History Main / SouthernFriedPrivate

* Private O'Hanrahan, a minor character from ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', is one of these. Contrary to stereotypes, he's a GentleGiant who hates the notion of violence and thinks kindness to others is the best path, believing that squad could work out better if someone could just gave them a good pep talk (he's right). He's also one of the tallest characters in the game as well as one of the stronger minor named [=NPCs=] (at 8 Strength, just shy of Super Mutant levels).

* ''Film/HamburgerHill'' Sgt. Dennis "''Dont mean Nuttin''" Worchester.
* Chef from ''Film/ApocalypseNow''.
* Numerous characters in ''Film/TheThinRedLine'', some of them needlessly aggressive, others prone to articulate philosophizing.

* Conrad in ''Film/ThreeKings'' - "I rigged the football with C-4, sir.". Although later he gains respect for the Iraqi locals, [[spoiler: so much so that he requests to be interred by them]].
** Ditto for Walter Wogeman. Who is depicted as even ''more'' idiotic and hopelessly incompetent than Conrad is.

* Will Stockdale, the PLO (Permanent Latrine Orderly) in ''No Time For Sergeants.''

* Denver 'Bull' Randleman from ''Series/BandOfBrothers'', to a certain degree. The other [=NCOs=] tease him for his "folksy wisdom," but when the replacements laugh along, they make it explicitly clear that he is one of the most intelligent men in the company.
** Let's not forget that random paratrooper from F company that Blithe and Hoobler linked up with who isn't too impressed by Hoobler calling him a yokel.

* ''Series/PrivateBenjamin'' has a female version, Pvt. Hubble.

* Sarge from ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' fits this trope perfectly.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Roswell That Ends Well," Fry's [[spoiler:would-have-been]] grandfather is a mild parody of this.
** Also, in "War is the H-Word" one of the bit characters is one.

* PFC ''Film/ForrestGump'' in the movie of the same name. Also his [[BlackBestFriend buddy]] Bubba Blue.

* ''Series/GomerPyleUSMC'', arguably a light-hearted take on the trope. Gomer was too nice to picture him as an "insular xenophobe" though he is certainly "insular".

* Ripper from ''The Zone'' novels, who drives everyone mad with his unbelievable stories of his family's misadventures back home in Hicksville.

* Pvt. L.Q. Jones from Alabama in the 1955 film ''Film/BattleCry''. Full of folksy sayings and with the habit of launching into unflattering impersonations of the DrillSergeantNasty [[RightBehindMe just as said sergeant enters the room behind him]]. Tellingly, he never rises from the rank of private over the course of the film.

* Just about anyone with a speaking role in ''VideoGame/StarCraft'', from the main characters of General Edmund Duke, Jim Raynor, and Raynor's buddy Tychus Finnely all the way down to the [[RedShirtArmy Terran Marines]].

* Private Robert 'Rebel' Ralston from ''[[HowlingCommandos Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos]]'' in the MarvelUniverse. After the war, he became a senator for Texas.

For those outside the US? [[TheIdiotFromOsaka Any geographical area of any country that's seen as being a bit backwards]] or woodsy can breed a non-US version of this character.

->Our captain has a handicap to cope with, sad to tell.\\

->''"Our captain has a handicap to cope with, sad to tell.''
->''He's from Georgia, and he doesn't speak the language very well."''
-->-- '''Music/TomLehrer''', It Makes A Fellow Proud To Be A Soldier

* Music/TomLehrer's "It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier", as quoted above.

* Bradford Dillman's portrayal of Major Barnes in The Bridge at Remagen. Barnes speaks in a southern drawl while volunteering his men for increasingly dangerous missions and avoiding exposure to enemy fire himself. George Segal's character at one point imitates Barnes' southern drawl as a way of indicating his displeasure with his glory-seeking commander.

* Just about anyone with a speaking role in ''{{Starcraft}}'', from the main characters of General Edmund Duke, Jim Raynor, and Raynor's buddy Tychus Finnely all the way down to the [[RedShirtArmy Terran Marines]].

* Conrad in ''Film/ThreeKings'' - "I rigged the football with C-4, sir.". Although possibly subverted, as he later gains respect for the Iraqi locals, [[spoiler: so much so that he requests to be interred by them]].

Even if this character is written as an officer, it is important to remember that this is a class-specific trope. A military officer with southern accent, a good education and a genteel matter is not usually a Southern-Fried Private, but an attempt by the writer to provide some variety among a group of characters who might otherwise speak and dress pretty much the same. Good examples of this type would be [[TheMcCoy "Bones" McCoy]] ([=DeForest=] Kelley) on ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', Surgeon Wilkins (Chill Wills) in the JohnWayne cavalry classic ''Rio Grande'', and Chief Engineer "Trip" Tucker on ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''.

[[IThoughtItMeant/JustForFun Despite the title]], this trope is not a cross between GroinAttack and KillItWithFire.

Despite the title, this trope is not a cross between GroinAttack and KillItWithFire.

* ''ThePacific'': Sid Phillips and Eugene Sledge are from Mobile, Alabama; Merriel "Snafu" Shelton is from Louisiana.

* Barry Pepper as squad sharpshooter Pvt. Jackson speaks in a southern drawl and prays out loud while he blows away Nazis in ''SavingPrivateRyan''.

* Vernon Pinkley in the ''TheDirtyDozen''. There's also Archer Maggot, but he's a genuine full-blown [[SociopathicSoldier psychopath]], not just an ignorant, insular hick.

How this stereotype arose is uncertain, but it is not merely trope but a {{cliche}}. {{Truth in Television}} in the sense that it is a RealLife stereotype, stemming from the fact that there are many military bases in the South, as well as the abundance of Southerners in the military and their penchant for firearms and anything military-related. Compared to fiction, however, it isn't as prevalent due to the fact that doing such behavior could get his squad captured or even killed or even worse, get him court-martialed for his antics.