Pre-War Civilian Career

A character's Backstory of what their life was like before they joined the military or got caught in the crossfire.

The skills they developed before may come into use in their new environment, or they may leave them unprepared.

Can be a result of Conscription and can overlap with From Nobody to Nightmare and/or Start of Darkness.

See also Trading Bars for Stripes and Recruiting the Criminal. Compare Utility Weapon (for weapons with a peaceful use) and Retired Badass; contrast Call to Agriculture (for careers that follow military service) and Returning War Vet.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Code Geass: Kaname Ohgi used to be a school teacher before becoming the leader of a Japanese resistance cell and later, a member of the Black Knights after giving the leadership to Zero.
• Gundam:
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: While most of the White Base crew is composed of civilians, nothing much of their pre-war careers were explained. Sayla Mass is the only one whose pre-war career is detailed which is being a medical student assigned in Side 7.
  • At the beginning of Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, Judau Ashta, Beecha Oleg, Elle Viano, and Monde Agake used to work in a junk shop in the colony Shangri-La in Side 1 until they get entangled with the first Neo Zeon war and join AEUG to defeat Neo Zeon.
  • After War Gundam X: Garrod Ran is a black market weapons dealer and a thief who steals mobile suits. He ends up joining the Vultures after he realizes that his client wants him to kidnap Tiffa for the wrong reasons and becomes the pilot of the GX-9900 Gundam X.
• Macross :
  • Macross Frontier: Alto Saotome used to be a kabuki actor but he prefers to be a pilot and enrolls in Mihoshi Academy to take up their pilot training course, leading his father to disinherit him. He joins S.M.S. after the leader of Skull Squadron noticed his piloting skills during the Vajra attack.
  • Macross Delta: In the TV series, Hayate Immmelman is a wanderer who did odd jobs and worked at the docks in the beginning. He eventually joins Chaos after the leader of Delta Squadron saw his piloting skills during the Var Syndrome outbreak in Shahal City.

Comic Books

• Battlefields: Sergeant Rock Stiles is asked what he did for a living. He unhesitatingly responds that he worked in a slaughterhouse... before saying it's what people always expect, and in fact, he worked in his father's pub.
• In Sgt. Rock the pre-war careers of only a few of the combat happy joes of Easy Company are known. Rock himself worked in a steel mill in Pittsburgh; Jackie Johnson was a heavyweight boxer; The Berseker known as Wildman was a history professor from Colorado; and Farmer Boy was, well, a farmer.

Fan Works

• The Misfits (Warhammer 40,000): Alaster, as a high-school student, is the best-educated of his squad; Nasty who was in a street gang is a good fighter; and Patreus, who was a monk, is devoted and can also fight. Together they mostly balance out each others' weaknesses.

Film — Live-Action

• 300: Leonidas shows his disdain for the other Greeks by asking a bunch of their soldiers what their professions are.^note Spartans had universal male conscription, they enslaved other Greeks, which they then called "hilotes", to work for them.
  King Leonidas: You there, what is your profession?
  First Soldier: I am a potter... sir.
  King Leonidas: [points to another soldier] And you, Arcadian, what is your profession?
  Second Soldier: Sculptor, sir.
  King Leonidas: Sculptor. [turns to a third soldier] You?
  Third Soldier: Blacksmith.
  King Leonidas: [turns back shouting] SPARTANS! What is YOUR profession?
  Spartans: HA-OOH! HA-OOH! HA-OOH!
  King Leonidas: [turning to Daxos] You see, old friend? I brought more soldiers than you did!
• In Appointment with Venus, Captain Weiss was a cattle breeder in West Bayern before the war. This is unfortunate for the protagonists as it means he takes a much greater interest in the prize-winning cow Venus than any other German officer might.
• The hero Cage from Edge of Tomorrow mentions that he had an advertisement firm which he lost due to the war brought on by the Alien Invasion. He Got Volunteered and works now in the PR department of the US army.
• In Francis the Talking Mule, human protagonist 2nd Lt. Stirling was a bank teller before World War II and resumed his job afterwards. The Framing Device is him explaining the story of how he met Francis to his boss.
• Frieda: Before joining the RAF, Robert was a schoolmaster at a boys school. He returns to the school when he gets back to England, but resigns because of the tensions his being married to a German are causing among the students and faculty, and works on a farm for the duration of the war. However, once Frieda has been accepted in the village he is planning to seek a job at one of the Oxford colleges.
• In The Horse Soldiers, Colonel John Marlowe was a railway engineer before the war, which is one of the reasons he was selected to lead the mission to sabotage the rail and supply and depot. Colonel Secord was a politician (and is planning to run for Congress after the war) and Major Gray was an actor. Of the senior officers, only the surgeon Major Kendall is a career soldier.
• In Inglourious Basterds, Archie Hicox was a film critic before World War II broke out, primarily being an expert on German cinema, to the point he wrote 2 books on the subject.
• Letters from Iwo Jima: Private Saigo used to be a baker until World War II broke out when he was conscripted to serve for the Imperial Japanese Army. Throughout the entire movie, it's clear that he wants to see his family again and he's the only character who manages to make it out alive in the end.
• The Lost Battalion: Maj. Charles Whittlesey was a lawyer before he enlisted in the US military during World War I.
• In Love Nest, Marilyn Monroe's character Roberta "Bobbie" Stevens was a model before World War I when she joined the Army. When Bobbie gets out of the Army, she resumes her modeling career.
• During one of the quiet moments in The Odd Angry Shot, the squad discovers Harry sketching and learn that he had been an artist before joining the army. He tells the story of how he realised one night that his wife didn't love him anymore. He packed a suitcase, left and enlisted in the army the next day, and has been in ever since.
• The Postman: General Bethlehem states he was a copier salesman before the war.
• Saving Private Ryan: Captain Miller's background is the subject of a bet. Reiben jokingly suggests he was assembled from spare parts of dead GIs. When Reiben threatens to desert after Wade's death and the ensuing argument about a German POW (who is responsible for Wade's death), Miller reveals he was a schoolteacher.
• In Strange Gardens, the German soldier who entertains the French hostages, Bernd, worked as a clown at the Medrano Circus in France before he was conscripted in the Wehrmacht.
• This comes up in the movie Three Kings. One of the Army Reservists, Staff Sergeant Elgin, worked at an airport as a baggage handler before being called up to the Army. When the group finds the gold they plan to steal, he quickly realizes that the bags the gold have been placed in aren't nearly sturdy enough to transport the gold. There's also a brief flashback to Troy Barlow's day job, showing him miserable in an office environment and getting printer toner all over himself.
• Up the Front: Prior to joining the army, Lurk and Groping were the bootboy and butler to Lord and Lady Twithampton.

Literature

• All Quiet on the Western Front:
  • Private "Kat" Katzynski was a cobbler before the war. It's stated this was the only way he and his wife could afford shoes for their children.
  • Corporal Himmelstoss was a mere postman before the war, and it's implied that he's hard on the cadets in order to exact payback for them looking down on him as a working-class man. Paul's goal after the war is to join the postal service and become Himmelstoss' superior.
  • Paul, the main protagonist and POV character, notably doesn't have one, and at one point notes that he and his classmates haven't really learned any trade or profession — except how to kill people.
  • The French soldier, Duval, was a printer before the war — not some fierce professional warrior, but an ordinary guy doing an everyday job. This only makes Paul feel even more guilty for killing him.
• The Caine Mutiny:
  • Lt. Keefer was a fisherman before the war. This is in contrast to, and a source of friction with, Lt. Cmdr Queeg, a career officer who was on duty before the war and served in the grueling Battle of the Atlantic where his ship was sunk by a U-boat.
  • Lt. Greenwald was a lawyer before joining as a fighter pilot, but was injured and restricted from flying, so he changed his trade to a legal officer.
• Garth Ennis' War Stories has one story about WW 2 bomber pilots, one of which was an airliner pilot before the war who joined when his wife died during the London bombings. He's noted to be disturbingly good at it, but he never mingles with the rest of the squadron.
• In World War Z, Todd Wainio is teamed with a unit to take back the country from the zombies. One of them admits to formerly being a professional wrestler. Another he suspects of being Michael Stipe, although he can't get him to admit it.

Live-Action Television

• Firefly: Malcolm Reynolds was a wealthy rancher on Shadow before volunteering for the Independent Planets' army to fight in the Unification War. His homeworld was glassed during it.
• NCIS: Gibbs worked at his father's convenience store before joining the US Marine Corps at 18.

Tabletop Games

• Choosing a Background is an important aspect of Planet Mercenary. While, on the surface, it just decides a handful of skill bonuses, it also informs where your character came from.

Theatre

• In Journey's End, most of the officers enlisted from school, but the older Lt. Osbourne...enlisted from school, but from his former career as a teacher rather than as a student (although he also mentions being a professional rugby player, and even making it onto the English national team). He's appropriately a Team Mum to the younger officers.

Video Games

• My Child Lebensborn: The soldier from Nazi Germany who fathered the child was a baker before being drafted into the force that was sent to occupy Norway, where he met the child's mother. He has returned to that job for a few years by the time the Player Character gets hold of him.
• Overwatch:
  • Jack Morrison (Soldier:76) was a humble son of a farmer before joining the military at 18, then entering the super enhancement program and eventually becoming leader of Overwatch.
  • Zarya was a champion weightlifter but passed on her chance to compete in the Olympics in favour of enlisting when the second Omnic crisis led to Russia being attacked. These two key points in her backstory manifest in her ability to effortlessly lug around a BFG and her distrust of Omnics.
  • Hana Song was better known by her pro-gamer handle of D.Va, before being recruited by the Korean military's MEKA program to pilot a Mini-Mecha and fight a Kaiju-sized omnic that attacked Korea every few years (and had recently been able to hack automated mecha). Word of God is that the game she was proficient in had very similar controls to the actual suits.
  • Mei is an ambiguous example; she was a member of Overwatch, but worked as a climatologist in the arctic rather than a soldier. In the game (and her short) she wields a freeze gun and responded to Winston's recall, implying that she will serve a combat role in the recalled Overwatch.
  • Similarly to Mei, Winston started off as a scientist and pursued an academic career after escaping from the moon (where his fellow genetically enhanced primates had rebelled), but was seen serving a combat role (notably being the one who first captured Doomfist).
  • Mercy was a top medical researcher and only joined Overwatch very reluctantly during the first crisis. She still has misgivings about the way her medical technology has been weaponised and isn't completely sold on Overwatch's revival.
• This War of Mine: Every character has a backstory and, with the exception of Roman, a former militia soldier, none has any combat experience, such as Anton, a mathematician; Cveta, a school principal; Marko, a fireman; Marin, a handyman and workshop owner; Katia, a reporter; Pavle, a star soccer player; Zlata, a musician; Emilia, a lawyer; Bruno, a cook with a TV show; Irina, a gardener; Boris, a warehouse stock boy; and Arica, a cat burglar. Some have improved abilities, such as using fewer resources to craft food or items, greater stamina, and carrying capacity, extracting better deals, better stealth, and so on.
• Valkyria Chronicles: Your various squad members all have backstories detailed in the in-game encyclopedia detailing their lives before the Imperial invasion of Gallia, whereupon they were called up under Gallian universal conscription laws. Main characters Welkin Gunther and Alicia Melchiott were respectively a teacher and a baker, while shocktrooper Rosie Stark was a singer.

Western Animation

• Transformers:
  • In The Transformers, Optimus Prime and Elita One used to be dockworkers before the Decepticons attacked Iacon.
  • Transformers: Prime: Optimus Prime used to be an archivist, Bulkhead a construction worker, Megatron a miner and a gladiator, and Soundwave was also a gladiator (and, according to extra material, a senator before that). However, Starscream was already in the military long before the war started and Ratchet had always been a medic.

Real Life

• Although he was a distant relative to the Han Imperial family, Liu Bei, the Chinese warlord and the founding emperor of Shu-Han which was one of the Three Kingdoms, used to sell shoes and straw hats when he was young to help out his mother.

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