Starship Troopers

Starship Troopers is based upon the popular novel of the same name written by the dean of Science-Fiction writers, Robert A. Heinlein. In the novel, Heinlein describes a futuristic war involving homo sapiens from our Earth (Terrans) against a Humanoid race (nicknamed the 'Skinnies' for obvious physical attributes) and their cobelligerents, the totally alien Arachnids. Since this is a story of future wars and future advances in technology, much is changed in the fields of weaponry and tactics and strategy. One thing remains the same, however; the fighting still rests on the shoulders of the individual infantryman. Although great starships has shuttle men between the distant solar systems and the power of individual weapons has risen to awesome heights, wars still cannot be won unless men venture onto the face of alien planets and fight the enemy on their home ground. As Juan Rico, the protagonist of the novel, relates:

"We are the boys who go to a particular place, at H-Hour, occupy a designated terrain, stand on it, dig the enemy out of their holes, force them then and there to surrender or die. We're the bloody infantry, the doughboy, the duckfoot, the foot soldier who goes where the enemy is and takes him on in person."

Although the mission remains the same, future inventiveness has changed the method considerably. In a galaxy-wide war, manpower is at a premium. Platoons fight where entire armies once tred. But these platoons possess the firepower equivalence of a Twentieth-Century mechanized division. More importantly, each man in the platoon is provided with a piece of hardware that allows him to fight and survive in the holocausts of future combat-his powered armor suit. As Rico describes it:

"A suit isn't a spacesuit - although it can serve as one. A suit is not a space ship but it can fly-a little . . . Suited up, you look like a big steel gorilla, armed with gorillasized weapons. But the suits are considerably stronger than a gorilla. If a Mobile Infantry man in a suit swapped hugs with a gorilla, the gorilla would be dead, crushed; the man and the suit wouldn't be mussed . . . The real genius in the design is that you don't have to control the suit, you just wear it, like your clothes, like skin . . . Even riding a bicycle demands an acquired skill, very different from walking. But a suit you just wear."

With the suit and the incredible array of weaponry that go with it, the Mobile Infantry soldier is an exceedingly formidable opponent. He had better be. The enemies he faces are the most awesome adversaries in the galaxy. Of the two extraterrestrial races fighting the Terrans, the Humanoids are the least revolting. Rico describes them as