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10[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f8faa35e091669c231dd77b59ffecd45.jpg]]]]
11[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty They built us from the ground up, into killing machines...]]"'']]
12
13->'''Andre:''' I can see what you are thinking. But we need every man we can get.\
14'''Yuri:''' Even if they're not men?\
15'''Andre:''' A bullet from a 14-year-old is just as effective as one from a 40-year-old. Often more effective.
16-->-- ''Film/LordOfWar''
17
18They depend on us to defend them, but either we're forcing them to defend us or they're all alone and forced to defend themselves in the face of imminent danger. Sometimes they have a talent to help them get through the war, which unfortunately may be the reason they were drafted to begin with, but often it's just tough luck. While the notion of [[ChildrenAreInnocent innocent childhood]] dates to the early modern era (thank the [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain Victorians]] and their contemporaries), even the ancients felt fairly queasy about the idea -- and with good reason: warfare [[HarmfulToMinors screws with kids' heads]], and they're rarely good for much else afterwards. Since the use of child soldiers forces the enemy to gun down children in self-defense, it's a very strong contender for [[MoralEventHorizon the most morally reprehensible war crime in existence]]. On a somewhat lighter side, there are also many stories, in fiction and real life, concerning boys ([[SweetPollyOliver and girls]]) who [[KidHero lied about their ages in order to serve their country in its hour of need]] -- but those are only slightly under age, much more mature psychologically.
19
20This trope is great for an [[DarkAndTroubledPast angsty backstory]] while at the same time excusing ImprobableAge with prior experience. A staple of the shows which focus on violence but broadcast to kids, such as the more serious {{Mecha Show}}s. It's a good way to avoid ChildrenAreInnocent, particularly if a kid {{creep|yChild}}ily sees it [[NotAGame as a game]], but sometimes the loss of innocence is played for as much drama as can be.
21
22In fiction, this also has the convenience of explaining why [[PersonOfMassDestruction Persons of Mass Destruction]] are obeying their weaker bosses and not running things, or at least not demanding wages and better job conditions. It simply doesn't occur to them; and even if they do rebel, they don't know how to do it properly.
23
24This trope blends imperceptibly with NewMeat. Since even legal adults can be teenagers, old soldiers in particular may regard them as no more than children.
25
26This trope is TruthInTelevision; many armies in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa have underaged troops, and some Western nations begin recruiting soldiers at the age of 16 (these recruits are generally prohibited from being deployed to combat zones, although incidents where they have been deployed there have occurred). Researchers have shown that even if these underage soldiers are not deployed to combat zones, they suffer from a higher risk of attempted suicide or mental issues.
27
28Child soldiers in fiction can be divided into two types: those who fight and kill humans, and those who don't either because they fight a nonhuman entity (''Anime/StrikeWitches'', ''Anime/StellviaOfTheUniverse'') or avoid lethal means (''Franchise/LyricalNanoha''). The former usually carry a heavy trauma, while the latter tend to avoid it. An even more significant dividing factor tends to be how often and how horribly they and their comrades are depicted as dying themselves.
29
30Some {{Super Soldier}}s probably started out early enough to be counted as this. The {{Tykebomb}} ([[LaserGuidedTykebomb of all varieties]]) is what happens when this trope backfires.
31
32Compare LittleMissBadass, CreepyChild, CuteBruiser, EnfanteTerrible, KidSamurai, NewMeat, YoungGun, RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude, and TeensAreMonsters. The ShellShockedVeteran may actually be a high-school senior. If you find yourself deploying child soldiers in your war, you may have been reduced to LoweredRecruitingStandards.
33
34Contrast FallingIntoTheCockpit, which usually implies no former military experience. See PluckyMiddie for the naval version. See also RaisedByOrcs for cultures that use ''their enemies''' children this way.
35
36If only children get to be soldiers, then you have a CompetenceZone on your hands. If it's because they're the only ones left, ''then'' you have a TeenageWasteland on your hands.
37
38----
39!!Example Subpages:
40[[index]]
41* ChildSoldiers/AnimeAndManga
42* ChildSoldiers/ComicBooks
43* ChildSoldiers/FanWorks
44* ChildSoldiers/{{Film}}
45* ChildSoldiers/{{Literature}}
46* ChildSoldiers/LiveActionTV
47[[/index]]
48
49!!Examples of Precociously Talented Type:
50
51[[foldercontrol]]
52
53[[folder:Arts]]
54* ''Art/LibertyLeadingThePeople'': A young boy dual-wielding pistols is part of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution.
55[[/folder]]
56
57[[folder:Fan Works]]
58* Colonel O'Neill, in ''Fanfic/TheSecretReturnOfAlexMack'', isn't thrilled about the number of minors on the super-team he's assembled, but Terawatt is preventing huge numbers of deaths and untold property damage, and there just aren't any other stable non-villainous GC-161 cases with powers like hers. Hanna's abnormal childhood and genetic engineering mean that working to bring down villains might actually be the best thing for her mental health. Jack puts his foot down, though, with 8-year-old Shar, who wants to be included but isn't allowed to do more than try out her powers and measure what she can do. [[spoiler: Though she doesn't always let a little thing like lack of permission stop her.]]
59[[/folder]]
60
61[[folder:Mythology & Religion]]
62* Myth/ClassicalMythology:
63** Achilles was trained as a soldier from childhood, and started going to war as a youth. By his teens, he was famous enough for his skills that he was sought for during the start of the Trojan War. A lot of Achilles' actions from ''Literature/TheIliad'' are more understandable if you know that he has been at war since before he even became an adult.
64** Heracles was also trained to fight from childhood. {{Exaggerated|Trope}} with the fact that he committed his first kill as a ''baby''.
65* Myth/CelticMythology: Cuchulain achieved many martial feats while still in his youth, when he still went by birth name, Setana.
66[[/folder]]
67
68[[folder:Podcast]]
69* ''Podcast/TheDrunkAndTheUgly'': In ''Mrs. Friedas'', the cherub project genetically engineered Nele and his siblings to be super-powered soldiers.
70[[/folder]]
71
72[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
73* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' has a major character from the Clan Wars, Shin Yodama, who was planting mines in the earlier war of 3039 at the tender age of 14.
74* The premise of ''TabletopGame/BlissStage'' is that the only people left who can fight the AlienInvasion are teenagers.
75* In the ''TabletopGame/D20Modern'' Sourcebook D20 Apocalypse, kids as young as 12 can be adventurers (explorers, scavengers, and other people who constantly brave the post apocalypse world). While they are not soldiers, given how hostile the post apocalypse world is, they might as well be. And the minimum age for law enforcement (vigilante, town militia...) is 15. {{Justified|Trope}} by the post apocalyptic setting, where people have to learn fast or die at the hand of raiders/mutated monsters/other.
76* This crops up in ''TabletopGame/PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution''. Psionic powers often manifest in adolescence and young adulthood, but can occur in childhood. Just because you’re 7, it doesn’t mean you’re too young to join, be press-ganged, or sold into a conspiracy.
77* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
78** The citizens of the planet Cadia are trained from birth for combat, mainly because their planet is parked right outside a NegativeSpaceWedgie that leads straight to hell, and frequently spews forth the LegionsOfHell. The birth rate and recruitment rate is the same thing. Their soldiers enter combat as part of the youth army, the "Whiteshields," at age 13. They only get promoted to the full army by earning a medal. And they are ''badass''. A common saying is that any Cadian who can't field-strip his own lasgun by the age of ten was born on the wrong planet.
79** Catachans' homeworld is basically "if Australia was a jungle" in terms of EverythingTryingToKillYou, and three quarters of the children don't even make it to adulthood. Those who do? The Catachan Devils are armies made entirely of Franchise/{{Rambo}}es if they'd been cast in Franchise/{{Predator}}.
80** Stormtroopers, Commissars and Sisters of Battle are trained in military orphanages from very early age. While they usually don't see combat until graduation, their training includes shooting at live targets, usually at convicts.
81** {{Space Marine}}s, due to the requirements of their [[AppliedPhlebotinum implants]], are inducted into the chapter at around the onset of puberty, and the [[TheSpartanWay entry requirements]] make sure they must be well-versed in the act of war before they're even considered. Their transformation into full-fledged Space Marines isn't complete by the time they're seeing battle as part of the chapter's Scout Company. That said, said Scouts are usually in their early thirties by then.
82** As in so many other things, [[Literature/SpaceWolf Space Wolves]] are the exception. They take in valorous young men on the brink of death, usually in their twenties (leading the population of their planet Fenris to see their order as a WarriorHeaven in itself, but that is neither here nor there). Although we're never given figures on the success rate, the [[HonorBeforeReason wisdom]] of this is uncertain; when Leman Russ was found by the Emperor, his [[BandOfBrothers associates]] all volunteered to become Space Marines, and over half died from implant rejection. On the other hand, few of them were young in any way, and several were downright elderly.
83* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'':
84** Dark Elves begin training the moment they are strong enough to pick up a sword or spear.
85** All Bretonian knights start off as a Knight Errant. Once the young knights have proven their worth in the field of battle, they are knighted and receive a small plot of land to rule. Given to the nature of Bretonnia [[FantasyCounterpartCulture to that of Medieval Feudal Europe]], it is [[FridgeHorror assumable the Knights Errant are actually young boys ages 13 to 17.]] Needless to say, [[RedshirtArmy they die a lot.]]
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder:Video Games]]
89* What's a young girl in a pretty pink dress doing as one of the top three generals in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''? At least you can say the other kids making up the party weren't inducted into the army, what with growing up in the streets as a thief, swinging an oar, fishing, or being abandoned in the woods at 3 with only an axe and [[CuteBruiser the highest strength score in the game]] to survive.
90* Some of the backstory for the ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' games indicates that the Silencer Corps (of whom the main character was a member) prospects are identified through mandatory testing on adolescents. It's also hinted that it's no so much physical prowess they're looking for as it is psychological suitability...
91* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'': While not exactly soldiers, the children who live in Little Lamplight are all well-armed little nutjobs. You can even sell them guns, ammo, drugs, and thermonuclear devices.
92* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
93** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', no one in the game seems to consider the idea of a 13-year-old Cloud Strife joining the Shinra Army unusual (Zack Fair also joined in at a similarly young age). And then there are people like Sephiroth, Yuffie, Shelke and Cissnei who started their fighting careers as mere children, although not through any choice of their own.
94** The [=SeeD=] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' functions as a highly regarded military academy-type institution and many students enter voluntarily. Students ''are'' enrolled before puberty, but typically aren't taught in combat until their teens, and don't see actual combat outside of the training room until their graduation. Upon graduation, the [=SeeD=] sometimes also work side jobs in policing duties and receive a regular salary. The in-game encyclopedia outright states that any Garden student who doesn't graduate by the age of twenty is discharged from the school. The underlying function of the [=SeeD=] is to [[spoiler: be prepared to defend the world against [[BigBad an imprisoned evil sorcerer]]]].
95** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', we have Eiko, a WhiteMage girl who can use SummonMagic. She happens to be 6-years-old and is the SoleSurvivor of her tribe, apart from a bunch of Moogles, who keep her company. She is also WiseBeyondHerYears and not only understands the complexity of the world-threatening conflict when Zidane and his friends meet her but willingly joins them to SaveTheWorld. The rest of the cast, while not nearly as young as Eiko, are also mostly teenagers and overall ''Final Fantasy IX'' has the youngest cast on average of any main game in the series.
96* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' has a few child characters, mostly [[StreetUrchin thieves]], mages in training (and a few full-fledged mages), and exiled royalty (often TheHero), or [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Manaketes]] who are Really700YearsOld. Older ones around 16-17 are very common.
97** The youngest [[TheHero lord]] is Roy of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'', who was put in charge of an army initially consisting mainly of members who look barely older than him at age 15.
98** For units in general it is taken to extremes by Nah of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', who, considering Manakete aging, must be around the physical age of an early elementary schooler at most [[WiseBeyondTheirYears (but still has the maturity of someone much older)]].
99** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'' has 12-year-old [[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n02/shvc/bfej/data/chara/index.html Sara]], a ChildProdigy who happens to be the only one who can wield the Kia staff and undo the Loptr Church's petrification
100** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' has 12-year-old [[https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2016/10/06/fe-por-rolf-character-profile-p-53-translation/ Rolf]], an apprentice archer who really has no business being on the battlefield at that age.
101** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' also has [[AChildShallLeadThem Empress Sanaki]], who is 13 years old.
102** There are also the kids in the prologue of ''Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'', who are 8-11, but the villain Slayde starts that fight and the general strategy for that map is to have them hide behind CoolOldGuy Mycen while he takes care of the dirty work - because [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome they're children who can be easily killed]].
103** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'', while the ages of the characters [[VagueAge are never specified in-game]], Jean, Clanne and Framme look no older than their early teens. Hortensia, second princess of Elusia, seems slightly older, but she's one of the younger characters. She was studying at Elusia's academy, along with her friends Rosado and Goldmary when the Fell Dragon awakened and they were called to war. [[https://www.escapistmagazine.com/what-are-the-character-ages-in-fire-emblem-engage/ Datamining]] puts most of them in their mid-teens to mid-twenties, with Anna being 11 and Jean being ''10'', making the latter the youngest playable character in the series. On a gameplay level, this is somewhat [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] - as these characters tend to have low build & health stats. This means that they get slowed down by heavier weapons and can't take many hits before dying. The characters who're in their late teens who ''can'' are ones who've trained for much longer.
104* In the original ''VideoGame/FreedomForce'', both Liberty Lad and Sea Urchin are ChildSoldiers themselves. There's a scene in which Man O' War feels uneasy about "putting the wee ones on the front line".
105* ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngel'' has four of the six Moon Angels fall under this trope during the first trilogy: Milfie and Chitose are both 17, with Mint one year behind them; Vanilla is 13. Ranpha is exactly 18; Forte is 22.
106** Vanilla doesn't grow out of it when the second trilogy ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngelII'' starts, the only one to fall short as she's 17 by that point. She's still older than the Rune Angels' confirmed trope qualifiers Anise (16), Milfie's little sister Rico (14), and Natsume (11); it's unknown if her adoptive daughter Nano counts as well, as Nano's true age is unknown.
107* [[CheerfulChild Klee]] from ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' is already a frontline member of the Knights of Favonius despite appearing to be a young child. This is partially so the Knights can look after her while her parents aren't around and partially to make sure [[PersonOfMassDestruction Klee]] doesn't accidentally destroy Mondstadt.
108-->''While other Mondstadt children her age are still playing with regular toys, Klee's favorite toys are... live explosives.''
109* Niko Bellic, the main protagonist in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' was about 16- or 17-years-old when he and fourteen other child soldiers from his home village fought in the Bosnian war.
110* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
111** The Master Chief and his fellow [[SuperSoldier Spartans]] started their [[TheSpartanWay grueling military training]] at age six, and have been kicking [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Covenant]] rear since they were fourteen. Their skills and reputation are such that the Covenant calls them "demons."
112** ''Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx'' goes even further, with the SPARTAN-III program, which turned children into ''suicide'' super-soldiers who went off to fight and die at around the age of ''twelve''.
113* ''VideoGame/IWasATeenageExocolonist'': Growing up, Vace was raised aboard a military ship under strict instructions to arrest anyone alive at its destination. Thanks to his early training, he also gets promoted to lieutenant during the swearing-in ceremony while Sol and Anemone are promoted to officers despite only being three years younger than him.
114* Destroyers in ''VideoGame/KanColle'' are typically drawn as middle-school-aged children, though some exceptions exist.
115* Ikari Warrior's member Whip from ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' is only 16. She was also a TykeBomb, separated from her brother [[spoiler:K]]. Heidern really enjoys recruiting young girls for some reason.
116* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has no real restrictions on membership beyond the ability to kick enormous amounts of ass, so you can have children fighting amongst adult archangels, insane wizard Yordles, and people who've been in the military for years.
117** Annie, who is ''6-years-old'' and fights clutching her teddy bear in one hand... and occasionally turning it into a flaming giant to destroy her enemies.
118** Nunu, a boy whose strong magical abilities are enhanced physically by riding into battle on the back of a [[ABoyAndHisX Yeti]].
119** Amumu, an amnesiac [[UndeadChild child]] {{Mummy}}.
120** [[LightTheWay Lux]], older than the rest, but still a magically gifted child forcibly conscripted at 13-years-old.
121** Kog'Maw, who's still an infant, but because he's an infant EldritchAbomination who destroys everything in his path, no one minds.
122** While she's grown up now, Riven's backstory indicates that she was a fanatical child soldier for Noxus.
123* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'':
124** Fie Claussell was the adopted daughter of a mercenary general, grew up in his corps as it deployed from war zone to war zone, and was a veteran member by the time it disbanded on her father's death.
125** In the third game, as part of [[MilitaryAcademy Thors's]] increased focus on militarization, students from the branch campus are regularly deployed in counter-terrorism operations against subversive elements in TheEmpire.
126* The various Links in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' with confirmed ages range in age from seventeen and a half (in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'') to ''nine'' (Child Link in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]''). Special mention also goes the Link from ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'', who was already a soldier at the age of ''four'' and ended up becoming ChildhoodFriends with several Zoras while stationed near Zora's Domain.
127* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'':
128** Grunt is a tank-born krogan who is and acts like a child... by krogan standards. His major issue is that he is not only clanless but his "father" was hated by many krogan. In his case he's technically only a few days/weeks old in ''Mass Effect 2'', but has the body of a krogan in late adolescence and had memories and knowledge downloaded into his brain.
129** Quarians in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' universe are frequently involved in combat before and during their Pilgrimage (their rite of passage into adulthood).
130** Thane mentions training as an assassin since the age of six, with his first kill taking place when he was ''twelve''.
131%%* ''VideoGame/MasterOfTheMonsterLair'': Owen and Kate are 12- and 13-years-old, respectively.
132* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
133** Frank Jaeger [[spoiler:a.k.a. Null a.k.a. Gray Fox a.k.a. the Cyborg Ninja.]] Although his exact age is unknown, he fought in the Mozambican War of Independence around the age of 7 or so. Armed only with a knife, he got his name by his method of killing: he deceived the enemy with "the frankness of a young boy" and moved in for the close kill. He was known as the 'Frank Hunter,' which became 'Frank Jaeger' because he could speak a little German. During the events of ''Portable Ops'', his chronologically first appearance, Frank [[spoiler:was still only a teenager when subjected to sensory deprivation treatment in order to make him the emotionless 'Perfect Soldier,' Null.]]
134** [[spoiler:Raiden]] became a child soldier in the Liberian Civil War thanks to Solidus, receiving the nicknames of "White Devil" and "Jack the Ripper". Having a combat rifle at age six, he became captain of a unit of child soldiers ("the Small Boy Unit") at age ten. Similarly, Solidus himself was also heavily implied to be in his teens when he participated in the war.
135** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', the novelization, the Official Missions Handbook, and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' also heavily imply that Solid and Liquid Snake were raised within the military from a very young age, at least since two years of age, in fact.
136* In ''VideoGame/SabresOfInfinity'' the Tierran army's minimum enlistment age for officers is 14, making the protagonist one if they so choose.
137* ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'': Nearly all of the members of the different combat Divisions shown in the series are, at the oldest, in their mid-to-late teens or early twenties, with Maria Tachibana being an established veteran of the Russian Civil War at only 19, and Leni Milchstrasse being part of a German SuperSoldier project from a very young age. Iris, Coquelicot, and Rika/[[DubNameChange Rosita]] however, take the cake, being only [[TokenMiniMoe ten or eleven]].
138* The World Annihilation Front of ''VideoGame/SandsOfDestruction'' is composed largely of teenagers, and certain members of the World Salvation Committee are no older. On the Front side, there's Morte at 16 and Kyrie at 17; Agan is 18, Taupy has a VagueAge but is implied to be older than most of his teammates, and Rhi'a is [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld 300 but as a dragonkin is the equivalent of 15]]. On the Committee side, Naja is 17 and his commander Rajiv appears to be about the same (but is never given an exact age). The leaders of both groups are shown to be adults, however.
139* ''VideoGame/ShantaeRiskysRevenge'': After the second Magic Seal, Scuttle Town is under new management, and the yellow -dressed little girl in the second layer has thoughts about it, and what she guesses will happen to child education:
140--> We are now a military town? If they start training us kids to be deadly assassins, I'm going to use my power to combat the evil that has taken a stranglehold on the town.
141* Although the whole World War Two-themed ''VideoGame/SilentStorm'' cast is adult in the year when the game is set (1943), several of them have this in their background, usually in the form of "joined X army while being 15[=/=]16[=/=]17". Some of them actually saw combat when underaged (the German Reggie was recruited in the beginning of World War One when he was 15, after lying about his age), some other not (Gunnar entered the Wehrmacht at 16, in 1933). The straightest example is Carm (an Italian woman), who took part in World War One as a mountain guide for Italian troops when she was pre-teen, and ended to kill a dozen of men during the course of the war (in the actual game, she is in her late thirties).
142* The story mode in ''VideoGame/Splatoon1'' involves the 14-year-old protagonist fighting singlehandedly against the enemy Octarian army. This carries over to the player characters in subsequent ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' games. The enemy Octolings are only a little bit older, with Agent 8 in ''VideoGame/Splatoon2: Octo Expansion'' being about the same age as the other protagonists. [[spoiler:Cuttlefish's dossier on Marina in ''Octo Expansion'' suggests a military education is the norm in Octarian society.]]
143* One of the enemy types in ''VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage'' are bird chicks who are soldiers.
144* Bowser's army in ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' features multiple young Koopas, including the Koopalings, Koopa Kids, and Bowser's own son Bowser Jr.
145* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'':
146** Latooni, Seolla, Arado are {{Tykebomb}}s, while Princess Shine is a [[GratuitousPrincess princess]] who isn't ''technically'' enlisted, and is simply allowed to fight alongside the other heroes to protect her Kingdom.
147** Also, Mihiro Ardygun in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsW'', who co-pilots the Valhawk with her older brother (himself 16) at the age of 10. [[spoiler:During the TimeSkip, while her brother was missing, she took over piloting duties full-time.]] Though not a soldier ''officially'', she does fight on behalf of a government organization that does include several soldiers, including the aforementioned child soldiers from ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' and ''Literature/FullMetalPanic''.
148* Zig-Zagged in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss''. We have Tear who was trained by Legretta and was given military-grade training from a young age. It shows, but she has a sensitive side too. (And an urge to act like a young girl like thinking it'd be so fun to be hugged by Anise's giant plush animal.) We also have Sync who is only 14-years-old, is a candidate for ThatOneBoss and falls into the dramatic side given his backstory. One of Sync's comrades, Arietta, also falls into the AlasPoorVillain types, since she can't be any older than 16 yet was trusted by the Daathic Government to act as a bodyguard for Sync. Her successor, Anise, is only ''thirteen'', is [[spoiler:blackmailed into being TheMole because of her parents being hugely in debt]], and clearly had to grow up fast a bit. Oh, and the other god general who's underage by our standards? Asch the Bloody who is 17... and had clearly been in the Daathic Army for ''years'' beforehand. Luke also marches into battle when he's only 17 as well, but consider that [[spoiler:He's actually much ''much'' younger than that!]]
149* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'' gives us Alice, one of the main antagonists who's part of a terrorist organization at only 18. (She's OlderThanSheLooks though - due to being a half elf) Marta, too, who is only 15-years-old.
150%%* Ayame from ''VideoGame/{{Tenchu}}'' counts, as she's only 14 during the events of ''Tenchu 2''.
151* Both Takatoshi Hijiyama and Keitaro Miura from ''VideoGame/ThirteenSentinelsAegisRim''. They joined the military to serve in UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo while they were still in high school, though Takatoshi enrolled voluntarily while Keitaro was drafted.
152* In ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'', Gallia has a policy of Universal Conscription, so military training is a part of general education and citizens as young as fifteen may be called up to serve. Moreover, the militia is known to have soldiers as young as ''twelve'', although the girl in question enlisted voluntarily and required special permission to do so. Even worse, the little girl is a ''shocktrooper'', the most durable ''and'' most damaging troop type in the game.
153* Momo Kuzuryu from ''VideoGame/ValkyrieDriveBhikkhuni'' was one of these before the events of the game and the struggle of adapting to a more peaceful life is the driving point of her character arc.
154* This is the case when 14-year-old Leo Stenbuck [[FallingIntoTheCockpit fell into the cockpit]] of Jehuty in ''VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEnders'', but continued to fight of his own free will as a part of the military afterwards, and is only 16 in the sequel.
155[[/folder]]
156
157[[folder:Visual Novels]]
158* Spirits are raised from birth to be soldiers in ''VisualNovel/AseliaTheEternalTheSpiritOfEternitySword''. Birth doesn't appear to start at infancy for them, however.
159* Mukuro Ikusaba in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' ran away from home to join a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors PMC]] at the age of 12 and spent the next three years going from battlefield to battlefield without sustaining a single injury, earning her the title of "[[SuperSoldier Ultimate Soldier]]".
160[[/folder]]
161
162[[folder:Web Animation]]
163* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
164** Most [[HunterOfMonsters Huntsmen]] go through years of combat training beginning in prep schools that feed into the four elite [[ExtranormalInstitute Huntsman Academies]]. The entrance age for the Academies is 17 years old, although this can be waived for exceptionally talented individuals like [[TheParagon Ruby]], who is pushed ahead by two years and enters Beacon Academy at the age of 15. The Academies are four-year courses, leading to them graduating into the dangerous career in adulthood. However, after the BigBad attacks Beacon Academy in Volume 3, the heroes decide to travel Remnant, seeking to learn more about the villains. This puts them into the role of Huntsmen while still children, years before they're meant to graduate. Once they reach Atlas, General Ironwood honours their precociousness by granting them their full Huntsman licenses, despite most of the heroes only being 19 and Ruby 17.
165** Oscar is a FarmBoy who thinks he's pretty ordinary until he learns he's TheChosenOne at the age of 14. This forces him to travel to Mistral and join up with the heroes to fight the villains. He's forced to learn how to fight on the road, although his prodigious talent and unique circumstances means he develops his skills unnaturally fast. Being two years younger than Ruby means he's the baby of the bunch. [[spoiler:As the current host of the [[ResurrectiveImmortality reincarnating]] warrior-wizard [[BigGood Ozma]] and [[BigBad Salem's]] eternal nemesis, Oscar has [[LegacyOfTheChosen inherited]] a divine mission to save the world, but his lack of prior training and Oz being so [[ItsSucksToBeTheChosenOne traumatised and exhausted]] from [[ForeverWar millennia]] fighting an InvincibleVillain means that the leader of the opposition to Salem is actually [[TheUnchosenOne Ruby]].]]
166** Atlas Academy pressurises its students to join the kingdom's military as Special Operatives once they graduate, creating elite, officer-level super-soldiers. [[spoiler:When Salem unleashes her army on Altas in Volume 8 and breaches the defences, a war of attrition begins that forces Ironwood to put the academy students on the front lines of battle. In Volume 2, Ironwood asked Ozpin if he thought his kids could fight a war as a way of criticising him; however, beyond Ironwood's hearing, Ozpin confessed he was hoping the kids would never have to fight a war, while Ironwood drafts the kids to war in Volume 8 without a second thought.]]
167
168[[/folder]]
169
170[[folder:Webcomics]]
171* Karcharoth of '''Webcomic/CryHavoc'' was conscripted at the age of six, and has been fighting in one army or another for fifteen years. Understandably he has a rather distorted view of life. He was recruited due to his minor, but growing, psychic powers.
172* Benjamin Soderer in [[http://lostcausewebcomic.com/ Lost Cause]] joins the Confederate Army at 16-years-old, thinking it will prove his own bravery at such a young age. However, it only proves how unready he is to face the Hells of war.
173* Cloud's mother in ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo'', Ye Thuza Williams, was a child soldier in Burma. As a result, she tends to teach her children how to employ violence as necessary with mixed results.
174* In ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'', the army age recruitment standards seem to have greatly dropped:
175** First are the Hotakainens, who moved to Keuruu military base and joined the army eleven years before the start of the story. At the time, eldest Onni would have had to be sixteen, his younger sister Tuuri ten and their cousin Lalli eight.
176** A flashback involving Lalli confirms he was already scouting a horribly mutated PlagueZombie ridden wilderness ''at night'' at thirteen. The flashback relates an incident during which Lalli improperly filling out an anonymous scout report caused another group of soldiers to venture into a dangerous area and four of them to get killed, which the doctor considers a low number given the attack's violence. Looking at the report causes some authority figure to decide that "all scouts younger than fifteen" are getting a lecture on proper report filling. A 15-year-old Tuuri is seen among the desk workers.
177** The Cleansers, a DemolitionsExpert unit working with high grade explosives, has two fine print elements on their recruitment poster: one telling people they need to be at least thirteen to join, the other saying that joining voids all life insurance. [[http://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=119 It can be seen here]].
178* All of the superheros and supervillans in ''Webcomic/StrongFemaleProtagonist'' received their powers at 14 and have been fighting each other or for their government for most of their teenage years. The main character is a retired super-heroine who is struggling to find ways to solve the world's problems without resorting to the violence of her formative years.
179* The title character in ''Webcomic/{{Terinu}}'' was raised by SpacePirate Mavra Chan to be an assassin, starting at the tender age of nine. His best friend Matt was sold ''by his own father'' to Chan to serve as a cook's mate on the same ship at the age of eleven. It's a sufficiently CrapsackWorld that in Matt's case this was distinct improvement over his previous situation.
180* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': the Platinum [[FantasticCasteSystem caste]] of Alderode has an exceptionally strong connection to the BackgroundMagicField and only live to age 30 or so, so preteen ChildMage divisions are common in the Aldish army. Official dogma is that they're exceptionally holy and are on their final {{Reincarnation}} before rejoining the Gods; the [[FantasticRacism nastier unspoken attitude]] is that they're more expendable than the longer-lived castes.
181[[/folder]]
182
183[[folder:Web Originals]]
184* Done with a complete lack of angst in ''Literature/MagicalGirlHunters''. The protagonists stop to comment a few times on how horrible it is for children to be taught to fight at an early age. [[BlackComedy Usually right before putting a bullet between their eyes]].
185* [[ProudWarriorRace Sirene]] from the [[PlayByPostGames forum RP]] ''Roleplay/OpenBlue'' is a highly militarised country that drafts children as young as 12 for a four-year service, with the exception of children qualified for technical schooling instead. Not even royals are exempt.
186* ''WebVideo/PiratesSMP'':
187** It's stated that pirates have to be aged 15 and up to be able to join a faction. While most of the cast are ostensibly adults by the time the series takes place -- the youngest with a confirmed age being Kuervo at age 19, a handful of characters (usually legacy pirates themselves) either joined up very close to (if not outright ''at'') the lower limit or were straight-up raised into piracy and trained from a young age.
188** Even then, [[spoiler:Kuervo himself]] plays the example straighter than usual, being [[spoiler:an established soldier in the Nayan Armada at age 16]] years before the events of the SMP, and is shown to be a ''very'' good shot with a handgun. [[spoiler:He ends up deserting after being caught committing mass {{Tyrannicide}} and sent on the run, culminating into his arrival on the Faction Isles.]]
189* The youngest ''WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum'' are about 13 years old when they start in the field. The youngest agent ever, Ella Darcy, was ''ten'' when she joined, but she wasn't a field agent.
190* The Lambsbridge Gang in ''Literature/{{Twig}}'' begins the story as a group of kids barely into the double digits, with the implication that they've been acting as a wetwork team for the AcademyOfEvil for several years already.
191* ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'' has 13-year-old Tamika Flynn, [[spoiler:leading a child militia against Strex Corp.]] She's already a veteran at this, having taking down the librarians at twelve.
192-->'''Tamika:''' We do not look around. We do not look inside. We do not sleep. Our god is not a smiling god, [[BadassBoast and we are ready for this war]].
193[[/folder]]
194
195[[folder:Western Animation]]
196* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' when Stan gives Steve an AK-47 for Christmas despite promising Francine he wouldn't (he got around it by wishing Steve a "Merry Wednesday" instead). Steve is uncertain at first, then states that if "coked out child soldiers in the Congo can do it", he can, too. Unfortunately, it leads to him accidentally killing Santa, who comes back to life and swears a blood oath against the Smiths, forcing them to spend Christmas Eve fighting for their lives. Despite having sworn off guns after shooting Santa, he picks it back up during Santas attack, and immediately turns out to be almost as good as his CIA agent father.
197* The plot of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''? A group of kids and teenagers take down the [[TheEmpire Fire Nation]] army.
198** Many of the main antagonists (though not the BigBad) are also teenagers.
199* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', [[spoiler:the Amalgam Kids that first showed up in ''Alien Force'' are revealed to be products of experimentation by a rogue branch of Plumbers called The Rooters, and were created for the purpose of destroying Ben, then inflicted with LaserGuidedAmnesia when their attempt to take him out failed]].
200* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': the KND are a global organisation with, amongst other things: a [[SpaceBase moonbase]], [[KillSat orbital cannons]], [[StandardSciFiFleet spaceships]], [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier military]] [[TankGoodness vehicles]], HumongousMecha, [[SlowLaser lasers]], ''[[AirborneAircraftCarrier a giant flying convention center]]'' and huge "hidden" bases that recruit kids at around 5- to 7-years-old, train them and kick them out when they're thirteen, [[LaserGuidedAmnesia wiping their memory just in case they go rogue]]. They are an ''army'' of child soldiers. The only reason this isn't presented as horrifying at all is because they are every bit as childish as non-members (if not more). Executing a huge, global operation to fill in the ''Grand Canyon'' as a giant cereal bowl, anyone?
201* Dutch's younger brother Dar in ''WesternAnimation/{{Motorcity}}'', who works for Kane Co. He looks up to and respects Abraham Kane. [[spoiler: He pretty goes through the same experience Mike did in "Vendetta"]].
202* Alien broccoli have invaded Townsville, so ''WesternAnimation/{{The Powerpuff Girls|1998}}'', led by Blossom, install an army of children to fight the alien menace -- by eating them (episode "Beat Your Greens").
203* The Daughters of Aku from ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' absolutely qualify, having been trained from toddlerhood to be extremely capable fighters and ruthless assassins. At the age of 17 to 18, approximately, they are definitely very precocious, and the nature of their training puts them squarely in the middle of "just plain tragic" as well. [[spoiler:Being the literal Daughters of Aku does much to explain their precociousness]].
204* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'':
205** Jedi Padawans such as [[Characters/StarWarsAhsokaTano Ahsoka Tano]] could very much be considered this. Ahsoka is only fourteen at the beginning of the series and yet leads troops into battle and gets into the thick of the fighting herself. Their talent with the Force and training from childhood makes even the Padawans very deadly warriors. However, Ahsoka is an outlier as she was a TeenGenius while the majority of Padawans enter the field in their late teens or early adulthood.
206** When Kamino comes under attack, the clone cadets take up arms to defend their home. Thanks to their accelerated growth, they're about half as young as they look. (This also means the mature clone soldiers are actually only about 10-years-old.)
207* Episode 8 of ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'' had The Academy on Galaluna, a military training facility which starts training future soldiers as children. To be fair, however, it is partially Truth In Television: most of them are teenagers, and military schools do exist for such ages. However, they also showed a row of children who looked even shorter, and, presumably, younger than Lance and Arthur -- who were already small and really young-looking to begin with.
208* Similar to above, the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003''. In the comics most of them eventually grow up quickly enough to avert this for most people, but the main gang in the cartoons doesn't. They almost die on several occasions, have no adult supervision, and the youngest is between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. Notably, during the penultimate episode's GrandFinale battle, dozens of other young supers join the Titans in their fight, including the three superpowered ''toddlers'' whom Raven had previously babysat. Mas y Menos, twin supers who appeared in several episodes, were about 11.
209* In the original ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|1985}}'', the Thunderkittens are apparently about twelve, or their species' equivalent, but they go into combat just as much as the adults. Lion-O is a borderline case, since he begins the series physically adult, but mentally a child.
210* Occasionally implied in the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' metaseries with the younger-minded characters. Done outright in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' with Sari [[spoiler: especially after she turns out to be a RobotGirl]] and is pushed into the front lines in Season 3.
211** The episode "Human Error" [[spoiler: (where the main 'bots are shown in analogous human bodies)]] shows that Bumblebee is the Cybertronian equivalent of [[PuppyLove roughly her age]].
212** [[spoiler: Omega Supreme]] might also count, given that he was specifically created to be a superweapon and purposefully made mentally 'slow' so that he wouldn't question orders. Not a child, but close to a child's mind.
213*** The Transformers in ''Animated'' have an explicit childhood stage. He was a child soldier given mild mental retardation and put into the body of what was effectively a {{Kaiju}}, and the actions of his creators made it clear that they knew what this would do to him, and how wrong their actions were.
214** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'''s version of Bumblebee may also be considered this. The [[AllThereInTheManual prequel novels]] state outright that he was among the final generation of Cybertronians to be born, and while fighting on the front lines is not given any explicit significance for him, the episode "Masters and Students" hints that he's not officially recognized as warrior-class due to being too young, though a later episode would have him admit he was holding off until they fixed Cybertron.
215** The human characters are very much this. Jack performs the important mission of recharging the Matrix from Vector Sigma, Raf is MissionControl backup to Ratchet (and is one of only two main humans in the series to be actually wounded), and Miko is considered (by herself and Wheeljack) to be a full member of the Wreckers, not to mention having a confirmed kill to her name (Hardshell). At the end of the series, Agent Fowler intends to make them full-fledged members of Unit: E.
216---> '''June Darby''': ''[[InsistentTerminology Consultants]]!'' Until you're of age.
217* Three of the Paladins from ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'' are teenage pseudo-MilitarySchool students[[note]](one of whom apparently lied about their age as well as their name/gender when enrolling)[[/note]], while a fourth was a peer who got kicked out due to discipline issues. To be fair to the alien princess that [[RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude shanghaied them into war against a galaxy-spanning evil empire]], Allura did not have any real option at the time. Not to mention AllThereInTheManual confirming that the peer who got kicked out for discipline issues was already 18 at the start of the series.
218* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'':
219** Red Fountain is a paramilitary school that trains boys to be BadassNormal soldiers on their home planets starting at 16. Military schools for high school age children are Truth In Television, but Red Fountain functions a lot more like an actual military force than like a school -- the Specialists undertake various combat missions (not drills or educational exercises) regularly.
220** Brandon is this trope twice over, as in addition to being a Red Fountain student he is Prince Sky's squire (implied to be more of a bodyguard than the typical valet definition) and because he and Sky knew one another before starting school, he was at most 15 when he became another 15-year-old's pseudo-bodyguard.
221* ''WesternAnimation/{{Witch}}'':
222** [[BadassNormal Caleb]] is the leader of the rebellion at 15-years-old.
223** ''W.I.T.C.H.'' themselves, with Will celebrating her thirteenth birthday in an early episode and Hay Lin being the youngest at twelve (presumably). It probably helps they get ElementalPowers as well as an OlderAlterEgo when they transform. Will's boyfriend Matt begins to train as a a warrior in Season 2, though this is his choice and Will is not happy about it. Some of Caleb's troops in Season 1 look even younger than him, but they're still effective in ambushes and combat.
224* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'':
225** This gets {{lampshade|Hanging}}d when the team is the black ops for the Justice League, where the oldest of them is 16 and the youngest is 13. An exasperated Mr. Twister brings this up after he [[CurbStompBattle curb stomps]] them when Robin protests that they aren't children.
226--->''"Objectively, you are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing."''
227** Later discussed in the episode "Agendas". With the League discovering that [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] is only ten]], they begin debating whether to boot him out of the Justice League. Batman says he knew all along, and it has no impact.
228--->'''Wonder Woman:''' I shouldn't be surprised, since you indoctrinated Robin into crime-fighting at the ripe old age of nine.\
229'''Batman:''' Robin ''needed'' to help bring the man who murdered his family to justice.\
230'''Wonder Woman:''' So he could turn out like you?\
231'''Batman:''' So that he ''wouldn't''.
232** By Season 2, the story has started to edge into the "tragic" sub-category, as the child heroes have to confront the death and trauma that comes from their job.
233[[/folder]]
234
235[[folder:Real Life]]
236* Ancient Sparta is one of the most infamous examples, with boys as young as 7 entering a formalized and brutal training system known as ''agoge''. Although actual combat duties didn’t start until years later, this arguably produced the toughest soldiers in the Greek world.
237* Creator/AudieMurphy enlisted in the US Army at the age of 17. By the time he established himself as one of ''the'' most decorated soldier of UsefulNotes/WorldWar2 he wasn't even old enough to vote.
238* Calvin Graham, one of the many underage enlistees who served in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and became a bit of a celebrity figure in his time (and underage enlistees were often made to run extra miles and lug extra loads in the TrainingFromHell). Unfortunately, due to the US government policy he was not able to get veteran benefits. Despite that, his ship, the ''South Dakota'', was one of the most feared ships in the Pacific Front.
239* Galusha Pennypacker of Pennsylvania was a 16-year-old sergeant in 1861, a 17-year-old major months later -- and twenty when promoted to Brigadier General in 1865 (he was instrumental in the capture of Fort Fisher and was also awarded the Medal of Honor). He was still too young to vote at the time.[[note]]The voting age was 21 until 1971.[[/note]]
240* John Lincoln Clem (born John Joseph Klem) ran away from home to join the Union army at age nine. Both recruiters he saw rejected him for obvious reasons but he tagged along with the 22nd Michigan anyway and made himself useful so the 22nd eventually sort of adopted him as a mascot and drummer boy, with officers chipping in to pay him a soldier's wage of $13 per month. He was allowed to enlist officially two years later. He served at the Battle of Chickamauga, where he is said to have ridden an artillery caisson to the front and wielded a musket trimmed to his size. In the course of a Union retreat, he shot a Confederate colonel who had demanded his surrender (although there is some debate as to the accuracy of this story), and was later promoted to sergeant, making him the youngest non-commissioned officer in the US army. In October 1863, Clem was captured in Georgia by Confederate cavalry while detailed as a train guard. The Confederate soldiers confiscated his uniform which reportedly upset him terribly—including his cap which had three bullet holes in it. He was included in a prisoner exchange a short time later, but the Confederate newspapers used his age and celebrity status to show "what sore straits the Yankees are driven, when they have to send their babes out to fight us." After participating with the Army of the Cumberland in many other battles, serving as a mounted orderly, he was discharged in September 1864. Clem was wounded in combat twice during the war. After his discharge he went back to school, graduated high school in 1870, and re-joined the army the following year. He stayed in the army until he retired at the age of sixty-four.
241* {{The Middle Ages}}: The training of a [[KnightInShiningArmor knight]] usually began at the age of seven (7), and it was claimed ''after twelve, the boy is fit only for a priest''. When a [[KidSamurai young nobleboy]] turned 14, he was expected to serve his master on the battlefield as a squire. Around age 20, he would serve as a full-fledged man-at-arms. It's noteworthy, though, that while training did begin at seven, the first years were generally spent under the tutelage of the wife of the knight the boy would eventually serve, where the boy was taught things such as proper etiquette and conduct, chess, music and other societal skills. They weren't expected to actually fight in battle until reaching squirehood unless the fight came to them, for the practical reason that most children that age wouldn't have the strength to make a meaningful contribution in the battle line anyway.
242** Most feudal systems with a warrior-aristocrat caste, such as Japan's samurai and India's rajputs were raised in a similar manner.
243* Several conquering kings (or wannabe conquerors/kings) were [[YoungConqueror merely boys]] when they led their armies into war. Examples include UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat of Macedonia, [[UsefulNotes/CarolusRex Charles XII]] of Sweden, Edward, the Black Prince, of England, Olaf the Holy and his younger brother Harald Hardrada, and many others.
244* Patrick Finn enlisted in the [[SemperFi United States Marine Corps Reserve]] in 1947 on a 3 year enlistment at 15 years old by fudging his age, although he did not see any combat until he was over 18 since World War II had just concluded. He re-enlisted when his initial enlistment ended due to having worn out his uniform and was unable to pay the $92 fee to have it replaced. Shortly after his re-enlistment, UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar broke out and he was deployed there in November 1950 and fought in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. By age 19 he was a veteran of one of the most brutal battles of the entire war, and was evacuated to Hawaii for medical treatment and spent the remainder of the war on military police duty there. He tells his story [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waBL6G-U-bQ here]].
245[[/folder]]
246
247!!Examples of Just Plain Tragic Type:
248
249[[folder:Music]]
250%%* Noodle from Music/Gorillaz is one of these.
251* The song "Little Weapon" by Music/LupeFiasco is about child soldiers, but also video games.
252%% * Music/{{Rasputina}}'s "Child Soldier Rebellion".
253* Music/{{Nightwish|Band}}'s "Planet Hell" is about the hellish lives child soldiers live.
254* Finnish military march ''Sotilaspoika'' (Soldier Boy). The lyrics imply [[MilitaryBrat his father was a child soldier]] too, and [[ValuesDissonance when he makes 15]] he too [[NewMeat will enlist]].
255* Creator/BillyConnolly's "Sergeant, Where's Mine?" has the line "Whit dae ye dae wi' a gun in your hand, when ye're facin' a hundred-odd weans?"
256* Eric Panic's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFveaI22Nl0 "Soldat de Plomb ou d'argent"]] is about children abducted and conscripted.
257[[/folder]]
258
259[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
260* The game "Broken Rooms" has a world called 'The Unvisible' which has been invaded by monsters that are invisible -- and cause severe psychic trauma -- to adults. Only certain adults can see the monsters, so the average age for soldiers is 8-12. Big Science has designed assault weapons with low kickback and painted them in neon colors to appeal to the children, who are trained in combat tactics from the time they can walk.
261* The Battlefront Miniatures game ''TabletopGame/FlamesofWar'' includes the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" whose average enlisted soldier was 17 or younger and drawn from the ranks of the Hitler Youth, hence the nickname. The game also depicts child soldiers in the ranks of the Hitler Youth during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, armed (as they were in real life) with Panzerfaust anti-tank rockets.
262* The RPG ''Grey Ranks'' depicts child soldiers (aged 15-17) during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.
263* Turns up several times in the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' universe, particularly in the [[AllThereInTheManual supporting materials]]. The defence of Hive Hellsreach during the Second Battle for Armageddon is one of the more poignant examples.
264--> Evacuees will be restricted to those below the age of seven (plus one parent/guardian) and those above the age of ninety. Regrettably, there are not enough places for everyone, so each person eligible for evacuation will be assigned a number. [...] If you are not eligible for evacuation you will be immediately assigned to a hive defence unit -- details of where to report will follow this announcement.
265[[/folder]]
266
267[[folder:Theatre]]
268* ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' features Gavroche, who tags along with the student revolutionaries (who are themselves implied in several songs to be at ''most'' in their early 20s) and [[spoiler:manages to take 2 bullets while collecting ammunition for the students before he is fatally shot in the head]].
269* The Wole Soyinka play ''Travel Club and Boy Soldier'' is about a military coup in an unspecified third-world nation, and the "Commandant" who's leading the whole thing is, well, the titular boy soldier. He's a teenager when the takeover happens, but he's been in the army for years by that point.
270[[/folder]]
271
272[[folder:Video Games]]
273* Booker from ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' fought in the battle of Wounded Knee despite being only 16 at the time. Worst still, since he was a corporal by that point, he must have joined the army several years earlier at minimum. The horrors of participating in the massacre would influence Booker greatly in his adult years, turning him into an alcoholic thug in the best possible timeline [[spoiler: and a genocidal zealot in the worst.]]
274* In ''VideoGame/BrothersInArms'': Hell's Highway it is implied that [[spoiler:Frankie]] is under 18. He dies.
275* Some Angolan child soldiers appear during the first level of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'', being trained by Cubans to fight in the civil war against the American-allied UNITA. Mercifully, they only appear in scripted sequences and you don't fight them.
276* ''Franchise/DragonAge'': The Antivan Crows prefer to recruit orphans for training, though it is unclear whether they are actually employed in assassinations. In any case, many of them die during training, and those that make it out alive are usually completely detached from their emotions or conventional morality.
277* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'' features a few missions where the enemy soldiers are child conscripts. Naturally, Caim, being the murderous nutcase that he is, viciously slaughters them all, much to the dismay of his more level-headed comrades. On the other hand, Caim's dragon bond-creature doesn't seem to care.
278-->'''Angelus:''' Soldiers are soldiers!
279** [[DysfunctionJunction Particularly the pedophile, though the child-eating cannibal is pretty ecstatic at the fresh food.]] One of your comrades is an eternal child forced to do a lot of killing, including [[spoiler:his own sister]], and who is ultimately forced to make [[spoiler:a HeroicSacrifice that doesn't even kill him, but leaves him stranded alone in a timeless void incapable of even achieving the peace of death]]. It's safe to say Drakengard ''revels'' in this trope, [[GainaxEnding especially when the Abominations show up.]]
280** In the game is a mission where most of the foes are the normal faceless adults you've been used to fighting throughout the game, except for a small squad of child conscripts. You can ignore them easily enough, but if you want one of the unlockable weapons during this mission, you have to hunt them down. And since getting all the endings in Drakengard requires every single weapon, you're forced to do this.
281* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':
282** You can talk to a [[RetiredBadass Retired NCR Ranger]] with a broken leg in Novac. If you ask him why his leg is broken, he'll say that it was because the Legion sent children as suicide bombers against him and his squad, knowing they'd hesitate to shoot.
283** If you go to the Legion fort, you can find little boys training to be full-on legionaries. It's horrifically implied that those children are expected to enter combat very soon, what with the battle against the NCR over Hoover Dam on the horizon. Keep in mind that, in the NCR, troopers can sign up to join the active military at 16, and they still consider Legion troops abnormally young. Chief Hanlon says that any legionary who survives 10 years is considered an exceptional veteran, as many, ''[[WeHaveReserves many]]'' die long before then ("life expectancy isn't long in the Legion; you live ten years in Caesar's army, you're a force to be reckoned with"). [[FridgeHorror That means that]] many of the lower-ranking recruit legionaries you gun down in droves [[TeensAreMonsters probably aren't very old at all]].
284** In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', as you're walking around The Prydwen, the flagship of Elder Maxson's chapter of The Brotherhood of Steel, you might happen upon some Squires -- children (although you only encounter young boys in this case) who are training to become high-ranking officers once they become older. They spout the typical propaganda, tell you how much they want to make Elder Maxson proud, the whole nine yards. Although they're not yet allowed to go on dangerous missions along with the adults, they are involved in labor and field operations. Danse, who (at least before [[spoiler: the quest Blind Betrayal]]) is probably the most diehard loyalist on the ship, admits that he doesn't like the idea of young kids, who can't be older than twelve at the most just by looking at them, engaging in warfare like this, but what Maxson says goes. If you align yourself with The Institute or The Railroad, one of your biggest missions is to blow up The Prydwen out of the sky, thereby erasing The Brotherhood's base of operations and taking out many enemy combatants to your cause -- and unfortunately, since you have no way of evacuating anyone off beforehand, that means the kids die too.
285* ''VideoGame/FearAndHungerTermina'': Levi was conscripted into the army when he was just 13, and was once sent on a SuicideMission commanding soldiers even younger than him. The whole mess has caused him to become a traumatized AddledAddict.
286* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
287** Since Celes Chere from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has the rank of general at age of 18, it is safe to say that this trope applies to her.
288** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' is a {{deconstruction}} of this trope. Despite being rather quirky, all of the protagonists except one are members of an elite fighting force trained from the age of 5, and also have their childhood memories erased by the special equipment they use in combat. Early on, it's made quite clear that inexperience and youthfulness significantly screw up their jobs and lives. [[spoiler:Seifer breaks the commander's orders and later betrays everybody out of pure ego; Quistis suddenly feels sorry for yelling at Rinoa and abandons her post; Irvine suddenly becomes doubtful of his sniper skill (he's actually more caught up over the idea of assassinating his adoptive mother)]]; Selphie breaks down crying from the destruction of her old school; and Squall, while the most professional, is pretty much the TroubledButCute trope incarnated. There's also Zell, who is easily set off by being insulted and who often has trouble keeping his mouth shut, letting key info slip.
289** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyType0'' the PowerCrystal of the Fiefdom of Rubrum only grants the power of magic to the young and as the population ages, their skill with magic wanes. The protagonists are teenage students of a combination WizardingSchool and MilitaryAcademy that is drafted to fight in the war.
290** In ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia Final Fantasy 012: Duodecim]]'', [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII Vaan]], [[MythologyGag possibly in reference to the orphaned friends he had in his own youth in the slums of Rabanastre]], views the fact that the young [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII Onion Knight]] is also part of the Conflict of the Gods as being a tragedy (despite the fact that the latter is very capable of holding his own, to the point that everyone else on the team ignores his age and sees him as a worthy peer), and so ends up inadvertently patronizing him for his youth. Onion Knight desperately wishes that Vaan would treat him as someone worthy of respect until he realizes that it ''is'' Vaan's way of doing just that: Vaan never tries to stop him from fighting, after all.
291* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' games usually play this for drama. The younger members often have some tragic backstory that forces them into war.
292** A few examples: Amelia, Ross, and Franz from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' all have a MissingMom. The latter two suffer from varying degrees of DisappearedDad. Amelia's mom was kidnapped by bandits, [[FridgeHorror whatever that may lead to]] ([[spoiler:though, if you support Amelia with Duessel, we learn that her mom got better]]). Ross's mom got sick and died, and his father, who had left them to join the army, retired to raise his son. Franz's mother got sick and died as well, his father, a knight, died fighting bandits. We also have Colm and Neimi. Neimi was raised by her grandfather, and when he died, Colm was the only other person she had. Naturally, those two are the fastest support in the game, usually able to get to A level by the 8th chapter.
293** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' has students of the Officers' Academy of Fodlan, some as young as 15, being taken into combat to fight against bandits and other threats as part of their training. Sothis, who's uncomfortable with this, grants Byleth the ability to turn back time in order to protect their students. Dimitri and Felix were around 15 when they suppressed a rebellion in their kingdom two years prior to the start of the game, and neither one is in good mental health afterwards, as Felix has become dour and obsessed with becoming stronger following the death of his brother prior to the rebellion, while Dimitri is struggling to keep his own sanity [[spoiler:and ultimately fails (unless the player goes on the Azure Moon route, in which case his sanity can be at least partially salvaged).]]
294* ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon F.E.A.R.]]'' has [[PsychicPowers psychic commmando]] Paxton Fettel, as well as the player character, the Point Man. Though grown by the events of the game, both were trained from birth. Fettel in particular killed people when he was only ten, [[spoiler: though not in combat, and it wasn't entirely his fault...]]
295** The psychological and emotional ramifications are explored in third game. Essentially, they're both scared children running from something far more powerful than them and either becoming obsessed with that (or similar) power or lashing out mindlessly in fear.
296** The Point Man was entered into stasis at around 16, and taken out and trained when he was physically in his late 20s. It's hinted (but never made clear) that he [[FridgeHorror might still be a child mentally]].
297* The main playable cast of ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel'' are self-inflicted versions of this. With the Berman Imperial Army's invasion of their home and abduction of their families for forced labor, the kids turn to commandeering a [[TankGoodness mysterious giant tank]] known as the Taranis for a chance at getting them back. While the kids do happen to be [[StrongAndSkilled competent]] and [[{{Determinator}} resolute]] enough to qualify for the precociously talented type, the game's WarIsHell theming highlights how they can still get hurt and depressed as a result of this constant fighting, along with how the game infamously has a mechanic where one of them can be [[{{Permadeath}} sacrificed]] to [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the Soul Cannon]] to ensure that the rest survive.
298** One of the children, Britz, is an example of this twice over, having been conscripted into the Berman Army at a young age following his father's execution for treason. After doing some grunt work for the army for a few years (and likely witnessing first-hand the atrocities they committed), Britz ends up [[DefectorFromDecadence defecting]] from them through helping a prisoner-- Sheena, another one of the playable children-- escape from being subjected to cruel experimentation.
299** Lore revelations in [[VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel2 the second game]] all but state that [[spoiler:the Taranis was ''intentionally designed'' to make use of child soldiers as its crew. Crusade, the organization that created the Taranis and Belenos thousands of years before, also created many [[ArtificialHuman hybrid]] children to act as pilots for them-- and so intent were they on using these hybrids that the Soul Cannon itself can ''only'' be powered by a child's life force. All of these hybrids barring one lucky survivor either died from Crusade's constant experiments or were outright killed on the battlefield. That [[SarcasmMode lucky survivor]], Jihl, was then promptly forced upon the Taranis for his usefulness as a renewable source of Soul Cannon energy. [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds He didn't take it well.]]]]
300* The Spartan-II and III SuperSoldiers from the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series started as this. The [=IIs=] were abducted from their homes by the shady Office of Naval Intelligence and replaced by flash clones, who would [[CloneDegeneration begin to break down]] shortly afterwards, neatly covering ONI's tracks. The [=IIIs=] on the other hand were orphans of war that were actually ''recruited'' by ONI with the promise of avenging their families. The Spartan-[=Is=], formerly known as the Orion Project, and the Spartan-[=IVs=] were consenting adults with prior service history in the UNSC, however.
301** The worst part about the Spartan-[=IIs=] was that they weren't even engineered to fight the Covenant, but rather ''Human Insurrectionists.'' The Covenant just so happened to show up shortly before the Spartan-[=IIs=] first received their iconic MJOLNIR powered armor. Knowing this, its not hard to understand why ONI never intended for the very existence of the Spartans to go public in the first place.
302* In ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'', some of the logbooks imply that the Tasen draft soldiers as soon as they're old enough to hold a rifle. The diary writing Tasen soldier and her girlfriend are among those. This is somewhat justified since [[spoiler:the Komato have hunted the Tasen to the brink of extinction.]] While the titular character's younger brother is, at most, a teenager, he doesn't qualify because he is simply MissionControl.
303* EmotionlessGirl Leona from ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' started this way, after [[spoiler:[[SelfMadeOrphan killing her own parents]] under Goenitz's MoreThanMindControl]] and being adopted by ColonelBadass Heidern, [[spoiler:who had lost his daughter and wife]].
304* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
305** Subtly implied to be the case if Shepard has the Colonist Background. We are never given the details precisely of ''how'' they survived the Batarian raid on Mindoir on their 16th birthday, which wiped out their entire family. Judging from other first-hand descriptions, the raid is implied to have been a bloodbath, meaning that it's very likely that Shepard had to pick up a weapon and do a ''lot'' of [[TookALevelInBadass growing up that day.]]
306** Turians are said to have a life cycle similar to humans' but are also known to conscript ''every'' able-bodied young person into the military at only fifteen years of age. The psychological ramifications of subjecting teenagers to military life and warfare en masse are left unexplored (but maybe that explains Garrus and [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope Saren]]). Though it is worth noting that not only does outright warfare happen rarely and that the Turians work more like a militarized police for most of the galaxy, its mentioned that Turians are militarized on such a cultural level that prior to their unification the populations of captured cities were moved out of the city itself and into camps because otherwise there would be such rebellion that the city would be effectively burned down by the populace. Conscription of teens who are probably raised to think of it as a rite of passage into the space police is a little different than most child soldiers.
307* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
308%%** This is the BackStory of Frank Jaeger (aka Grey Fox) and [[spoiler:Raiden]]. They may have been expert killers, but they were also massive psychological wrecks too.
309** The Beauty & Beast Corps that Snake fights in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' are all child soldiers who were horribly traumatized in their childhood. For example, Laughing Octopus was forced to laugh while she killed people, despite the fact that she found it horrifying, and so she cackles like a hyena all through her boss battle. At the end, she confesses, "I'm not really laughing..."
310** Big Boss's final plan, outlined in ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'', was to rescue war orphans and train them as soldiers, then feed them onto the battlefield to perpetuate an endless cycle of warfare.
311** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' has the player actually battle child soldiers at select points, although killing one will result in an instant NonStandardGameOver and one very angry Miller. One mission has Snake come face to face with a group of child soldiers he had been contracted to kill, but instead fakes their deaths and takes them back to Mother Base. Only then Snake intend to have them trained as his own soldiers instead. Thankfully Miller and Ocelot are having none of that, with Miller making it clear how largely unable they are to fight before stating that they'll educate the kids and give them a chance to live normal lives.
312--->'''Kaz''': We've expanded our housing. They'll have their own quarters. ''Separate'' from ours, '''won't''' be counted as staff.\
313'''Snake''': So what, we're running a daycare now?\
314'''Kaz''': They'll learn how to read and write; do basic jobs.\
315'''Snake''': A chance at a real life... just not from behind a gun.\
316'''Kaz''': Being behind a gun is what we do, Boss. There's no room for angels in our heaven.
317*** ''The Phantom Pain'' has two key characters, in particular, who are child soldiers. The first is Tretij Rebenok, a child with terrifying preternatural abilities; and "Eli", the "White Mamba" and leader of a group of child soldiers in the Congo. [[spoiler:They would go on to become Psycho Mantis and Liquid Snake, respectively. Both also have some major mental baggage that prevented them from being well-adjusted: Tretij burned down his hometown when his telepathic powers revealed his father's loathing towards him, while Eli suffers from CloneAngst due to being born of the Les Effants Terribles project.]]
318** Taken to a new [[NightmareFuel frightening]] level in ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''. [[spoiler:One of Desperado's long-running plans is the abduction of children in various war zones, installing their brains into artificial casings, and running AI programs ad infinitum to make them into killing machines. The brains are utterly terrified of their state, and one is even seen undulating in terror when Sundowner pulls it out and strokes it.]]
319*** During the fight with Monsoon, we see the extent of Raiden's psychological destruction at being a killing machine for so long. [[spoiler:Just as it seems Raiden is suffering a HeroicBSOD, he suddenly notes that he has felt a natural high from the killing. Suddenly, Monsoon realizes his speech has had the complete opposite effect he hoped for, and for the remainder of the battle, Raiden gains [[GainingTheWillToKill unlimited Ripper Mode]]]].
320* ''VideoGame/{{Rengoku}}'': A flashback in the second game tells that [[spoiler:Captain Gram]] was wiping blood during the Machine War when a normal kid would play with toys, and was considered a veteran at a very young age.
321* ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' is the ur-example of this trope in {{Eastern RPG}}s. The story begins with two friends who, during military training in a youth brigade, are attacked by their own country's forces dressed up as a neighboring nation's units, just to justify going to war with that nation. Many child soldiers such as Pohl are even killed (in his case, run through by Luca Blight). [[spoiler:Your childhood friend Nanami even tries on more than one occasion to get the protagonist to abandon the war, saying that they're just kids and they have no place in a war. Agreeing to run away with her leads into one of the most emotional scenes in the game, which is no small feat.]]
322* ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' has [[MurderInc Nether Gate]]; among their many, many atrocities is how they raise children to become career assassins. The player meets several members; some managed to escape its influence and have spent years recovering. Others... haven't.
323* ''VideoGame/{{Temtem}}'' is essentially ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' with a hint of DarkerAndEdgier, which the Kisiwa arc hammers in hard. The [[NebulousEvilOrganization Belsoto Clan]] invades the island of Kisiwa, creating a refugee crisis as the native [[{{Mons}} Temtem]] tamers try to hold them off and evacuate their families at the same time with many of them being the same age or not much older than the [[KidHero teenage player]], who ''also'' gets conscripted by LaResistance upon their arrival. It's stated that human and {{mon}} casualties are mounting on both sides, including [[spoiler: TheRival Max, who joined the opposite side and is [[DisneyVillainDeath seemingly killed]] [[WouldHurtAChild by General X]] for trying to desert.]]
324* In the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'', it's mentioned that some Jaeger Corps will start taking the children of existing members onto the battlefield as young as age nine. While this is never shown directly, there are three characters who were this in their background who at least somewhat grew up before entering the story: Randy (who is traumatized by his former mercenary life), Shirley (who is a crazy BloodKnight), and Fie (who never speaks much about her life as a mercenary, but is rather undersocialized and at a loss as to what to do with herself after the Corps let her go after her father's death).
325* ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' has a notable defiance of this trope: The Scarlet Chorus, a SocialDarwinist ArmyOfThievesAndWhores that [[JoinOrDie forcibly conscripts anyone it captures]] into itself and turns them into {{Slave Mook}}s sent to die ''en masse'', has amongst its very, ''very'' few actual rules one to [[WouldNotHurtAChild "Honour and Guard the Young"]]. Any child captured by the Chorus is safe from serving in combat or being exposed to [[RapePillageAndBurn their usual modus operandi]] until they reach the age of sixteen. Of course, since the Chorus either conscripted or killed their hometown, parents and support network, orphans created by the Chorus tend to become involuntary camp followers for the Chorus anyway, and by the time they're sixteen they've usually seen enough crap living with the Chorus that they're either a perfect fit for Chorus volunteers or ready to join the frontlines to end it all.
326* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': This is heavily implied to be the true nature of the Tenno. Apparently they were kids who ended up gaining strange powers due to [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace a void jump accident]]. What makes it worse? As is revealed in [[WhamEpisode The Second Dream,]] [[spoiler:they are ''still'' children, as they've been kept in stasis inside the ''moon''.]] The most horrifying part? [[spoiler:Originally, the Orokin were planning on killing them for ''existing'', and '''executed''' the Tenno's surrogate mother, Margulis, when she spoke out against this. The only reason they are still alive is because Ballas, an Orokin executor and Margulis' lover, managed to convince them that the Tenno could still be useful to them]].
327* All citizens of the Keves and Agnus nations of ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'' are initially formed with the bodies of ten-year-olds, and spend the entirety of their ten-year lifespans training for and engaging in war with one another. Those who are able to survive the full decade are honoured with returning their essences to their respective Queens, while those who die before that threshold need to be [[DueToTheDead manually sent on by Off-Seers]]. The protagonists are given the revelation that this is not a natural way of living, however, and, over the course of the game, can help to liberate both nations' colonies of the need to continue with it.
328[[/folder]]
329
330[[folder:Visual Novels]]
331* The protagonist of ''VisualNovel/{{Planetarian}}'' is a former child soldier, and has {{Flashback Nightmare}}s about the experience throughout the game.
332[[/folder]]
333
334[[folder:Webcomics]]
335* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', after a monster attacked Susan in Paris, two Immortals empowered her and Nanase, and instructed how to kill it. Later, in the Hammerchlorians storyline, it was revealed that these Immortals could have very easily gone to an experienced local magic-user instead. Susan... didn't take it well.
336* In ''[[Webcomic/KatushaGirlSoldierOfTheGreatPatrioticWar Katusha, Girl Soldier of the Great Patriotic War]]'', the title character is a 16-year-old Ukrainian girl in Kiev and has just graduated high school in 1941 when [[WorldWarII/WarInEuropeAndAfrica Germany launches Operation Barbarossa]]. After the Germans roll through Kiev, she ends up joining a band of partisans, along with her classmate Zhenya (also 16), her foster sister Milla (age uncertain), and her younger brother Vadim (age 15). Within a few months, all of them become quite handy with weapons and adept at killing. [[spoiler: By 1945, Katusha is serving in the Soviet Army, commanding a T-34 tank]].
337* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': Jagganoth served as a child soldier in a "Corpse Legion" of mercenaries during the Universal War. WordOfGod (and Mottom from an in-universe perspective) is that Jagganoth suffers from PTSD from the experience, [[spoiler:and the chapters of the "Tale of Yaun" which are implied to be Jagganoth's earliest experiences in the Corpse Legion are nothing short of horrific]].
338* ''Webcomic/RubysWorld'' uses this as the base of the conflict; the villains regularly use third world children as material for their cybernetic super-soldiers, and several of the young heroes have this blood-stained technology in their bodies.
339* Cloud's mom, Ye Thuza, from ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo'' was a Burmese rebel when she was only 16. While it hasn't been explored in much detail yet, it's certainly demonstrated a touch more seriously than the overall tone of the comic, [[DontExplainTheJoke apart from being half of a punchline in which Ye Thuza remarks she's "always been a rebel" while comparing her life as an American housewife to her years in Burma]].
340* ''Webcomic/{{Sarilho}}'': Mikhail and Nikita were sold into the military as kids.
341* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': The {{Magical Girl}}s that fight monsters every night are little more than this, since they have no chance to refuse the powers they get if they have the dream that grants them. Magical girls ''lose'' their powers if they reach age 18 and they are the '''only''' line of defense, as mundane weapons, including the almost conspicuously absent guns, ''do not work on the monsters.'' They ''do'' have the right to refuse to go on patrol (as Zoe is initially doing), but there is a stigma against magical girls who don't pull their own weight, and for some the incentives outweigh the risks. [[spoiler: Including the risk of death, as what happened to Sylvia, Gwen, and Sally.]] Undine acknowledges how messed up it to make teenage girls fight for the city, but says SomeoneHasToDoIt. Tessa [[spoiler:(who lost her powers healing Undine)]] is showing signs of being a ShellShockedVeteran. Heartful Punch suggests that the M.G.S.I. covers up certain pieces of information [[spoiler:such as what happens if a magical girl gets pregnant]] in order to downplay the 'child' part of this trope.
342-->'''HP''': Foundationists aren't the only ones who want to pretend we're these perfect warriors. The idea that we're just as flawed as anyone else... I don't think they like that. Because then we don't exist just to fight and die for them.
343* ''Webcomic/{{Paranatural}}'': It's not given a lot of focus, but Isabel is a twelve year-old spectral who regularly fights monsters on levels equaling or surpassing the adults in her grandfather's dojo. Technically all of the kids count, but Isabel is far and ahead the leader, and has been undergoing TrainingFromHell since she was at least ''six''. Her dad split from the family in protest over this (but notably didn't actually take Isabel with him...) and her mother is clearly uncomfortable with it but also too busy to really make a fight of it.
344
345[[/folder]]
346
347[[folder:Web Originals]]
348* In ''Literature/BraveNewWorldUniverse'' the fact that the Chosen, many of whom are young teens, were picked by strange forces to fight a war they don't understand hasn't really been brought up yet.
349** In the side story Ride The Whirlwind, the main character Ricki, and her former boyfriend Al, who are both 15-years-old, are working with a group that defends the Chosen against any threat frequently using murder to get their way. Ricki has had a [[spoiler:mental breakdown trying to get another character to kill her in a fight]]. Al has begun self harm, scraping his tongue until it bleeds trying to get the taste of other peoples blood out of his mouth.
350* ''Literature/{{Deviant}}'': While mostly averted by official organizations, many characters in the story are teenagers and arguably more like soldiers than heroes. Vanquish is the biggest example of this trope, a 16-year-old mercenary who can turn invisible.
351* ''WebVideo/DreamSMP'': In spite of the VagueAge issues with the characters, if we are going by the ages of the content-creators, three of them have participated in warfare of some sort at age 16-17.
352** {{Purple|IsPowerful}}d fought in the Manburg-Pogtopia War at age 17, though he, specifically, crosses over into Type 1 as well for his [[OneManArmy combat skill]] and mercenary work.
353** [[HeterosexualLifePartners Tommy and Tubbo]] fought in the L'Manburg War for Independence[[note]]They participated voluntarily, for the record, no one forced them into the War for Independence, though admittedly [[BigBad Dream]] was the one who declared war on the pacifistic city-state in the first place[[/note]], the Manburg-Pogtopia War, and the Doomsday War afterward, mainly at age 16 (though Tubbo had turned 17 by the Doomsday War).
354* The children in WebOriginal/TheInnocent. Justified, as the war is [[KidsVersusAdults between children and adults.]] The children end up winning the war. The reason for the war to happen in the first place is that the children are forced to work by the adults, and the children want to set themselves free from the adults.
355* In [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/art/Madgie-what-did-you-do-XIX-Mercenary-321179030 Madgie, what did you? XIX]], the children aren't given much of a choice in whether or not they want to but it is put that they have to fight. That, and their guardians, the ones that lead them, have would't put them up to it if they didn't have to.
356* While Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale's Tamika Flynn is also justifiably listed under the 'ridiculously talented' heading, she and her fellow soldiers also come under 'tragic' in [[spoiler: episode 46, "Parade Day", where they rebel against Strexcorp but get exactly no help from the adults, leading to them all being captured.]]
357[[/folder]]
358
359[[folder:Western Animation]]
360* ''WesternAnimation/BackToTheFuture'' had a story where Doc Brown's son Verne go to UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar and find themselves recruited as a Confederate Army drummer boy. As he is being trained by another boy, Jimmy, he is told that they are positioned in the front lines in the line of fire:
361-->'''Jules:''' But we're just kids!\
362'''Jimmy:''' ''[Bleakly]'' War makes you go up fast.
363* Played straight, then parodied in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', when Peter and his father-in-law Carter visit Africa (due to Carter attempting to retrieve the money he lost in a Nigerian Prince Scam). They come across a village that's being held hostage by a brutal warlord, who says he's going to pressgang all the boy children as child soldiers. Peter is understandably horrified, until the warlord starts using "hamburger" as a punchline after everything he says, like standup comedian Alonzo "Hamburger" Jones, which makes Peter forget the monstrousness of what he's witnessing.
364* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': In an alternate timeline where the Nazis won World War II, Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} is the leader of an underground resistance. The majority of his soldiers are noticeably smaller than him and appear to be children or teens, including alternate versions of [[Characters/RobinTimDrake Tim Drake]] and [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra Cain]]. Besides Batman himself, the only ones who are definitely adults are [[Characters/NightwingDickGrayson Dick Grayson]] and [[ComicBook/{{Oracle}} Barbara Gordon]], who are in their early twenties at the oldest and have likely been fighting with him for years.
365* ''WesternAnimation/{{Munro}}'' is a satirical animated short, based on a story by Jules Feiffer, about a 4-year-old boy who receives a draft notice and gets inducted into the U.S. Army, much to his distress.
366* In the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E25TheCutieRemarkPart1 Season 5]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 finale]] of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', [[SugarBowl of all shows]], the Crystal Empire BadFuture has foals being recruited for the war against Sombra.
367* [[Characters/TheOwlHouseTheGoldenGuard Hunter the Golden Guard]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' is a highly trained soldier raised in a militaristic cult, and serves as TheDragon to Emperor Belos at just 16 years old. Being Belos's nephew, having no other surviving family, and believing that he doesn't have a future outside of the Emperor's Coven due to his [[FictionalDisability lack of magic]], Hunter was drafted into scout training at a very young age, isolated from the outside world, and ConditionedToAcceptHorror (among other things, he fondly recalls being dropped on the top of a mountain with a bunch of other trainees and seeing who would make it to the bottom alive). This, on top of being subjected to parentification, {{gaslighting}} and regular physical and psychological abuse at the hands of [[AbusiveParents Belos]], has left Hunter's emotional and social growth horribly stunted. Underneath the veneer of haughtiness, he's a kind, creative, and deeply anxious boy who just wants to be a normal teenager, but never got the chance to be [[spoiler:until he got trapped in the human realm in Season 3]]. Made even worse after the reveal that [[spoiler:Hunter is actually the latest in a long line of Grimwalkers, {{Expendable Clone}}s created specifically to be the Golden Guard and discarded as soon as they show the slightest signs of disloyalty or disobedience.]]
368* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbStarWars'' has counterparts of the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' characters working for both the Rebellion and the Empire. While the implications aren't explored for Candace, Buford and Baljeet as Stormtroopers, it's played straight for the Firestar Girls, the equivalent of [[ScoutOut the Fireside Girls.]]
369-->'''Gretchen''': We need you, the odds are stacked against us. The Empire has everything, a Death Star, highly-trained troops, Darth Vader. And we're just a ragtag bunch of undertrained good-intentioned Rebels. And to be perfectly honest, Isabella, we're kids. We are actual children, and they're letting us fly fighters. That's how hopeless the situation actually is.
370* The Daughters of Aku from ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' absolutely qualify; at the age of 17 to 18, approximately, they're sent out to kill the title character, having learned from [[AbusiveParents their mother]] and her [[ReligionOfEvil cult]] literally [[ObliviousToLove nothing]] but [[TheSpartanWay athletics, stealth, combat skills]], and presumably the worship of Aku. [[spoiler:Being Aku's actual daughters also puts them into the "precocious" category.]]
371* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', the Empire has a training program that recruits teenagers to be trained into new Stormtroopers, and subjected to a harsh training regiment. The dark part however is that the trainers report any recruits who are suspected as force sensitive to the Inquisitors, and whatever happens to them is unknown.
372
373[[/folder]]
374
375[[folder:Real Life]]
376* A disturbing number of conflicts in RealLife have drawn children into them. Worse, it still happens, especially with the more renegade military forces of the world. Even by historical standards children who should have been considered far too young for service have throughout history been forced into real combat situations.
377* The NGO War Child estimates that there are 250,000 child soldiers in the world today.
378* The CIA world factbook's "Manpower fit for military service" starts at age 16. International Law requires that conscription can't start until age 18[[note]]This isn't a case of ValuesDissonance, but rather an accurate estimation by the CIA: in a civil war or other conflict, international law isn't carefully adhered to. The CIA is estimating the amount of ''capable'' fighters that would be available in a war of desperation, not how many fighters would ''legally'' be available[[/note]].
379** For the purposes of how many people killed as "collateral damage" by U.S. drone strikes will be counted as civilian casualties, [[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html?_r=1&hp the U.S. government considers every "military-age male" to be an enemy combatant.]][[note]]Unless they find explicit evidence of the dead person's innocence later on -- which they will be looking for very carefully, promise.[[/note]] According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child -- which the U.S. signed, but never ratified -- this should mean males over the age of 15. But for practical purposes of who to target with the drone strikes in the first place, this is decided by the [[https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/07/how-drone-pilots-talk/ drone pilots, who seem to think that it means any male in "double digits".]]
380* [[LaResistance Resistance movements]] often feature child soldiers, given that the adults fit for military service have for the most part been killed, captured, or otherwise neutralized by the invading army. During the Armenian Genocide the ''Armenian Boy Scouts'' ''as an organization'' saw signficant combat action (although they were officially utilized in support roles such as hospital staff). Polish scouts and other children fought in all three major battles of Warsaw during WWII.
381** Two of the most famous child soldiers are twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, who founded the Karen rebel group "God's Army" in Myanmar when they were nine.
382* At least a third of the Union Army in the American Civil War (as many as a million troops) were seventeen or younger. Boys as young as thirteen fought in combat (especially under the Confederacy), as opposed to drummer boys who were technically noncombatants.
383* The Virginia Military Institute corps of cadets, some no older than fourteen, fought at the Battle of New Market in 1864. Of 264 present, ten were killed and 42 wounded.
384* In the days of black powder and line infantry, drummer boys, many only 11-years-old, some younger, stood in the front rank, armed only with their musical instruments as the men around them fought.
385** The 'musics' who survived the battle also doubled as stretcher-bearers, carrying the wounded to the filthy and disease-ridden field hospitals, where [[MeatgrinderSurgery amputation and cauterization]] ''[[MeatgrinderSurgery without anesthesia]]'' were often the only treatment available to the wounded. Although not normally a combat role, it was most certainly a traumatic one.
386** In those same days there were also powder monkeys, boys of the same age who transported gun powder on ships.
387** The British Army ended the practice of sending pre-pubescent boys into battle after the slaughter of Isandlwana in 1879 when the boys were not only killed but their bodies desecrated -- like those of their elder comrades in arms.
388* The Germans recruited young boys as "Flak-Helfer" during the second World War, assistant AA crews, who didn't see much combat and if they did it consisted of shooting at specs in the sky. They alternated between going to school and helping with AA guns until they were 18, at which point they could join the ranks. Being properly trained in etiquette, ranks and all the other boring stuff, they usually made for very fine soldiers during training, had high morale and little reason to object to orders.
389** And then there was the Volkssturm...every male who could hold a rifle was drafted. Regardless of age. There was [[GallowsHumor an ironic nickname]] for the Volkssturm: "Gulash". Because it consisted of old meat and fresh vegetables...
390** The last filmed footage of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler show him awarding Iron Crosses to child soldiers in the ruins of Berlin.
391** Speaking of Nazis, the 12th Waffen SS division "Hitlerjugend" was formed of teens from the Hitler Youth recruited into the SS directly. They were trained viciously, turning these darker boy scout equivalents into hardened soldiers. They were the only units in 1944 to be described as both [[BloodKnight "voluntary"]] and [[TeensAreMonsters "enthusiastic".]]
392* The Italian ''Ragazzi del '99'' ("Boys of 1899") that fought in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI: after the devastating defeat at Caporetto, the Italian army restored its numerical superiority by drafting the boys born in 1899, that at the time (1917-1918) were 17-years-old. [[GodzillaThreshold This is openly acknowledged as a desperation move]], and these child soldiers are still honoured by having streets, squares, parks and (allegedly) [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the 99 Flake ice cream]] named after them.
393** The ''Ragazzi del '99'' and the other Italian soldiers first drafted during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI are an example of the Italian commander-in-chief Luigi Cadorna trying to correct the inadequate equipment of the Italian Army with a combination of [[WeHaveReserves superior numbers]] and training: the boys were drafted months before their eighteenth birthday, but spent the time between the draft and their eighteenth birthday training in the new trench warfare, reaching the front with superior skills than the new drafts of the Austro-Hungarian Army. After Caporetto, however, every soldier had to be sent to the frontline, resulting in Cadorna ordering to ''immediately'' deploy the almost three hundred thousands already trained while the rest of them was drafted. It was Cadorna's last order before being removed, and allowed the Italians to regroup and fight back, their first combat experience being reinforcing the First and Fourth Armies on the Grappa Massif and the northern course of the Piave river to stop the Austro-Hungarian and German offensive.
394* UsefulNotes/ImperialRussia had the cantonists, who were the children of the soldiers; in 1827, Nicholas 1st decided Jews and other minorities should be subjected to draft, starting to 12, [[AssimilationAcademy so as to make them good Russian Orthodoxs]]; they would be sent in cantonists' batallions, where they would be subjected to brutal training and forced conversion until their 18, when their 25 years term of service would begin.
395* The Soviets also utilized children during the Second World War, with some of them becoming affectionally called "Sons of the Regiment". While they are mostly errand boys, a few children served as reconnaissance. One such soldier, named Sergei Aleshkov, six or eight years of age, was an example: he lost his family during a German anti-partisan raid, and was forced to flee into the forest until Soviet soldiers found him starving and half-dead. The commander of the unit decided to take him in and adopt him as his own son, believing he would be better fed and clothed with his unit. Sergei was even present in the Battle of Stalingrad was wounded by shrapnel; later in the war, he saved the regimental commander and his adoptive father from the rubble. After the war, Aleshkov was sent to a cadet school and became a lawyer later in life.
396* Janissaries were drafted from Christian children by the UsefulNotes/OttomanEmpire. There were exceptions however, since adult war prisoners could be inducted into the corps such as UsefulNotes/{{Skanderbeg}} (who was 18-years-old when he joined them), but children were preferred because their loyalty easily assured than adults (considering that Skanderbeg deserted the Ottomans and became a thorn on their side for years, they might had a point). By the time of their disbandment, they were not even slaves anymore, but a bloated and corrupt institution passed down in a hereditary manner that undermined the empire by killing or deposing any sultan that threatened their status.
397* The subject of ''A Long Way Gone: Memoirs Of A Boy Soldier'', by Ishmael Beah. Beah was forced to join a military war at the age of 13, after his village was destroyed during the civil war in Sierra Leone.
398* 'Black Jack' Jean Schramme, a mercenary active in the Congo wars of TheSixties, believed the best age for a soldier was thirteen to fifteen, because they obeyed orders more readily. Whenever he wanted more 'recruits', he just pulled up his truck at a local school and invited the children for a joyride.
399* Tragically the case during the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheTripleAlliance. Near the end of what had been a HopelessWar for Paraguay, Francisco López (the ruler of Paraguay and something of a GlorySeeker) had children as young as ''nine'' dragged into the army, as well as elderly men and wounded soldiers who were in no condition to be fighting. Most of these children were killed during the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Acosta_Nu Battle of Acosta Ñu]]. As a side note, this is a war where so many of Paraguay's male population died ([[WarIsHell 95% by some estimates]]) at the end that it resulted in a bona-fide population crisis (it was so bad the Roman Catholic Church ''[[ScrewTheRulesItsTheApocalypse lifted its ban on polygamy]]'') and the nation nearly ceased to exist altogether.
400* Fairly common on the Iranian (and Iraqi) side during the UsefulNotes/IranIraqWar, where teenagers as young as 14 were enlisted into the Army to partake in human wave attacks. Some critics to the Iranian government suggest that they were given "Plastic Keys"[[note]]Certain sources indicate them to be keys of Chinese origin, other sources prime them to be religious prayer books[[/note]] and sent straight into minefields, but some Iranian veterans and historians discredit this claim to be Iraqi propaganda. Regardless, many young soldiers died within the conflict, with the average age of Iranian soldiers being 23.
401** One particular story circulated during the war was the suicide of a 14-year-old Iranian soldier who attempted to repel an Iraqi tank column with a grenade belt -- which like many other stories, were used by the government to rally counter-attacks against the invading iraqis.
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