This troper has a friend in the military, serving in an infantry regiment. Said friend, sometimes while on duty, ponders the purpose and meaning behind his actions, his role in the institution - often leading to long bouts of philosophical musings on the meaning of life, the morality of warfare and political matters, the pursuit of happiness, and so on. Often he would explore and question these ideas in his journal, sometimes for hours on end. Unfortunately, his tendency to appear more intellectual than his fellow infantrymen has often led to his quiet ostracization among the junior ranks. Probably could be considered a deconstruction of this trope.

I teach historical European martial arts, have studied karate, jujitsu and German wrestling, and on one occasion broke a mugger's nose (and possibly damaged his wrist) when he pulled a knife on me. I also act, sing, write poetry, am working on a novel and personally consider well-constructed music to be the most wonderful thing crafted by humanity. As I've thought before, I'd like to lead a life where you'd expect the score to be written by EnnioMorricone: contrast the music from TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly with the title theme from The Mission. It's the same composer, but you'd never guess.

I am a subversion; while I know a lot about the intellectual side of war, my only experience was in schoolboy brawls long ago-and very few of those. My younger brother plays this straight. He is fascinated by martial arts and both studies them and trains in them. I don't know how formidable he would be in an actual fight but I do know I couldn't match him.