two US politicians were replaced by Eddie's yellow skeleton allies and their red enemy skeletons. A regular fixture in the band's concerts, vocalist Bruce Dickinson has always waved a Union Flag during live performances and, more recently, has begun wearing an authentic red coat uniform which would have been worn during the battle on which the song was based. During a performance in Dublin in 2003, Dickinson's flag-waving reportedly received a large amount of booing from the Irish audience. While the band were receiving criticism from Sharon Osbourne in 2005, at the time justifying her attack on the band at the 2005 Ozzfest, she accused Iron Maiden of disrespecting American troops, then fighting alongside the British in Iraq, for waving a Union Flag in the US, although Classic Rock magazine supported the band by pointing out that the song's subject bore no relation to the military activity then taking place in the Middle East. On 15 August 2005, a live version of the song was released from the then upcoming live album, Death on the Road. On 24 April 2016, during Iron Maiden's performance in Beijing (their first in China), Dickinson did not bring out a flag while performing "The Trooper" as part of the request from the Chinese government to allow Iron Maiden to perform in the country. The flag was also omitted for a concert in Shanghai two days later. In popular culture The song has appeared in several Iron Maiden tribute albums, including A Call To Irons: A Tribute To Iron Maiden, Numbers from the Beast, A Tribute to the Beast and Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden, as well as on records by tribute bands such as Maiden uniteD (on 2010's Mind the Acoustic Pieces) and The Iron Maidens (on their 2006 self-titled debut album). In addition, the song has been released by Sentenced on The Trooper EP (1994), Rage on End of All Days (1996), Hellsongs on Hymns in the Key of 666 (2008), Thumper on the Metalliska compilation, Highland Glory as a bonus track on Forever Endeavour (2005), Radio Cult on Grooves From The Grave (2008), Stryper on The Covering, Iced Earth on the "tour edition" of their 2011 album, Dystopia, and 2Cellos on their 2015 album, Celloverse. On top of this, the track has also been included in the Guitar Hero 2, Carmageddon 2, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits and Rock Band video