Book Review – Robert A. Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”
Last night I finished reading Robert A. Heinlein’s classic tale of outer space military adventure, Starship Troopers.
This was actually my second time reading this book. Back in 1998, Starship Troopers was one of many books that I read as a freshman in college. This was just after the movie was released and I heard that the book was on the Marine Corps’ reading list (it’s not on today’s Marine Corps reading list). Since I was still pursuing my goal of becoming an officer in the military, I gave it a shot.
For one reason or another, I didn’t like Starship Troopers the first time I read the book. Perhaps it was because the book was nothing like the movie. Maybe I just didn’t pay attention and understand the characters and events in the book. Whatever the reason, I finished the book, donated it to a local used books store, and returned to reading other topics.
Just recently I checked Starship Troopers out of the local library and gave the book a second chance. Let me tell you, this second reading of the story was a world of difference from the first reading.
As you probably know from the movie (and its direct-to-video sequels and brief TV series), Starship Troopers is a science fiction novel set in the future. The story primarily follows the actions of Juan “Johnnie” Rico, a recruit who graduates from high school, joins the elite Mobile Infantry, and progresses through the rankings while fighting in an interstellar battle known simply as The Bug War.
Starship Troopers begins with Juan Rico making a combat drop and conducting a military raid against a race of beings known as “Skinnies.” He’s serving on a space corvette called the Rodger Young, and Rico’s Mobile Infantry unit is nicknamed “Rasczak’s Roughnecks” (named after their commander, Lieutenant Rasczak). Rico uses his advanced mobility suit to advance through the target area and wipe out many Skinnies. After the brief outburst of combat, Rico and his fellow troopers are retrieved by a smaller craft. The only casualty is a trooper known as Dizzy Flores.
The story then flashes back to Rico’s high school graduation and his decision to enlist in Federal Service, much to the objection of his father. His father wants Rico to attend Harvard and then continue in the family’s business. We meet Carl, Rico’s smart friend, and Carmencita Ibanez, their flirty classmate from school. They all sign up for Federal Service and take the examinations to see where they best fit in the organization. Ibanez heads off to flight school to become a space pilot, Carl gets his wish and leaves for Research and Development Corps, and Rico is accepted in the Mobile Infantry.
Rico is shipped out to Camp Arthur Currie, a tough boot camp designed to weed out most of the recruits. Only about ten percent of the recruits become soldiers in the mobile infantry. The drill instructor is Ship’s Sergeant Charles Zim, a career soldier who wants out of boot camp and onto the real battlefields.
Johnnie Rico progresses through boot camp, making personal gains and learning how to function in the Mobile Infantry. After getting past “the hump” (partially thanks to an encouraging letter from his History and Moral Philosophy instructor (Mr. Dubois, a retired soldier)), Rico learns how to operate with the aid of the special power suits. It’s the powered suits that put the mobility in the Mobile Infantry and also give each soldier an impressive boost in strength, speed, firepower and communications.
We also see that capital punishment is an important part of recruit training. One of the recruits is sentenced to ten lashes after convicted of striking the drill instructor. Johnnie Rico is sentenced to five lashes for poor handling of a simulated nuclear weapon that would have killed fellow soldiers. One of the recruits, a person who went AWOL and later killed an innocent child, is hanged. Although the crime did not take place in the military, it’s mentioned that the Mobile Infantry always handles its problem soldiers.
Throughout basic training and essentially the first half of Starship Troopers, Rico has flashbacks to discussions in his high school History and Moral Philosophy class. Similar moral and leadership discussions later take place when Rico attends Office Candidate School later in the story.
It’s during basic training that The Bug War fully develops. What began as a few incidents has turned into a full scale war by the time that Rico and his fellow soldiers are ready for battle. The tipping point was when the Arachnids launched an attack that annihilated the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rico later learns that his mother was visiting the city when it was attacked, and she was one of the millions of victims.
The Terran Federation launches an attack on planet Klendathu, the Bugs’ home planet. Operation Bughouse is a disaster and many soldiers and spaceships are lost in the attack. Following the failed attack on Klendathu, Rico is transferred to “Rasczak’s Roughnecks,” and the Terran Federation switches to hit-and-run attacks against the Bugs and the Bugs’ allies, the Skinnies.
During his time with the Roughnecks, Rico makes a move to become a career soldier and attend Officer Candidate School. The school proves to be just as tedious and demanding as boot camp, and this time academics are a major factor of the school. Rico once again attends a History and Moral Philosophy class, but unlike high school, failure to pass this version means being kicked out of OCS and possibly the Terran Federation.
During OCS, Rico and his other classmates are temporarily assigned to units as Third Lieutenants, the lowest ranking officer status. This is a temporary officer ranking as they still need to pass OCS before becoming an officer. While being a Third Lieutenant, the soldiers are heavily scrutinized in their leadership and decision making skills. If need be, they will command Mobile Infantry soldiers on the field of battle.
Rico is a Third Lieutenant in the fleet when the Terran Federation launches Operation Royalty, an attack that aims to capture one of the leadership Bugs, whether it’s a queen or a “brain” bug that’s rumored to exist. Rico is forced to take command of his soldiers during the Bugs’ attack. He and his soldiers proceed underground through the network of tunnels, and sure enough his soldiers manage to capture a brain bug.
Starship Troopers ends with Rico finishing OCS and receiving his commission as a Second Lieutenant. Rico is on board the Rodger Young and placed in command of the Roughnecks, now known as “Rico’s Roughnecks.”
Is the book any good?
As a whole, Starship Troopers is an outstanding novel that in addition to being a futuristic military adventure in outer space, the story also discusses serious events in society. Some of those discussions are scary accurate for today’s society and its continued degradation from being a once-great nation. But that’s another subject entirely.
You have to remember that Starship Troopers was first published back in 1959. The hit movie that helped re-popularize the novel wouldn’t be released until 1997, almost forty years later.
My only problem with Starship Troopers came down to the description of the opponents, the Bugs and Skinnies. We don’t need to learn the history of those beings, but more descriptions of them would have been helpful. I’d imagine that I’m not the only person questioning how the arachnid-like creatures not only have projectile weapons but also cities and spaceships. A little more detail about the Skinnies would have also been great.
Don’t expect much talk about Carl or Carmen, either. Carmen pops up in the story here and there. Carl basically disappears after he and Rico head off for their respective training with the Terran Federation. Rico and Carmen later learn that Carl was killed when the Arachnids raided his research facility on Pluto.
Despite lacking a few descriptions and details, the rest of Starship Troopers is a fun and fast paced story. Not only is it a story about war and combat (although the actual combat is limited in this book), Starship Troopers holds serious discussions about civic values, making critical decisions, and leadership as a whole.
Starship Troopers should be a required read for high school students and anybody in a leadership position, whether it’s in a sport, the military, or in a business or club.
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This article was originally published on September 24, 2012.