History PlayingWith / ChildSoldiers

** The city is besieged by the EvilOverlord. Everyone might as well be a soldier as he plans to KillEmAll anyway, with children being no exception.

* '''Inverted''': OldSoldier

** A couple of soldiers are younger than one would expect.

* '''Zig Zagged''': A captain recruits children to fight, then his conscience gets the better of him and he can't stand to force them to fight - looking as though their role in the story will be over, then they rescue him when he's taken prisoner, then he ''still'' can't force them to fight, however one is a TeenGenius who devises a strategy to take the enemy stronghold or another is TheHero whose MagicSword or ability to pilot a HumongousMecha is necessary to win the war.

** Most adults have already been killed, resulting in the conscription age being lowered out of sheer desperation.

** The concept of "adult" differs for the [[ProudWarriorRace Troperians]] as a social construct. [[ARealManIsAKiller To be an adult requires killing a worthy foe without trickery]]. Some Troperians before puberty maturity who are considered adults by them while some scorned elders are still considered children. Thus any green soldier is technically a "child soldier" by tbeir standards.

** During an exercise the army, knowing that any battlefield will probably have a lot of civilians on it hires teenagers from a nearby town to play the role. All reasonable efforts are taken for their safety. During some exercises, some do roleplay as ChildSoldiers. But of course the only weapons they shoot or have shot at them are paintball guns or similar devices.

* '''Inverted''': OldSoldier.

** A minion of [[BigBad General Taisen]] suggests this to him after he accidentally kills the adults of the town he was hoping to brainwash into more soldiers. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Taisen reacts with absolute horror and shoots him in the face.]]

** Bob was conscripted by an evil army when he was ten years old, being thrown in to combat with neither choice nor desire. He experiences the horrors of war first-hand, watching comrades and equally-young enemies die from both combat and exposure to the elements. His officers are brutes who [[KickTheDog execute his own soldiers at the slightest provocation]], [[RapePillageAndBurn encourages his soldiers to commit atrocities]], and [[WeHaveReserves throws his boy-soldiers into dangerous situations unnecessarily]]. When Bob finally snaps and runs away, he is treated by society as a DangerousDeserter and [[YouCantGoHomeAgain is shunned by his hometown and family]].

* '''Inverted''': Only the oldest people in this world's society are allowed to fight as they have lived their lives to the full.