Starship Troopers

This week I've finally read, Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein, a book that I've always desired to read, but never actually sat down and used the time, as I've now found I should have a long time ago.  With Starship Troopers, Heinlein shows he isn't just a “hard science” fiction writer, but rather one more interested in military and general life, as well as politics.  When I began to read the book, just as most people in our current generation, I had already been exposed to the movie and an animated television show when I was younger, both of which were almost entirely focused on the action between the infantry and bugs.  Obviously these visual outlets are meant to feed the common person's desire to delve deeper into the technology and action aspects of Starship Troopers. In Heinlein's novel however, all of the actual fighting is more of a side note to the main plot, which displays the military life of a capsule trooper in the mobile infantry through the eyes of Jaun Rico.

As previously mentioned, Heinlein's novel isn't just science fiction, but it almost seems like a political essay.  A size-able portion of the novel takes place in classrooms where Rico and other students engage in philosophical discussions with the teacher, whom in most cases seems almost like an outlet for Heinlein to speak his political beliefs directly through a character.  Another interesting political point to the novel is the idea that suffrage is held exclusively for men and women who are willing to serve at least 2 years to the Federal Service.  This is made possible by the fact that the Federation is a exclusively volunteer outfit and they're required to find a place for any person to signs up and wants to serve under the Federation.  This undoubtedly led to the change in the United States' own military which was entirely a draft enlistment before Starship Troopers, which shows you how powerful of a writer Heinlein is.

Not only did Starship Troopers spark innovation in the United States' federal service but it also played a part in a number of different military concepts and innovations.  Probably my favorite part about this novel is the Mobile Infantry's powered armor exoskeletons that powerfully upgraded the soldiers in practically every way.  These exoskeletons have interestingly began real world research and development to give our infantry these same sorts of armor and abilities.  Another notable innovation that I've noticed is the idea of using these entry capsules to drop the infantry where they need to be and then pull them out when the job is done.  This is a tactic used in the military today, though not exactly in the same way, but I could definitely see the same convention employed if humans ever do move on to different planets and the technology is present.

Basically Starship Troopers was one of the essential science fiction novels that has gone so far as to change the way we live today and into the future.  Heinlein's novel has affected much more than just that however, it's ideas and functions have been used over and over in science fiction novels and can even been seen today in many of the most popular video games such as Halo and Crysis or amazing viewers at the theater in movies like Iron-Man or The Matrix.  Now I'm going to go continue working on my Starship Troopers book cover, be sure to check it out on my art blog when it's finished!



...AND here's a great technical death metal band with some nice science fiction keyboard textures and sampling, good bug fighting music!

The Faceless - All Dark Graves

-Dan