History Main / DeskJockey

* This is how Light Yagami spends most of his time across the arc of ''Manga/DeathNote''. He spends almost a year dealing with L, and six months dealing with Mello and Near, and in between he sits at a desk pretending to be L and misleading the Kira taskforce for ''five years''. Even when the rest of them go off to blow shit up, Light's still at his desk. VictoryIsBoring. Not counting his [[TheVamp undercover]] [[EvilIsSexy investigation]] with Takada, the first time we see him get out is the final confrontation with Near. [[spoiler:[[DeathIsDramatic It doesn't go well]].]]
* Alex Cazerne in ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'' is a logistics officer whose talents in organisation and management made him one of the core members of the Yang Fleet, and thus one of the main characters.

* Becoming one of these was [[Anime/IrresponsibleCaptainTylor Justy Ueki Tylors]] initial wish when joining the military, and he actually got it by becoming a clerk for the Space Force pension department. At least until he accidently [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation (?)]] caused a big embarrassment for the space force by [[ItMakesSenseInContext saving a retired admiral]] from a couple of terrorists. Causing him to get KickedUpstairs as the captain of his own ship and [[ReassignedToAntarctica shipped]] off-world.

* In older ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comics, Commissioner Gordon's role usually amounted to this. Since ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'', though, it's been customary to give him a bigger slice of the fight-scenes.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Specialist Grimes in ''Film/BlackHawkDown'' asks to participate in a mission. He complains that the only reason he's a desk jockey is because he knows how to type and that he was a veteran of Desert Storm and Panama, but in those operations, all he ever did was make coffee. When he ''does'' finally see action, of course, it is when the entire operation goes pear-shaped. He proves quite capable, though he he manages to both be a member of a BadassArmy ''and'' an ActionSurvivor. It's the rare ActionSurvivor that ''starts'' the action carrying a grenade launcher. It's notable that he ''is'' an [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous Army Ranger]], though.
* Jack Ryan in ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'' is a heroic desk jockey that becomes a BadassUnintentional.
-->'''Jack''': ''(to himself during a turbulent helicopter flight)'' Jack, next time you get a bright idea, put it in a memo!

* Robert Tracy in ''Film/{{Phffft}}''! spent WWII behind a desk because he was of much better use with contracts, since he's a lawyer. He happened to save the army $750, 000!
* Allen in ''Film/TheOtherGuys'' chose the most stable and dull job he could think of in the police force, 'forensic accounting', to try to avoid the 'craziness' of [[spoiler: his old days as a pimp. It doesn't work.]]
* Both Jack Spade and One Eyed Sam in ''Film/ImGonnaGitYouSucka''. Both of them have army jackets with lots of pins on them, so John Slade assumes they have combat experience. Turns out they don't; the pins are for stuff like typing, surfing, and winning a darts tournament. Slade's pretty upset about it.
-->'''Slade:''' Sam, hold it, man, you told me you served in 'Nam!\\
'''Sam:''' I did! Saigon.\\
'''Slade:''' Then how'd you lose your eye?\\
'''Sam:''' Fuckin' around in the office. We were shootin' paperclips, and one of the damn fools hit me in the eye!
* ''Film/HeartbreakRidge'': In this Creator/ClintEastwood flick, the Recon Marine platoon is under the supervision of a Major Powers who is an [[MilitaryAcademy Annapolis]] grad, but spent a long time in Logistics before transferring over to the Infantry so he can check a box for qualification for command. He uses the Recon platoon as cannon fodder for the regular infantry to defeat during exercises, leaving the platoon jaded and embittered. When the platoon is deployed to Grenada for Operation Urgent Fury, Powers orders them to wait. The platoon disobeys him and actually assaults an important enemy position. When the Colonel in command of the Regiment arrives to find out what happened, he removes Powers from his command, calling him a “Clusterfuck of an Infantry Officer”.

* When Captain Vimes of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fame is promoted to Commander of The Ankh-Morpork City Watch he proceeds to spend much time and effort resisting this trope. Sgt. Colon on the other hand is usually seen at his desk. Especially when it's raining, cold or dangerous outside, which is almost always the case in Ankh-Morpork.
* In ''Literature/ForwardTheFoundation'', one of the Emperor's gardeners gets promoted against his will to head gardener; he feels the promotion will take him away from his beloved gardening and make a desk jockey out of him (he's right). [[spoiler:He assassinates the Emperor over it.]]
* In the ''Literature/XWingSeries'', Wedge Antilles resists being promoted to General because he wants to stay a pilot rather than get stuck behind a desk. He finally relents when he finds out that his underlings have started refusing ''their'' [[LimitedAdvancementOpportunities promotions]] for the same reasons, and he doesn't want to impede their careers (or bring about the total collapse of the New Republic's rank system). Also, he has a job coming on that requires him to pull rank. Thus, he needs rank to pull! Sure enough, said promotion eventually results in him being pulled out of the cockpit. They give him a Super Star Destroyer to command instead.
* This trope is pointed out in Creator/DavidDrake's ''Literature/{{RCN}}'' series. As the captain of a frigate Daniel Leary has seen more combat than most fleet admirals.
* DoubleSubversion in Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'': One motto of the Mobile Infantry is "everybody drops, everybody fights" -- everybody has combat duty, and any support job that can be done by civilians is. In practice, this means that the officers are forced to juggle ''multiple'' desk jobs in-between drops. It is mentioned that some desk jobs are filled by people who want to serve, but are physically limited in their capabilities. For example, when Johnny goes to sign up for military service, the officer running the desk is missing an arm, a leg, and an eye. Having him in this position serves the double purpose of giving him somewhere to serve, and reminding potential recruits the dangers they're signing up for. [[spoiler:He lost them when he got hit by a car while on leave. He takes his fully functional prosthetics off to scare away potential recruits.]]

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'':
** [[spoiler:Honor Harrington]] is currently commanding Home Fleet, which stays home and doesn't go anywhere. If it wasnt for the ensuing Mesan surprise attack, that would take her out of the real action, which is why Henke and the Saganami group have been brought into the limelight; to take over from [[spoiler: Honor]] as the "out there wuppin ass" group from Manticore.
** As of the more recent books, the closest thing Honor has to an opposite number in the Republic of Haven, Thomas Theisman, has risen to the positions of Chief of Naval Operations and Secretary of War, which firmly places him in the political battlefield rather than the literal battlefield. [[spoiler: He makes an exception when he leads a fleet of Havenite warships to the Manticore system to help the Manticorans defend against a Mesan-instigated Solarian attack.]]

* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'':
** Holly Short was initially going to turn down her promotion to Major because she didn't want to be taken out of the field. Just before she is about to officially turn down the position to [[DaChief Commander Root]], he preemptively tells her about when ''he'' was on the verge of being promoted to Major and tried to turn it down, to which his Commander responded "this promotion isn't for you, it's for the People". Having convinced her to accept the job, he consoles her with the fact that Majors can occasionally assign minor missions to themselves.
** Root himself, of course. He does occasionally go out on missions of particular importance (such as locating a field officer captured by humans) or unofficial ones (Root was unwilling to command any of his officers to take part in a mission as repayment for Artemis), and insists on personally examining prospective recruits.

* In ''[[Creator/MatthewReilly Area 7]]'', Colonel Hagerty (call sign "Hotrod", but better known as "[[AssShove Ramrod]]") is an obstructionist bureaucrat, and also the commanding officer during the book. Luckily, the President was around to make him shut up and listen to the people who actually know what they're doing in a battle.

* Ivan Vorpatril is a desk pilot in ''Literature/CaptainVorpatrilsAlliance''. He points out, after tackling a goon, "But it's a ''[[ProudWarriorRace Barrayaran]]'' [[BadassBureaucrat desk]]."
* The Literature/TortallUniverse has "desk knights" who hold administrative positions and have more or less retired from combat duties. The two shown in the series are extremely important- Sir Gareth the Younger of Naxen, the Prime Minister, and Sir Myles of Olau, the Realm's spymaster. Still, two young squires are shown to dread having a desk knight as their knight-master, because that would mean doing paperwork for four years instead of getting combat experience.

* ''Literature/OfficialPrivilege'': In this book by former navy destroyer skipper Creator/PTDeutermann, a desk jockey Navy Commander who is awaiting a ship's captain billet to open up, is tasked with assisting an NCIS investigation into an apparent accidental death on a mothballed ship. His NCIS partner is also a desk jockey, who doesn't have any field investigation experience. The book reveals the existence of an Executive Assistant cabal - an informal network of senior officer desk jockeys, who act as "fixers" for navy admirals.
* ''Literature/TrainMan2010'': In yet another Deutermann novel, the protagonist FBIAgent Hush Hanson was involved in a shootout early in his career where he single handedly massacred a gang of armed drug dealers he was trying to arrest. [[BleedEmAndWeep Scared emotionally not by the danger he was put in, but at the violence he is capable of]], Hanson became a desk bound careerist who became a rather young Assistant Director.
* ''Literature/KrisLongknife'': Much of the crew of the Wasp is there to avoid this trope. The captain is a retired rear admiral who didn't like being a desk pilot and got offered the job by [[TheSpymaster Admiral Crossinshield]]. The ship's cook was a full admiral and the rest of the officers are an assortment of retired captains and admirals.
* The ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' short story "[[https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/dooms-day-hour-one-full-story-read-now-sooz-kempner-james-goss Doom's Day: Hour One]]" features Terri, who is well aware that being the booking clerk for a MurderInc makes her the least important person in the organisation and has responded by perfecting the persona of a bored and apathetic receptionist.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** Starfleet admirals are almost never seen in action. When James Kirk gets promoted to admiral, he hates being confined to a desk and does his level best to get either demoted back into action or kicked out. In general, if a situation arises requiring a fleet of ships working together, an Admiral seems more likely to appoint one of the Captains to be in the on-scene commander.
** Picard explicitly states that he will always refuse to be an Admiral, even though he's far more qualified than most Admirals, because he wants to avoid this. When he does eventually get promoted he becomes an ambassador, which still requires lots of travel and adventure while still fitting his role as a scholar and a diplomat.
** Vice Admiral William Ross from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' is just about the only exception to this trope, but only because he's in command of a Federation fleet during a full-blown war. Admiral Hanson is another exception, but that didn't turn out too well. At one point Ross is stuck behind a desk planning missions instead of leading them. During the Dominion's occupation of [=DS9=], he also makes Sisko his adjutant, putting Dax in command of the ''Defiant'' while Sisko sits at a desk at Starbase 375. Sisko is clearly not happy to be taken off his ship, but the desk job gives him the opportunity to plan the mission to retake [=DS9=].
** In the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]] episode "The Deadly Years", Commodore Stocker is one of these. In fact, it's specifically mentioned he's never held a field command in his life. This causes trouble when he takes the conn and accidentally crosses the Romulan Neutral Zone.
** Crewman Mortimer Harren on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' is an example of this on the other end of the rank scale -- he only joined Starfleet because he needed a year's experience in practical cosmological study to attend a specific scientific institute. Once he got stranded in the Delta Quadrant, he does everything he can to be given the least amount of work possible and refuses any sort of away mission.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** SGC Generals spend much of their screen time at paper-laden desks. Colonel O'Neill achieves promotion to brigadier general so his actor Richard Dean Anderson could spend less time on camera and more with his family.
** On the other hand, in Teal'c's flashbacks as First Prime to Apophis, he averts this. The pattern seems to be that First Primes (like Teal'c) lead from the front, and desk work posts are filled by minor Goa'uld.

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'':
** Father Mulcahy has a famous episode where a patient refuses to talk with him because he has no field experience since he was the camp chaplain. Mulcahy asks Col. Potter if he could spend some time on the front to fix that, but Potter refuses saying that no commander nowadays will tolerate having a soldier in the field who is forbidden by regulations to fight. Regardless, Mulcahy sneaks away anyway on an errand with Radar to the front and has a memorable experience having to perform an emergency tracheotomy under enemy fire with Hawkeye guiding him on the radio. As a result, the patient is impressed that the Padre had now just enough battle experience for any front line soldier to respect him.
** Another episode has Colonel Potter becoming afraid of being shipped back home to be a desk jockey.
** The job of company clerk, first held by Radar and later by Klinger, consists largely of handling paperwork and dealing with the military bureaucracy. Unlike many examples of the trope, the job is portrayed as being both difficult and absolutely vital - if the unit doesn't get supplies, they can't treat patients properly, and the clerks go to great lengths and get up to serious shenanigans to make sure they do get them.

* ''Series/BandOfBrothers'' notes this a few times:
** Pvt. Vest is seen delivering mail throughout the series. In episode 8 he requests the opportunity to join a dangerous patrol, which gives him the chance to learn truly that WarIsHell.
** Capt. Winters is eventually promoted to the point where he has a desk in episode 5. Several times he is tempted to get back into the action. At one point, Winters must be given a direct order NOT to join the action by Colonel Sink.
** Capt. Nixon, despite his three combat jumps, reveals in episode 9 that he had never fired his weapon in combat. For much of the series he is the intelligence officer.
** Second Lieutenant Jones joins Easy Company near the end of the war and desperately wants to get some combat experience. He eventually gets to participate in a night raid just before Easy Company is pulled from the line. And is subsequently [[KickedUpstairs promoted to First Lieutenant and given a desk position in Batallion]].
** [[TheNeidermeyer Captain Sobel]] also qualifies. Although he was in charge of Easy Company and trained them for two years, he never saw combat. When Easy Company went to combat, he was given a training role, then became a supply officer.
** Actually, Sobel was awarded a Combat Infantryman's Badge (given to soldiers who face enemy fire) and was wounded by an enemy machine gun in Normandy.
* Stark from ''Series/{{Eureka}}'' is the administrator of Global Dynamics. When Henry tells him his brilliance is being wasted as a desk jockey, Stark points out that he's much more valuable where he is, being the person that makes their cutting edge research happen with as little interference as possible. Notably, when Stark is no longer in control of GD, there is a ''lot'' more interference from outside sources such as the Pentagon.
* Captain Darling in ''Series/{{Blackadder}} Goes Forth'' is the personal secretary of [[ArmchairMilitary General Melchett]] and also works as a logistics officer. [[SitcomArchNemesis He and Blackadder hate each others' guts]], because Darling (in getting a desk job and thus escaping the trenches) has succeeded at what Blackadder is constantly trying to do. [[spoiler:Until the final episode, where Melchett 'promotes' him to join Blackadder's unit for an attack.]]

* ''Series/McHalesNavy'':
** Wallace Binghamton is a Navy Captain who spends most of his time at his desk trying to figure out how to bust [=McHale=] and his merry band of profiteers.
** In one episode, [=McHale=] was made a temporary Desk Jockey so [[spoiler: Binghamton could show the Admiral on a surprise inspection exactly what [=McHale=]'s crew was doing (holding a party on the main base.)]]

* In an episode of the time travel series ''Series/SevenDays'' the protagonist Frank's ex-wife is engaged to a decorated Naval Intelligence Officer named Mike Cleary. Frank tells his ex that her new beau Cleary is in covert ops just like Frank himself was, and therefore, she won't get to see much of him. She retorts that Cleary isn't a BloodKnight like Frank - turns out Cleary intentionally asked to be a desk jockey so that he could spend more time with Frank's ex-wife and son.
* This is referred to by ''Series/HomicideHunter''. Although Kenda isn't this, he mentions that contrary to what TV depicts, even a detective will spend a lot of time at a desk doing paperwork--several episodes opened like this.

* At the beginning of ''Series/TheRightStuff'' both John Glenn and Alan Shepard are about to be turned into this. They are the best test pilots in the US Armed Forces but their expertise in aircraft design makes them also invaluable in desk roles, helped design the next generation of aircraft or spacecraft. The creation of NASA and the Mercury Project saves them from that fate.

* In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'', one character complains about having to stare at a computer screen by a checkpoint, saying that it would never happen to Samus. It should be mentioned that said character is [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor rather dead when the player encounters her]].
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** Ex-Spectre candidate Captain David Anderson is confined to a desk job at the beginning of the game, though [[spoiler:you can make him the Human representative in the galaxy in the end]]. Which he laments in the second game.
** [[PlayerCharacter Shepard him- or herself]] subverts this trope pretty well: although executive officers on ships are usually relegated to, well, executive duties (i.e. paperwork), Shepard's background as a special ops soldier means that when shit needs to hit a fan, Shepard's the one for the job. This can sometimes be true in RealLife as well: effective special ops soldiers aren't denied promotions for excelling, so that the high-ranking officers in a special ops group are the ones to watch out for.
** Nyreen Kandros in the third game is an interesting (and tragic) example. She was a soldier in the regular turian military, but was a [[MindOverMatter biotic]] whose powers developed relatively late in life. In the turian armed forces, biotics are segregated into special black-ops groups called "cabals", ostensibly due to centuries-old [[FantasticRacism bad blood]] between biotic and non-biotic soldiers. However, since her biotic powers aren't strong enough to actually use in the field at the level the cabal demands, she winds up in a supporting role. Her disillusionment with the whole affair, combined with the lack of camaraderie in the cabal itself, eventually drives her to desert and light out to the Terminus Systems.
** Intel analyst Maya Brooks shows up in the third game's ''Citadel'' DLC, claiming to have uncovered a plot to kill Shepard. After getting shot during the initial firefight, she acts flustered and stammers a lot. She complains that she works a desk job, and isn't used to combat. When Shepard tells her to make a template of all the forms Brooks will need to fill out, reporting her injuries to the Alliance, she says that Shepard gets shot a little too much. [[spoiler: It is all an act - Brooks is actually a disgruntled ex-Cerberus operative, who is the wire puller behind the attempt to kill Shepard.]]

* A Veteran's Day episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' reveals that Gerald's father Martin served as one of these in Vietnam; apparently he was sick during basic training, so they only let him be a clerk.[[note]]This is very much not how it works in real life. They call it "basic" training for a reason: you have to complete it even to have a desk job in the army. Although, we're probably meant to assume that Martin didn't get sent home because it's UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and they were short-handed.[[/note]] Gerald is disappointed at this, wishing his dad had a more exciting tour of duty, only to discover that he saved the life of a fellow soldier by administering emergency first aid while passing through a combat zone.

* The ''Literature/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' short story "[[https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/dooms-day-hour-one-full-story-read-now-sooz-kempner-james-goss Doom's Day: Hour One]]" features Terri, who is well aware that being the booking clerk for a MurderInc makes her the least important person in the organisation and has responded by perfecting the persona of a bored and apathetic receptionist.

** Hayate and Reinforce are mostly confined to desk jobs in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers''. It's ''safer'' that way, since they both qualify for the PersonOfMassDestruction trope.

%%%%* Koenma in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' is seen this way.

* In older Franchise/{{Batman}} comics, Commissioner Gordon's role usually amounted to this. Since ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'', though, it's been customary to give him a bigger slice of the fight-scenes.

* ''Literature/TrainMan'': In yet another Deutermann novel, the protagonist FBIAgent Hush Hanson was involved in a shootout early in his career where he single handedly massacred a gang of armed drug dealers he was trying to arrest. [[BleedEmAndWeep Scared emotionally not by the danger he was put in, but at the violence he is capable of]], Hanson became a desk bound careerist who became a rather young Assistant Director.

* Mr. Incredible of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' is forced into mundane work after excessive lawsuits obliges the government to set up a legal protection program for supers. He spends his free time listening to police scanners and indulging in small acts of illicit heroism until someone finally [[CallToAdventure offers him a chance to go legit]]. His family was relocated several times because he got caught and in the story he's an insurance claims adjuster (in which he also tries being heroic, [[CouldSayItBut [not]]] telling an old lady how to avoid excessive bureaucracy).

Related tropes are ArmchairMilitary (for when the Desk Jockey commands others from behind the desk), DudeWheresMyRespect, VictoryIsBoring, LetsGetDangerous (the Desk Jockey is a classic candidate for this trope), FourStarBadass and FrontlineGeneral (for direct aversions), and AuthorityEqualsAsskicking or the more specific BadassBureaucrat (for direct inversion).

* Becoming one of these was [[Anime/IrresponsibleCaptainTylor Justy Ueki Tylors]] initial wish when joining the military, and he actually got it by becoming a clerk for the Space Force pension department. At least until he accidently [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation (?)]] caused a big embarrassment for the space force by [[ItMakesSenseInContext saving a retired admiral]] from a couple of terrorists. Causing him to get KickedUpstairs as the captain of his own ship and [[shipped ReassignedToAntarctica]] off-world.

* Ford Cruller from ''{{VideoGame/Psychonauts}}'', despite being a Psychomaster (a very high-ranking position), is relegated to being the campus' MissionControl, janitor, ranger, cook, store owner, and jack-of-all-trades. [[spoiler:This is because a duel with a powerful psi-criminal [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu shattered his mind]], causing him to switch through different bumbling personalities. He can mantain his true Psychonaut persona only when he's exposed to Psitanium - and it's only temporary, with the exception of the gigantic piece of Psytanium contained in his sanctuary]].

The Desk Jockey may be derided by other characters or viewers as an ObstructiveBureaucrat who is [[NonActionGuy too far removed from the action]] to understand and accommodate the needs of the people he or she is supporting. They may [[UngratefulBastard catch a lot of flak]] for [[MiserAdvisor pinching pennies]] on necessary but expensive equipment while forcing the ground-pounders to kowtow to impractical and unrealistic institutional regulations.

Commonly found [[{{Adminisphere}} piloting desks in the cubicle farms behind the scenes]] of ActionSeries, since a serial of any significant length can afford to introduce these characters if a LowerDeckEpisode is necessary for budgetary concerns. If they get ADayInTheLimelight, expect them to be made victim of the same kind of danger and violence that the rest of the cast face and either become the BadassUnintentional, the ActionSurvivor, or the DesignatedVictim, depending on the needs of the plot (and not necessarily their {{backstory}}; even if they're a RetiredBadass, they may be handed a DistressBall anyway). Sometimes, they may be working here because [[PostInjuryDeskJob a past injury or illness precludes them from serving at the front]].

Related tropes are ArmchairMilitary (for when the Desk Jockey commands others from behind the desk), DudeWheresMyRespect, VictoryIsBoring, LetsGetDangerous (the Desk Jockey is a classic candidate for this trope), FourStarBadass (for direct aversion), and AuthorityEqualsAsskicking or the more specific BadassBureaucrat (for direct inversion).

Related tropes are DudeWheresMyRespect, VictoryIsBoring, LetsGetDangerous (the Desk Jockey is a classic candidate for this trope), FourStarBadass (for direct aversion), and AuthorityEqualsAsskicking or the more specific BadassBureaucrat (for direct inversion).

** There's also Chief Hanlon, the aged head of the NCR {{Ranger}}s who now works at Camp Golf coordinating intelligence

* Alex Cazerne in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' is a logistics officer whose talents in organisation and management made him one of the core members of the Yang Fleet, and thus one of the main characters.

* The Kages in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' are [[IncrediblyLamePun generally]] this, since they are responsible for running their villages. They do get a piece of the action every now and again, but they send others out on missions.

** Picard explicitly states that he will always refuse to be an Admiral, even though he's far more qualified than most Admirals, because he wants to avoid this.

* ''Film/HeartbreakRidge'': In this Creator/ClintEastwood flick, the Recon Marine platoon is under the supervision of a Major Powell who is an [[MilitaryScademy Annapolis]] grad, but spent a long time in Logistics before transferring over to the Infantry so he can check a box for qualification for command. He uses the Recon platoon as cannon fodder for the regular infantry to defeat during exercises, leaving the platoon jaded and embittered. When the platoon is deployed to Grenada for Operation Urgent Fury, Powell orders them to wait. The platoon disobeys him and actually assaults an important enemy position. When the Colonel in command of the Regiment arrives to find out what happened, he removes Powell from his command, calling him a “Clusterfuck of an Infantry Officer”.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': General Darnell, to whom Diana Prince acts as secretary and ComicBook/SteveTrevor answers, works from his desk and is only ever seen in the "field" once, where he was talking to other officers not participating in combat.

Commonly found [[{{Adminisphere}} piloting desks in the cubicle farms behind the scenes]] of ActionSeries, since a serial of any significant length can afford to introduce these characters if a LowerDeckEpisode is necessary for budgetary concerns. If they get ADayInTheLimelight, expect them to be made victim of the same kind of danger and violence that the rest of the cast face and either become the BadassUnintentional, the ActionSurvivor, or the DesignatedVictim, depending on the needs of the plot (and not necessarily their {{backstory}}; even if they're a RetiredBadass, they may be handed a DistressBall anyway).