History Main / ShoottheMedicFirst

* In the second ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons'' film (the one that everyone '''didn't''' hate quite so much), the group's cleric is the first to get himself killed. Creator/GaryGygax, on the DVD commentary, sums it up for us: "They are '''doomed''' without a cleric!"

** A notable aversion during the second battle between Miko Miyazaki and the Order -- while the comic itself skipped straight to the Order's defeat, [[WordOfGod Rich Burlew outlined one way the battle could've gone]] to prove it wasn't just a DiabolusExmachina, and in this outline, Miko does not attack Durkon because he only provides healing to his other party members and does not attack her. In this case, she actually ''does'' follow so-called rules of war because Durkon is acting strictly in the capacity of being a traditional medic.

** A notable aversion during the second battle between Miko Miyazaki and the Order. Miko does not attack Durkon because he only provides healing to his other party members and does not attack her. In this case, she actually ''does'' follow so-called rules of war because Durkon is acting strictly in the capacity of being a traditional medic.

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': When the heroes discover that the planet-sized warship they've been fighting is not in fact a [[StoneWall tank]], but a [[WhiteMage healer]], [[spoiler:outright ''resurrecting'' dead {{Eldritch Abomination}}s]].

* In ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'', the enemy aims for [[TheMedic Asia]] the first chance they get, and the heroes know it and take measures to make sure she's protected.
* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima''
** During a massive disturbance at the Gateport when Negi was critically injured, the perpetrator Fate went for [[HealingHands Konoka]] next. Of course, he doesn't manage it [[BodyguardCrush thanks to Setsuna]] [[TakingTheBullet using herself as a block]].
** Nodoka isn't a healer, but her mind-reading abilities often make her a target as well.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''FanFic/ASkitteringHeart'': When [[spoiler:Gilgamesh in the body of Danny]] fights the heroes, he ''immediately'' targets [[TheHero Keynote]] after seeing her use a Shield spell, shouting "Gotta gank the WhiteMage"!

* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': Keladry of Mindelan wants to remind you all that when in doubt, shoot the wizard.

* Pretty much ''the'' main tactic for snipers in ''TabletopGame/AT43'', as medics can bring anyone back form the dead regardless of what shot them. (Also officers, but that's for other reasons, namely the fact that without officers your army ''cannot be used''.) Lampshaded in the game's fluff: one of the UNA's leaders was forced to ride in a mech after almost dying twice in a week from sniper fire, namely sniper fire ''coming from tanks''.
* Most healing in TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering is either attached to creatures as an incidental ability or coming from players in the form of spells. What this means is experienced players will typically zero in on any dedicated healing creatures, as they are most likely in the deck for a specific reason that will lead to problems later (or at least lead to WhyWontYouDie if the healing can keep up with damage output)

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Wilhelm_Gustloff Wilhelm Gustloff]]'' (note that according to the article, it was not "legally" a hospital ship). It is generally accepted that the Gustloff carried combat troops on its last journey, making it legitimately a military target, that sadly also transported droves of innocent civilians.

** In the long battle of Dressrosa, little dwarf princess Mansherry (more like a fairy) has SwissArmyTears which the villains plan to uses on their fallen comrades. While the heroes target Mansherry they rescue her instead hurting her somewhat inverting this trope.

* During the 2020 racial justice protests in the U.S., [[https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/17/police-targeting-street-medics-us-protests human rights watchdogs]] and [[https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/05/health/street-medic-protests-wellness/index.html "street]] [[https://newrepublic.com/article/157985/protest-medics-targeted-police-words medics"]] accused police of deliberately targeting people providing medical assistance to protesters.

** It's fair to note RidiculouslyCuteCritter (and doctor) Chopper is usually the first crew mate to be taken out leaving the the crew without medical care. When Chopper is cut down in the Skypeia arc MasterSwordsmen Zoro lets out some TranquilFury on the guy who did it.
** In the overlong battle of Dressrosa, little dwarf princess Mansherry (more like a fairy) has SwissArmyTears which the villains plan to uses on their fallen comrades. While the heroes target Mansherry they rescue her instead hurting her somewhat inverting this trope.

In RealLife war, [[TheMedic medics]] are supposed to be special: UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar, specifically the Geneva Convention, dictate that medical personnel are non-combatants and shooting one is a serious [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene war crime]]. So is impersonating one so that the enemy won't shoot you. And it's just as illegal for a medic [[CombatMedic to shoot at you]] — while they have weapons to defend themselves with, the moment they initiate combat, they are classed as combatants and can be freely shot at in response.

** Insofar as men themselves, neither the NVA nor the VC consistently medics. They would purposely wound soldiers, rather than kill them, and allow them to be extracted, since they knew that wounded soldiers took more resources to remove from the battlefield and treat than it took for dead soldiers to be declared MIA or recovered later and buried. This is one of the reasons why the U.S. lost public support for the Vietnam War, since the number of wounded G.I.'s became a ''serious'' drain on American resources.

** Neither the NVA nor the VC always targeted medics. They would purposely wound soldiers, rather than kill them, and allow them to be extracted, since they knew that wounded soldiers took more resources to remove from the battlefield and treat than it took for dead soldiers to be declared MIA or recovered later and buried.
*** This is one of the reasons why the U.S. lost public support for the Vietnam War.

* Most healing in MagicTheGathering is either attached to creatures as an incidental ability or coming from players in the form of spells. What this means is experienced players will typically zero in on any dedicated healing creatures, as they are most likely in the deck for a specific reason that will lead to problems later (or at least lead to WhyWontYouDie if the healing can keep up with damage output)

* In ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', the Sharen, who are being badly beaten in their war against the Sarghress, are getting more and more desperate as the war drags on and they lose more and more ground. They are beginning to use more dirty and underhanded methods in an attempt to gain as much an advantage as possible. One of their favourite ones is to open a gate to the demon realm, unleashing demons capable of killing and taking over any drow in the area. To counter these gates, the Sarghress employ sealers, whose job it is to locate these gates, close them, and then seal all the demons in the area. ''To counter'' these, the Sharen set up snipers and traps to kill the Sealers fast and first.

** Undead Armies (Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts) in earlier editions require someone to act as the hierophant, the guy who initially summoned the undead horde and maintaining them. For Vampire Counts, this is usually the same as the general. For the Tomb Kings (where the titular kings themselves are inept at magic) this is usually some variant of the Liche Priest (with Settra being a sole exception to this). If this guy dies, your army has to take a leadership test every turn and (due to the comically low leadership) suffers damage equal to how much you failed by to represent the army slowly crumbling back to dust without its hierophant. Even if you have other spellcasters in the army, they can't stop this. This means that the usual tactic for dealing with undead armies is to make a beeline for its hierophant (which the opponent has to disclose to you). For Vampire Counts, this is slightly less of a problem: Vampire Lords are the strongest Vampires you can take and are generally the best spellcasters too, but they are almost on par with Chaos Lords in terms of combat ability and can ride Zombie Dragons, making them incredibly hard to take down. For Tomb Kings though, they basically have to shove their best spellcaster way behind everyone since they are not combatants and are just about as squishy as you'd expect a mummy mage to be (i.e: slightly better than dried parchment in a sandstorm).

But if you're in a VideoGame, you can forget all about that, because video game medics are ''magical''.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Supplementary material for ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' mentions that, all parahuman threat ratings being equal, operatives are to target Thinkers first. Considering that they boast things like SuperSenses or precognition, this is justified. It is telling that, in a world with so many superpowers, two of the most feared parahumans are otherwise physically normal people who are top-tier Thinkers.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', one of the first things Sird does when she comes up against Yellow and Red is manipulate Yellow into using her powers vainly, knowing that she'd have a much better chance at victory if Yellow (who is capable of both SuperEmpowering and HealingHands) is unconscious.

->''"I want to show you this picture here. You'll notice that the corpsmen are dropping like flies. That's because the enemy is not upholding the Geneva Convention...The first thing they try and get, actually, is the hospital corpsmen, and actually the lifespan of a hospital corpsman, from the time his foot hits the water to the time he '''almost''' gets to the beach, is — uh — seven seconds."''
-->-- '''Creator/BillCosby''', "Medic!", ''I Started Out As A Child''

For tactical reasons, there's no real point in shooting at medics either (well, except [[HopeCrusher psychological reasons]]); in combat, a downed soldier usually ''remains down'' for the current battle (with medical treatment and recovery occuring slowly over the days, weeks, and even months that follow — and [[CareerEndingInjury there’s no guarantee that a wounded soldier will even be able to return to combat after recovery is over]]), and medics are also trained to treat the enemy as well as their own comrades if at all possible, provided that they aren't presenting a threat. And they can only assist one soldier at a time anyway. In fact, you usually want to leave medics well alone since retrieving a fallen comrade usually requires the help of an additional person, so this puts at least one other potential enemy out of action, making the fight easier — to say nothing of the fact that, even after they're rescued, wounded soldiers laid up in hospitals drain resources and money, making it useful on a strategic level, too.[[note]]Of course, TheMedic, and the feeling that the medic will be there to save you if something happens, is a big plus to morale. But morale isn't what's shooting at you right now.[[/note]]

Unlike RealLife, a video game medic will magically heal critically wounded soldiers back to full combat effectiveness ''in a matter of seconds'' — and in many cases, reviving soldiers BackFromTheDead isn't too much more difficult. This makes an enemy healer a primary target, because when left alone, they will ultimately start [[EasyLogistics reviving and healing]] your enemies [[WhyWontYouDie almost as fast as you can take them out]]; enemies accompanied by healers effectively become NighInvulnerable so long as the healer is present, so if you want to have any hope of winning, you must [[TitleDrop Shoot The Medic First]].

!!Subpages

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In ''[[Manga/DragonBall Dragon Ball Z]]'', during the battle against Freeza, the fighters exploit Dende's healing ability by having him covertly heal an injured fighter. So what does Frieza do when he first spots this while transforming into [[OneWingedAngel his final form]]? He promptly kills the little Namekian. It worked to his advantage too, because Gohan and Vegeta, being Saiyans, receive a power-up after recovering from serious injuries (an ability referred to as ''zenkai'' by fans). Them acting as a tag team could convert the battle into one of attrition: one gets beat up and then the other keeps Frieza busy while Dende heals the downed Saiyan to boost them, and then they switch. Repeat until it makes one or both of them stronger than Freeza.

* In ''LightNovel/{{High School DxD}}'', the enemy aims for [[TheMedic Asia]] the first chance they get, and the heroes know it and take measures to make sure she's protected.

[[folder:Comics]]
* Possibly related: in a FlashBack story in ''Comicbook/ElfQuest'', [[http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ04/DisplayOQ04.html?page=15 the first elf to be killed by the monster Madcoil is Rain, the Wolfriders' only healer]]. Not that his skills would have been much use given the speed and ferocity of the creature's attacks, but in the novelization it's seen as [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic symbolic]].
* Meta example in ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel''. Doc, the team's original medic, is the first named Joe character with a figure to die. Due to a misinterpreted order.

[[folder:Films]]
* Inverted in ''Film/TheBridgeOnTheRiverKwai'' — [[spoiler:TheMedic is the only named character to make it out of the film in one piece (all except one other person is killed, and the only other survivor already has a serious wound in the foot)]].

* In ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'', in a notable scene at the beginning, a medic is trying to stabilize a fallen soldier on Omaha Beach, seemingly without concern for the sheer number of bullets flying around. After he stabilizes the soldier, he makes the mistake of [[TemptingFate getting too excited]], at which point a bullet goes right through the wounded soldier's helmet, killing him instantly. The medic gets very upset. That same medic later kinda-sorta takes part in combat by making an unarmed distraction run towards a machine gun nest and gets shot and killed. His squad gets very upset.

--->'''Wade''': Oh God, I can feel my liver!
* ''[[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry Star Trek VI]]'': The assassins who beam aboard ''Kronos One'' take out the Klingon surgeon before assassinating the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon, so that Gorkon can't receive medical care if he survives the assassination. He does, but the only medical attention Gorkon can receive is from Dr. [=McCoy=], who has no experience treating Klingons and is rather drunk from the state dinner earlier. Gorkon dies, and [=McCoy=] is charged with what [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDegreesOfMurder we'd essentially consider manslaughter]].

* Inverted in ''{{Literature/Twilight}}'' with Carlisle. The Quileute have a standing policy that he is the lowest-priority target if the two groups should ever escalate to open war against each other.
* Supplementary material for ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' mentions that, all parahuman threat ratings being equal, operatives are to target Thinkers first. Considering that they boast things like SuperSenses or precognition, this is justified. It is telling that, in a world with so many superpowers, two of the most feared parahumans are otherwise physically normal people who are top-tier Thinkers.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Roleplay]]

[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
* As shown in the page quote, Creator/BillCosby has a stand-up routine based on his time in the navy and his decision to become a corpsman as he thought it meant he wouldn't get shot at. His instructors quickly disabused him of this notion.
[[/folder]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' attempted to rectify this problem by making clerics and their buffs less potent as a means to kill the enemy while giving clerics the power to heal '''multiple''' party members in a single round several times a day — without using their spell slots. This allows clerics to heal a larger total number of hit points across the party and makes it more advantageous to heal during combat, thus making it more tactical to take out the cleric first.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** A notable aversion, during the second battle between Miko Miyazaki and the Order, Miko does not attack Durkon because he only provides healing to his other party members and does not attack her. In this case, she actually ''does'' follow so-called rules of war because Durkon is acting strictly in the capacity of being a traditional medic.
** Played with earlier, when a monster tried to attack two characters...who were ''[[HilarityEnsues both clerics]]''. They end up winning by attrition by healing each other [[RageQuit until the monster got bored and left.]]

* In ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', Dende ends up TemptingFate when he revives Vegeta and boasts that he's their WhiteMage and you don't fuck with the White Mage. A split second later, Freeza blows him up, taking out the heroes' advantage over the overlord.

* TruthInTelevision: the Japanese in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII WW2]] (having no medics themselves) were infamous for targeting medics. They didn't sign the Geneva Conventions until 1953.
** The Americans and British and Germans, in regards to each other, did not deliberately target enemy medics... but Germany and Russia[[note]]who also did not sign the Geneva Conventions[[/note]] did not honor these rules in their battles and the fighting, in general, was a lot more vicious.

* The ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Wilhelm_Gustloff Wilhelm Gustloff]]'' (note that according to the article, it was not "legally" a hospital ship).
** It is generally accepted that the Gustloff carried combat troops on its last journey, making it legitimately a military target, that sadly also transported droves of innocent civilians.

* The elementary school game Doctor Dodgeball. Instead of leaving the field when they're hit, players sit down until their team's designated "doctor" touches them to bring them back into the game. Not surprisingly, the "doctor" tends to run around with a whole team of decoys.
** Alternatively, both teams keep it a secret who their doctor is, and several other people intentionally run around towards players sitting down as sacrificial lambs and decoys to suck fire up while the doctor runs around and tags them.

* Terrorists took it to a whole other level when the concept of 'secondary' explosives was put into play. The first one blows up and causes the usual death and injury. Then the second one sits and waits until the rescuers show and blows ''them'' up.
* IDF snipers target medics at the Gaza border protest of 2018. One victim, Razan al-Najjar, IDF claimed it was an accident, then claimed she was a terrorist. Furthermore, the IDF policy of 'Shoot To Wound' complements the killing of medics by making medical staff more in demand.

* In TheKoreanWar, medics were often targeted first by the Chinese forces in what the U.S. forces claimed were dirty tactics. It was so bad that one veteran said that of the twelve medics that graduated in his class, only two came back.

** Undead Armies (Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts) in earlier editions require someone to act as the hierophant, the guy who initially summoned the undead horde and maintaining them. For Vampire Counts, this is usually the same as the general. For the Tomb Kings (where the titular kings themselves are inept at magic) this is usually some variant of the Liche Priest (with Settra being a sole exception to this). If this guy dies, your army has to take a leadership test every turn and (due to the comically low leadership) suffers damage equal to how much you failed by to represent the army slowly crumbling back to dust without it's hierophant. Even if you have other spellcasters in the army, they can't stop this. This means that the usual tactic for dealing with undead armies is to make a beeline for it's hierophant (which the opponent has to disclose to you). For Vampire Counts, this is slightly less of a problem; Vampire Lords are the strongest Vampires you can take and are generally the best spellcasters too, but they are almost on par with Chaos Lords in terms of combat ability and can ride Zombie Dragons, making them incredibly hard to take down. For Tomb Kings though, they basically have to shove their best spellcaster way behind everyone since they are not combatants and are just about as squishy as you'd expect a mummy mage to be (i.e: slightly better than dried parchment in a sandstorm).