History Main / TheMenFirst

* Lesser example, but during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, General George [=McClellan=] was known for putting the welfare of his troops above anything else, including ''attacking Robert E. Lee''. This caused [[UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln Lincoln]] a lot of consternation; after [=McClellan=] failed to pursue Lee's army after the bloody battle of Antietam, a move that almost certainly lengthened the war (And thus guaranteeing a greater death toll in it than if [=McClellan=] had the fortitude and initiative to fight more aggressively, especially in Antietam when the enemy's secret battle plans practically fell into his lap.), Lincoln fired him. A more well-known and successful general (in terms of actual victories) was Ulysses S. Grant; who was more of the WeHaveReserves mindset and often lost more men than Lee, though the Union was more able to replace losses than the Confederacy.
** The armies had very high death rates when they ''weren't'' fighting, owing to disease. Ending the war quickly saved lives that way.
** General Ulysses S. Grant had the WeHaveReserves attitude precisely because of his disdain for the whole war. He wanted it to end, and fast. Despite popular belief, he was far from an uncaring reserve expending butcher. Just ask [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Porter Horace Porter]].
** [=McClellan=]'s lack of strategy also led to one of Lincoln's best quotes ever: "My dear [=McClellan=], if you are not using the Army, [[DeadpanSnarker I should like to borrow it for a while"]]
** General Grant's reputation for having a WeHaveReserves mindset is mostly based on the Wilderness Campaign and is not really deserved. Grant was quite careful with his men, as the earlier western campaigns showed. When he had the real option of using more tactical finesse, such as during the Siege of Vicksburg, he could pull off great maneuvers that minimized casualties while winning spectacular victories. In the Wilderness, he was trying for a war of maneuver but General Lee wouldn't let him and is the one who turned it into a meat grinder.
*** While Grant did send more troops into harm's way than previous generals, the soldiers did not complain because Grant did something no previous general did: Grant kept them moving forward, never in retreat. Being constantly on the offensive towards Richmond improved morale because it made the troops feel like they were closer to ending the war. Grant also improved the supply lines to where by mid-1864 the Army of the Potomac had every need taken care of: food, clothes, shoes, clean sheets, high-grade rifles, and enough ammo for months, the works.
*** Apart from one cut-off regiment that was later found and extracted relatively safely, Grant was the last man to board the final transport during the retreat at Belmont. Why the last? Because he had gone back to try and find that cut-off regiment. Any ruthlessness when it came to troops emerged much later.
*** Finally, it's worth noting that the Army of Northern Virginia actually suffered greater casualties as a percentage of men engaged under Lee than the Army of the Potomac did under Grant but Lee was never excoriated for this because he also embodied AFatherToHisMen
** Confederate General Albert Sydney Johnston actually died from a combination of this and WorthyOpponent: during the Battle of Shiloh, he sent his personal physician away to tend to some injured Union soldiers, meaning that he didn't have medical care when he was wounded and bleeding to death.
* This is basic policy in the United States Marine Corps. USMC officers are trained from the very beginning that the entire Corps is about the enlisted riflemen, who are the ones who do the fighting and win the wars. ''Everyone'' else, including the officers, are only support.
** Not just the officers. This applies to all ranks enlisted. When chow is served, Privates go to the front of the line. [=PFCs=] are next, then Lance Corporals. Your [=NCOs=] stand around watching, making sure the other Marines have eaten first. Then they go through the line.
* UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat had an example where his men were desperately lacking drinking water after a forced march through the desert. They assembled what they had, in a helmet, and gave it to their commander. Alexander dumped it out on the sand with the line, "There is not enough for everyone, and if I drink, the others will faint." This gave a huge boost to morale: "So extraordinary was the effect of this action," says Arrian, "that the water wasted by Alexander was as good as a drink for every man in the army."
** This incident is referenced in the film ''Film/TheFall'', where Alexandria points out that letting everyone have at least a sip would have been a much more practical way of putting his men first than dumping it on the sand and letting it go to waste.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib insists that you rescue his stranded crew and leave him to the geth after he crashes on [[spoiler:Rannoch.]] Incidentally, rescuing the crew is the 'wrong' choice; you need Koris alive to avoid a GenocideDilemma in a later mission. If you decide to abandon his men and rescue him instead, he is at first depressed, but later agrees that it was probably the right decision in the long run after he sees the situation back home.

** 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 [[NotSoDifferent Avon is tempted]], but wisely refuses an alliance with someone whose only loyalty is to herself.

* This is why Aoshi was an antagonist in the first arc of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin''. After the war, there were plenty of more respectable opportunities available to him than bodyguarding a drug dealer, but as Captain of the Oniwabanshu, he felt that he could not in good conscience take an offer made exclusively for him until he had seen to his men. In the end, most of his people were able to find other jobs after the war, but four of them (two one-trick ponies, a hideously deformed master of disguise and a traitor) were essentially unemployable. Aoshi took the job with Kanryu because he was willing to take on Aoshi's subordinates in order to get Aoshi.

** 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 fire fight.

** Also, Tau. Ethereal Aun'shi and commander Shadowsun and Farsight are very high profile military officers that will engage in close quarter fights (in case of Shadowsun, CQ firefights), deemed by Tau doctrine as recklessly dangerous, to keep the enemy away from fragile troops.

** It could be considered a {{Deconstruction}}, as the men are only put first because they are a mercenary group. No men means no jobs, which means no money. And if the men mutiny, no men, jobs, money or life.

** Not just the officers. This applies at all ranks enlisted. When chow is served, Privates go to the front of the line. [=PFCs=] are next, then Lance Corporals. Your [=NCOs=] stand around watching, making sure the other Marines have eaten first. Then they go through the line.

* UsefulNotes/TheDukeOfWellington spent a lot of time looking after his men, organising supplies and the like. A biography of him tells how, in the aftermath of one of the battles of [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars The Peninsular War]], he came across a group of officers who had commandeered a house for themselves to rest, leaving some wounded rank-and-file outside. Wellington immediately ordered that the officers get themselves out and the wounded inside. He came back a while later, found it hadn't been done, and cashiered the officers on the spot.

* When the survivors of the airship Italia were found after their disastrous North Pole expedition (see film example ''The Red Tent'' above), Umberto Nobile tried to demand this, twice. Both times, this was refused. The first time, a Swedish Air Force plane had landed on the ice after sighting a group of 6 survivors. General Nobile wanted the survivors evacuated in order of the severity of their injuries, with himself 4th on the list (with the last 2 being the only ones uninjured in the crash). The pilot insisted that he could only take Nobile, as his plane barely had room for a passenger at all and was worried that most seriously injured man was too heavy for his plane to carry. When a Soviet icebreaker rescued his men[[note]]Both the 5 of who'd been with him when he was flown away, and 2 others who'd attempted to walk across the ice to land and seek help. Along with the Swedish pilot who'd crashed his plane when returning to pick up more survivors.[[/note]], Nobile demanded to stay and lead a search for the remaining 6 crew who were still missing (ultimately they were never found), but was ordered to return to Italy instead.

''Series/DoctorWho'':

*

* In Steve Parker's Literature/ImperialGuard novel ''Gunheads'', the colonel of the 98th refused to try to escape a LastStand when the Gunheads arrive. He immediately asks if the tanks can open up a corridor where he and his men can escape.

* Always practiced by the TropeNamer for TheBrigadier in ''Series/DoctorWho.'' No matteer what kind of "space thuggery" was invading Earth this week, he never asked his people to do anything he was unwilling to do himself, and his first priority was always taking care of them. Like in the Narnia example above, he always led first, and retreated last.

[[folder: Theatre]]

*** And so that he can avoid death by friendly fire, a very common fate for more traditional Commissars.

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': The Kings and Queens of Narnia are supposed to be "the first in every desperate attack, the last in every desperate retreat" -- and those of Archenland, too, as the king warns Shasta in Creator/CSLewis's ''The Horse and His Boy''.

** In "Arsenal Port", Heim contemplates his motives for keeping on plugging in the wearisome, dangerous, and unlikely to succeed journey; one might be this, though he's not sure.

-->'''Longus:''' No...
-->'''Eukairios''': The commander's pay.

* Many version of Optimus from ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' share this philosophy.

** 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 a and killing some of them, Cain runs off to save the tank's target directly.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'': Imperial Grand Admiral Pellaeon makes good use of this trope, in contrast to the [[WeHaveReserves usual Imperial doctrine]]. A combination of looking out for the welfare of his troops, [[KnowWhenToFoldEm knowing when retreat is called for]], and a lack of grandstanding or vanity projects helps him live long enough to, essentially, become top dog by default.
** He learned most of this from [[TheChessMaster Grand Admiral Thrawn]]. While at times he would administer hard discipline on his men (especially when they make ''stupid'' mistakes), when one makes a rather ingenious IndyPloy in an attempt to tractor in Luke's X-Wing? He promotes him despite it failing, and tasks him to find a counter for Luke's maneuver. This causes the entire crew of his ship to follow him to the death.

** In ''Invincible'', Desjani says that the bear-cows must have herd-leaders not officers -- officers would not have broken off from a disabled ship and left the men behind.

** In "Arsenal Port", Heim contemplates his motives for keeping on plugging in the wearisome, dangerous and unlikely to succeed journey; one might be this, though he's not sure.

** This is essentially why Bran surrenders Winterfell to Theon and Theon's Ironborn men. He is hoping for peaceful resolution where no one got hurt. Unfortunately, that is not what happens.

* General Hammond of ''Series/StargateSG1'' would often see to it that his people where taken care of before himself. Jack had shades of this as well.

** In one episode Hawkeye refuses to leave to work for a general, because the men come first. He demands that the general admit it, and the general, with a sigh, does.

* ''Series/TheOfficeUK'' has a subverted civilian example. David Brent is constantly asserting that he places his staff above all other concerns, including his own career goals, but in reality he's just sucking up to be liked and will secretly sell out his staff to get promoted.

** Although far more prominent in novels (see the multiple listings under Literature), exemplifies this with the Imperial Guard. While all armies do field their military leaders as "HQ" units, the Guard has several choices to make. Certain builds for the generals are explicitly this (leading from the front with heavy armor so that their lower-ranked riflemen can [[BeamSpam do what they do best]]), and are typically fluffed as the "first in, last out, make sure the men are safe and supplied" types.

* In Theatre/TheGentlemanRanker Violet, a nurse, steals Lieutenant Harfords brandy for the men under her care when the hospital runs out. Harford begins to object, but Colonel Graylen overrules him, saying that of course it's the right thing to do.

** This is part of Ashley's family history. Her grandfather fought in the brief First Contact War, and surrendered to the turians to protect civilians and his (starving) troops. Unfortunately, the Alliance brass didn't see it that way, and unofficially blacklisted his entire family.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' Major Strickland of the U.S Marines is a fine example of this. After your team leader is captured he takes over as Nomad's commanding officer and provides support throughout the rest of the game. A very skilled and tough commander he always comes down on the battlefield himself and fights his battles alongside his Marines, he is always the first one on the battlefield and the last to be evacuated. In his final appearance in the game he even takes it so far as to stay behind to provide covering fire so his men can evacuate [[spoiler: leading to his death]], even in the face of extreme danger he takes it all in stride his final words to his men during this exchange are a testament to his status as a Marine:

* As he lays dying in the end of the Char campaign in ''VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm'', staring up at the Queen of Blades herself, [[spoiler: General Warfield's]] only request is that she let his wounded make it to safety. [[CharacterDevelopment She agrees.]]

** The Warden may opt to do this at one point in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. When the party [[spoiler:goes to rescue Queen Anora from Arl Howe's estate, they are confronted by TheDragon, Ser Cauthrien, and a very large contingent of soldiers.]] All of the options boil down to either fighting or surrendering. The battle is very arduous, especially on higher difficulty settings, and so the player may have the Warden surrender peacefully rather than risk their friends. TheDragon is actually impressed by the tactic, and lets everyone else in the party go free (although if Alistair is present, he insists on staying with the Warden). [[spoiler: This allows Anora to sneak out right under their noses, which was the whole point.]]
** The Inquisitor, in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', has a similar option when [[spoiler:Corypheus invades Haven. Upon learning that they are the one who the enemy wants, one of the possible dialogue choices allows them to say that they'll give themselves up if it means everyone else will be spared. However, that won't happen (the enemy will kill everyone anyway), so instead the Inquisitor prepares to confront the enemy alone in order to give the others time to escape.]]

* 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 because 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]].]]

** It could be considered a {{Deconstruction}}, as the men are only put first because they are a mercenary group. No men, means no jobs, which means no money. And if the men mutiny, no men, jobs, money or life.

** General Ulysses S. Grant had the WeHaveReserves attitude precisely because of his disdain for the whole war. He wanted it to end, and fast. Despite popular belief he was far from an uncaring reserve expending butcher. Just ask [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Porter Horace Porter]].

** General Grant's reputation for having a WeHaveReserves mindset is mostly based on the Wilderness Campaign and is not really deserved. Grant was quite careful with his men, as the earlier western campaigns showed. When he had the real option of using more tactical finesse, such as during the Siege of Vicksburg, he could pull off great maneuvers that minimized casualties while winning spectacular victories. In the Wilderness he was trying for a war of maneuver but General Lee wouldn't let him and is the one who turned it into a meat grinder.
*** While Grant did send more troops into harm's way than previous generals, the soldiers did not complain because Grant did something no previous general did: Grant kept them moving forward, never in retreat. Being constantly on the offensive towards Richmond improved morale because it made the troops feel like they were closer to ending the war. Grant also improved the supply lines to where by mid-1864 the Army of the Potomac had every need taken care of: food, clothes, shoes, clean sheets, high-grade rifles and enough ammo for months, the works.

* UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat had an example where his men were desperately lacking drinking water after a forced march through desert. They assembled what they had, in a helmet, and gave it to their commander. Alexander dumped it out on the sand with the line, "There is not enough for everyone, and if I drink, the others will faint." This gave a huge boost to morale: "So extraordinary was the effect of this action," says Arrian, "that the water wasted by Alexander was as good as a drink for every man in the army."

** As an example of Shackleton's leadership, the crew had decided to portion out food each day (determining who would get the most to eat that day) by drawing straws. Shackleton ''rigged the draw'' to ensure that the crewmen most in need received the food they needed to survive, and that the officers and himself never received more than the other men.
* In the Air Force Cadets, you line up for food in rank order, lower ranks eat first, higher ranks eat last,although this is the case in all types of cadets, not just Air.

* It is difficult to overstate how much this trope made Julius Caesar's career as a general. He was known to have lax but fair discipline in the camp, he would overpay his soldiers and would even give them part of his own personal wealth if they couldn't be paid from the senate or hadn't captured any booty. He would also engage in their hardships with them and never ate, drank or slept while his soldiers were in danger. The amount of trust and fanatical devotion he got as a result was phenomenal and it was what enabled him to (get a map) march them from France to Rome, then to Spain (in record time) to fight a bloody war and back to Italy, then engage in a dangerous winter Mediterranean crossing to the modern Balkans while running a NavalBlockade during which he lost a third of his men, to fight a war against Pompey the Great in which he suffered heavy losses, down to Egypt to resolve a civil war and fight another war in Modern Tunisia, back up and through Syria to Asia minor to fight ANOTHER war, then back across to Spain to fight the bloodiest war of his life. All in about 3 years.

** Do note that Montgomery spent his entire career specialising in training his troops to the point of perfection, and insisting on making sure they had their every need met. He may have a reputation as an unimaginative commander, but his troops went into battle in good physical shape (as good as the UK could manage under wartime rationing), well-trained, with excellent logistics, and the good morale that goes with it. In fact, Monty even got into trouble when he decided to fight the incidence of VD not just by punitive measures, but by distributing condoms.
* This philosophy is the primary reason underlying the lopsided victories in the Falklands War and the two Gulf Wars, which demonstrated conclusively that professional volunteers led from the front can easily defeat three times their number of reluctant draftees commanded from behind. Militaristic societies like Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Argentina under the former military Junta tend to treat their officer corps like aristocrats with better food, uniforms and social privileges than their common soldiers; ironically this attitude tends to make their soldiers much less effective on the battlefield.

** As the evacuation proceeded, it came under heavy fire. A Coast Guardsman, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Albert_Munro Douglas Munro]], put his boat in between the men evacuating and the enemy. He was killed in action, but received the Medal of Honor, the only Coast Guardsman ever to do so.

* Captain Brett Crozier of the carrier USS ''Theodore Roosevelt'' wrote a letter expressing concerns that his sailors were not adequately protected from the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, which was then leaked to the press. Because of this, [[ShootTheMessenger he was relieved of command]]. [[https://twitter.com/Sotero269/status/1246034450225430529 His sailors chanted his name in tribute as he left the ship.]]
** The Acting Secretary of the Navy then flew to Guam to address the crew of the ''TR'', [[KickTheDog insulted their former captain]], was roundly booed and shouted down, and [[LaserGuidedKarma was forced to resign]] because of all the embarrassment he caused the Navy.

* Captain Brett Crozier wrote a letter expressing concerns that his sailors were not adequately protected from the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic. Because of this, he was relieved of command. [[https://twitter.com/Sotero269/status/1246034450225430529 His sailors chanted his name in tribute as he left the ship.]]

* In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'', Vimes, recovering from the Summoning Dark, insists on seeing how his men are doing.
** This occurs in previous books too. In ''Discworld/TheTruth'' Gaspode warns William that Vimes will "[[BerserkButton invent new ways of being angry just so he can try them on you]]" after William drops a particularly nasty scent-bomb in front of Angua.

* In ''Film/WeWereSoldiers'', two officers are contrasted. One wants to [[GloryHound win medals]]. The other is both obsessive about both detail and his men; during a forced march, he has his men take off their boots to check for injuries. On finding that the soldier he is examining has a truly squick-inducing burst blister, he tells him to report to the quartermaster for new boots. Hal Moore, the Unit C.O., approves this approach, clearly putting him in this class even before he delivers a speech that assures his men that "when we go into battle, I will be the first one to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off. And I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together." Interview footage of the real Hal Moore shows that this was based on reality; while asking the American public to appreciate the strength of the ordinary fighting man, he becomes so audibly choked up that he can barely get the words out.
** And of course, when they do go into battle, [[NotHyperbole he is in fact the first soldier off the choppers, and the last one to leave the battlefield at the end.]]

* In one episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}'', Hawkeye refuses to leave to work for a general, because the men come first. He demands that the general admit it, and the general, with a sigh, does.

*** Of course, at the time, the rules actually ''were'' 'friendly wounded first, then prisoners'.

* During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan Japanese]] [[PropagandaMachine propaganda]] tried to cover up atrocities against prisoners of war by claiming that it was the fault of American officers who had no compassion for their own men and refused to surrender until their men were already dying of hunger and disease. This is stunningly ironic when one considers the way most (but not all) Japanese Officers treated their own men.

* Lesser example, but during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, General George [=McClellan=] was known for putting the welfare of his troops above anything else, including ''attacking Robert E. Lee''. This caused [[UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln Lincoln]] a lot of consternation; after [=McClellan=] failed to pursue Lee's army after the bloody battle of Antietam, a move that almost certainly lengthened the war, Lincoln fired him. A more well-known and successful general (in terms of actual victories) was Ulysses S. Grant; who was more of the WeHaveReserves mindset and often lost more men than Lee, though the Union was more able to replace losses than the Confederacy.

* Although far more prominent in novels (see the multiple listings under Literature), ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}'' exemplifies this with the Imperial Guard. While all armies do field their military leaders as "HQ" units, the Guard has several choices to make. Certain builds for the generals are explicitly this (leading from the front with heavy armor so that their lower-ranked riflemen can [[BeamSpam do what they do best]]), and are typically fluffed as the "first in, last out, make sure the men are safe and supplied" types.

Medical attention for the wounded is a high priority -- especially if doctors are trying to treat the officer, and [[GreaterNeedThanMine his injuries are less serious]] -- as is NoOneGetsLeftBehind, but in less critical situations, he keeps on eye on such things as their shelter and food.