, errr, ''person'', his anti-aircraft guns. As they are all female, HilarityEnsues. At least, until the Germans move into the sector opposite.

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "Forward March Hare", in which WesternAnimation/BugsBunny joins the army and [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome is treated like you'd expect an anthropomorphic rabbit to be treated if inducted into the army]]: with disbelief or thoughts of one losing one's mind. Make what you will of the fact that Bugs also once starred in a WartimeCartoon[=/=]recruitment commercial for the US Marines. [[note]]Apparently they were less inclined to be picky; see the trope page for details.[[/note]] It is also one of the few cases where Bugs is as blind as everyone else and screws things accidentally.

* ''Film/BuckPrivates'': Creator/AbbottAndCostello hijinks in the military.

-->-- '''The Soldier''' from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', on [[Literature/TheArtOfWarSunTzu Sun Tzu]]

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* ''The Dawns Here Are Quiet'' is a 1972 Russian movie set in [=WW2=]. A cunning and not especially militarily-inclined Sergeant has wangled a posting to the quietest part of the Eastern Front, a backwater of the Finnish Front where neither the Russians nor the Finns are inclined to do anything overly hostile to each other. In this section of the Kola Peninsular, a long way from any actual fighting, Sergeant Vaskov is sent a draft of [[SweetPollyOliver keen recruits]] to, errr, ''person'', his anti-aircraft guns. As they are all female, HilarityEnsues. At least, until the Germans move into the sector opposite.

* ''Tankový prapor'' (1991) adapted from the book ''Republic of Whores'', about conscripts in a Czech tank battalion during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, thought it's meant as a satire of the communist system rather than the military.

* ''Buck Privates'': Creator/AbbottAndCostello hijinks in the military.

** ''Film/CarryOnInTheLegion'' is set in the FrenchForeignLegion, with the usual clueless officers and naive [=NCOs=] and privates who couldn't find their way out of a sandpit, much less find their way through the desert.

** ''Film/CarryOnEngland'' is set in a gender-integrated military division on the Home Front in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the members of which are far more interested in pursuing sexual escapades than in anything to do with the military, to the frustration of the incompetent CO and [[DrillSergeantNasty the buffoonish RSM]].

->''"Then he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on earth, and then he [[Literature/TheBible herded them onto a boat]]... and then he beat the crap out of every single one!"''
-->-- '''[[http://store.steamgames.com/app/985/ The Soldier]]''' from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', on [[Literature/TheArtOfWarSunTzu Sun Tzu]]

** And then there's ''Literature/CiaphasCain''[[note]]'''[[RunningGag HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!]]'''[[/note]], who is basically Flashman InSpace.

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}} Goes Forth'', set in the trenches of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. It follows the rule that things get dark when the real war starts; in the finale, [[DeadpanSnarker Blackadder]], [[TheDitz Baldrick]], [[UpperClassTwit George]], and [[BeleagueredAssistant Darling]] all get sent over the top to fight the Germans despite their attempts to stop this, and after some despairing speeches, [[spoiler: they all die.]]

* "Meet The Soldier" trailer for ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is a perfect example. [[spoiler: Although the Soldier was never actually in the army.]]

** In the 8th season [[note]]Actually the 6th, but the characters ignore TheReveal until Season 8 for whatever reason.[[/note]] , we learn that the Red and Blue armies are actually [[spoiler: used for training simulations, with the soldiers consisting of the lowest-rated troops that think they're fighting a real war.]] When we see other Red and Blue teams, we see that they can be almost as stupid, if not even more so, than the main teams.

** Season 12 gives us the two sides in the civil war on Chorus, the Federal Army and New Republic. The war has been going on for so long that most of the worthwhile soldiers were already killed. To put it lightly, these guys look up to the Blood Gulch Crew, which tells a lot about their standards. Most of the actual fighting is done by mercenaries, [[spoiler: who are in fact working together to kill off the planet's population and steal the alien relics kept within]].

* The Dawns Here Are Quiet'' is a 1972 Russian movie set in [=WW2=]. A cunning and not especially militarily-inclined Sergeant has wangled a posting to the quietest part of the Eastern Front, a backwater of the Finnish Front where neither the Russians nor the Finns are inclined to do anything overly hostile to each other. In this section of the Kola Peninsular, a long way from any actual fighting, Sergeant Vaskov is sent a draft of keen recruits to, errr, ''person'', his anti-aircraft guns. As they are all female, HilarityEnsues. At least, until the Germans move into the sector opposite.

-->--'''[[http://store.steamgames.com/app/985/ The Soldier]]''' from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', on [[Literature/TheArtOfWarSunTzu Sun Tzu]]

* Hašek’s classic satire ''[[Literature/TheGoodSoldierSvejk The Good Soldier Švejk]]'' is about the lunatic ineptitude of the Austro-Hungarian Army in UsefulNotes/WW1 seen through the eyes of the cunning soldier Švejk.

* ''Machinima/CombatDevolved'' Follows this trope to the tee, It has stupid military personnel, asshole military personnel and naive military personnel who spend more time bitching about each other and the Covenant than actually fighting them.
* ''Machinima/HalfLifeButTheAIIsSelfAware'' depicts the US Military as being composed of a bunch of idiots who constantly call in air strikes on their own men and whose idea of a successful military operation is to blow up all the bathrooms in Black Mesa.
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' practically '''embodies''' this trope. The one cast member with military experience even said inane discussions such as an "I Spy" game are an accurate depiction of his time in the Army. [[spoiler:[[CerebusSyndrome It starts getting serious (somewhat)]] when ''actual'' soldiers start showing up]].

* ''Machinima/SpriggsAHalo3Machinima'': Unlike the Reds and Blues above, a lot of the characters are real ''badasses'', but they are stuck in Zambi 7 with nothing to do, and are placed there to rot.

* ''ComicStrip/BlueyAndCurley'' was a WWII Australian comic strip featuring two larrikan Australian soldiers: Bluey (who had served in the First AIF), and Curley, a new recruit. At the end of the war, the strip followed the pair as they transitioned back to civvy street, and it gradually stopped being military humour.

* In the second mission of ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare2'' the rest of the US Rangers don't seem to take combat seriously as they spend most of the time listening in on their phones and watching videos instead of fighting, only doing so if ordered. The sole Afghan ally doesn't ''even'' bother to fight at all and spends all day eating.