History Main / DangerousDeserter

* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E22AllHellBreaksLoosePartTwo "All Hells Breaks Loose, Part Two" (S02, E22)]], Jake Talley is reminded by the Yellow-Eyed demon that the Army will not take him back because he is AWOL. This helps to convince Jake to join the dark side.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', [[spoiler:one of these turns out to be the perpetrator of the crime you've been investigating the entire game.]]

* At the end of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', [[spoiler: Starscream tires of his treatment in the Decepticons and attempts to join the Autobots; when that doesn't work out, he declares himself neutral, making him an enemy to both sides]].

* ''Anime/PumpkinScissors'' starts with a confrontation with a tank unit that deserted after the war ends and formed a bandit group terrorizing a small village. Later on, there are several other former soldiers who became bandits in order to survive. It's clear the military high command knows about and tracks a number of these units, and chooses not to go after them. Most likely because it doesn't want to admit that they or their equipment were ever any part of the military, so they ''can't'' be hunted as deserters or allowed to talk as prisoners. It's not even certain all of them did technically desert; as insane as the idea of decomissioning special forces, letting them keep weapons of mass destruction, and turning them loose within your own borders is, it's actually within the bounds of this military's thinking processes.

The problem is not ''just'' their dishonorable abandonment. The real problem is their now-desperate situation. Desertion is usually punishable by death, so these people have no more incentive to refrain from other capital offenses, like murder, and every reason to ''engage'' in them if they think you'll turn them in. They also tend to be armed. They tend to steal what they need from the surrounding countryside. And they can't just settle down, lest they be caught. They may try to pass themselves off as WarRefugees.

** This pretty much describes central Europe near and after the end of the 30 Years' War, with the added irony that most of the governments involved couldn't afford to pay their hired mercenaries the years of back pay they were owed; desertion became an economic necessity for the unpaid troops.

* Averted in ''TheEyesOfTheDragon'' where two deserters are in line for execution, despite having only deserted to help their families survive an unusually harsh winter, then returned to their posts. Queen Sasha manages to persuade her husband to pardon them, unknowingly earning the ire of court magician Flagg, who wanted the men executed for his own political reason. This incident leads Flagg to have her murdered, disguised as death by childbirth. Flagg also happens to be another incarnation of Stephen King's recurring villain [[Literature/TheStand Randall]] [[Literature/TheDarkTower Flagg]].

** On the other hand, "desertion in the face of the enemy" ''is'' a capital offense, as it is in many military forces today.

* Also, used to happen pretty often in the late Soviet/modern Russian army until very recently. Since the deserters were armed, desperate and highly afraid of reprisals, they were inevitably pretty trigger-happy as well.

* In ''Film/BootCamp'', Logan, the sadistic head of security at Camp Serenity, is a military deserter. His employer Dr. Hall keeps him in line by threatening to tell the U.S. Army his current whereabouts.

* ''Film/TheRevengeOfTheVirgins'': Curt and Jones, a pair of army deserters, attempt to muscle their way into the expedition once they hear about the gold.