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Author: kjnoren

Oct 22nd 2013 at 11:02:14 AM

Not sure about the tropability of this.

I think there are at least three different tropes here, really, and I don't think there is that much more than superficial similarity between them.

The first is an army where everyone has to start as enlisted, there are very few if any routes going straight to officer. Most conscript armies work like this. One might be set up for becoming a sergeant as a conscript, but you still have to do a year or two as a grunt before going to officer school. Examples of such systems are Israel and most likely Finland; Sweden used to have such a system before we quit conscription. There might have been volunteer armies that followed a similar system.

Fictional examples: Literature/StarshipTroopers

Then second is people who get promoted due to valour, showing leadership on the battlefield and so on (this is likely the first way to become an officer invented).

Fictional examples: Sheff Parker in ''[[Literature/TrailOfGlory 1824: The Arkansas War]]''

The third is when an army has two distinct recruitment "pools", for lack of a better word. It might be based on class, education (, or schools (like in USA nowadays). Eg, in many countries with an aristocracy becoming an officer was limited to the aristocracy. Those individual aristocrats might still have to start as simple privates (or troopers, or what have you), but they were expected to be promoted onto the officer track once they had gained some experience. A real-world example of this is the Swedish army of the 18th century. Then this trope would be likely not apply to them, but only those that were not expected to follow the officer path.

Fictional examples: Ginger Lewis in ''[[Literature/HonorHarrington]]''

Another way to look at this would be to go from the age of the new officer. If he or she is over a certain age, or have gained X years of prior military experience of the line, then it's this trope, otherwise not.