History Main / TheMenFirst

A [[AFatherToHisMen commanding officer]] insists that his men are the top priority. This is a rich source of conflict, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption as every commanding officer cares for a different group of men]]. The largest body generally takes overall priority, though a The Men First [[MoralMyopia approach by]] [[WeAreStrugglingTogether the smaller constituent units]] can lead to greater losses overall as per '[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons the Tragedy of the Commons]]'.

* Referenced in ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' during the second attack on the manor. After the outer defenses are breached, one of Pip's men says that in the movies, this is the traditional time for the captain to make a HeroicSacrifice so that his men can escape. Pip replies that there's no point: none of them are going to make it through the night alive no matter what they do. [[spoiler:Since only three of his men (two in the OVA) survive, Pip not being among them, he was probably right.]]
** Zigzagged earlier when Sir Penwood orders his men to evacuate, claiming that he would manage the post on his own. They laughingly brush him off, pointing out that he'd have ''no'' clue what he was doing, and instead stay to the end.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': [[ColonelBadass Roy Mustang]]. After suffering a massive stab wound and third-degree burns on top of it, he asks that an ambulance be called... for his wounded subordinate.
** He actually does this ''again'' at the end, when he is [[spoiler:rendered blind through no fault of his own, but offered the use of a philosopher's stone to heal his eyes]]. Mustang still insists that [[spoiler:the now crippled subordinate Havoc is treated first.]]
** Also Ling fully believes this, as he believes he cannot be a true leader without supporting his people.

* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'': On [[spoiler: Panchea]], David Sarif, upon seeing his loyal robotic killing machine come to save him, [[AFatherToHisMen insists that the wounded be rescued first.]]
** Extra points for being probably the ''only'' cyberpunk CEO to put his employees before himself.

** In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E1Aftermath Aftermath[[", the contrast between [[AntiHero Avon]] and [[BigBad Supreme Commander Servalan]] is shown when Servalan sends out a DistressCall after a major battle saying her own rescue is top priority, whereas Avon tells the Liberator's MasterComputer to prioritize the rescue of the other crewmembers first. When Servalan later offers a WeCanRuleTogether deal Avon is tempted, but wisely refuses an alliance with someone whose only loyalty is to herself.

* Commander Adama from ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|1978}}'' fits in this as well.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. Averted in "Nerve"; when a Peacekeeper base has a reactor meltdown, its commander is the first to head for a Prowler to escape (he's not the only one; Durka kills a junior officer and takes his uniform in an attempt to escape the destruction of the Zelbinion).
-->'''Chiana:''' But I thought the Commander was meant to be the last one to evacuate.
-->'''Commander Javio:''' It's funny; I believe just the opposite.
* Captain Kirk from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', being AFatherToHisMen, is always insistent on keeping them safe if possible. On a number of occasions[[note]]"The Squire of Gothos", "The Immunity Syndrome", "The Empath"[[/note]], he has wanted to pull a HeroicSacrifice (or even tried to do so) to ensure the well-being of his crew, and torturing ''them'' is generally a better strategy than torturing ''him''.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven''.
** In "Aftermath", the contrast between [[AntiHero Avon]] and [[BigBad Supreme Commander Servalan]] is shown when Servalan sends out a DistressCall after a major battle saying her own rescue is top priority, whereas Avon tells the Liberator's MasterComputer to prioritize the rescue of the other crewmembers first. When Servalan later offers a WeCanRuleTogether deal Avon is tempted, but wisely refuses an alliance with someone whose only loyalty is to herself.
** However in "Orbit", Avon is faced with a ColdEquation and seemingly decides to sacrifice Villa to save himself. (A better solution presents itself before it gets to the point where we find out if he would have actually gone through with it.) Crossing his own MoralEventHorizon is a sign of Avon's increasing SanitySlippage in the final season.

** Colonel Godsacre from the episode "Empress of Mars" attempts to negotiate a peace between the humans and the Ice Warriors, by offering Empress Iraxxa the right to execute him in exchange for her guaranteeing the safety of his men.

** All monarchs of Valdemar must be Heralds. Heralds put ''everyone'' ahead of themselves. The one exception is the Heir, who is DesignatedSurvivor when the King or Queen rides to war... and everyone understands that it's only because of Duty.

** Grand Duke Tremane in the ''Mage Storms'' trilogy does deeds that would get him executed to keep his stranded branch of the Empire's army alive, warm, and fed. He eventually earns so much respect that the ''locals of the place he was sent to conquer'' are willing to have him as King.

* Asha Greyjoy displays this a few times in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', such as insisting on their free passage home in return for [[spoiler:surrendering to Stannis]]. As a female captain in a very male-dominated society, she relies on her crew's fierce loyalty to her personally, and in turn is an (in [[BodyguardCrush some cases]] slightly [[OedipusComplex Oedipal]]) [[AFatherToHisMen Mother To Her Men]].

* [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in ''Fanfic/TheGreatestGeneration''. Putting the welfare and lives of your troops first and refusing to throw their lives away for nothing sounds noble at first, but doing so does not occur in a vacuum and has consequences. Admiral Shimada chose to withdraw his girls rather than sending them on an {{Honor| Before Reason}}able SenselessSacrifice of a SuicideMission. However, because said sacrifice was intended to buy time for the evacuating civilians, which he was expected to do, preserving his subordinates not only wins him no favors, but ends up with him being disgraced and hated both InUniverse and out.

* Much like ''The Greatest Generation'' above ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyInfiniteWarfare'' deconstructs this trope, albeit in a much more sympathetic way. Nick Reyes' inabilty to prioritize the mission over the lives of the people under his command and his attempts to minimize his side's casualties becomes a severe detriment and nearly costs them the war with the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Settlement Defense Front]]. The crux of Reyes' character arc is coming to terms with his responsibilities as captain and the fact that in war, sacrifices often have to be made and that you can't save everybody, culminating in the final mission after the ''Retribution'' crash lands on Mars; realizing there's no way everyone will make it back to Earth alive, he rallies what's left of the crew and leads them into what they all understand is a SuicideMission to destroy the SDF's shipyard. The result: Nearly everyone, [[TheHeroDies including Reyes]], [[HeroicSacrifice dies to make it happen]], and Salter is one of the only ''four'' survivors.

* [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in ''Fanfic/TheGreatestGeneration''. Putting the welfare and lives of your troops first and refusing to throw their lives away for nothing sounds noble at first, but doing so does not occur in a vacuum and has consequences. Admiral Shimada chose to withdraw his girls rather than sending them on an {{Honor| Before Reason}}able SenselessSacrifice of a SuicideMission. However, because said sacrifice was intended to buy time for the evacuating civilians, which he was expected to do so, preserving his subordinates not only wins him no favors, but ends up with him being disgraced and hated both InUniverse and out.

* Referenced in ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' during the second attack on the manor. After the outer defenses are breached, one of Pip's men says that in the movies, this is the traditional time for the captain to make a HeroicSacrifice so that his men can escape. Pip replies that there's no point: none of them are going to make it through the night alive no matter what they do. [[spoiler:Since only three of his men (Two in the OVA) survive, Pip not being among them, he was probably right.]]

* When the United States finally left Afghanistan in 2021, the very last man to leave was U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue.

* Graven Ashe from ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' does this for his loyal army of the Disfavoured. This is both his greatest strength, [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve as it is the source of his Archon power]] to [[HealingHands protect and heal his soldiers through his Aegis]], and his greatest weakness as he cares so much about his men that he is loathe to use them in military action: The reason he serves [[UltimateEvil Kyros]] in the first place is that Kyros used his army as hostages to make him JoinOrDie. [[spoiler:His Archon power is actually a literal case of the men first, as Ashe isn't so much 'healing' his soldiers as 'taking their wounds onto himself'. The Disfavoured rank-and-file are unaware of this caveat to his powers, and Ashe never tells them because [[UndyingLoyalty they would inevitably stop fighting if they knew they were hurting him]].]]

* In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Thud}}'', Vimes, recovering from the Summoning Dark, insists on seeing how his men are doing.

* Averted in Italian-Soviet film ''The Red Tent'' (1969). Umberto Nobile is the first to be evacuated from the survivors of the airship crash at the North Pole. The film deals with his guilt over this act, as he faces an imaginary court of colleagues involved in the disaster.

* In Creator/SandyMitchell's Literature/CiaphasCain novel ''Death or Glory'', Cain's first request when they connect with Imperial forces is for medical attention.
** In general, Cain always attempts to look out for wounded men, since this provides the dual advantage of looking like a good commander to his men and a good excuse to keep his head down in the middle of a firefight.
*** And so that he can avoid death by UnfriendlyFire, a very common fate for more traditional Commissars.
** Amberley's footnotes also point out that he follows this trope without even noticing. For example, one time a group of men swarm a tank ([[InsertGrenadeHere yes, like into melee range]]) and instead of using the anti-tank weapon he has and killing some of them, Cain runs off to save the tank's target directly.

** [[TheNeidermeyer Major]] [[JerkAss Frank]] [[EagleLand Burns]] sometimes get yelled by other characters for refusing to treat the most wounded first (or improperly setting up Triage) because the wounded weren't "the right type" (aka Not American)