History Main / SouthernFriedPrivate

* In ''Serial/Killing4Dummys'', Mr. Grimaldi is the DrillSergeantNasty gym teacher, who keeps reminding people that he is from Georgia and lecturing his students about how his time in the army changed his life and talking about his part in the invasion of Grenada. [[spoiler:However, it is eventually revealed that most of his GoodOldBoy mannerisms are actually an act and part of his ObfuscatingStupidity. It is not even clear if he really is from Georgia.]]

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* In ''ComicBook/HuntersHellcats'', Cracker is from somewhere in TheSavageSouth (probably either Appalachia or, if we're going by the name, the Florida panhandle). He is constantly questioning Hunter's orders, grumbling about his duties, and talking about his feuding cousins.
* Exaggerated in ''G.I. Jane'', Antarctic Press's one-shot GenderFlip spoof of ''Franchise/GIJoe''. The Wild Bill counterpart is [[HayseedName Luan Chastity]], aka Wild ''Belle'': a fiery barefoot[[labelnote:*]]though she's shown wearing boots later on[[/labelnote]] gun nut Texan in cut off jean shorts. Amusingly, she resembles a human [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Applejack]].
* Downplayed in ''ComicBook/SgtRock: Between Hell and a Hard Place''; one of the NewMeat soldiers is a mountaineer from Virginia who feels at home in the dense, snowy forests of Germany. [[TheNicknamer Sgt. Rock]] calls him Cowboy, which Wildman [[LampshadeHanging points out]] is a weak, NonIndicativeName alluding to the Southwest rather than the Mid-Atlantic.

* ''No Time for Sergeants'', a 1958 film starring Andy Griffith as Will Stockdale, an Air Force recruit from rural Georgia, whose dad destroyed his draft notices to spare him from the embarrassment of big cities like Macon and Atlanta. By the time he gets there, he thinks that [=ROTC=] is a disease, his antics distress the sergeant-in-charge, he thinks that latrine duty is a promotion. His commanding sarge, who is in danger of being demoted to latrine duty, promises a wristwatch if he passes the entrance exam, which he does. He later attempts to get Stockdale drunk so he can look better, which backfires when Will rigs the toilets to go off like a 21-gun salute, and Sgt. King is demoted to private, later earning his sergeant's rank back. While flying to Denver in an obsolete B-25 bomber, they put it on autopilot, where the navigator thinks they're flying over the Gulf of Mexico, only to discover they're flying over a test bombing site in Yucca Flats, Nevada, when they jump out of the plane and people think they're dead. When they are revealed to be alive, Stockdale requests to be transferred to the infantry with Sgt. King and Ben Whitledge.
* Barry Pepper as squad sharpshooter Pvt. Jackson speaks in a southern drawl and prays out loud while he blows away Nazis in ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''.
-->'''Jackson:''' Be thou not far from me, oh Lord... <Blam!> Oh my strength, haste thee to help me... <Blam!>

* Averted in the film ''Film/{{Jarhead}}'' where the character Kruger (Lucas Black) is a Texan with a very thick accent and displays some of the tendencies above, but is by far the most outspoken critic of the military operation (such as the lack of free speech for soldiers and possible health dangers of the anti-chemical weapon pills they're given).
%%* ''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.
* [[Film/InglouriousBasterds Lt. Aldo Raine]]. He's a Lieutenant, not a Private, but he's still a hick from Maynardville, Tennessee--he even brings up making moonshine at one point. Though he does mention that he has some Native American blood in him as well, but this only makes him [[TheSavageIndian even more badass]].
* 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.''
* Pvt. L.Q. Jones from Alabama in the 1955 film ''Film/{{Battle Cry|1955}}''. 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.
* The affable but sex-obsessed Marine Egan in Cornel Wilde's 1967 Pacific war drama ''Beach Red''.
* The titular character in the BasedOnATrueStory biopic Film/SergeantYork hailed from the very rural (to this day) Fentress County, Tennessee.
* Somehow makes it into the ''STAR WARS'' UNIVERSE of all places in a deleted scene from ''Film/TheLastJedi''. A stormtrooper who recognizes Finn in the elevator speaks with a noticeable drawl. Especially hilarious since the character was played by the British Creator/TomHardy, so it's possible that he thinks all American soldiers are from the south given the trope's ubiquity in media.

* Ripper from ''The Zone'' WW3 novels, who drives everyone mad with his unbelievable stories of his family's misadventures back home in Hicksville. As per this trope he is also a crack shot, but not too bright.

* Corporal Opie Dalrymple in ''Literature/RallyRoundTheFlagBoys'' was a country music star before he was drafted, but being in the Army doesn't stop him from writing new songs or weaken his drawl.

* 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. There's also a random paratrooper from F company that Blithe and Hoobler linked up with who isn't too impressed by Hoobler calling him a yokel.

* A subversion is Finn Abernathy of ''Series/{{Bones}}'', who exhibits all of the traits above (especially colloquial speech), but is extremely brilliant, impressing even Brennan.

* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'': Sgt. Ray Dressler in "The Final Flight of the Dixie Damsel"; a racist, redneck CigarChomper from Texas (played by Clifton Webb who specialised in this type of role).

* Inverted with Dell Conagher, the Engineer from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''. He is referred to as a "good ol' boy" in his profile, but also has ''[[SouthernFriedGenius eleven]]'' [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist PhDs]] and tends to engage in SesquipedalianLoquaciousness. Also unlike most "good ol' boys," the Engie is as far from a frontline combatant as a class can be (yes, even the Sniper), as he has the smallest health pool in the game and weapons that are the secondary weapons for other classes - he generally relies on [[TheTurretMaster sentry guns]] to inflict damage.

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', there's a TV show ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' parody called ''Republican Space Rangers'', in which three such characters explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and nuke them all to hell for being weird and different.
* 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 Findlay all the way down to the [[RedShirtArmy Terran Marines]]. The first Terran villains are even ''called'' the Confederates.

* A StarWars version is Smugglers' companion Corso Riggs from ''Videogame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic.'' Complete with drawl (yes, "Yee-Haw" is one of his battle cries), old fashioned attitudes towards women, and cheerful enthusiasm towards his collection of weaponry.
* 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). Unlike others, however, O'Hanrahan is not from the South but rather from the rural parts of New California Republic.
* The ''UsefulNotes/{{Intellivision}}'' WWII game ''B-17 Bomber'' has the memetic synthesized voice that speaks in a thick southern accent. Ironically in the game's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=741_jmeRtv8 TV advert]], the spokesman has a German accent.

* Wild Bill from ''WesternAnimation/GIJoe''. Several other Joes, like Gung Ho and Thunder, are from the South, but Wild Bill is the only one with a Texan accent and the "folksy sayings". He gets along very well with [[TokenMinority Roadblock]], and is actually pretty intelligent, in a bit of a subversion.

* Although retired, [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill Cotton Hill]] was obviously one during his army days.

* Downplayed in ''ComicBook/SgtRock: Between Hell and a Hard Place''; one of the NewMeat soldiers is a mountaineer from Virginia who feels at home in the dense, snowy German forest. In what Wildman singles out as among the weaker efforts from [[TheNicknamer Sgt. Rock]], Easy calls him Cowboy.

{{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.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

* In ''ComicBook/HuntersHellcats'', Cracker is from somewhere in TheSavageSouth (probably eithwr Appalachia or, if we're going by the name, the Florida panhandle). He is constantly questioning Hunter's orders, grumbling about his duties, and talking about his feuding cousins.
* Exaggerated in ''G.I. Jane'', Antarctic Press's one-shot GenderFlip spoof of ''Franchise/GIJoe''. The Wild Bill counterpart is [[HayseedName Luan Chastity]], aka Wild ''Belle'': a fiery barefoot gun nut Texan in cut off jean shorts.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

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

* Inverted with Dell Conagher, the Engineer from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''. He is referred to as a "good ol' boy" in his profile, but also has ''[[SouthernFriedGenius eleven]]'' [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist PhDs]] and tends to engage in SesquipedalianLoquaciousness. Also unlike most "good ol' boys," the Engie is as far from a frontline combatant as a class can be (yes, even the Sniper), as he has the smallest health pool in the game and weapons that are the secondary weapons for other classes - he generally relies on [[TurretMaster sentry guns]] to inflict damage.

* 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 Findlay all the way down to the [[RedShirtArmy Terran Marines]].

* [[Film/InglouriousBasterds Lt. Aldo Raine]]. He's a Lieutenant, not a Private, but he's still a hick from Maynardville, Tennessee--he even brings up making moonshine at one point.

His apparent lack of common sense is meant to indicate limited intelligence in general, and he's sometimes shown having a hard time understanding things that more urban-bred (and therefore educated) members of TheSquad have no trouble at all with. On the other hand, he usually excels at shootin', fightin', and findin' things in the woods -- all skills you need to be a good soldier -- because he's been doing those since birth back home.

* Wild Bill from ''GIJoe''. Several other Joes, like Gung Ho and Thunder, are from the South, but Wild Bill is the only one with a Texan accent and the "folksy sayings". He gets along very well with [[TokenMinority Roadblock]], and is actually pretty intelligent, in a bit of a subversion.

* In ''ComicBook/HuntersHellcats'', Cracker is from somewhere in TheSavageSouth (probably the Florida panhandle if we're going by the name). He is constantly questioning Hunter's orders, grumbling about his duties, and talking about his feuding cousins.

* In ''ComicBook/HuntersHellcats'', Cracker is from somewhere in TheSavageSouth (probably Appalachia). He is constantly questioning Hunter's orders, grumbling about his duties, and talking about his feuding cousins.

* ''Series/GomerPyleUSMC'', arguably a light-hearted take on the trope. Gomer was too nice to picture him as a xenophobe, though he is certainly insular.
* Luther Rizzo from the later seasons of ''Series/{{MASH}}'' fits in here, although he's actually a sergeant and doesn't do a lot of shooting or bombing. He hails from Louisiana, is fond of cigars and folksy sayings, and when kids from the orphanage are reluctant to try his Cajun cooking at a Christmas feast, he blames it on them being from North Korea, and the way he says 'North' suggests he's not thinking of Communists.

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 Creator/JohnWayne cavalry classic ''Rio Grande'', and Chief Engineer "Trip" Tucker on ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''.

* Sarge from ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' fits this trope perfectly. He has the accent, he' loud, almost ''creepily'' obsessed with his shotgun and is probably the most mentally unstable out of the regulars, which is saying something.

* A Scottish version of this trope appears in the ''Literature/McAuslan'' stories of Creator/GeorgeMacDonaldFraser. In a "Highland" regiment composed of soldiers from the big Scottish cities - Glasgow mainly, but followed by Edinburgh and Aberdeen - true Scottish Highlanders are rare and are thought of with a sort of amused acceptance by the streetwise Glaswegians. General opinion on the "teuchters"[[note]]a derogatory term used by Glaswegians to deonte those from the remote countryisde and highlands and islands of Scotland - Creator/BillyConnolly uses it a lot in his riffs on Glasgow versus the rest of Scotland[[/note]] is that they are slow, bucolic, dreamy, and take a good run-up and lots of advance notice to get into the twentieth century. One such is Private [=McLeod=], from the Isle of Skye, generally considered to be away with the fairies in a dream-world of his own - until his sentry skills (honed in looking after sheep on the Island) raise the alarm against a hitherto un-noticed intruder testing their defences. Private McNab, a poacher from Perthshire, is a different soort of "teuchter" to his fellows - his rural cunning is a source of admiration.

* A Scottish version of this trope appears in the ''Literature/McAuslan'' stories of Creator/GeorgeMacDonaldFraser. In a "Highland" regiment composed of soldiers from the big Scottish cities - Glasgow mainly, but followed by Edinburgh and Aberdeen - true Scottish Highlanders are rare and are thought of with a sort of amused acceptance by the streetwise Glaswegians. General opinion on the "teuchters"[[note]]a derogatory term used by Glaswegians to deonte those from the remote countryisde and highlands and islands of Scotland - Creator/BillyConnolly uses it a lot in his riffs on Glasgow versus the rest of Scotland[[/note]] is that they are slow, bucolic, dreamy, and take a good run-up and lots of advance notice to get into the twentieth century. One such is Private McLeod, from the Isle of Skye, generally considered to be away with the fairies in a dream-world of his own - until his sentry skills (honed in looking after sheep on the Island) raise the alarm against a hitherto un-noticed intruder testing their defences. Private McNab, a poacher from Perthshire, is a different soort of "teuchter" to his fellows - his rural cunning is a source of admiration.

* Inverted with Dell Conagher, the Engineer from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''. He is referred to as a "good ol' boy" in his profile, but also has ''[[SouthernFriedGenius eleven]]'' [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist PhDs]] and tends to engage in SesquipedalianLoquaciousness. Also unlike most "good ol' boys," the Engie is as far from a frontline combatant as a class can be (yes, even the Sniper).

* Wild Bill from ''GIJoe''. Several other Joes, like Gung Ho and Thunder, are from the South, but Wild Bill is the only one with an accent and the "folksy sayings". He gets along very well with [[TokenMinority Roadblock]], and is actually pretty intelligent, in a bit of a subversion.