Basic Trope: A leader in the military is seen as a fatherly figure by his soldiers.
- Straight: All of Captain Alex's soldiers see him as a father figure.
- Exaggerated: Captain Alex's soldiers begin to actually believe that Captain Alex is their dad and even begins to call him as such.
- Downplayed: Captain Alex has a mentor relationship with most of his men, and they all look up to him, but it's mostly professional.
- Justified:
- Captain Alex's soldiers see him as a father figure because they miss their dads back home.
- They see him as a father figure because he is middle aged and he treats the 18 year old soldiers like his sons.
- Captain Alex is respected by the soldiers as he understands them; he came Up Through the Ranks.
- Benevolent Boss.
- Captain Alex and his first sergeant work as Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough
- Inverted:
- Captain Alex sees all his soldiers as sons.
- Captain Alex is weak and ineffectual. He sees all his (much more competent) sergeants and lieutenants as mentors.
- Captain Alex is The Neidermeyer.
- We Have Reserves
- Bad Boss
- Gender Inverted: Captain Alice's soldiers see her as a motherly figure.
- Subverted: Alex actually sees them as disposable reserves.
- Double Subverted:
- Until Character Development kicks in, at least.
- It's a fakeout.
- Parodied:
- Captain Alex reads his soldiers a bedtime story every night, complete with milk and cookies.
- "Captain Alex is like a father to us!" "Yeah, he's a mean drunk who yells at us, just like our real dads back home!"
- Zig Zagged: Captain Alex is viewed in different ways by different soldiers. Some see him as a father figure while others don't.
- Averted:
- None of Captain Alex's soldiers like him or respect him.
- Enforced: The movie's shot in wartime. To persuade young men to join the army, every single Captain on the heroic side is portrayed as a father to his men.
- Lampshaded: "Lucky you. The officer leading your company is an excellent guy. A father figure of sorts, so to say."
- Invoked: Alex behaves like this because he wants his soldiers to support him in his planned coup against his superiors.
- Exploited: Charlie, a homeless runaway looking for a Parental Substitute or at least a mentor, joins the army because he hears about the legendary Alex.
- Defied: A few of Captain Alex's soldiers decide that Captain Bob is more of a father figure to them then Captain Alex is.
- Discussed:
- "Man, Captain Alex's soldiers sure do love him." "Yeah, I think they see him as a father figure or something."
- Conversed: "Those soldiers are acting like Captain Alex is their dad!"
- Implied: When asked if he has any family, Charlie recalls his time serving in the army.
- Deconstructed:
- Captain Alex sacrifices himself to spare his subordinates from having to deal with immoral operations, his death inadvertently started his subordinates' Sanity Slippage.
- The attachments Captain Alex has to his men mean that The Chains of Commanding fall on him all the harder.
- Reconstructed:
- Until his friend Captain Bob takes his place, and everything gradually goes back to normal.
- Played For Laughs: Alex’s recruitment process involves his recruits signing adoption papers.
- Played For Drama:
- Captain Alex is a father figure to his men in the war, while his own little children back at home suffer from Parental Abandonment and begin to resent him.
- Caring so much for his men, Captain Alex gets devastated by each death in his company. His feelings of guilt and his mental state deteriorates rapidly due to his losses, resorting to drinking, if not worse.
- During an ambush, Captain Alex is killed while personally leading his men in an assault, which devastates his soldiers.
- Logical Extreme: Captain Alex’s troops are his literal children.
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