History Main / FormerRegimePersonnel

* Xenia Onatopp in ''GoldenEye''.

* The {{Metal Gear Solid}} series loves this trope, as the emotional motivations of soldiers is one of the series' main motifs, with many of the series' villains categorizing soldiers as people who need war, basically deducing that were there to be World Peace, people like them would create conflict just to have a purpose. Sergei Gurlukovich and Revolver Ocelot are both ex-Spetznaz, and Big Boss himself temporarily becomes a mercenary for hire after leaving the United Stated in Peace Walker.

* ColonelBadass Sergei Vladimir is a former Red Army colonel who serves as DragonInChief to Ozwell E. Spencer, and as the ''de facto'' BigBad of ''ResidentEvilUmbrellaChronicles''.

** Happened again after WWII, with the added distastefulness of lots of Nazis finding work with their former enemies. Gestapo personnel, German scientists, and other potential assets were recruited by both sides in the ColdWar, and Nazi soldiers worked throughout Europe as anti-communist activists (with varying levels of violence and government support). A fair number also made their way to other places with communist threats, and one (Wehrmacht[[hottip:*:So technically not a Nazi, although his sympathies did lie in that general area]] Special Operations chief [[ColonelBadass Colonel]] Otto Skorzeny) trained various [[ArabIsraeliConflict Arab]] armies for a while (they eventually ditched him in favor of Soviets, and then Americans in the case of post-Camp David Egypt).

** Happened again after WWII, with the added distastefulness of lots of Nazis finding work with their former enemies. Gestapo personnel, German scientists, and other potential assets were recruited by both sides in the ColdWar, and Nazi soldiers worked throughout Europe as anti-communist activists (with varying levels of violence and government support).

** Happened again after WWII, with the added distastefulness of lots of Nazis finding work with their former enemies. Gestapo personnel and other intelligence assets were recruited by both sides in TheColdWar, and Nazi soldiers worked throughout Europe as anti-communist activists (with varying levels of violence and government support).

So, they frequently become HiredGuns. An aversion of TheThermidor, in which case they'd all get new jobs in the new regime like nothing had changed.

* ''{{Monster}}'' takes place in post-unification Germany, and has some ex-members of secret [[EastGermany GDR]] organizations.

* Some are seen in the [[RuthlessForeignGangsters East European mob]] in ''{{Sopranos}}''.

* [[spoiler:Simon and Chief Chef of Russian Sushi]] in ''{{Durarara}}'' were both part of the KGB before the Soviet Union fell, after which they joined TheMafiya together. As of now, they're both hiding from the organization in Japan and one of them has become a major {{Atoner}}.

* After [[WarOnTerror Baghdad fell to the Coalition]], the interim government fired all Baath Party-related military and civilian personnel and barred them from participating. Since being part of the party was the only real way of advancing through the ranks during the Saddam era, many people had joined up simply to survive, have a decent income or help their communities without necessarily supporting Saddam. The firing of the civilian personnel left Iraq without vital utilities (water and electricity) that wouldn't be restored to ''pre-Saddam levels'' until 2008 and the firing of the military/police personnel caused anarchy to break out within hours of the Coalition taking control. A lot of these people also took their expertise to the insurgency, thus bolstering its ranks with knowledge and equipment. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice Job Breaking It Coalition]].

* After the World War One ceasefire and the signing of Treaty of Versaillies, the German army was restricted to just 100,000 men, as well as the disbandment of much of the navy and the entire airforce. Many ex-soliders joined right-wing organizations, blaming the then current government (a left-wing one), for the signing of the Treaty, which also took away a lot of German land. Much of the Nazi Party was made up of this trope - Hitler was a decorated corporal.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* The mercenary companies available for hire in ''{{Starcraft}} II: Wings of Liberty'' include several elite forces from the defeated Terran Confederacy, one from the defeated United Earth Directorate invasion force, and one that went rogue from the ''current'' (but threatened) iron-fisted dictatorship, the Dominion. the rest are typical thugs, pirates and adventure capitalists.

* After [[WarOnTerror Baghdad fell to the Coalition]], the interim government fired all Baath Party-related military and civilian personnel and barred them from participating. Since being part of the party was the only real way of advancing through the ranks during the Saddam era, many people had joined up simply to survive, have a decent income or help their communnities without necessarily supporting Saddam. The firing of the civilian personnel left Iraq without vital utilities (water and electricity) that wouldn't be restored to ''pre-Saddam levels'' until 2008 and the firing of the military/police personnel caused anarchy to break out within hours of the Coalition taking control. A lot of these people also took their expertise to the insurgency, thus bolstering its ranks with knowledge and equipment. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice Job Breaking It Coalition]].

* After [[WarOnTerror Baghdad fell to the Coalition]], the interim government fired all Baath Party-related military and civilian personnel and barred them from participating. Since being part of the party was the only real way of advancing through the ranks during the Saddam era, many people had joined up simply to survive, have a decent income or help their communnities without necessarily supporting Saddam. The firing of the civilian personnel left Iraq without vital utilities (water and electricity) that wouldn't be restored to ''pre-Saddam levels'' until 2008. A lot of these people also took their expertise to the insurgency, thus bolstering its ranks with knowledge and equipment. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice Job Breaking It Coalition]].

* After [[WarOnTerror Baghdad fell to the Coalition]], the interim government fired all Baath Party-related military and civilian personnel and barred them from participating. Since being part of the party was the only real way of advancing through the ranks during the Saddam era, many people had joined up simply to survive, have a decent income or help their communnities without necessarily supporting Saddam. The firing of the civilian personnel left Iraq without vital utilities (water and electricity) that wouldn't be restored to ''pre-Saddam levels'' until 2008. It also bolstered the insurgency as many former military members took their training and equipment to the insurgents. {{Nice Job Breaking It Hero}}

* In the ''AceCombat'' series, a ''lot'' of Belkan officers and military personnel emigrated to other countries after their defeat in the Belkan War and an aggressive demilitarization of Belka by the Allies. Notable examples: Ashley Bernitz (BonusBoss in ''Zero'' mission 10) leads the Osean Grabacr Squadron in ''[=AC5=]''; ditto Michael Heimeroth for Yuktobanian Ofnir Squadron; Peter N. "Huckebein" Beagle [[spoiler:a.k.a. Wolfgang "Pops" Buchner]] became mechanic in Osea (though he defected before the war ended); it has been speculated that [[http://acecombat.wikia.com/wiki/Erich_Klinsmann Erich Klinsmann]] (from the same mission) is actually Yellow 13 from ''[=AC04=]'' and Axel Reichert (mission 5) is Scarface One from ''[=AC2=]''; Lorenz Riedel (mission boss in mission 17, Soldier path) designed the Estovakian {{Airborne Aircraft Carrier}}s in ''[=AC6=]''; also, it's safe to assume that Belkan emigrants developed the Osean ''Arkbird'' laser, based on Excalibur, and the Yuktobanian ''Scinfaxi''-class submarines in ''[=AC5=]''. SoYeah, the Belkan War is one of the two seminal events of ''AC'' world history, along with the [[DeathFromAbove Ulysses meteorite]].

* when the treaty of versailles forced germany to cut its army drastically a lot of ex soldiers became the freicorps

* In the ''AceCombat'' series, a ''lot'' of Belkan officers and military personnel emigrated to other countries after their defeat in the Belkan War and an aggressive demilitarization of Belka by the Allies. Notable examples: Ashley Bernitz (BonusBoss in ''Zero'' mission 10) leads the Osean Grabacr Squadron in ''[=AC5=]''; ditto Michael Heimeroth for Yuktobanian Ofnir Squadron; it has been speculated that [[http://acecombat.wikia.com/wiki/Erich_Klinsmann Erich Klinsmann]] (from the same mission) is actually Yellow 13 from ''[=AC04=]'' and Axel Reichert (mission 5) is Scarface One from ''[=AC2=]''; Lorenz Riedel (mission boss in mission 17, Soldier path) designed the Estovakian {{Airborne Aircraft Carrier}}s in ''[=AC6=]''; also, it's safe to assume that Belkan emigrants developed the Osean ''Arkbird'' laser, based on Excalibur, and the Yuktobanian ''Scinfaxi''-class submarines in ''[=AC5=]''. SoYeah, the Belkan War is one of the two seminal events of ''AC'' world history, along with the [[DeathFromAbove Ulysses meteorite]].