History Main / EnsignNewbie

* Agent Jan Suk in ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' is a police-force version. Nobody seems to take the poor guy seriously, though he brings it upon himself sometimes. It probably also doesn't help his case that one of the biggest reasons for joining the force is his love of cop shows.
* And Officer Chouno from the same author's ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'', who has the added handicap of being compared to his legendary detective grandfather. Both are even introduced the same way, throwing up upon seeing a grisly murder scene.
* ''Anime/IrresponsibleCaptainTylor'': Justy Ueki Tylor is put in command of the ''Soyokaze'' a few days after joining the military. HilarityEnsues.

* In ''Manga/TheFiveStarStories'' Mishalu Ha Lonn plays a funny variation of ''General'' Newbie -- by her age and experience she's better qualified for the original trope, but she's a [[SuperSoldier headdliner]] and a Mirage Knight -- a member of an arguably most elite of Joker's knightly orders, and thus officially entitled to commands much, much higher than her experience suggests. She would've normally been slowly eased into her position, hadn't one of the most pressing crises in AKD's history -- Emperor's Rescue Mission -- [[YouAreInCommandNow happened on her watch]].

* Several appear in ''Creator/GarthEnnis'' comics, especially his WWII stories. Ken Harding in ''Happy Valley'' might be the most traditional example, being a pilot fresh out of flight school (although to be fair he was the best pupil in his class) assigned to fly for a veteran crew just a few missions away form reaching their quota and going home. They like him, but are (unjustifiably, it turns out) afraid he might get them killed so close to the end of their tours. The stammering Lieutenant Popham from ''Tankies'' is another example, being an aide from the command center sent to find lost unit needed to HoldTheLine. Upon finding them mostly wiped out, he drags the survivors into a CrazyEnoughToWork ambush.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''Fanfic/ATrekkiesTale'', MarySue is "Only 15-and-a-half years old"

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%%[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
%%* Captain Shang in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}''.
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* ''Film/LocalSkirmish'': Lt. Alexei has assumed command of a squad in December of 1943, on the Eastern Front of World War II. He's fresh out of officer training and has been serving for only three days, and has never seen a German. This makes it hard for him to project authority with his men, grizzled veterans who have been fighting the Nazis for 2 1/2 years.

* Lt. Wolfe from ''Film/{{Platoon}}''. He basically has no clue and always depends on his trusty [=NCOs=] (Elias and Barnes). He did begun to [[TookALevelInBadass grow a pair]] but sadly died by the end of the movie. This does happen most of the time when an officer shows up, the experienced [=NCOs=] show the Lt. what's what before they take over command.
* In ''Film/StarTrek2009'', James T. Kirk is promoted [[spoiler: virtually straight from (disgraced) cadet.]]

* Bromhead in ''Film/{{Zulu}}''. In RealLife, both he and Lieutenant Chard were actually fairly experienced officers.
* Lieutenant von Witzland in ''Film/{{Stalingrad|1993}}''. He even lampshades it by noting that everyone needs to start somewhere. Needless to say, his idealism is severely tested by the vicious fighting in Stalingrad.
* Lt. Ring, the platoon commander in ''Film/HeartbreakRidge'', was just out of ROTC when Gunny Hightower came to the command. He innocently asks Hightower, a decorated combat veteran and one of the few living Congressional Medal of Honor awardees, what college Hightower attended, Hightower tells him "Heartbreak Ridge." Unsurprisingly, Ring is unfamiliar with that "school". Ring is portrayed sympathetically since he was another victim of the dysfunction within the company. His superior officers deliberately sidelined him and did not let him lead his platoon and his previous platoon sergeant was lazy, preferred Ring out of the way and did not give him proper advice. Under Hightower's tutelage Ring quickly turns into an effective leader and gains the respect of his men.

* ''Film/BattleLosAngeles'': Lieutenant Martinez has just graduated from Officer Training. In his first engagement he freezes up, unable to act, and when the casevac helicopter is shot down he goes into a HeroicBSOD. It isn't until Nantz delivers a sharp, confidence-boosting lecture to him that he shapes up. By the time of the highway battle, he's confidently giving orders and deploying his men.
* ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'': John Harriman is the captain of the new ''Enterprise''. During a maiden voyage that's just for show, he faces an emergency and isn't prepared to improvise with a half-finished ship. He has to ask Captain Kirk for advise.

* ''Film/GoTellTheSpartans'': Lieutenant Hamilton isn't new to the army, but he's never seen combat before, and the fact that he's been passed over for promotion twice in a row isn't exactly encouraging. He's a fairly decent officer but is out of his depth in the jungles of Vietnam.

* George [=MacDonald=] Fraser's semiautobiographical ''Literature/McAuslan'' series is largely about this, from the point of view of the newbie officer.
-->''"Thirty total strangers are... wondering if he is a soft mark or a complete pig, or worse still, some kind of nut. When he realizes this he feels like telling them that he is, really, all right and on their side, but of course he can't. If he did, they would know for certain he was some kind of nut."''
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** Lt. Blouse from ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'' is a straight example at first; he's even repeatedly called a "rupert". There turns out to be a twist -- he's spent years in a desk job dealing with logistics and administration, but that experience allows him to understand the enemy's codes and on several occasions he turns out to be right, over [[SergeantRock Jackrum's]] objections. He can't actually ''fight'', but he certainly has potential as a commander; the only reason he was sent to a field command at all is because the Borogravian army has no-one else to send.
** The Ephebian captain during the Tsortean War in ''Literature/{{Eric}}'':
--->The captain was eighteen and fresh from the academy, where he had passed with flying colors in such subjects as Classical Tactics, Valedictory Odes and Military Grammar. The sergeant was fifty-five, and instead of an education he had spent about forty years attacking or being attacked by harpies, humans, cyclopes, furies and horrible things on legs.
* Lieutenant Hal Slater of the [=CoDominium Marines=], in Jerry Pournelle's SF novel ''West of Honor''.
* ''Major'' Major Major Major in ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo''. Having been promoted directly from private to major by a computer, as a joke, then hurried along through cadet school by instructors who didn't want to deal with him, he's completely unqualified for his role as squadron commander and painfully aware of it. His solution is to avoid all his duties.

* In ''Literature/GardensOfTheMoon'', the first book in ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', fresh out of the military academy, Ganoes Paran gets assigned the rank of Lieutenant while stationed in Itko Kan. Thanks to keeping his cool during the aftermath of the massacre at the fishing village, he is noticed by Adjunct Lorn and made her personal aide and eventually Captain of the Bridgeburners, who are notorious for getting rid of captains they dislike in creative ways. They are not happy about getting assigned a newbie. He gets better at his job. Quickly.
* Like all military tropes, this is everywhere in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series. At one point, "training Ensign Newbie" is described, only slightly satirically and in almost as many words, as the primary job of senior noncoms.
** Prescott "Scotty" Tremaine starts out as a freshly-minted ensign. With the help of Horace Harkness, his own personal SergeantRock, he grows out of it.
** ''Shadow of Saganami'' in particular is about four midshipmen, squeaky-new and fresh from the Academy, who are learning how to be ''ensigns''. In a mild divergence from trope the majority of their instruction comes from officers, such as Lt. Hearns, with the wise old senior [=NCOs=] only making cameos. Hearns herself also qualifies, as she's incredibly junior to be their Officer Candidate Training Officer, having only a couple of years on them.
** There's also a novella, "Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington," which features the titular character's own larval stage as an officer. [[spoiler: At the climax, she briefly takes control of the ship after the senior staff are incapacitated.]]
** "The Service of the Sword" has Abigail Hearns's middie cruise, with her giving orders to the Marine [=NCO=] under her command to prepare for contingencies that he thinks will never happen, and him thinking she's a bit of an idiot newbie... and then it turns out she's right. There's a reason she's Honor's protégé.
** And in ''Mission of Honor'', Lt. Hearns has to send another green middie off as head of a SAR team of a wrecked ship. She gives him instructions on how to behave, ending with
--->'''Hearns:''' But that's why I've attached the [ship's senior petty officer] to your group. I wouldn't go so far as saying I'm sending him along to 'look after you,' but I ''will'' say I expect you to remember he's been in the Navy since ''you'' were five T-years old. Use his experience accordingly.
* Kimball Kinnison is this in ''Galactic Patrol'', which kicks off the main arc of the ''Lensman'' series. He owes his first command (WAY above his seniority) to the Patrol's doctrine for dealing with insoluble problems to be to hand it to the best man for the job and then, if he fails, to give it to the top graduate of the current class of Lensmen. To his credit, when he finally solves it and is given an even bigger promotion, he's the first to admit how much he owes his success to everyone around him (and it isn't false modesty).

* Commonly features in Creator/HarryTurtledove works; for example, in the [[Literature/Timeline191 TL-191]] series, Sergeant Michael Pound (a {{Tuckerization}} of fellow author Creator/SMStirling) repeatedly has to successively shepherd several inexperienced second lieutenants in command of a tank unit. He's quite bemused when he eventually gets one who's both gung-ho and competent to start with.
* In P.C. Hodgell's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath'' novel ''To Ride a Rathorn'', Jame is in this situation; as the officer cadet with perhaps the least military knowledge in the whole academy, she's made Master Ten of all 90-odd of her House's cadets because she's the Highlord's sister. She has a ''lot'' of learning to do, especially given how much of a loner she is, unused to having to think of others.

%%* Junior Commissar Nahum Ludd from ''Literature/GauntsGhosts''.
* Averted by the Federation in ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'', where all Mobile Infantry officer candidates are picked from soldiers already in the Mobile Infantry. Still worth noting, when Rico makes his first drop in command of a platoon, at which point he's made at least a dozen combat drops, his CO still assigns the company "field first" Sergeant as his platoon Sergeant to keep an eye on him. {{Justified}} as Rico was actually still a cadet with a temporary third lieutenant commission (a rank given to candidates during their field experience deployment so they can fit in the chain of command and taken back as soon as they are back to the military academy) and the officer who was supposed to ''actually'' be in charge of the platoon and show him the ropes was ill, pushing the CO to assign him "the best sergeant in the Fleet" instead. Also worth noting that, as noted above, the "third lieutenants" are put directly under an experienced lieutenant to learn the ropes, and once the cadets graduate as second lieutenants they're advised to listen to their platoon sergeants' advice, as they're much more experienced and know what to do.
* Literature/PrinceRoger starts as TheLoad. Then he says he should probably be called "Colonel [=MacClintock=]" at military councils and the head of his bodyguard realizes he's Ensign Newbie instead.
%%* Ferraby and Lockhart in ''Literature/TheCruelSea''.
* Literature/{{Sharpe}} is often assigned Ensign Newbies in the hope that his insane levels of badass will rub off on them. [[RunningGag If they don't end up unceremoniously dying]] they usually do, with Jack Bullen, Robert Knowles, Harry Price and Peter D'Alembord all [[TookALevelInBadass taking levels in badass]]. However, Cornwall is not above subverting this -- in ''Sharpe's Tiger'' we have Ensign Fitzgerald, already a badass and a FatherToHisMen, [[spoiler:who is then brutally murdered by Sergeant Hakeswill]]. ''Sharpe's Escape'' gives us the hopeless, alcoholic, braying, idiotic UpperClassTwit Cornelius Slingsby, who Sharpe hates and at one point even tries to murder. Then there's the Prince of Orange in ''Sharpe's Waterloo'', who is a (spectacularly useless) ''[[GeneralFailure General Newbie]]''.
* Creator/DaleBrown plays with this through Hal Briggs who, although a Major that already has Army and Air Force background, is given command of [[SemperFi Marine]]-comprised commando unit Madcap Magician.
* Lt. di'Ka Jarret is this at the start of ''[[Literature/ConfederationOfValor Valor's Choice]]''. Thanks to having an experienced [[SergeantRock Staff Sergeant]] (the main character) helping him, he grows out of it by the end of the book.
* In ''[[Literature/TortallUniverse Lady Knight]]'' Kel is put in charge of an ''entire'' refugee camp despite being an eighteen-year-old who just won her shield. He commanding officer justifies this with two reasons; 1, that her training with commander of the King's Own means she actually has the skills to do it and 2, that she cares enough about the common people that she'll actually try to help them. Nonetheless, a lot of people, including herself, doubt her ability to lead for this reason.
* Theon is considered one of these by the crew of the ''Sea Bitch'' in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', somewhat unfairly as he ''does'' have experience commanding men for Robb Stark in the early battles of the War of the Five Kings, [[DeliberateValuesDissonance but the way the Ironborn view things is very different from how the rest of Westeros does]].
* Early in the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' books, William Laurence is best described as this. Despite being an experienced Royal Navy captain before his [[FallingIntoTheCockpit abrupt transfer]] to the [[DragonRider Aerial Corps]], he needs considerable guidance from his subordinates where the fine points of airborne combat are concerned and has an uphill struggle to gain their loyalty in any case.
%%* Ensign Willie Keith in Creator/HermanWouk's ''Literature/TheCaineMutiny''. Likewise, Roland Keefer, Tom Keefer's younger brother.
* These are all over the place in the ''Literature/StarksWar'' series. Since a tour of duty for an officer is only six months, officers generally rotate out just as they're finally learning the ropes of their position, to be replaced by another newbie. On top of that, most of them don't realize that they're newbies who should be leaning on the experience of their veteran noncoms, and insist on their men following stupid orders rather than risk the unit being a few seconds behind schedule.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Wesley's only encounters with vampires thus far have been under "controlled circumstances"; basically, he's in over his head from the get-go.

%%* Captain Parmeter from ''Series/FTroop''.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek''
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''
*** [[CreatorsPet Wesley Crusher]] was put in charge of a science team in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', as part of his training to see if he was Starfleet Material. He gets some guff from one of the team members who seems to question Wesley's competence (albeit it's implied that he was instructed to do so as part of the training), but once Wes starts acting like he's in command things work smoothly.
*** One early episode features the difficulty faced by those of low rank assuming command of the ship, when [=LaForge=], then merely a junior-grade Lieutenant and the ''helmsman'' (before his upgrade to badass engineer), has to take command of the ''Enterprise''. Cue all ''sorts'' of people thinking that they're better than he is, and how awful his decisions are, personified in the {{Jerkass}} Chief Engineer Logan.
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'':
*** The episode "Nightingale" had Ensign Harry Kim placed in charge of an alien spaceship. His typcial over-enthusiasm at being given command leads him to be a micro-manager who isn't much liked by his crew at first.
*** The episode "Twisted" features a lieutenant asking ''Ensign'' Kim what they are going to do. What makes Kim's situation with this so complicated is that, despite being an Ensign, he's still the Head of Operations and a member of the senior staff, which means he has a position of authority despite his rank. It's not the only ''Star Trek'' example where a senior staff member is outranked by someone not on the staff, but it's the most blatant.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
*** [[RedShirt Red Squad]] was on a training mission using a ''Defiant''-class vessel when all the senior staff were killed. The ranking cadet takes command, as is expected of him. Out of what is more selfishness than inexperience, he decides he's better off just keeping the ship and its crew and continuing the mission on behalf of his dead captain who he never reports as dead (he gives a half-assed justification, but it's clear he's just enjoying the ride). He does fairly well for a Newbie at the start, but near the end it shows off just how bad this trope can go. His entire crew dies. The worst part is only two people actually get the hint that he was incompetent, and only one from the start. Nog even comments that the cadet in charge may have been a good man, but he was a ''bad'' captain, since a good captain doesn't get his crew killed on a fool's errand.
*** Dr. Bashir's first assignment upon graduating Starfleet Medical was Deep Space Nine, and despite having been promoted to Lieutenant upon graduating as a Doctor from Starfleet Medical he was very much a greenhorn officer, as shown as he talks about being on the frontier "where the action is" instead of in some lab. Major Kira was not impressed. He pretty quickly proves that he knows what he's doing as a doctor but it takes him longer to figure out the whole "being a commissioned Starfleet officer" thing.
** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'':
*** Cadet Sylvia Tilly is promoted to Ensign at the end of Season 1 and then put in the position of Acting NumberTwo in Season 3. This leads to a {{deconstruction}} when the NewMeat is put up against a canny, experienced crime lord and does as well as you'd expect -- [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome poorly]].

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' has a few of these, since doctors automatically get a minimum rank of Captain. Unfortunately, this obligates them to take on the same duties as any Captain, whether or not they want to or have any idea what they're doing. This often leads to a case of HilarityEnsues.

* In ''Series/{{JAG}}'', both Bud Roberts and Harriet Simms quite literally start out as this.
* The relationship between newly-appointed Cabinet minister Jim Hacker and senior civil servant Sir Humphrey Appleby in early seasons of ''Series/YesMinister'' bears some strong parallels to this trope, even if it differs in many significant details.
* In the pilot of ''Series/StargateUniverse'', Colonel Young is incapacitated while coming aboard ''Destiny'', leaving Lieutenant Scott in command. Scott's not quite a rookie, but he's no more than two years out of the Academy, and he's never held any sort of command position before. He does well enough, and Young recovers anyway by the end of the pilot.
* 2nd Lt. Goldman is this at the start of ''Series/TourOfDuty''. He gains experience and maturity quickly over the course of the first season.

* ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' has our new recruit, Ichiro Ogami, put in charge of the [[AmazonBrigade Imperial Combat Revue, Flower Division]]. [[VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove Four games later]], his nephew Shinjiro Taiga is shipped off to America to lead the New York Combat Revue, Star Division. Then, [[VideoGame/SakuraWars2019 in the next game]], Seijuro Kamiyama leads a newly revived Imperial Combat Revue.
* ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngel'' subverts this twice [[ShoutOut in reference to the above]]. In the first three games, Tact Meyers is put in charge of the Moon Angel Troupe. However, he ''has'' been in service for a short while beforehand.
** ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngelII'' pulls the old bait and switch by having the protagonist actually placed ''in'' the Rune Angel Troupe. However, he only leads the squad (and even then under Tact's direction) until LadyOfWar Lily arrives on scene.

* Welkin Gunther of ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'', who earned his squad's respect by making good on a BadassBoast.
** Kurt Irving is a slightly more justifiable example: he's not so much given command as he is ReassignedToAntarctica. He is a [[TheAce top Lanseal graduate]], and [[TheConspiracy one thing and another]] lead him to being stuck with a bunch of CannonFodder known as [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores The Nameless]].
* ''VideoGame/WingCommander Prophecy'' has Lance R. Casey, the player character. Fresh out of the Academy, he received the highest marks in his class (and the most demerits), guaranteeing him a spot as leader of Alpha Wing throughout the game. His friend "Maestro" takes up the [[TheGeneralsDaughter Consulate General's Daughter]] part.
** To a lesser extent, Christopher Blair qualifies for this trope, at the start of the series. Before your first mission you're told that it's standard policy to put the newbie in command of a mission, so they can gain experience with a more experienced pilot as their wingman.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'': Squall leading his team of rookies (with some more experienced members not joining until later)? Okay. Squall becoming [[spoiler: leader of Balamb Garden when he still hasn't technically even completed his first mission]]? Um...
** Bonus points for Squall explicitly stating that he didn't want to be leader, everyone just ignores him on that (then again, in FFVIII wielding a gunblade gives you instant badass status).

* The main character of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' was a member of Fereldan's chapter of the Grey Wardens for a grand total of one day before they became the de-facto leader of the order in the country. Mostly because [[YouAreInCommandNow all but two of the Grey Wardens were brutally slaughtered]] a few hours after the [[PlayerCharacter PC]] was formally inducted. The other survivor is technically the player's senior, but he practically begs the player to take command instead of him. Partially because he's still a rookie himself (he'd only been a Warden for six months at the time), but mostly because he doesn't like the idea of holding the responsibility of leadership (which is ironic, since [[spoiler:he's the now-late King Cailan's [[HiddenBackupPrince illegitimate half-brother]], giving him a possible claim to the throne]]). Subverted a bit in the case of Aeducan, the Dwarf Noble who started the game being given nominal command of the entire dwarven army. This is however, a hereditary title, not an actual command. A {{DLC}} takes place in an AlternateUniverse where the other guy becomes leader. It ends [[BadFuture badly]].

* Will becomes this in ''[[VideoGame/AdvanceWars Advance Wars: Days of Ruin]]'' after [[spoiler:Captain Brenner is killed]]. It's played ''darkly'' straight with the majority of their followers either not listening to or flat-out planning to mutiny against him, and the HeroicBSOD he's going through doesn't help his case at all. It takes a well-timed RousingSpeech and a truly epic BigDamnHeroes moment on his part to make his followers trust him fully.

* Ryder was previously a newly minted marine in the Alliance Navy, before s/he had to leave and join the Andromeda Initiative in ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda''. Then their father dies and passes the position of Human Pathfinder to him/her. Now a complete neophyte is given an advanced ship, a crew, and an [[BrainComputerInterface AI connected to their brain]]. The crew start out treating Ryder like the out of depth newbie s/he is - with not much respect. But as the Pathfinder accomplish more and more, the crew starts to respect him/her.

* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' most officers in Tagon's Toughs are seasoned veterans (mercs, you know, tend to be ex-military). But there are a few who got their positions for non-combat reasons and when suddenly forced to command find themselves over their heads, particularly Lieutenant Bunnigus (medic), Lieutenant Reynstein (lawyer), and Commander Andreyason (munitions), as Bunnigus admits [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-04-18 here]]. Though in the alternate timeline the chaplain handled [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-12-02 his first command]] fairly well.

* Lt. Wolfe from ''Film/{{Platoon}}''. He basically has no clue and always depends on his trusty [=NCOs=] (Elias and Barnes). He did begun to [[TookALevelInBadass grow a pair]] but sadly died by the end of the movie. [This does happen most of the time when an officer shows up, the experienced [=NCOs=] show the Lt. what's what before taking over command.

** In ''Literature/TheWarriorsApprentice'' Miles Vorkosigan toys with this trope. Yes he is a seventeen year old kid who ''washed out'' of his homeworld's military acadamy, but only one person aside from his original traveling companions (his [[PsychoSidekick bodyguard]] and [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend said bodyguard's daughter]]) even comes close to figuring the matter out when he surmises that he is a "Junior Officer in way over his head." The rest of what became the Dendarii Free Mercenary Company not only swallows his line about being a representative of some hotshot PrivateMilitaryContractors, but starts calling him [[FieldPromotion Admiral Naismith]].
** In ''Literature/TheVorGame'', after having graduated from the Imperial Military Academy and becoming an actual ensign, circumstances require Miles to once again don the mantle of Admiral Naismith. After having saved the Hegan Hub from a Cetagandan invasion, he spots another newly-minted ensign supervising a work party installing some new equipment on the Barrayaran's new flagship, and realizes that if he had just been able to follow orders, and do as he'd been told, that could have been him. He feels a little envious.