Basic Trope: A Jerkass military leader hated by his own men.
- Straight: Lt. Kilroy of A Company earns the scorn of his men for being a stuck-up thug.
- Exaggerated:
- Lt. Kilroy of A Company earns the scorn of his men for being a stuck-up thug whose idea of basic training is to drop his men into an actual warzone without much aid!
- Lt. Kilroy of A Company is such a blowhard Gung Holier Than Thou putz that the entire base, army and/or country hates his guts and when he gets killed by the enemy (or they finally decide to kill him, whatever comes first) they not only refuse to cover it up but instead they party.
- Downplayed: The men don't like Lt. Kilroy as much as the old Lt.
- Lt. Kilroy is a Jerkass and a Glory Hound, but he still fights alongside everyone, so he's not a coward.
- Justified:
- Lt. Kilroy's the only man qualified, or his placement in A Company is part of a Secret Test of Character by the high brass for the men.
- Lt. Kilroy's the best man qualified, even if he isn't a nice guy.
- Inverted: Lt. Kilroy of A Company is a nice guy, but his men are jerks.
- Subverted:
- Lt. Kilroy's actually a tough and fair Sergeant Rock
- The men are slackers who don't recognize sound discipline when they see it.
- Double Subverted:
- ...Who brags constantly about how A Company is going to make him famous.
- Even then, they can recognize an incompetent asshole of a leader when they see one and there's no way in Hell they are going to follow Kilroy's lead.
- Parodied: Lt. Kilroy is so tough and unfair that the entire A Company is slaughtered on its first mission.
- Zig Zagged: Lt. Kilroy switches from tough and fair to just plain tough each day.
- Averted: Lt. Kilroy is a good guy, no strings attached.
- Enforced:
- Lt. Kilroy is based on the author's experiences of being in the military, and his commander was quite sadistic and often relentlessly so.
- Lt. Kilroy is put in to contrast him with Lt. Rock, who is A Father to His Men and is generally the good side of military command, and needed somebody to balance him out.
- Lt. Kilroy is made to help deliver the message that War Is Hell, being not only a The Neidermeyer but also a General Ripper, to show bad sorts of military commanders in bad situations.
- Lampshaded: "If I ain't that tough maggots, You! Can! Never! Be! Real Men!."
- Invoked: The military high brass purposefully places Lt. Kilroy, the drunkard, illiterate thug "with an F in public relations" into A Company just to see the fur fly.
- Implied: An early scene sees A Company marching behind Lt. Kilroy, in immaculate uniforms and perfect drill motions, but every single soldier on the line is giving Kilroy's back a Death Glare. Kilroy, of course, is utterly oblivious and content in his leadership.
- Exploited: General Bligh waits until Lt. Kilroy has worked over the men for a little while in order to barge in and take over, expecting that showing just a tiny bit more compassion and common sense will be enough to win over the men without having to do much work.
- Defied: Lt. Kilroy is fragged once he makes his Neidermeyer tendencies known; or, he's humbled by the A Company and changes his ways.
- Discussed: "Does that guy expect to be followed with that attitude?!"
- Conversed: "I see the writer's a fan of Mutiny on the Bounty."
- Deconstructed:
- A Company is so sick of Lt. Kilroy and his tactics that they defect to the enemy.
- The troops hate Lt. Kilroy so much that they shoot him during the middle of a battle, and then blame the enemy.
- A Company eventually discovers that Lt. Kilroy was once a good man, but prolonged trauma during the war twisted him into the psychotic jerkass he is today.
- Reconstructed: Only to realize that while Kilroy was bad news, their new leader General Ripper is far worse. They quickly fall back into line with Kilroy.
Back to The Neidermeyer, you weak, worthless sacks of shit! This is my show!