The Deadliest Unit You’ll Never Join

If horror villains enlisted, here’s how they’d run your unit.

Horror villains are the military’s rogue operators—silent, deadly, and on permanent night ops. They execute missions with precision, patience, and zero concern for the rules of engagement. From knife-wielding stalkers to mind-twisting manipulators, these 13 icons have specialties that line up perfectly with a Military Occupational Specialty. Let’s break it down—who fits where, and which horror villains would dominate the roster. Grab your ruck and strap in—it’s going to get bloody.

1) Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 1974) – 91B Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic

Leatherface isn’t refined. He’s a greasy, chainsaw-wielding mess of blood and overalls. But he knows how to keep the family business running. That screams motor pool warrior.

Mechanics aren’t glamorous. They’re dirty, sweaty, and loud. Just like Leatherface. He doesn’t think strategically. He just hacks, saws, and screams while keeping his operation alive. A chainsaw is basically a power tool in his motor pool. 

2) Michael Myers (Halloween, 1978) – 11B Infantryman

Michael is the infantry in its purest form: quiet, relentless, and built to suffer. He doesn’t need flash or frills. Just a knife and unlimited cardio.

An 11B doesn’t care about comfort. They embrace the suck. Myers shrugs off small arms fire like it’s a bad PT score and keeps advancing. He’s basically a walking ruck march—no comms, no complaints, no quit. You could drop him in Fallujah, and he’d walk through it like a cornfield in Illinois.

3) Jack Torrance (The Shining, 1980) – 12B Combat Engineer

Jack Torrance is all about destruction with a side of chaos. He’s obsessed with “improving” the Overlook, one axe swing at a time. That’s straight-up combat engineer energy.

12Bs build, demolish, and manipulate the battlefield. Jack does the same…except his constructions involve terrifying corridors, frozen topiary, and walls you probably shouldn’t hack with an axe. He’s brilliant at improvisation under pressure—but unstable enough to go rogue at any moment. 

4) Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13^th, 1980) – 19K M1 Armor Crewman

Jason is a tank with legs. Big. Heavy. Slow. But once he starts rolling, you’re screwed. He doesn’t dodge. He doesn’t finesse. He just plows through whatever is in front of him.

That’s a 19K in a nutshell. Hockey mask instead of a CVC helmet, machete instead of a 120mm smoothbore. He’s proof that momentum and brute force can win any engagement. He doesn’t maneuver—he crushes.

5) Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984) – 35F Intelligence Analyst

Freddy doesn’t win fights through simple violence. He conquers with information and manipulation. He studies you, your dreams. Then he uses your fears against you.

That’s classic intel work. A 35F digs into enemy patterns, vulnerabilities, and psychological pressure points. Freddy is a one-man S2 shop. Who needs a rifle when he’s already inside your head? Call it PSYOPs, HUMINT, or just nightmare fuel. 

6) Chucky (Child’s Play, 1988) – 89D Explosive Ordnance Disposal

Chucky is small but deadly. He loves gadgets, traps, and creative ways to kill. That’s EOD material all day.

EOD techs are precise and often…a little insane. Meticulous lunatics who dismantle bombs with one hand while flipping off death with the other.  Chucky thrives on that chaos. While he doesn’t have size, he makes up for it with clever carnage. 

7) Pennywise (It, 1990) – 37F Psychological Operations Specialist

Pennywise is PSYOP incarnate. He weaponizes fear until you break. A 37F controls populations through terror and manipulation. Pennywise makes kids walk into storm drains willingly. He doesn’t need weapons—he’s a psychological JDAM. Pennywise would make DARPA proud.

8) Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs, 1991) - 68W Combat Medic (Spec Ops, Surgical Edition) 

Hannibal is a surgical artist with a taste for perfection…and people. That screams 68W with extreme specialization. Combat Medics save lives under pressure. Hannibal does the same…except he’s equally skilled at taking them apart. He’s painstakingly thorough, calm under stress, and terrifyingly clever with anatomy. 

9) Buffalo Bill (The Silence of the Lambs, 1991) – 92M Mortuary Affairs Specialist

Buffalo Bill is obsessed with the human body—but not in a medical way. He treats people like projects. Like a 92M, but without the compassion.

Mortuary Affairs soldiers handle the remains. They’re meticulous, clinical, and comfortable with death. Buffalo Bill takes it a step further. He “processes” bodies for his own twisted purposes, stitching skin like he’s tailoring a uniform. He’s not charging the front lines—he’s in the back, turning horror into handiwork. 

10) Ghostface (Scream, 1996) – 31B Military Police

Ghostface is sneaky, self-righteous, and just dangerous enough to ruin your night. That’s pure MP energy. He doesn’t overpower you—he stalks you, toys with you, then slaps the cuffs on. MPs thrive on intimidation. So does Ghostface. Always lurking, waiting for you to screw up. He’s the masked figure at the barracks gate making sure you blow that .08.

11) Patrick Bateman (American Psycho, 2000) – 36B Financial Management Technician

Patrick Bateman lives and dies by the numbers. Budgets, balances, business cards—it’s all about image and control. That screams 36B.

Financial Management Techs track money, crunch numbers, and live in spreadsheets. Bateman does the same with Wall Street gloss, only his “after-hours” hobbies involve chainsaws and Huey Lewis records. He’s meticulous, status-obsessed, and completely detached from reality. 

12) Annabelle (Annabelle, 2014)– 42A Human Resources Specialist

Annabelle doesn’t move much. She just sits there and ruins lives. That’s HR in a nutshell.

The doll doesn’t need to chase you down. She makes your life hell from a corner, like an HR rep filling out disciplinary paperwork. You won’t notice her at first. But once she’s in your space, she’ll crush your soul without ever raising her voice. Creepy doll? Or the embodiment of a passive-aggressive counseling statement? Same thing.

13) Slender Man – (Slender Man, 2018) 35M Human Intelligence Collector (HUMINT)

Slender Man controls the fight with presence alone. Tall. Silent. Unblinking. That’s HUMINT energy. A 35M lives in the shadows. They manipulate, influence, and recruit through fear and subtle pressure. Slender Man doesn’t chase—you come to him. He worms into your head, isolates you, and makes you compliant without saying a word. He’s the kind of guy who could get a full confession just by standing in the interrogation room.

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And an honorable mention going to…(and yes, given I’m in the show, I’m definitely biased) 

Vecna (Stranger Things, 2022) – 17C Cyber Operations Specialist

Vecna doesn’t just kill—he invades your system. He worms into your mind, scrambles your thoughts, and leaves you fried from the inside out. That’s cyber warfare all day.

A 17C fights battles you’ll never see. They exploit weaknesses, infiltrate networks, and shut you down before you even know you’re compromised. Vecna is basically running black-hat ops in the Upside Down. In the Army, he’d be the shadow behind the screen, frying your brain through a headset while taunting you about your trauma.

Closing Thoughts

Horror villains are soldiers without uniforms. Each one has a specialty, a mission, and an MOS that fits like a bloody glove. 

So next time you watch a horror movie, remember: these killers aren’t just psychos. They’re operators with skill sets. And if they ever showed up to boot camp, the military would find them a slot in the system. War might be hell—but horror villains already live there.

Before clicking that share button, let me know in the comments if I missed a good villain…

by Jennifer Marshall, actress/producer/speaker, cancer survivor, U.S. Navy vet

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