Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / MilitaryMaverick

Go To

1%%%
2%%
3%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
4%%
5%%%
6
7->''"You have a rather insubordinate subordinate, General."''
8-->-- '''James Hamner''' on Col. Jack O'Neill, ''Series/StargateSG1'' ("Seth")
9
10A Military Maverick is one of those service members who often [[BigBookOfWar breaks the rules]], and regularly annoys superiors: but he/she generally prevails in the end, just because they broke the rules in the first place.[[note]]Breaking the rules in this context doesn’t have to be an outright violation, but could also include [[LoopholeAbuse imaginative interpretations of the rules]], serving as the justification of such actions.[[/note]]
11
12Consider them the armed forces counterpart to the CowboyCop.
13
14The popularity of this trope is largely because of the RuleOfCool. For in real life, any military needs people they can be certain will ''stop'' fighting when so ordered, just as much as they need people who will ''start'' fighting when so ordered. The primary purpose of order and discipline in the military, apart from doing what you're told, is to learn self-restraint, after all.
15
16Still, most instances of this would have far more consequences in RealLife than in fiction (and so does everything). Note that the higher up you are in the chain of command, the more likely you are to get away with stuff. There are no recruits and privates who can get away with acting like a Military Maverick in fiction does. Or at least, if there are right now, give it a few days. You might get away with disobeying orders and regulations on rare occasions or under unusual circumstances, but doing so to the point of recklessness is a good way to end a military career with a plain and simple dismissal at best or capital punishment at worst. [[DontTryThisAtHome So it goes without saying...]]
17
18That being said, this trope ''is'' TruthInTelevision to some extent. Some officers in regular militaries really do rise to the top without ever picking up the "regular" part. However, these folks are much more common and tolerated in non-professional insurgent armies, guerrillas, and during {{civil war}}s, where the entire society goes bananas.
19
20If they're still competent military professionals, despite regarding following orders and regulations as optional, they might also be a ColonelBadass, a SergeantRock, and sometimes even a FourStarBadass. If they can get away with just about anything, they have UltimateJobSecurity.
21
22It's possible they might also be TheNeidermeyer, a ColonelKilgore, a GeneralRipper, or sometimes all three. Often, they're a GlorySeeker.
23
24Sometimes they're a BunnyEarsLawyer in uniform.
25
26----
27!!Examples:
28
29[[foldercontrol]]
30
31[[folder:Air Force (includes pilots from the other services)]]
32
33[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
34* Isamu Alva Dyson from ''Anime/MacrossPlus''. Reckless, insubordinate, short-tempered, and not even punishment details wanted him. Eventually transferred to Project Super Nova as a test pilot since the only thing keeping him in the military was that he was ''that damn good''.
35* Elizabeth Beurling of ''Anime/StrikeWitches'' fame is a maverick herself, taking little heed to the brass and disobeying them at almost every turn (from simple things like smoking and going to the pub late at night to more complex things like refusing to use the new striker units), she is rather skilled in combat and has no ranged weapons instead just uses her kukri and cuts up enemy soldiers, grant she does have a rather gloomy personality to her. The girl has got issues but she can hardly care less. Not surprising given she was at least somewhat based on the real-life maverick George Beurling. See RealLife below for more details.
36
37[[AC:Fan Works]]
38* The only reason NERV hasn't fired Asuka in ''Fanfic/NeonMetathesisEvangelion'' yet is that this would cost them use of EVA-02, a fourth of their fighting force.
39
40[[AC:Film]]
41* Jyn Erso in ''Film/RogueOne''. She [[spoiler:leads an unauthorized suicide mission to retrieve the Death Star plans after the rest of the Rebel Alliance had given up.]]
42* Poe Dameron in ''Film/StarWarsTheLastJedi''. The film ruthlessly deconstructs this behaviour. In defying General Leia's orders to disengage from the attack on the First Order Dreadnought, he gets dozens of pilots and ships destroyed just to take out a ship that was too big and cumbersome to chase them down later.
43* Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, USN from ''Film/TopGun'' (later designated as Captain [[Film/TopGunMaverick in the sequel]]). "Your ego is writing checks your body can't cash." -- "You don't have time to think up there. If you think, you're dead." Maverick's tendency to ignore rules and abandon his wingmen to do things his way is his key flaw, and reining those issues in is the essence of his CharacterDevelopment. The sequel also shows the consequences of it: he only served as a TOP GUN instructor for two months before his unorthodox style proved unacceptable (whether he was transferred or left willing isn't stated), almost forty years later he's still just a Captain (Iceman meanwhile has become an Admiral), and multiple Admirals express a desire to kick him out of the Navy. The only reason he ''hasn't'' been discharged is that Iceman, the Admiral of the Pacific Fleet, is supporting him.
44
45[[AC:Literature]]
46* A fair number of people in the Creator/DaleBrown novels, most notably Brad Elliot. While the contrast with the politicians and other American leaders has always been there since the first, in ''Battle Born'' and beyond it's even more apparent with the more lawful newcomers to Dreamland serving as foils to the old-timers.
47** Lampshade Hung in ''Plan of Attack'', where General Gary Houser claims that [=McLanahan=] has been "pulling shit that should have landed you in prison for a hundred years".
48* The foul-mouthed Guinness-drinking cynic and anti-Literature/{{Biggles}} Major Wooley, in ''Goshawk Squadron''. A working-class Brummie who made it into the UsefulNotes/WW1 officer corps, his superiors would dearly like to sack or demote him, but as he is an accredited Ace, they dare not.
49* Creator/DerekRobinson's character of [=CH3=], in ''A Piece of Cake''. An American pilot and soldier of fortune who for political reasons is posted to Hornet Squadron in time for the Battle of Britain, he becomes unpopular not just for having more combat experience than all the British pilots put together, he is highly critical of the British command a tactical philosophy. It doesn't help that experience proves him right, although not before several pilots are killed in action.
50* Mackenzie "Mac" Calhoun, of ''Literature/StarTrekNewFrontier'', was specifically picked to command the ''Excalibur'', the [[OneRiotOneRanger only ship in the sector]] because he was basically the CowboyCop of Starfleet.
51* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'':
52** Wedge Antilles is a major maverick. He's led Rogue Squadron into defecting (temporarily) from the New Republic itself.[[note]]Despite his extremely public resignation, one of his superiors "forgot" to file the paperwork... along with covertly providing Wedge with the equipment he needed... and thus ''retroactively'' made his actions an officially sanctioned mission.[[/note]] He was ready to leave again during ''Starfighters of Adumar'' when faced with the choice of doing what was ordered or what was right. But he and the Rogues are the best of the best, delivering the impossible, and they do get called on their behavior. Wedge created [[Literature/XWingSeries Wraith Squadron]], an entire squadron of misfits specifically organized for unconventional warfare after seeing how the fleet had become hamstrung by being forced into the role of legitimate government (see the Space section) -- and, though not even thirty, found himself feeling like a tired old man when confronted with their antics and tactics.
53--->'''Wedge:''' Wes, they're doing it to me again.
54** With respect to Wedge, at least, it's made clear again and again that he's one of the smartest men in the service, and that when he bucks the system, it's often because he really does know better than his superiors.
55--->'''Jagged Fel:''' If I may ask, how old were you when you first disagreed with your commanding officer, and later found out you were right?\
56'''Wedge:''' Twenty. Which is when I first had a commanding officer.
57** The Rogues tended to be pilots with secondary commando skills whose missions meant those skills became important very, very often; the Wraiths were picked as commandos who could pilot snubfighters. The Wraiths were eventually transferred out of the military's Starfighter Command to New Republic Intelligence.
58** It's noted in the Wraith Squadron books (after one of the pilots essentially has a nervous breakdown in flight and nearly kills another pilot) that because of the war and the Rebellion/New Republic's need for pilots, it's possible to survive incidents that would absolutely get you canned in less troubled times. Since the ''Star Wars'' galaxy is pretty much in a permanent state of crisis, military mavericks thrive in it.
59** In the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'', Jaina Solo, leader of Twin Suns Squadron, disobeys orders to save one of her pilots. General Antilles wants to reprimand her, but his nephew -- the pilot Jaina saved -- talks him down. It's not that hard. Wedge is asked when was the first time ''he'' disobeyed an order for similar reasons, and says it was when he was twenty, the first time he had a superior officer.
60*** Jaina was encouraged to ''act'' like a Military Maverick, outside of (actually ''above'') the chain of command, as part of a convoluted psychological warfare ploy to [[ItMakesSenseInContext impersonate a goddess]]. In reality, she was carrying out orders given to her in secret by General Antilles and his staff (except for the above incident), but most of her allies not in the know thought it was a sterling example of nepotism gone horribly wrong.
61** In ''Literature/TheCorellianTrilogy'', Admiral Ossilege is fond of RefugeInAudacity strategies and uses dummy corporations to buy starships and convert them for military use to build up his system's defense fleet without alerting the New Republic. That being said, it's implied that his direct superiors may know about what he's doing.
62* [[spoiler:Colonel]] Literature/{{Temeraire}} turned into one of these, quickly, much to Laurence's dismay. It resulted in [[spoiler:a couple cases of treason and eventually being banished to Australia. Of course, if Temeraire wasn't such a maverick Laurence would probably be dead.]]
63
64[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
65* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'': Kara Thrace, a deconstruction of the trope whose maverick existence only exists with a messed up life and a lot of favoritism.
66** It's made obvious at the start of the series that the only reason she was able to get away with all the crap she pulls is that she's just ''that damn good'' and the ''Galactica'' herself was under the command of an officer who was going to be retired soon. Later, she was one of a few dozen fighter pilots left in the whole of humanity in a little fleet almost completely dependent on pilots for defense. There was a good chance she'd get discharged in normal times, but when you're down to 40...
67** Later a major reason for the favoritism shown by Adama (and a lot of the recklessness shown by Kara) is explained by revelations concerning her engagement to Adama's dead son.
68** Subverted with Pegasus Commander Barry Garner, who once made the typical Maverick "Screw the orders, I'm saving my men" decision, complete with his crew backing him against the outsider observer (aka Lee Adama) -- only to notice that ''yes'', it ''was'' a trap, it very nearly cost the human race its most powerful battleship and it gained them nothing.
69* Harmon Rabb, Jr. from ''Series/{{JAG}}'', the Naval Aviator who became a lawyer.
70* Colonel Jack O'Neill from ''Series/StargateSG1''. He manages to get away with it because his judgement in the field usually turns out to be correct in the long run, and the number of times he's saved the planet tends to give him some job security -- plus, there's the fact that he can technically retire whenever he feels like it, having come out of retirement in the first place to lead [=SG1=]. Humorously, when real-life Air Force Chief of Staff General Ryan guest-starred AsHimself on the show, Richard Dean Anderson, who played O'Neill, asked him if he had any officers as insubordinate as O'Neill. The response, apparently, was [[RealityIsUnrealistic "Son, we've got colonels like you, and worse."]]
71* John Sheppard from ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' and suffers far more consequences for it than O'Neill. His military background was built on this as in Afghanistan he disobeyed direct orders and took his helicopter to rescue his friends. Not only did he fail to save them, but he was court-martialed, nearly kicked out of the Air Force (and in an AlternateUniverse, he was) but was literally ReassignedToAntarctica instead.
72** In the show itself the only reason he was even allowed to accompany the Atlantis mission is because of luck, skill, and the support of more alternative thinking higher-ups Elizabeth Weir and General O'Neill. He impressed O'Neill by performing a HighSpeedMissileDodge with a non-combat helicopter to escape an alien drone and then got Weir's attention by discovering he had the Ancient gene and could command their technology seemingly without effort. As Weir was a civilian diplomat rather than military commander, his rebellious streak didn't put her off (especially as it was motivated by personal loyalty) and she persuaded his superiors to let him onto her expedition since establishing a base in an entirely different galaxy required out-of-the-box thinking type people. Still, the mission's military commander Colonel Sumner, a far stricter by-the-book officer, didn't like Sheppard for his past and made it clear he wasn't welcome. Later after Sumner was killed Sheppard became Weir's second in command so Sheppard's superiors tried to replace him. Luckily Weir stepped in to defend him and he was safe with her support, but it was still obvious many of the other military commanders disliked him.
73
74[[AC:Video Games]]
75* Lilya from ''VideoGame/Reverse1999'' is an AcePilot witch, using a rocket-propelled broomstick to take down other, larger, better armed fighter jets by literally flying under the radar as she's too small and fast to detect properly, and destroying them with her superior maneuvaribility and being extremely hard to hit. Since she was ''also'' a ChildSoldier, and since the administration of Zeno Military Academy decided to overlook her troublemaking and pranking for her skills, she's infamous for disregarding chain-of-command and any reprimands others have of her attitude, doing what she wants and only what she wants.
76* Maniac, from ''VideoGame/WingCommander'', is generally agreed to have earned his [[CodeName callsign]]. At times, the protagonist, Christopher "Maverick" Blair, has as well. Some say he's a subversion. Ironically, he got his callsign because in his Academy Days where, unlike most other hotshot cadets there, he was actually the most by-the-book cadet, and thus a "Maverick" when compared to others.
77
78[[AC:Real Life]]
79* It's disputed how true this is, but many of the Polish pilots in the Battle of Britain. Prone to recklessness and spamming the radio with discussions in Polish on the parentage of their German opponents (who they, for obvious reasons, loathed), they were responsible for 12% of the Luftwaffe kills in that battle, despite being only 5% of the pilots. The RAF handbook was often ignored even by British pilots. For example, the rules stated that machine guns' should be zeroed (that is, the bullets would cross the path of the guns from the other wing) at 600m to allow newbie pilots to attack from a safe distance. But to be most effective, it needed to be at 200m, so many pilots from different nations changed them.
80* A documented real-life ''subversion'' (not merely aversion) was going on with test pilots, at least back in the early '70s. Creator/HunterSThompson wrote an article depicting the Air Force's test pilots as almost frighteningly sane, rational, by-the-book, methodical fliers who were as much scientist as warrior -- which makes some sense, given their vocation. Hence the old saying: what's the difference between God and an Air Force pilot? God doesn't think he's a pilot.
81* A documented real-life ''deconstruction'' is Colonel Arthur "Bud" Holland, the pilot of the B-52 that crashed at Fairchild Air Force Base in 1994, who had a reputation for aggressive flying and violating safety regulations. How aggressive? During a training mission at the Yakima Bombing Range, Holland purposefully flew his aircraft well below the recommended altitude of 500 feet and cleared a ridgeline by only '''''three feet''''', causing his co-pilot to grab at the controls and forcing a photography crew documenting the flight to duck for cover. One of Holland's superiors was later court-martialed for ''failing to take action'' over his behaviour. That's like being so high your ''friend'' hallucinates.
82* John [=McCain=], who was more than happy to point this out. This dated back all the way to his time at the Naval Academy, where he graduated 5th from the bottom of his class due to just barely studying enough to pass in classes that he wasn't interested in and achieving membership in the "Century Club" of cadets who received over 100 demerits. After graduating, he became a bomber pilot and was known for being an extremely reckless flier, crashing several times and once colliding with power lines when he flew too low. It's likely that he got away with more than most junior officers could have because his father and grandfather were both admirals.
83* UsefulNotes/WorldWarI [[AcePilot ace]] Frank Luke. He was bad-tempered and contemptuous of authority; when he took off on his last flight, the one that earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor, there were orders out to arrest him for being AWOL. His favorite targets were German observation balloons, which most pilots avoided because they were "invariably ringed with antiaircraft guns and often protected by a flight of fighters. Going after one was much like kicking a hornet's nest, but it was just the sort of challenge Luke liked...." Eddie Rickenbacker called Luke "the greatest fighter pilot of the entire war."
84* [[ColonelBadass Colonel John Boyd]] was one of these. He contributed arguably more to the Air Force than anyone before or since (his Energy-Maneuverability theory revolutionized air-to-air combat doctrine and he literally wrote the book on flying a fighter, and he's credited as the father of the F-15 and F-16 fighters), but had to step on a ''lot'' of toes to do so -- and took ''pride'' in it. In fact, he practically ''forced the F-16 down the Air Force's throat'' because they didn't want it -- they thought it would take too much money away from the F-15 and their pet bomber of the month. Hell, one time he got a ''[[ModernMajorGeneral major general]]'' fired for scripting a session with a congressman to attack the F-16. It wasn't uncommon for generals to leave one of his briefings muttering, "That fucking Boyd."
85* [[UsefulNotes/RobinOlds Colonel Robin Olds]], a World War II vet who fought in Vietnam, his unconventional leadership style and tactics got results but infuriated his leadership. Despite this, he had a very low tolerance for people or organizations who could not meet basic standards and perform their jobs. Being a Military Maverick didn't mean you stopped being ''military'', after all.
86* Although he was rather a different kind of Maverick, George Beurling counts. After failing to join the Canadian Air Force, and the Finnish air force, he hopped on a ship and went to England to try and enlist in the RAF in which he was successful. He was regarded as high-strung, brash, and outspoken, and he also never smoked or drank (which when you're a fighter pilot makes you a maverick...). He was a skilled pilot but rejected a commission at first and was reprimanded for attacking targets without permission several times. He was also known as a loner in the air and was written up for stunting as well. He was eventually discharged even before the war ended more or less for being a pain in the ass.
87[[/folder]]
88
89[[folder:Army]]
90
91[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
92* In [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Edward Elric's]] early years as a State Alchemist, Roy Mustang made good use of his sense of honor and knack for trouble-making by sending him in the general direction of cowboy-prone situations with rumors of the Philosopher's Stone surrounding them. One assumed he was tolerated for his position as a rare State Alchemist, not doing anything particularly harmful, and passing the mandated yearly combat test with flying colours -- the future possibility of their nation Amestris going to war and demanding Edward be called for duty is also mentioned at one point, so it could implicitly be that he's tolerated for potential future combat potential (and State Alchemists are portrayed as likely [[PersonOfMassDestruction having quite a lot of it]]). [[spoiler:It may have also been explained by him being later shown as designated as a sacrifice for the antagonists.]]
93* In ''Manga/MaidenRose'', both Klaus and Taki are mavericks at times. And it gets them both in trouble.
94* Mr. Bushido (AKA [[spoiler:Graham Aker]] in a PaperThinDisguise) from the second season of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' refuses to do '''anything''' except engage the 00 Gundam in battle, and won't even launch for combat unless the 00 is present as well. He gets away with it because 1) he is quite literally Just That Good, and 2) the 00 is Celestial Being's strongest weapon, and keeping it tied up is extremely helpful to the A-Laws.
95** And he's the HeterosexualLifePartner of the A-Laws commander's nephew. Billy apparently pulled some strings.
96
97[[AC:Film]]
98* ''Film/DemonsOfWar'''s Major Keller is a heavy deconstruction. His main characteristic is his utter disregard for HQ commands. The film ''opens'' with him being discharged for his insubordination. The story then examines all the pitfalls of such behaviour from a commander, despite at the same time playing the trope itself straight, with brash heroics and on-field competency. Ultimately, his decisions and actions eventually lead to [[spoiler: getting most of his men killed, while he's shipped back home for a court trial in a plane loaded with their coffins]].
99* The [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory highly fictionalized]] film version of ''Film/TheDevilsBrigade'' has numerous mavericks on the American side.
100* ''Film/TheDirtyDozen'''s Major Reisman, whose competency coupled with his ability to get results and tendency to exceed orders nets him a crappy, high-stakes, all-but-outright-stated SuicideMission with a bunch of expendable convicts who hate his guts. Said convicts are actually mavericks (or much worse) but they ''definitely'' face consequences for it.
101* Sgt. William James of ''Film/TheHurtLocker'' is a deconstruction. Sure, he manages to defuse many bombs in his time at war, but he winds up alienating pretty much everyone in his unit due to his antics.
102* Mel Gibson's character from ''Film/LethalWeapon'' tetralogy (though most prominently in the first 2 installments) is an extremely reckless cop and ex-army special forces. He routinely [[DeathSeeker places himself in great danger as part of a suicidal deathwish]], yet his [[OneManArmy skills are so great]] that he continues to live through his adventures.
103* The protagonists in ''Play Dirty'', although the only one of them who is officially in the military is the Michael Caine character, and his commission was ''supposed'' to be purely honorary. The rest are a bunch of {{Boxed Crook}}s turned into an experimental strike force by an eccentric colonel. Unsurprisingly, their tactics tend to be...nonstandard.
104
105[[AC:Literature]]
106* ''Literature/TheArtsOfDarkAndLight'': Tribune Fortex, who disobeys direct orders when he thinks himself better qualified to decide when his unit should charge. Then SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs as [[spoiler:this disorganizes the entire order of battle, and while his side are still victorious in the end, Fortex is nonetheless arrested and charged with insubordination]].
107* The Whistlers of ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' were a family of soldiers blacklisted from service after a sister's treason, who joined the thieves' guild out of desperation. When caught stealing by General Wellsbury, Tea Whistler had the chutzpah to tell her that they'd make excellent spies. They lied, they stole, they ignored orders, and they turned the tides in the [[CivilWar War of the False Eldest]] since their duties were expanded from spying to wreaking general mayhem behind enemy lines.
108* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novels, over and over again; always crowned with success, which may be why they get away with it.
109** Dorden in ''Ghostmaker'', refusing to leave a field hospital
110** Kolea in the opening of ''Honour Guard'', defying orders to rescue Corbec.
111** Corbec and other wounded Ghosts in ''Honour Guard'' defy orders to get on the transport in order to join the honour guard.
112** At the climax of ''Honour Guard'', Gaunt [[spoiler:decides to defend the temple rather than remove the relics]].
113** [[spoiler:Mkoll]] deserting in ''Only In Death'' [[spoiler:to recover Gaunt's sword. Unexpected, he also recovers Gaunt.]]
114** Beldavyr in ''Only in Death'' [[spoiler:deserting his post in combat -- to restart the power source for the xenos guns. Fortunately for him, it worked.]]
115* This trope is given extensive treatment in the first volume of ''Literature/ReflectionsOfEterna'': the [[OverrankedSoldier youthful and overconfident general]] Oscar Fenschau is manipulated by [[TheChessmaster Marshal Alva]] to walk right into the enemy's trap in direct violation of his orders, so Alva's own forces can flank and rout them. Afterwards, Alva has Fenschau court-marshaled and executed for insubordination, and when [[WhatTheHellHero his other officers confront him]] (reminding him how often Alva ''himself'' ignored orders and regulations), calmly explains to them that had Fenschau defied his orders ''and'' won the battle by himself, [[SavedByTheAwesome he would have been made Marshal soon]] (like Alva did in his time), but since he disobeyed orders and lost his men, he is better off dead before [[UnfitForGreatness he causes any more harm to his own army]].
116* ''Literature/{{Sharpe}}'': Richard Sharpe, who even [[WordOfGod Cornwell calls a loose cannon.]] Though rules were a bit lax back then, he still gets in trouble for breaking them at times.
117
118[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
119* The entire membership of ''Series/TheATeam'', most notably Murdock, who may or may not be certifiably insane.
120* ''Film/TheCrossing'' shows UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington as this, to the extent that absolutely ''nobody'' thinks his plan to attack the Hessians will work. Washington's maverick nature was TruthInTelevision.
121* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'''s Malcolm Reynolds, in his time as an Independent sergeant, made something of a reputation for himself for unconventional tactics, a distinct willingness to defy the odds, and an absolute refusal to quit... even when, it might be said, he should have. He was an irregular in a nonprofessional insurgent army, so not unexpected.
122* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Initially a green commander in charge, Robb Stark frequently ignores senior bannermen who try to rein him in. This is apparently the main reason he gives Tywin Lannister such hell on the battlefield -- none of Tywin's commanders can predict his movements because, between his inexperience, boldness, and confidence at his success, he's willing to take risks none of them would dream of taking, and pulls them off.
123* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': "The Rundown Job" has an old associate of Eliot's, Colonel Michael Vance, who is known for putting together teams of people from different branches and agencies to suit specific situations, but he treads on a lot of toes in the process, and the beginning of the episode has him [[HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee in front of a panel of congressmen]] being raked across the coals, and then warned not to do it again or face jail time.
124* Hawkeye Pierce and, for that matter, about half the cast of ''Series/{{MASH}}''. The only reason Hawkeye is rarely, if ever, [[UltimateJobSecurity charged for being such a loose cannon]] is that they need as many medical personnel as possible and [[BunnyEarsLawyer can't afford to lose him as Chief Surgeon]].
125** There's also that as doctors directly commissioned (and apparently conscripted) from civilian practice, most of the cast of ''M*A*S*H'' can ''afford'' to be utterly indifferent about damage to their military careers -- they don't have any careers to damage. So long as they can actually avoid being caught in a major felony or committing ''medical'' malpractice, there's really not much they need to worry about in the long run. It's instructive to note that the one regular army doctor on the cast, Colonel Potter, is ''not'' a maverick...much.
126** TruthInTelevision to a large degree, even today; the U.S. armed services have enough of a need for medical personnel that they are given more leeway about their (lack of) military bearing than would be tolerated in combat soldiers/sailors/airmen. Crystallized in a saying going back to the Korea War if not earlier: "There is nobody as un-military as a military doctor."
127
128[[AC:Video Games]]
129* All four of the protagonists (and their pilot) in ''VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany''.
130* Commander Michael [=McNeil=] of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun'', who is defined by his headstrong aggressiveness, most notably in the final mission, where he refuses to obey orders to wait for reinforcements before assaulting Kane's headquarters.
131** Captain Nick "Havoc" Parker in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'' also disobeys orders, but is arrested immediately upon his return from the battlefield. Of course, he doesn't spend more than a few hours in jail, but his boss is explicitly described as unusually tolerant of his quirks, "which makes him the ideal boss for Havoc". Note that while his motives are admirable ("They're torturing civvies, we can't ''wait'' six hours."), he hijacked a hovercraft that couldn't really be spared to go off and assault the enemy base single-handedly immediately after a previous attack had failed, and when there was absolutely no reason to not simply wait a mere six hours for reinforcements to arrive.
132* VideoGame/SabresOfInfinity has Sergeant Harlech, a boisterous soldier who has little respect for authority or discipline and has the lowest loyalty stat of the available sergeants.
133
134[[AC:Real Life]]
135* More or less the whole of German Armed Forces up to around 1942. Their standard response to an enemy within range, no matter what their orders? Attacking. It was in fact this very aggressive style of conducting military operations that made Germany and Prussia before it so successful on the battlefield.
136* Let's not forget the quintessential real-life maverick General Patton. Rommel serves as a good German version.
137** As generals they were granted more leeway, but Patton did suffer from his maverick ways, consistently being demoted and kept from a higher command, at one point almost being dismissed from service during [=WW2=] due to his 'poor' conduct outside the field of battle. Rommel, however, was a maverick only in the field, mainly due to frequently outrunning his own supply lines without informing his logistics officers or setting up fuel dumps beforehand. Outside of it, though Rommel presented himself as every inch the perfect officer.
138* UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied forces during [=WW2=] and one of the most polarizing generals in military history. His loose-cannon ways, combined with his titanic ego, eventually got him fired when he mouthed off about America's strategy in the Korean war [[note]] and by "mouthed off" we mean that he recommended ''launching several nuclear strikes on China''. When Truman understandably refused, [=MacArthur=] ''tried to override the president's orders and nuke China anyway''.[[/note]]
139** After reading [=MacArthur=]'s letters to [[{{UsefulNotes/HarryTruman}} President Truman]], General George C. Marshall quipped: ''"Mr. President, I wonder why you have waited and not fired [[PrecisionFStrike that son of a bitch]] two years ago!"''
140** Prior to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, [=MacArthur=] was sent to the Philippines so that FDR wouldn't have to deal with him. UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower, another 5-star general and also a future President, said that he learned how not to be a good general during his time as [=MacArthur=]'s aide.
141* To be honest, the Australian Armed Forces, as a whole, during WWI. They '''hated''' being ordered around by British officers (partially because [[WeHaveReserves they were being used as cannon fodder]] against Turkish soldiers; in interviews with the last surviving Australian soldiers from WWI, some noted they sounded more scornful of the British Officers than the Turkish soldiers they were actually fighting) and, as such, ignored them...a lot.
142** Likewise, UsefulNotes/WW2, though not quite as bad. Old joke: in 1943, a British officer complains to a British general who'd served in the last war that a group of Australian soldiers didn't salute as he passed them. The old British general replies, "That's good news. Before, they'd've walked straight over you!"
143** British Field Marshal Birdwood reminisced that an Australian private came up to him, on the officer's first day at [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Gallipoli]], to "complain about inferior bloody materiel." To demonstrate the low quality of equipment, the soldier ''pulled the pin on a grenade and tossed it near the field marshal''. This grenade, not as inferior as the Australian had expected, exploded as they're supposed to, luckily not severely injuring anyone, and the private commented in surprise, "Gawd, Birdie, that is the first bastard that has gone off this month."
144* This was kind of Ariel Sharon's thing, with variable results. In the early stages of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, his overconfidence and tendency to attack without orders led to disaster, with a considerable portion of Israel's entire tank corps falling prey to Egyptian [=ATGMs=] and [=RPGs=], while his failure to cover the flanks of his adjacent commanders' units critically weakened their positions against the Egyptian assault; he only escaped being relieved of command due to [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections his political connections]]. Later on in said war, after the Egyptians were thrown onto the defensive after suffering massive losses in the central Sinai,[[note]]due to Egyptian president Sadat [[ExecutiveMeddling ordering them to advance beyond their protective SAM umbrella, exposing themselves to Israeli air attack in the process, in order to try to relieve the pressure on the Syrian troops retreating headlong from the Golan Heights]][[/note]] Sharon managed to redeem himself somewhat when his... stretching of orders played a critical role in Israel's ultimate victory against Egypt. In TheEighties, though, the pendulum swung back yet again, as his habit of leaving superiors in the dark and going far beyond his mandate as Minister of Defense played a large part in the fiasco of the Israeli involvement in the Lebanese Civil War.
145* Andrew Jackson. He led American troops into the then-Spanish colony of Florida, without official approval from the Government. This is the [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools very rare]] case of it working out for the best because the U.S. managed to bargain for Florida and make it an official State, and Jackson is widely regarded as a hero, becoming the first Governor of Florida and then later the President of the United States.
146* On a bit different note, the ''Order of Maria Theresa'' founded by its namesake was awarded to commanders who defied orders and yet achieved victory. Although historians generally agree that it was meant to promote not recklessness but rather a healthy initiative on the battlefield.
147* Most smaller White armies in the [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Russian Civil War]] consisted of mostly these types. Ataman Semyonov and Baron UsefulNotes/RomanVonUngernSternberg come to mind.
148* An ancient example: Though it's hard for Alexander the Great to disobey orders, seeing as he's the one giving them, he had an easy enough time disobeying the entire conventions of warfare of the time. He would deliberately ask his older generals for advice, knowing that they would give him conservative answers, and then did the opposite, making him completely unpredictable to his enemies on the battlefield.
149** The Romans also encouraged initiative among their individual legion commanders. Cynoscephalae, the last decisive battle for Roman control of the Mediterranean, was won largely due to an unknown Roman commander leading a charge to the unprotected Macedonian rear without being ordered to.
150* A RealLife example of why this trait is usually not at all desirable in a military leader: [[UsefulNotes/KatanasOfTheRisingSun the Imperial Japanese Army]] before and during World War II was plagued by a concept known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gekokujo Gekokujo]], a concept which in practice led to field-level officers deciding they knew better than the national government in Tokyo or their own senior officers how to serve the country's interests. The result was the 1930s in Japan were filled with assassinations, attempted coups and the aggressive expansionism that led the country to Pearl Harbor, while from 1941 onward Japan's already hopeless war effort was hobbled still further by officers who would attack without orders and end up getting their men slaughtered.
151
152[[AC:Other]]
153* A cartoon by Bill Mauldin in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII showed two officers walking past an unshaven, scowling U.S. paratrooper who leaned against a lamppost ignoring them. The higher-ranking officer told the other, "It's best not to speak to paratroopers about saluting. They always ask where you got your jump boots."
154[[/folder]]
155
156[[folder:Government and Federal Agents (includes spies)]]
157
158[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
159* In ''Manga/WorldTrigger'', Masato Kageura is one of Border's best close-combat agents, with naturally heightened senses and blinding speed. However, he is Border's loosest cannon, only following orders from his superiors if he agrees with them and [[BloodKnight violently attacking fellow agents who annoy him]]. Because of his recklessness, he is ranked somewhere towards the upper-middle among all Border agents, rather than near the top, as he keeps getting reprimanded and demoted at about the same rate he rises the ranks for his skill in battle. He is still considered a valuable asset to Border as he can easily get the upper hand on his enemies through sheer power and guts, and he cares about his own subordinates, who have much cleaner records than he does.
160
161[[AC:Comic Books]]
162* The adults-only MAX incarnation of Nick Fury, who has at one point beat up a General with his belt.
163
164[[AC:Film]]
165* [=MI6=] Agent 007, aka Commander Film/JamesBond. Spies tend to play things by ear as a rule, but Bond seems to revel in doing things that will give Q, M, and the British government a heart attack. The fact that he [[SavingTheWorld saves the world]] with clockwork regularity tends to offset this.
166
167[[AC:Literature]]
168* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' features Lt. Miles Naismith (Lord) Vorkosigan, Barrayaran Imperial Security. He is assigned directly to Simon Illyan, the head of [=ImpSec=], because while he succeeds in absurd situations, he repeatedly drives his commanding officers nuts.
169-->"Hm," Illyan said. "And yet... who shall I assign you to now? Which loyal officer gets his career destroyed next?"\
170Miles thought this over. "Why don't you assign me directly to yourself, sir?"\
171"Thanks," said Illyan dryly.
172** It helps that Illyan knows Miles literally ''since birth'', being his father's long-term aide and then principal political ally.
173** Miles' operating philosophy can be best summed up by this quote, from ''Literature/BrothersInArms'':
174--->'''Miles:''' No, no, never send interim reports. Only final ones. Interim reports tend to elicit orders. Which you must then either obey or spend valuable time and energy evading, which you could be using to solve the problem.
175** He also counts on the "seniority lets you get away with more" front; when he is first admitted to the Imperial Service Academy, his father admits that "I think he will make a terrible ensign... but he might make a fine Chief of Staff one day." Miles is such an insubordinate ensign that Illyan ''has'' to either dismiss him or shorten his chain of command so he has fewer people to disobey.
176** Miles makes a career out of creatively interpreting orders and using a heavy dose of artistic license when writing his reports, much to the chagrin of his superiors. Keeping with the tradition of this trope, he never outright lies to a commanding officer and always carries out his orders, in spirit if not in letter. [[spoiler:And when he does lie, it gets him [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome permanently kicked out of the service]]]].
177* At the end of their initial run in the Literature/XWingSeries, the Wraiths (see above under "pilots") were transferred to the New Republic's Intelligence service. They don't become notably more by-the-book; indeed, they tend to become vastly quirkier although, in a twist, it's their ''commander'', Garik "Face" Loran, who picks up most of the weirdness. His approach to operational security is to never tell any of his subordinates ''anything'' that isn't immediately relevant to their mission, and Wraith operations carried out under his sanction include "persuade an Imperial admiral that a bomb is actually a very valuable sculpture" and "infiltrate the Imperial bunker using a fake [[BeneathSuspicion Gamorrean janitor]]". But his crowning achievement is the plot of ''Mercy Kill'', wherein he [[spoiler:suspects that his superior is actually part of a GovernmentConspiracy to bring back the Empire]] and so creates ''two'' teams of Wraiths, not telling each about the other and not telling his superiors about ''either''.
178
179[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
180* In ''Series/TwentyFour'', Counter-Terrorist agent Jack Bauer is the epitome of this trope. JackBauerInterrogationTechnique is named after him.
181* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Jethro Gibbs doesn't cross the line with his agency's directives unless he has to. Or needs to. Or ''feels like it''. Quite frankly, it's amazing that Gibbs has a ''job'' sometimes. [[spoiler:He finally gets chased out of the service early in season 19, after beating a suspect on camera late in season 18.]]
182* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Special Agent Fox Mulder is considered odd by most of the FBI and outright disliked by a few. However, he is also known to be one of the best detectives and crime solvers in the whole Bureau.
183[[/folder]]
184
185[[folder:Marines]]
186
187[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
188* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', all members of SWORD have technically resigned from the standard Marine hierarchy, and therefore aren't required to follow normal protocols. This allows them to do things like attacking Pirate Emperors without being authorized by the higher-ups. The drawback is that, if they're captured or discovered, the World Government will disavow them and leave them to their fate.
189
190[[AC:Comic Books]]
191* Not a lot of Marines on this list, but two that fit, both from DC Comics' ''ComicBook/Hitman1993'', are Tommy "Hitman" Monaghan and Natt "The Hat" Walls of the United States Marine Corps. Tommy ends up killing two fellow Marines with a sniper rifle (Don't worry, they [[PayEvilUntoEvil had it coming....]]) They ingeniously, if messily, MakeItLookLikeAnAccident and get away with it. Later, during Operation Desert Storm, Tommy and Natt accidentally kill several British S.A.S. troops in a "friendly fire" incident. They get away with that too. Well, [[LaserGuidedKarma for a few years, anyway]].
192
193[[AC:Film]]
194* If it is a cousin of the CowboyCop then Creator/ClintEastwood has to be here somewhere. Gunny Highway from ''Film/HeartbreakRidge'' fits pretty well. At least the part of annoying your superiors. If there is some sort of regulation that forbids the [[DrillSergeantNasty drill instructors]] from firing live ammunition at their recruits he'd have two excuses: He isn't a drill instructor, and he isn't firing *at* them; he's firing at places he's told them not to be.
195* Colonial Jessup from ''Film/AFewGoodMen'' makes no secret out of the fact that he thinks he is one of these, lampshading more than once how he considers himself to be successful for being able to do things other people aren't ready to do like punishing one of his subordinates in a way that is forbidden in the military. He is a fairly strange case since he claims that this case of him disobeying the rules was necessary in order to ensure that orders are always followed, and also because he is high-ranking enough and/or simply stationed on a place remote enough (on Cuba) that his violations of the laws of the military never got him into trouble prior to the film. Deconstructed since at the beginning of the film, a marine dies because of the illegal punishment he ordered, and when the military sends people to investigate, it becomes clear that high-ranking or not, Jessup still committed a crime for disobeying the rules and will be punished himself for it.
196* In ''Film/StarshipTroopers'', the Mobile Infantry seems to be entirely run by these people and they encourage this behaviour in recruits. Fraternisation between male and female troopers is rife, discipline is incredibly lax, and the only time anybody is disciplined is Rico when he gets a squadmate killed during a [[ArtisticLicenseGunSafety horribly unsafe]] live-fire exercise (and he is still shown sympathy for explaining his actions with "I wanted to win, sir!")
197
198[[AC:Literature]]
199* Captain John Rumford in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' regularly uses highly irregular tactics, often subverts orders, and frequently commits regular atrocities against military standards of grooming and conduct, yet does so with the full blessing of his superiors and maintains amiable and generally respectful relations with them. In effect, he respects authority, just not its trappings, and has an understanding CO who lets him get away with it because he can be counted on to deliver when the going gets tough.
200* Marine pilot Malcolm "Pick" Pickering in WEB Griffith's ''The Corps'' tries to come across as one of these, but he's a drunken, irresponsible, immature, lazy, insubordinate JerkAss who got shot down as a result of disobeying orders and can't be trusted with ''anything.'' It gets so bad his friends and commanding officers get sick of excusing his behavior and an Admiral reams his ass out, pulls him out of the fighter cockpit, and assigns him to flying transports.
201
202[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
203* Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie in ''Series/{{JAG}}''.
204* Averted by Greer in ''Series/StargateUniverse''. There's no doubting that he knows his job and is willing to give his life to protect even people he dislikes, but he displayed such a temper. He also reputedly beat up a superior officer...and so was languishing in the brig waiting to be shipped back to Earth when the attack hit Icarus Base.
205
206[[AC:Video Games]]
207* VideoGame/{{Doom}}'s protagonist is a Marine who was [[ReassignedToAntarctica shipped out to the Mars base]] because he assaulted a superior officer (who himself deliberately ordered the company to open fire on people he knew were probably pacifist monks).
208[[/folder]]
209
210[[folder:Navy (for space navies, see Space below)]]
211
212[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
213* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has [[spoiler:Former]] Vice-Admiral Garp and Captain, turned Commodore [[spoiler:turned Vice-Admiral]] Smoker. Though, the latter is the only one known to have risked being kicked out. Interestingly, the naval forces of the ''One Piece'' world are referred to as the Marines.
214
215[[AC:Film]]
216* Captain Frank Ramsey in ''Film/CrimsonTide''. He's apparently given a lot of leeway due to his combat experience, even taking his dog with him on the boat.
217* ''Film/DownPeriscope'' is pretty much based on the idea of the main character playing the part of this trope; in fact, he is under direct orders to do so in order to test how well other navy units do when the enemy doesn't follow the script. In particular, one of his crew is deliberately trying to be as big a nuisance as possible so he'll be discharged because he really doesn't want to be in the Navy but his dad's an Admiral and won't hear of it.
218* One of the central members of Team 7 in ''Wetworks'' is Jester, a hostile troublemaker who has spent more time in the brig than in the field. His commanding officer, Jackson Dane, is infamous among top brass for his creative interpretations of mission objectives and orders -- and is the only CO Jester has ever shown any respect.
219
220[[AC:Literature]]
221* Jack Aubrey from the ''Literature/AubreyMaturin'' books and [[Film/MasterAndCommander film]], and Thomas Cochrane, the real-life British officer he is based on.
222* Dennis effing Silva from ''The Destroyermen'' series...where do we start? Asides from fighting the imperial Japanese navy, he fought Chinese gangsters with a jade statue, disobeyed orders NOT to be in a location only to show up guns blazing, sneaking aboard a carrier by jumping into an ocean from an airplane that would normally kill you in minutes if not seconds...all in the name of the greater good. His lack of discipline has been commented to be why he is arguably the alliance's deadliest warrior.
223* ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'', mostly because he has an extremely active mind and naval service is mostly routine with bursts of action; therefore he does his best to increase the frequency of those bursts. In ''Ship of the Line'', he deliberately sails past a rendezvous at night so he can continue to independently raid. In ''Hotspur'' he casually mutilates the stern of his ship to put guns in it for a single but crucial battle. In ''Lieutenant Hornblower'', it is suggested that he pushed his dangerously insane captain down a ship's ladder. His fellow lieutenants suspect this, but no one calls him out on it.
224
225[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
226* Lieutenant Commander Steve [=McGarrett=] on ''Series/HawaiiFive0''. Extra points for being a CowboyCop in his regular day job, as he is technically a reservist Navy SEAL and not on full-time active duty. He ''will'' break the rules to complete a "mission" (military or police), or to help his friends and family.
227* ''Series/HoratioHornblower'', which covers his early career from the novels. Horatio is particularly fond of DressingAsTheEnemy; in the first episode, he forgets to strike the colors on a captured French frigate and refuses to have them hauled down later because it will let them ambush the corvettes attacking the ''Indefatigable'', despite what the Articles of War say.[[note]]Technically you were allowed to sail as close and as long as you liked under false colors, but you had to show the correct flag ''before'' opening fire.[[/note]] One fellow midshipman later accuses him of "cheating" tactics for stealing uniforms later, and he gets called incompetent by the (admittedly paranoid and insane) Captain Sawyer for firing a half-loaded gun to scare off a couple of frigates who caught them off-guard.
228* Harmon Rabb from ''Series/{{JAG}}''.
229* Another water-based one: ''Series/McHalesNavy''. If nothing else, typical naval crews were probably discouraged from carrying Japanese soldiers on board.
230
231[[AC:Real Life]]
232* Horatio Nelson. At the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, he was signalled by superiors to withdraw. On being informed of the orders, he put his spyglass to his right eye and declared, "I really do not see the signal." He had been blinded permanently in his right eye in an action at Corsica in 1794. He then proceeded to demolish the combined Danish-Norwegian fleet. (The episode, incidentally, gave rise to the expression "to turn a blind eye".)
233** The signal was giving him permission to retreat, not ordering him to, and his commander sent it knowing full well that Nelson would ignore it if his situation was still tenable. Still an example, for the attitude, if not the action.
234[[/folder]]
235
236[[folder:Space (not fighters)]]
237
238[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
239* Yang Wen-Li and his group from ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes''.
240* [[TheCaptain Murrue Ramius]] in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who repeatedly ignores military regulations and, occasionally, direct orders in order to best serve the [[TheMcCoy well-being of the people involved]]. She is contrasted by [[SergeantRock Natarle]], whose strict by-the-book adherence to the rules ends up putting her on the wrong side.
241
242[[AC:Comic Books]]
243* {{Discussed}} in ''ComicBook/StarTrekDebtOfHonor'' (set within a year of ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome''). Hikaru Sulu [[AsYouKnow explains to an ensign]] that the ''Enterprise'' crew get the jobs they do because they're both politically inconvenient (especially after having stolen the previous ''Enterprise'' from their own government and destroyed it) but also ''very'' good at their jobs. Ditto their Klingon counterpart Commander Kor (who is on the outs with the Klingon Empire [[ContinuitySnarl because of the ridged-forehead Klingons gaining power]]) and their Romulan counterpart Commander T'Cel. If it works, the day is saved. If it blows up in their faces, they're expendable.
244
245[[AC:Literature]]
246* Zack Lightman and [[spoiler:Xavier Lightman]] from ''{{Literature/Armada}}'' are both mavericks. Somewhat justified because they aren't really soldiers.
247* Ender Wiggin from ''Literature/EndersGame'' was a ''deliberate'' MilitaryMaverick -- he thought he was being a rebel, but they figured he was [[ChildProdigy smart enough]] to know better than the rule-makers, and actually intended him to break the rules.[[note]]And there was one 'rule' they especially ''wanted'' him to break... because he would be less conflicted about giving the order (versus regular soldiers) until after giving it.[[/note]]
248* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Lester Tourville used a mild form of this as a method of ObfuscatingStupidity. His persona as a competent but somewhat reckless officer helped him avoid promotion to a rank where he would be at risk of getting shot for either [[YouHaveFailedMe failing]] or being perceived as a threat to those in power.
249** Captain Aivars Terekhov was another milder form of this. He never once actually disobeys orders, but in ''Shadow of Saganami'' he goes WAY outside his authority, [[spoiler:requisitioning every ship in range in order to launch an attack against another star nation without a formal declaration of war -- and to boot, he commandeers a Solarian freighter in order to recon said system.]] He does at least set things up so that if things go wrong, his superiors can disavow his actions. As it is, he ends up promoted and [[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning knighted]].
250* Inverted in Creator/JohnHemry's ''Literature/TheLostFleet''. Captain Geary is thought of as crazy ''because'' he uses reasonable and not particularly noteworthy tactics. Which baffles his fleet, who are used to simply rushing into the enemy and counting how many ships are left over to determine a victory.
251* Willard Phule of ''Literature/PhulesCompany''. He gets ''promoted'' as a result of accidentally strafing a peace conference after the war had already ended. It [[BlessedWithSuck wasn't a reward]]. He was only not fired because the Space Legion never fires anyone, wasn't demoted only because of politics, and winds up in command of an "Omega Company", a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits dumping ground for troublemakers too stubborn to quit]].
252* In a rare example of someone at the top flouting convention, though actually very [[AffablyEvil cultured and refined]] in a way most Imperial fleet officers only hope to be, [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]] spits in the face of conventional strategic and tactical wisdom. He is confident to the point where he bases entire planetary assaults around esoteric uses of obscure or rare technology and other ''extremely'' unusual ideas -- ideas that are so odd that he and the captain of his flagship once had a barely-civilized argument over his use of a particular tactic. That particular tactic was in fact outright reasonable (and became ''routine'') compared to some of his more inventive concepts. Then again, Thrawn is only one step down in the chain of command from the Emperor: so long as he remains loyal to the Empire and continues to succeed in his assigned objectives, he has the authority to do whatever he damn well feels like. Thrawn was a military maverick among his own people, too. In ''Literature/OutboundFlight'', he was the one making preemptive strikes, to the consternation of, well, just about everyone. He actually got exiled for that.
253** Similarly, General Garm Bel Iblis is a ''slightly'' more conventional commander, but despite his cunning and ability to make do with less is often politically ostracized. He even resisted an upgrade to his aging flagship's comm center so that secure messages would remain more secure. This has more to do with his time as an independent rebel, as opposed to capital-R Rebel, than his behavior, but he seems quite content to let matters remain as they are.
254** Thrawn's old student and second-in-command [[Literature/HandOfThrawn Pellaeon]], having picked up a bit of that genius and becoming Supreme Commander in time, also manages to utterly frustrate [[CommanderContrarian his poor captain]] with tactics that seem counterintuitive at best and stupid at worst.
255** A sort-of inversion comes in the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' where the Rebel Alliance fleet, now the legitimate military arm of the New Republic, has to adopt the tactics they once so desperately yet handily worked around. Some try to make the change, but find themselves psychologically hamstrung by being unable to convert to the necessary way of thinking; others take to their new roles with gusto, but forget how to anticipate unconventional tactics. (Operation Emperor's Hammer resulted when New Republic officers took to the ''Empire'''s tactics very, very well.)
256*** Emperor's Hammer, for those who never read the book, was employed against the Yuzhaan Vong, an alien race that only briefly skirmished with the Empire. Therefore they were not aware that one of the primary uses of a Star Destroyer was orbital bombardment... and with something like sixty times the guns, a Super Star Destroyer is even better at it. Wedge Antilles made the Vong think he was desperately retreating, thus luring a very large ground force into the killzone, and then opened fire.
257** Vader is definitely a maverick within the Empire's military (proper court-martial? what's that?), but he's ''Vader'' and more or less an extension of the actual Emperor. His lieutenants can't complain (literally). Then again, he and not the Emperor held the rank of Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces...
258*** He was a maverick even before he fell to the Dark Side. During [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars the Clone Wars]], Anakin was known for disregarding protocol and orders from higher authorities -- whether it be from the Jedi Council or the Supreme Chancellor -- and still ending up with successful results.
259** In the [[Literature/XWingSeries Wrath Squadron trilogy]], General Han Solo, commanding the anti-Zsinj task force, discovers one downside to being a MilitaryMaverick:
260--->'''Han:''' With my history, I'd be the laughingstock of the New Republic if I ever brought one of ''my'' officers up on charges of insubordination.\
261'''Wedge:''' Yes, sir, I was sort of counting on that.
262** Wedge himself later becomes a flag officer (against his wishes) and fleet commander during the Literature/NewJediOrder, without a notable change in his attitude vis-a-vis orders. Notable is the incident in ''Rebel Dream'' where the new (self-proclaimed) Chief of State orders Wedge to commit his forces to a suicidal LastStand at Borelias. Wedge, believing (not wrongly) that the chief's ascension is itself extra-legal, begins ''dictating terms'' and implicitly threatens the head of his own government to get the resources he needs to pull the mission off.
263* Sister Miriya from James Swallow's TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} novel ''Faith & Fire'' regularly pisses off her Canoness for her "creative" interpretations of instructions given to her, although she usually doesn't disobey the direct orders of a superior and usually gets good results. However, with her actions in the course of the book included [[spoiler:discharging her weapon in a library, disobeying direct orders, postponing the arrest of a psyker to go find a deacon and killing that deacon]], so it's a miracle she wasn't executed on the spot, this being [[CrapsackWorld 40k]] and all. As it turns out, [[spoiler:there was an assassin in the library, the psyker helped them uncover a conspiracy (and was killed later) and the deacon was hoarding psykers for an experiment [[WhatMeasureIsANonSuper to try to turn all the humans of the Imperium into psykers]]]], so in recognition of that, she was just demoted into a line Battle Sister and reassigned to another Canoness.
264
265[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
266* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
267** John Sheridan was such a maverick that [[spoiler:he participated in a conspiracy against the (increasingly dictatorial) civilian EarthGov and finally decided to turn his command into an independent country]]. He also was not a fan of standard military tactics.
268--->'''President Luchenko:''' Half of Earthforce wants to give you a kiss on the cheek and the Medal of Honor. The other half wants you taken out and shot. As a politician you learn to compromise, which by all rights means: I should give you the Medal of Honor, ''then'' have you shot.
269** His predecessor, Jeffrey Sinclair, was a bit of a twist on this: While he wasn't afraid to fight the enemy in battle (more often than not, he'd lead the attack himself), but he was also a master at defusing conflicts, often through LoopholeAbuse and [[BatmanGambit predicting how others would react]] to his actions. His style tended to make him more enemies within the Earth Alliance than with outside parties.
270** Captain Jankowski presents a {{deconstruction}} of the trope. His fellow officers consider him overly HotBlooded, or as Sheridan describes him, a Loose Cannon. When Sheridan is offered the career-making opportunity to be Jankowski's XO on a recon mission into Minbari space, Sheridan refuses. Jankowski ends up inadvertently kicking off the most destructive interstellar war in human history when he overreacts during a standoff with a Minbari task force.
271* In ''[[Series/ForAllMankind For All Mankind]]'', virtually all the astronauts have a tendency to disregard orders they do not particularly agree with. They are, after all, selected precisely because they push the envelope and have to be able to take quick decisions when reaching Mission Control would take too long or is plain ''impossible'' (e.g. being "behind" the moon). It is sometimes acknowledged by members of NASA's ground crew with words to the effect of "it's his/her spacecraft" and it is often pointed out that there is no way to actually ''enforce'' an order from earth to a spacecraft. Still, Molly Cobb takes the cake. It pays off, mostly, except when [[spoiler: She gets exposed to way too much radiation saving a fellow astronaut against clear orders]].
272* In the classic (if short) German SF series ''Series/{{Raumpatrouille}}'', Commander [=McLane=] and the crew of the ''Orion'' are this to the extent that the series ''starts'' with their being reassigned to 'boring' patrol duty for a couple of years and saddled with a security officer who's supposed to ensure they tread the straight and narrow from now on. Needless to say, that's not quite how it works out.
273* Most of the captains from ''Franchise/StarTrek'' seem to fit this mold. Even Picard was credited with violating the [[AlienNonInterferenceClause Prime Directive]] about eight or nine times, and that's in the middle of the series run. This would have some meaning if the Prime Directive wasn't redefined nearly every episode. Often, the Federation seems to survive more on supreme acts of heroism than any actual organised strategy. Against technically superior forces like the Borg or the Dominion (early on, before the Federation learned to counter the latter's advantages), this approaches ConservationOfNinjitsu; elsewhere, it's more a case of OneRiotOneRanger, with single ships scattered through the galaxy. Said ships usually prevail by some fantastically risky tactic, as often as not a brazen bluff or [[IndyPloy Making]] [[AppliedPhlebotinum Shit]] [[IndyPloy Up On The Spot]], many times [[ItOnlyWorksOnce never to be]] [[ForgottenPhlebotinum done again]]. The lack of effective fleet-level planning may derive from Gene Roddenberry's reported dislike for making Starfleet "[[MildlyMilitary too military]]" -- feel free to insert any [[InterserviceRivalry joke about his Air Force background]] you wish.
274
275[[AC:Video Games]]
276* Axton from ''VideoGame/Borderlands2''. Once while assigned to protect a foreign dignitary he just let the guy get captured, traced him to an enemy outpost, and blew it up ''with'' the guy still inside. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome He got discharged]] shortly before the events of the game.
277* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
278** Sergeant John Forge from ''VideoGame/HaloWars'' apparently had discipline problems (with multiple promotions AND demotions) and a cocky attitude, once punched out a superior officer, and even brawled with a ''[[SuperSoldier Spartan-II]]''. He makes up for it by being extremely BadassNormal. Avery Johnson is another badass sergeant with a checkered past and a cocky attitude; he also happens to be a [[spoiler:''Spartan-I''.]]
279** [[VideoGame/Halo3ODST Corporal Kojo "Romeo" Agu]], whose only reason for not being kicked out of the military yet is because of his sniping skills.
280** In the ExpandedUniverse, there's [[Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx Kurt-051]], who does a lot of things behind the back of his superiors in order to help his Spartan-[=IIIs=], and [[Literature/HaloTheColeProtocol Gray Team]], the most unruly trio among all the Spartan-[=IIs=] who were explicitly separated from the rest for covert operations ''because'' of their tendency to play fast with the rules to complete objectives and talking back to their superiors.
281** Admiral Preston J. Cole was probably the biggest of all, to the point his first notable victory during the war with the Insurrection was ''because'' he made an incredible breach in military protocol by shooting a missile into the enemy vessel [[ISurrenderSuckers that was only possible because he sent a surrender and shot it into their docking tube to gut the ship.]] The top brass wasn't sure if they should give him the highest honors or have him court-martialed. Afterwards, he continued to distinguish himself with unconventional strategies and tactics fighting the Insurrection and later the Covenant.
282* Revan and Malak in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', before their MotiveDecay.
283* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', the turian general Adrien Victus is widely mistrusted by the turian military for using unconventional and "dishonorable" tactics. He ends up as the leader of the turians [[spoiler:after everyone else above him in the line of succession is killed by the Reapers]] and turns out to be pretty good at it, if still unconventional by supporting such measures as [[spoiler:curing the krogan genophage to secure their assistance]].
284
285[[AC:Web Comics]]
286* In ''Webcomic/{{Far from Home|MightyMartianStudios}}'', the lieutenant made a paper airplane out of a briefing. Hence, [[ReassignedToAntarctica the scouting mission]].
287* While Tagon's Toughs were under Breya's employ in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' the entire crew from Tagon and downwards (i.e. everyone ''except'' Breya) arguably qualified. While the Toughs are still as maverick as they used to be, they now work under Tagon, who ''encourages'' this behavior. Besides, they're mercenaries and not a military unit, which justifies it. Schlock is special forces ''in'' the mercenary company and is arguably twice as much maverick as everyone else.
288
289[[AC:Western Animation]]
290* Ensign (later Lieutenant Lower Grade) Beckett Mariner of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' is a {{deconstruction}} of this sort of person. She's been in Starfleet for years, so much that she could have been a captain of her very own starship. However, she hates the red tape and bureaucracy of Starfleet and the Federation so much that she decides to do things on her own and fights tooth and nail to ''not'' be promoted. This has frustrated her higher-ups greatly. However, between a TenMinuteRetirement and her own promotion by someone who wasn't going to play her games anymore, she has started to wonder why she's doing such things. [[spoiler:She eventually admits that her behavior is the result of [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E14LowerDecks losing a friend, Sito Jaxa, to a covert mission]] and then going through the [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Dominion War]], which led to severe PTSD that caused her to intentionally hobble her career so she'd never have to give orders that cause a subordinate's death.]]
291[[/folder]]
292
293[[folder:Special Forces (all branches)]]
294
295[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
296* Teana Lanster at the start of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers''. Unlike most examples, the series went for a far less positive potrayal of this type of character. Teana's Maverick nature almost caused a friendly fire incident during their second mission and her adamant refusal to listen to the advice and orders of her superiors [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan required several officers to beat the idea into her head]] that being reckless just for the sake of personal pride is a quick way to get you and your comrades crippled or killed. It was only when Teana toned down the Maverick nature of hers did she [[TookALevelInBadass begin to be truly efficient in battle]].
297
298[[AC:Comic Books]]
299* Snake-Eyes, ''ComicBook/GIJoe'' (Reloaded continuity), is pretty much insane--and the most dangerous man alive. (In other continuities, he's simply the most dangerous man alive.)
300
301[[AC:Films]]
302* Deconstructed in ''Film/PacificRim''. Most action films portray disobeying or contesting orders as a positive trait, but the opposite happens early on in the storyline when Raleigh and Yancy ignore Stacker's orders for them to stay in the Miracle Mile outside of Anchorage. Instead, they venture 10 miles out to sea in order to save a small fishing boat, which gave [[{{Kaiju}} Knifehead]] the advantage of deeper water. Coupled with their cocky attitudes, this ultimately leads to Yancy's death and Gipsy Danger's destruction. It also marks the end of the Golden Age of the Jaegers, eventually leading to the [[CreatureHunterOrganization Pan Pacific Defense Corps]] only possessing three Jaegers when they attempt to nuke the Breach.
303** It's specifically mentioned by [[BrokenAce Chuck Hansen]] that one of the main reasons the Jaeger Program had been decommissioned was because of mediocre and reckless pilots. Chuck's contempt for Raleigh stems directly from his maverick and ScrewThisImOuttaHere tendencies, which he believes have hurt the [=PPDC=] in the past and could possibly do it again in the future.
304
305[[AC:Literature]]
306* Holly Short from ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' is like this. Infamously, when her final exam to join [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous LEPrecon]] was interrupted by a terrorist plot, as her instructor was yelling at her for rescuing him rather than getting backup, she shot him with her paintball gun and repeated what he told her at the beginning of the exercise: "Shoot me before I shoot you, you pass."
307
308[[AC:Tabletop Games]]
309* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':
310** The Space Wolves (Space Vikings) are this to the rest of the Adeptus Astartes, mostly the [[BigBookOfWar Codex Astartes]]-following Ultramarines which causes no end of JurisdictionFriction. Even more so since the Armageddon Wars, when they took it on themselves to protect civilians and veteran Guardsmen from the Inquisition, [[KnightTemplar who would exterminate any potentially touched by Chaos]].
311*** Among the [[Literature/SpaceWolf Space Wolves]], the Blood Claws are the younger troops who have yet to fully master discipline, seeking only to close with the enemy and grab themselves a trophy.
312** The Astartes also have a tendency to be this in the wider Imperium. Each Chapter is its own organization with its own rules (even the Ultramarines and their descendants) and a law unto itself, and they'll do things the Marine way even if they're supposed to be working in concert with the Guard - if unaugmented humans can't keep up, they'll be left behind. Many Marines also display a level of unconcern for collateral damage and allied casualties that even the Guard might find disturbing.
313** Averted for the most part in the [[Characters/Warhammer40000ImperialGuard Imperial Guard]]: if a {{Commissar}} judges you to be impertinent, cowardly, heretical or doesn't like your face, they can (and will) [[YouHaveFailedMe execute you on the spot]].
314*** [[TheAhnold The Catachans]], however, are an entire army of Franchise/{{Rambo}}es (via the jungles of ''Film/{{Predator}}'') and as such have a special rule; before starting the game they roll to see whether an attached commissar has suffered an "unfortunate accident" miles away from the front lines.
315** According to Literature/CiaphasCain ('''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!'''), [[ChickenWalker Sentinel]] pilots are this, as they spend a lot of time operating independently behind enemy lines, leading to mysterious vox failures when receiving orders they don't agree with. Cain himself regularly has to deal with these guys, notably Trooper Magot, PsychoLesbian and perennial discipline problem. Not that Cain himself has much room to complain as he tends to ignore his own rule book on a regular basis too.
316** The more organized forces of Chaos tend to have this problem: they try to have tactics and carefully planned-out strategies, which are screwed up when their troops decide they should get into combat ''[[TheBerserker right now]]'', [[KlingonPromotion think they're better at running the show]], or hear the gods speaking to them.
317
318[[AC:Video Games]]
319* ''VideoGame/ArmyOfTwo'' somewhat takes on the Black Hawk Down example; the first mission is set back when Rios and Salem were Rangers, and their initial awe at the sight of Phillip Clyde [[RuleOfCool whooping ass with his bare hands and freerunning]] is tangible. Unlike the Delta operators from ''Black Hawk Down'', he's ''very'' condescending to them and [[AxCrazy rather homicidal]].
320** In fact, their awe lasts all of five minutes, after which they join the same mercenary company but refuse to work in the field alongside him. (In contrast, according to the ''Blackhawk Down'' book the Deltas sometimes helped out the Rangers on-base, i.e. teaching techniques, or in the case of one Ranger building him a custom machine gun grip.)
321* Axton in ''Videogame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' was a former Commando in the working for the Dahl Marines. Emphasis on "former" because he was facing the firing squad due to his GloryHound ways and his preference for doing things that were "awesome" instead of following orders. The incident that got him kicked out involved a mission to protect a dignitary from terrorists -- only he allowed the dignitary to be kidnapped by terrorists, trailed them back to their hideout, and blew it up, with the dignitary still inside.
322* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'' has you playing Captain Nick "Havoc" Parker. It's right there in the title and his CallSign. The man is [[DeadpanSnarker mouthy]], HotBlooded, rebellious, and [[BloodKnight loves a good fight]], but he's intelligent, motivated, totally loyal to GDI, and cares deeply about civilians, to the point of stealing a hovercraft to go free them when he hears about a NOD camp full of them rather than wait for reinforcements like his commander wanted. He gets put in the brig every so often, but they keep him around because he's effective to the point of being the setting's [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved Master Chief]].
323* British Commandos sergeant Jack O'Hara (AKA "the Green Beret", AKA "Butcher"), from the ''Videogame/{{Commandos}}'' series. He was sentenced to fourteen years of hard labour after striking an officer. His sentence was suspended upon volunteering for the commandos. According to the tutorials, he is violent and undisciplined but is more of a nightmare for the enemy than he is for his superiors.
324* A minor example only: in ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'', aside from their armor, Silencers are given free rein to use whatever equipment they deem necessary for an upcoming mission. As they are ''[[SuperSoldier Silencers]]'', their judgement on what they need is generally considered unimpeachable.
325* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', the Spectres are considered above all authority but that of the Council, and Shepard ''still'' manages to be a Military Maverick. Hell, one of the two alignments is ''called'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Renegade]]. And even playing the Paragon side of things, you end up [[spoiler:defying the Council and conspiring to get your ship back so you can save the day.]] And that's just the first game. In the second one, you can get in double the [[BunnyEarsLawyer Bunny Ears Lawyering]] and maverickiness between the Council [[spoiler:and the Illusive Man]].
326** Jacob Taylor, one of your squadmates in ''2'', is a former Alliance soldier who's only working for Cerberus because the Alliance refuses to get involved in the colony attacks due to red tape. Despite Cerberus being MildlyMilitary at best, and Shepard's squad being an extreme RagtagBunchOfMisfits, he acts the same way he would at the Alliance and is the only squadmate who makes it a practice to salute.
327* Though the players only see the units after they go rogue, [[VideoGame/MetalGear FOX, FOXHOUND, and Dead Cell]] are considered maverick units.
328** Illustrated [[http://gigaville.com/comic.php?id=244 repeatedly]] in ''Webcomic/TheLastDaysOfFoxhound''.
329* ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'' as of ''Vegas'' and onward stopped being soldiers who did everything in their power to keep the peace while minimizing the body count of civilians to having to shoot cops just to stop them from detonating a bomb and ultimately throws the guy off the bridge anyway.
330* ''VideoGame/RazingStorm'' has Shin as the team's maverick. He tends to wind up alerting enemy presence, wrecking jeeps, and getting his friends killed because he gets too far out into the open.
331* The Republic Trooper player character's [[KarmaMeter Dark Side options]] in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' often trend towards this; s/he is still a highly effective commando, delivering critical victories to the Republic -- but not in the way your superiors, or conventional doctrine, would suggest. By far the most extreme example is in the quest "Subtle Maneuvers", where the player is called on to attend a Senate subcommittee hearing which has been called by an Imperial mole. MissionControl wants you to wait until the Senator has finished haranguing you, at which point you can testify and present evidence of their treason -- or you can respond to his first statement by ''shooting him''.
332-->'''General Garza:''' Ah, ''Major''. [[TranquilFury You have truly crossed the line this time]]. I don't even know where to begin. ''[beat]'' What made you think you could ''gun down a senator'' in the middle of ''an official hearing''? This is the Republic! You are ''not'' above the law!\
333'''Trooper:''' Don't talk to me about laws -- you break them left and right!\
334'''Garza:''' I've bent the rules a few times in my career, certainly -- but I've never killed an unarmed public official in the middle of the Senate Tower! You may ''think'' you can get away with anything, since there's a war on, but don't think there won't be consequences for this.\
335'''Trooper:''' I'm [[SuperSoldier your ultimate weapon]], Garza. [[BadassBoast There's no one you could send to stop me]].
336** And what's worse is that the Trooper is right about Garza breaking the law. Many times she's ordered you to do unconventional things such as suffocating civilians that ''may'' have been [[{{Cyborg}} injected with cybernetic implants]]. Or wanting you to take serums of a disease that can [[TheVirus turn people into rakghouls]].
337* Captain Titus in ''VideoGame/Warhammer40000SpaceMarine''. Instead of [[LawfulStupid rigidly adhering]] to the ''Codex Astartes'', he views it more of a guideline on how to act, instead of it being utter law. This goes against the popular concept that the Ultramarines view the ''Codex Astartes'' as sacrosanct, and compared to most Ultramarines depicted, he's the one who deviates from it the most. He's also a ''[[TheCaptain Captain]]'' and doing this.
338
339[[AC:Real Life]]
340* TruthInTelevision: Special Forces units ''do'' tend to be laxer on the rules. Partly because [[BunnyEarsLawyer as elite units their superiors let them get by with more]] -- which is as much because special forces tend to recruit soldiers who are self-disciplined and don't need micro-managing, yet are capable of using their initiative, as out of respect for their capabilities -- and partly because they're often assigned covert missions where traditional military behavior can be detrimental.
341** Mark Bowden's book ''Black Hawk Down'' goes into detail about how this could cause friction with more conventional units. The Army Rangers at Mogadishu in 1993 practically idolized the Delta unit (reputed for extraordinary autonomy and flexibility) as the top rung of the special forces ladder, but company commander Captain Steele was concerned that Delta's "cowboy" ways would rub off too much onto the younger Rangers (not to mention that he thought that "they could be comically arrogant") who needed discipline, while a Delta sergeant first class had an even lower opinion of the Rangers' basic competence, and of Steele in particular. The movie would allude to the tensions with the "this is ''my'' safety sir" scene and then the Delta SFC's {{Expy}} arguing with Captain Steele on the battlefield nearby other Rangers. (The movie version left out that the real Delta who inspired the "safety" scene defied Captain Steele ''in full view of other Rangers'', without the immediate urgency of combat as an excuse.)
342*** According to the book [[FromBadToWorse it was worse than that]]; both Captain Steele and the Delta SFC generalized the Rangers as having been young and inexperienced and seemed to see the Rangers as not adopting the deeper understandings or self-discipline. Egregious examples would include Rangers unknowingly firing on Delta positions at least twice without checking first, and a trio of Rangers attempting to imitate ''how'' he was taking cover, apparently not understanding that he was doing so ''only because'' he'd [[GunKata found a spot where the cover let him fire with impunity]]. Unfortunately, one of those Rangers would be mortally wounded while in this position due to being exposed.
343* There is a story about a regulation for "Green Berets" (United States Army Special Forces) in Afghanistan to wear regular uniforms and to shave after a photo came out of a topless Green Beret in a ''keffiyah'' on the scene at an averted assassination attempt. Not only would it make them more visible, but the shaving cost them street cred in a country full of traditionalist Muslims...so when one of the brass ordered a team to regularly send photos of themselves with their (changing) radio frequency to show compliance, the team simply kept sending back the first and only clean-shaven photo, with their latest frequency ''Photoshopped'' in.
344[[/folder]]
345
346[[folder:Other/General]]
347[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
348* The ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' character Rukia is a hardass by human civilian standards, which is why it's a surprise when her fellow shinigami reveal that, by ''their'' standards, she's a traitor who deserves execution. It turns out that [[SuperEmpowering sharing her power]] like she did is illegal, even if she was doing it to save lives. Successive scenes show that her temper often made it difficult for her to tolerate the Gotei 13's aristocrat leaders or do [[TheNeedsOfTheMany What Must Be Done]]. Fortunately, shinigami with [[VetinariJobSecurity her level of spiritual power]] can't be discarded so easily.
349* In ''Literature/HeavyObject'' the protagonists Qwenthur and Havia -- a civilian student studying Objects and a radar analyst -- often ignore or disobey orders in order to take down enemy Objects. They're a massive headache for Frolaytia, their commanding officer, and during reassignments were even ''bigger'' headaches for other commanders. The only reason they haven't been kicked out of the military yet is that their government is terrified they'll defect to another supernation.
350-->'''Putana:''' Teacher, we’re disobeying orders, aren’t we?\
351'''Qwenthur:''' If we pull it off, it’ll all cancel out in the end.\
352'''Putana:''' Is that the [[WretchedHive Lost Angels]] way of doing things?\
353'''Qwenthur:''' No, it’s more like a summary of my entire life.
354
355[[AC:Comic Books]]
356* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': Captain America called on all military personnel to ignore their orders from above, take a weapon, go to the site of the Chitauri alien invasion and start firing. ScrewTheRulesItsTheApocalypse.
357
358[[AC:Tabletop Games]]
359* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':
360** Many Space Marine chapters interpret the Codex Astartes differently and go their own way about implementing it. Then there's the [[Literature/SpaceWolf Space Wolves]]. Who do not give half a damn about what the Codex has to say.
361** The Space Wolves themselves have their own take on the problem, due in part to their method of recruitment (a Wolf Priest selects a badly-wounded warrior from one of Fenris' many clan wars, and the recruit is made aware that he has been chosen to make war on the Emperor's enemies for all eternity). Where other chapters only use veteran Marines in melee assault teams, Space Wolves give their newest members a sword and a boltgun and point them in the enemy's direction, viewing it both as good training and an opportunity to remove the weak and unlucky. The survivors can then move on to become Grey Hunters and Long Fangs (Tactical and Devastator Marine equivalents), while those whose enthusiasm for melee combat never abates can get a bike or jetpack to continue on their chosen path.
362
363[[AC:Video Games]]
364* While they're only students of a military academy, Class VII in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel III'' breaks so many military rules that their [[TheHero homeroom teacher]] ends up getting headaches from their acts like not staying put in camp and actually stealing a military robot while tailing him and his friends in his mission given to him by the government, disobeying their other instructor's orders just so they can follow him, and even tailing him to a casino when he's gathering information from jaegers. He even calls them out on it by the end of the first chapter.
365--> '''Rean:''' If you were actual soldiers, you'd be in front of a court-martial right now!
366* Eiger from ''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns: Dragonfall'' is an extremely by-the-book ex-soldier. This gets her into hot water when she forgets the "ex-" part, and that her new team consists of one hacker and professional anarchist, an ex-cultist on the verge of cyberpsychosis, and a street-fighting shaman, all of whom have not only never even read the book, but think the book is best used as toilet paper on general principles.
367* In the ''VideoGame/NintendoWars'' titles where he features as one of the controllable Commanding Officers, [[FriendlySniper Grit]] of the Blue Moon army[[labelnote:note]]which, like the rest of the Wars World armies and [=COs=], does not make much of a distinction between the various military branches; he's as much of a naval and air commander as he is of infantry and vehicles[[/labelnote]] is perhaps the most easygoing characters in the franchise. His commander-in-chief Olaf is always chewing him out for being lazy and unmotivated, and, by Grit's own admission, he is largely uninterested in matters regarding whose borders are where. Nevertheless, his indirect combat proficiency is peerless, and, [[LetsGetDangerous when he gets serious]], he'll fight just as hard as any other CO against would-be invaders.
368
369[[AC:Real Life]]
370* The Military Order of UsefulNotes/MariaTheresa was created by the eponymous monarch during the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheAustrianSuccession to be awarded to [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic Austrian officers]] who showed "initiative" in battle leading to victory. This was specifically intended to encourage commanders in all branches (usually the Army, but sometimes also the Navy) to take risks, as the Austrian commanders kept losing battles for sticking too closely to doctrine and too conservatively to orders -- in other words, the award was intended to ''create'' military mavericks. This eventually led to the (untrue) legend that an officer ''had'' to disobey orders in order to earn the decoration.
371* An old Prussian military anecdote states that a Major was given a mission to complete during the Franco-Prussian War and was able to complete it, but in the process bypassed a greater opportunity that presented itself. The Crown Prince learned of it and gave him a tongue lashing for ignoring a possible advantage. The Major retorted that "His Majesty made me an officer to obey my orders", and the Prince replied back, "His Majesty made you an officer to know when to ''disobey'' your orders!"
372[[/folder]]
373

Top