• Advertising materials involved: 9/57, 15.9%
• Recruiters Always Lie: 9/57, 15.9%
• Stock phrase: 22/57, 38.6%
• ZCE: 6/57, 10.5%
• General military gripes: 6/57, 10.5%
• Other/Unsure: 5/57, 8.8%

The largest amount of wicks were for grumbling about having gotten convinced into their current predicament, be it farming or politics or vampirism. To quote Recruiters Always Lie's own page description, "A sister trope to "Join the Army," They Said, which is about the recruitment pitches themselves, although the Stock Phrase itself is likely to be used in regard to this trope."

Military-specific usages are split evenly between Recruiters Always Lie and "Join the Army," They Said. I'd entertain a merge into Recruiters Always Lie with broadening its description to "recruitment people/materials that sell a false picture of military life," as even though Recruiters Always Lie has fewer wicks, it doesn't suffer the Stock Phraseiness trap that "Join the Army," They Said falls victim to.

1. Characters.Honor Harrington Manticore: Travis joins the RMN on an impulse after seeing the recruiting posters (and the beautiful recruiting officer) advertising an exciting career defending the Star Kingdom and learning valuable skills. As it happens, the RMN of this time period is a demoralized undermanned service seemingly lacking any actual purpose.
2. Film.Down Periscope: When stringing halogen lamps on the periscope as part of a ruse [[spoiler:to look like a fishing boat in rough nighttime weather]], Jackson grumbles, "I didn’t see this shit in no recruiting poster!" After successfully taping down the light without drowning, he sings an old US Army recruiting ad song.
   Jackson: Be all that you can be!
   Dodge: That's the Army song, Jackson!
3. Film.Private Benjamin: Judy joins the Army thinking it's all travel and fun, like in the adverts (an image reinforced by an unscrupulous recruiter).
4. Literature.First Step Outward: Emphasize EVERYTHING: In "Cold War", by Kris Neville, the first half of a recruitment advertisement for the space military is given in occasional All Caps and multiple exclamation marks, even within sentences.
5. Literature.First Step Outward: In "Cold War", a Short Story by Kris Neville, the story opens with the text of a recruitment advertisement for joining the military. Ebullient phrasing is juxtaposed with banal instructions on how to sign up for military service aboard space stations.
6. Literature.Manticore Ascendant: Travis joins the RMN on an impulse after seeing the recruiting posters (and the beautiful recruiting officer) advertising an exciting career defending the Star Kingdom and learning valuable skills. As it happens, the RMN of this time period is a demoralized undermanned service seemingly lacking any actual purpose.
7. Radio.Dimension X: "Shanghaied" opens by describing the recruiting posters for the Deep Space Star Runs. "Seek your future in the Stars" is the tagline quoted by the characters.
8. VideoGame.Dino D Day: Several posters like this can appear during loading screens. Most are fairly standard, but one claims killing Nazi dinosaurs is as easy as hunting deer and they're just as dumb.
9. WesternAnimation.Mickey Mouse In Vietnam: Mickey takes the invitation to join the army from a billboard promising that he will "see the world". He barely steps foot in another country before being fatally shot.

1. Literature.Time Wars: Temporal Corps recruiting presentations involve the more attractive soldiers, many of whom have never seen actual combat, dressing up in pretty historical costumes.
2. Literature.Time Wars: Recruiters Always Lie: See "Join the Army," They Said above. The series regulars bitterly note how these sales pitches bear almost no resemblance to their actual duties, which frequently involve being on freezing, muddy battlefields, disguised as peasants in lice-ridden clothing.
3. Main.Fashions Never Change: Dress uniforms have remained very similar to their origins in the 18th and 19th centuries, especially in European militaries with long traditions (witness the British Buckingham Palace guards and the Pontifical Swiss Guard, for example). This is because they were designed to stand out and make it easier for their commanders to see them on a smoky battlefield, and they were also meant to look sharp (for recruitment at home) and intimidating (on the battlefield, again). So they still look good for showing off at formal events.
4. Main.War Is Hell: Cossacks is set in early 17th century Ukraine. The protagonist, a young Lithuanian Hussar of the Polish army, gets plenty of nightmares from the slaughters of the battles he fought in (after being convinced to enlist on much more glamorous promises by his ruthless officer, in addition to fulfilling his Replacement Sibling duty). He has enough, deserts and joins a Cossack tribe. RAL
5. PlayingWith.Armies Are Evil: Implied: Bob mentions that he's going to join the Army, and his family is universally shocked, horrified, and ashamed.
   Bob: Mum, Dad, I met the recruiter today... Now I'm packing up to leave tomorrow for the Army.
   (cue gasps and a few seconds of Stunned Silence, then a Big "WHAT?!" followed by Big "NO!", with maybe a Dramatic Drop or You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! as icing on the cake).
6. Quotes.The Cycle Of Empires: "Let the light lead you," said Deus Sol Invictus, its followers devoted and blinded. "March for our new age of mankind," said the Empire, and they marched to lonely deaths in far-off lands.
7. Recap.JAGS 05 E 19 Promises: Join the Navy They Said: Why Seaman Granato walked off her ship. She felt that the recruiter lied to her to get her to enlist. RAL
8. Series.Band Of Brothers: All the soldiers in Easy were initially infantry recruits, who were offered a raise and a nicer uniform if they simply jumped out of perfectly good airplanes. They also knew that if they didn't enlist, they might be forced into a foxhole with someone who might not be as good at fighting. They joined the elite because they wanted to live. The ironic part is that, as elite soldiers, they were sent to do more difficult and dangerous missions than an average GI Joe would. recruited to Easy by saying it's safer
9. Series.The Wonder Years: Played for Drama in "Private Butthead". Wayne is completely disinterested in going to college, so he wants to join the Army. His reasoning was that the Army would train him on a post-military job and pay him well. Jack counters by bluntly informing Wayne that he's going to be shipped to Vietnam if he goes through with it, and that the Army recruiters will say anything to get him to join. Despite being forbidden to join, Wayne is adamant to get his physical, and reveals after he's rejected why he wanted to join in the first place: He didn't know what else to do, as he thinks he's not good enough to get into college.

1. Characters.Arena Of Valor Mage Heroes: His opening quotes have a similar spirit, but instead of "joining the army," he's expressing his dissatisfaction with the constraints of being a good researcher, which he finds boring. "be a researcher, they said"?
2. Characters.Paladins Support: One of his jokes pokes fun at his idea to summon Raum:
   Summon an Abyssal Lord, they said. It'll be fun, they said...
3. Characters.Smite Greek Pantheon: More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Expectedly, her Maw has a massive set of sharp, deadly-looking teeth. One of her jokes actually poke fun of this; sure it looks scary, but brushing it is a pain.
   Charybdis: 'Brush your teeth daily,' they say. 'It's important!' they say. It's so much work though, uggghhh!
4. Characters.The Jungle Book 1994: Said word-for-word by Wilkins, while he complains about trekking through the jungle in one sequence.
5. ComicBook.Thor 2014: From Volstag:
   Volstag: "Join the Congress" I thought. "Senators get maimed and murdered a lot less than warriors" I thought.
6. ComicBook.X Factor 2006: Darwin has this complaint when bits of sentinel fall on him.
   Darwin: "Join X-Factor, she said. We're low-key. No giant robots..." Riiiight...
7. ComicBook.X Factor 2006: Layla has this complaint in regards to her and Jamie's rather small honeymoon suite and getting hit in the head by room service.
   Layla: "We could get married in Delaware," I said. "No waiting time, no blood tests," I said. "Who wants to get married in Delaware? Let's go to Vegas!" he said. "It'll be fun!" he said.
8. Fanfic.The Unabridged Memoirs Of Darth Plagueis The Wise: [[spoiler: Nom Anor]]'s reaction when reflecting on how his decision to join the [[spoiler: Praetorite Vong]] has rapidly gone horribly wrong.
9. Film.Mission Impossible Rogue Nation: Benji while at the opera, doing computer work:
   Benji: Join the IMF, see the world! On a monitor. In a closet...
10. Funny.Agents Of SHIELD Season Two: Hunter's Casual Danger Dialogue.
    Hunter: Join S.H.I.E.L.D, travel to exotic locales, meet interesting people. *Beat* And kill them. *shoots HYDRA goon out a window*.
11. Funny.Many A True Nerd: "'Be a vampire,' they said. 'You'll have power overwhelming,' they said. They didn't mention anything about having no stamina during the daytime, thus having to amble along at incredibly slow speed, constantly, forever."
12. Literature.Eagle Series: many soldiers comment this. Macro does it many times while they are in Britain's hellish (to him) climate.
13. Main.Defeat Catchphrase: In Asterix, the defeated and bruised Roman Mooks usually declare ""Join the Army," They Said" after the Gauls win.
14. Main.Recruiters Always Lie: In the Time Wars novels, Temporal Corps recruiting presentations involve the more attractive soldiers, many of whom have never seen actual combat, dressing up in pretty historical costumes. The series regulars bitterly note how this bears almost no resemblance to their actual duties, which frequently involve being on freezing, muddy battlefields, disguised as peasants in lice-ridden clothing.
15. Main.Recruiters Always Lie: A sister trope to "Join the Army," They Said, which is about the recruitment pitches themselves, although the Stock Phrase itself is likely to be used in regard to this trope.
16. Morrowind.Tropes D To L: Troops at Fort Frostmoth in Bloodmoon will sometimes say a variation of the trope name as idle banter.
    "Join the Legion! See the world!" Freeze your arse..."
17. Recap.Love Death And Robots Suits: "Be a farmer," in this case, as it involves occasionally fighting off hordes of ravenous monsters.
18. Recap.Mash S 9 E 11 No Sweat:
    Hawkeye: They said "join the army and see the world", so here I am in Korea, removing Chinese metal from an American soldier in a Turkish bath.
19. Recap.The Americans S 2 E 4 A Little Night Music: Mullin says he joined the navy in order to see the world, but ended up in D.C. instead.
20. Recap.The Casagrandes S 1 E 17 Mexican Makeover Uptown Funk:
    Sumo Wrestler: Go to the city you said, it'll be fun you said. I wanted to go to Dairyland.
21. VideoGame.Sniper Ghost Warrior 3: Another bit of Enemy Chatter you can overhear is "Join the revolution, they said. Be on the winning side, they said. Fucking pricks."
22. Warhammer40000.W40k Tropes I To P: Or, to quote 1d4chan, "Join the Imperial Guard or die. Then die."

1. Buffy.Season Specific Tropes: ZCE
2. Music.Funker Vogt: "Thoughts of A Soldier" is about a soldier's anger at how he has been treated.
   Remembering the last words: It won't be long I promise.
3. Music.Gang Of Four: "I Love a Man in a Uniform" ZCE
4. Music.Sabaton: They made a cover of "In The Army Now" by Bolland And Bolland.
5. TheSimpsons.Tropes I To M: Parodied in "G-I-(Annoyed Grunt)". ZCE commented out
6. Warhammer40000.W40k Tropes I To P: The tool of choice for the Imperial Guard on every planet they recruit from. How this is perceived by the world's populace is a case-by-case basis, but its usually understood you'll never come back home after being recruited. what is the tool

1. Funny.Game Of Thrones Seasons One To Four: And joking that after joining the Night's Watch, they thought their pig shit shovelling days were behind them.
   Edd: Oh, look. More shit. I was starting to wonder what to do with the rest of me day.
2. IneffectualSympatheticVillain.Comic Books: The pirates and most Romans in the Asterix books. No match for the superpowered Gauls and not smart enough to deal with them in more insidious ways. There are a few Romans who avert this and are quite fearsome schemers however, most notably Julius Caesar himself. Especially as the reputation of the invincible Gauls spreads and they start running from any hint of conflict. Most of the generals of the fortified camps surrounding the village are this combined with Punchclock Villain and tend to act out of fear for what the higher-ups would do if they were not seen to be acting, and the foot soldiers tend to be put-upon Mauve Shirts who would rather be doing anything else.
3. Literature.Dark Heresy: The first time we meet Drake, he's complaining about his decision to join the Guard.
4. Quotes.Tom Baker: Once a man next to me found the handle of a radiator in his mashed potato; he said nothing, merely moving it to the side of his plate after sucking the mashed potato off it first. Nobody else said anything either. If the truth was known several of us were probably jealous.
   — Describing army food
5. Recap.Monty Pythons Flying Circus S 1 E 4: "It's a dog's life...man's life in the Modern Army!"
6. VideoGame.Company Of Heroes: Not really an example of the trope itself, but the American Engineer squad does mention the trope name and provides the former page quote. The various basic infantry squads also frequently lament their expectations of the army being totally wrong.
   Volksgrenadier: If I'd known how much walking I'd have to do, I'd have joined the Navy.

1. Film.Private Benjamin: Jewish American Princess: Judy Benjamin is one of these getting suckered into joining the Army, with the expected Fish out of Water results.
2. Film.Stripes: It was Winger's idea to enlist, and he talked Ziskey into signing up by promising him that military life was going to be a total blast. As you might reckon, Ziskey gets pissed off later on when he catches Winger trying to go AWOL.
3. Main.Jewish American Princess: Private Benjamin involves one of these getting suckered into joining the Army, with the expected Fish out of Water results.
4. Pocahontas.Tropes A To J: Added Alliterative Appeal: The opening song mentions "glory, God, and gold" as the settlers' motivation.
5. Pocahontas.Tropes A To J: Why the settlers go to the New World in the first place; that is accurate.