History Main / JoinTheArmyTheySaid

[[caption-width-right:350:"Become an expert marksman" they said; "Impress your family back on Alderaan" they said.]]

** Has entered the realm of MemeticMutation: "[[http://imgur.com/mWpNgT3 Get Learned How To Make Stuff More Deader]]."

** "This is obviously making fun of our slogan, 'it's a dog's life -- man's life in the Army!"

* Billy Connolly's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk7T-NTUIeE Sergeant, Where's Mine?]]" savagely criticized the then-current British Army advertisments, from the perspective of a young man who'd believed them and found himself in the middle of UsefulNotes/TheTroubles.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1WGgSCO9k0 "Twa Recruitin' Sergeants"]], a traditional Scottish song popularised by Jeannie Robertson, takes a different tack. Maybe being a soldier isn't glamorous or fun, but it's got to be better than spending your entire life as a farm labourer.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RXfmLQejrg "The Recruiting Sergeant"]], an Irish rebel song from {{UsefulNotes/World War I}} (no relation to the above) is pretty much definitive from an Irish viewpoint -- that is, the narrator dismisses the blatantly false promises made by the (British) recruiting sergeant and instead turns the song into a recruitment ad for the upcoming fight for Irish independence.

* Various recruitment techniques are parodied on ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' in the Strong Bad Email [[http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail172.html more armies]].

* Parodied in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBWWwvxutM0 this video]], in which the Navy bases its entire recruitment spiel upon being everything the Army is not in a manner most awesome.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbStarWars:'' "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i_HL9PUVQ4 In the Empire]]" is supposed to just be a VillainSong where Candace explains why she became a Stormtrooper, but definitely seems to be leaning on this trope.

Military recruitment ads, appearing on TV or in print. There are two ways to go with these:

* One type tends to depict the military as [[WarIsGlorious far more glamorous than in real life]], and tends to downplay the danger of violent death. Of course, everyone already ''knows'' about that part...
* The other [[GoYeHeroesGoAndDie does not downplay the danger]] and may in fact emphasize the risks and harsh conditions that servicemembers endure. It instead asks you, [[DareToBeBadass are you badass enough to take it?]] [[IJustWantToBeBadass Do you want to be?]]

The trope name is a StockPhrase in its own right.

** At one point, Col. Potter is required to sell the idea of making military service a career to his senior officers. At this, draftees Hawkeye, B.J. and even Winchester all break out in derisive laughter at the idea and tease Houlihan and Father Mulcahy who are genuinely interested. Eventually, Hawkeye snarks at Col. Potter's pitch one too many times and the CO loses his temper, gives up and bawls out Hawkeye for his attitude.

** Taken UpToEleven in ''Marauders'', which has a catchy music video.

* Discussed in ''ComicBook/TheOrder'', where Milo Fields was a fourth-generation marine who grew disillusioned with the military after seeing how the Somali Civil War -- in which he and his platoon fought -- was turned into propaganda to convince impressionable kids to sign up for the war in Iraq.

* The [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20000612.html first]] ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary''. Appropriate really.

* The page image comes from an in-universe ''Franchise/StarWars'' book detailing propaganda through all three eras of the saga, including many recruitment posters for the Empire, Rebel Alliance(many made by [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Sabine Wren]]), First Order, and Resistance.

* [[http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/timelines/topics/rewards_for_military_service.htm An ancient Egyptian text]] described in detail how much serving in the ancient Egyptian army sucks; it was probably written to dissuade the scribe's pupils from going there rather than study and become scribes. It finishes with "Be a scribe, and be spared from soldiering!"

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbStarWars:'' "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEB5FlAI_2I In the Empire]]" is supposed to just be a VillainSong where Candace explains why she became a Stormtrooper, but definitely seems to be leaning on this trope.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'': The opening number speaks to how the crew of The Virginia Company's voyage to the new world was lured into doing so by the appeal of doing it "for [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal glory, God, and gold]]"...and the company itself. Of course, they aren't pleased when they find out the hard way that Virginia has no gold at all.

* While it isn't a military-themed movie, the first ''Film/MortalKombat'' film contains an example that definitely fits the spirit of the first version of this trope. When Johnny Cage starts learning just how strange and unusual Shang Tsung's tournament is, he says the following:

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Riley Finn (a Special Forces soldier tasked to The Initiative) said, referring to demon-hunting, "It's not just a job--" Buffy interrupted: "Right, it's an adventure." (That's actually the Navy's slogan, but I doubt Buffy bothers to discriminate.) The scene is meant to contrast Riley, who is a patriotic volunteer, with Buffy [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne who never had any choice in becoming the Slayer]].

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' Riley Finn (a Special Forces soldier tasked to The Initiative) said, referring to demon-hunting, "It's not just a job--" Buffy interrupted: "Right, it's an adventure."

* In the Pauly Shore vehicle "In the Army Now," Bones (Pauly Shore) convinces his friend Jack, to join the Army reserves after they get fired from the appliance store they worked at. Bones says that after basic training they should be part of the Water Purification Unit, saying they will be basically water boys, and won't see front line combat. As they celebrate the end of their training, they get called up to go to Chad, where a border dispute with Libya is about to turn into armed conflict. Jack then blames Bones for the fact they were thrust into an active war zone.

* In ''Film/SoloAStarWarsStory'', Han's plan to escape from Corellia involves joining the Imperial Navy to become a flight cadet. When he's about to do so near the beginning, he sees a recruitment video for the Empire's military that even features an upbeat, major chord of the Imperial March over footage of stormtroopers and Star Destroyers.

[[/folder]][[folder:Radio]]

* In ''LightNovel/YoujoSenki'', Tanya tries to defy this trope when she is tasked with creating an advertisement for a new battalion of mages that she is going to lead. Since Tanya doesn't want the job, she has the advertisement emphasize how miserable and horrific the detail will be in the hopes of deterring potential candidates. However what Tanya didn't take into account was that the military would instead see it as a DareToBeBadass advert and she gets absolutely flooded with requests from people to join her battalion.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}' opening number speaks to how the crew of The Virginia Company's voyage to the new world was lured into doing so by the appeal of doing it "for [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal glory, God, and gold]]"...and the company itself. Of course, they aren't pleased when they find out the hard way that Virginia has no gold at all.

--> What we can offer is our reality, training which leads to a job where YOU can make a REAL difference.

-->Would you risk your life for someone you don't even know? ''({{Beat}})'' We do.

--> ''Join a smuggling group,'' she thought darkly for about the fifth time since beginning her climb. ''Visit a side of the galaxy the tourists never see.''

---> Its a man's life in the British Dental Association!

-->I only said I was a pacifist!

-->''Now you remember what the draftman said\\

''Handgrenades flying over your head\\

-->Come rain or hail or wind or snow
-->I'm not going out to Flanders, oh
-->There's fighting in Dublin to be done
-->Let your sergeants and your commanders go
-->Let Englishmen fight English wars
-->It's nearly time they started-oh
-->I saluted the sergeant a very good night
-->And there and then we parted oh!

-->The good life was so elusive\\
Handouts, they got me down\\
I had to regain my self-respect,\\
so I got into camouflage...

-->God damn them all! I was told\\
We'd cruise the seas for American Gold,\\
We'd fire no guns, shed no tears...\\
Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier,\\
The last of Barrett's Privateers!

--> "Mrs. [=McGrath=]," the sergeant said,\\
"Would you like a soldier of your son Ted?\\
A scarlet coat and a big cocked hat,\\
Mrs. [=McGrath=] would you like that?"
* Music/IronMaiden's "These Colours Don't Run", which mixes PatrioticFervor lines evoking military ads with the band's usual WarIsHell approach.
-->Where you're going lies adventure\\
Others only dream of\\
Red and green light this is real\\
And so you go to war

--->'''Statler:''': "Take a cruise," you said. "See the world," you said. Now here we are stuck on the front of this stupid ship.\\

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'': Should he be in the party when you get [[spoiler: dropped into the Fade]], Iron Bull has this reaction to his second-in-command, Krem, talking him into joining. "Hey, Chief, let's join the Inquisition! Good fights for a good cause!"
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' tragically inverts this, as [[spoiler: Alphinaud realizes that he recruited an army that has eventually turned traitor and, with the corrupt Monitarists, has slain his friends and allies.]]
---> '''Alphinaud''': "Join the army, I told them. We'll defend Eorzea's people."

%%* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has "Aaaww Yeah" and "Actual experience may differ".

-->'''Skarr''': Join the military, my mother said! The military! Curse you mother! Curse you! Curse my luck!

* "Twa Recruitin' Sergeants", a traditional Scottish song popularised by Jeannie Robertson, takes a different tack. Maybe being a soldier isn't glamorous or fun, but it's got to be better than spending your entire life as a farm labourer.
* Music/ThePogues' cover of "The Recruiting Sergeant" (no relation to the above) is pretty much definitive from an Irish viewpoint -- that is, the narrator dismisses the blatantly false promises made by the (British) recruiting sergeant and instead turns the song into a recruitment ad for the upcoming fight for Irish independence.

** Music/GreatBigSea's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knxR-Q2VoBE setting update]] {{deconstruct|ion}}s this. [[spoiler: The new recruits all wind up getting killed in the battlefields of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.]]
* Music/ThePogues do a version of "The Recruiting Sergeant" that is pretty much definitive from an Irish viewpoint -- that is, the narrator dismisses the blatantly false promises made by the (British) recruiting sergeant and instead turns the song into a recruitment ad for the upcoming fight for Irish independence.

* ''Disney/{{Pocahontas}}' opening number speaks to how the crew of The Virginia Company's voyage to the new world was lured into doing so by the appeal of doing it "for [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal glory, God, and gold]]"...and the company itself. Of course, they aren't pleased when they find out the hard way that Virginia has no gold at all.

** Poked at in the novel ''Discworld/MenAtArms'' and all Watch novels afterwards (and some that weren't), with Detritus being a particularly enthusiastic, if [[{{Malaproper}} malapropism-prone]], evangelist of such slogans (as well as other military book/movie/TV cliches).
** Played straight in ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment''. The war is going so badly and has stripped such a large portion of the possible recruits from the population that not only is nobody joining up anymore, but the recruiters are only going through the motions. Things aren't helped by the fact that not enough of the men are coming back, and not enough of those that do come back is coming back.

** Lance Hunter quotes this line in Series/AgentsofSHIELD during a particularly difficult mission. Apparently SHIELD’s recruiters also like to lie.