Juan Rico (“Johnny”)

The narrator of Starship Troopers, Juan Rico, is a well-to-do native of the Philippines. His father rejects the idea of wasting two years of his life in the service, rather than swiftly ascending in the family business to succeed him. Accompanying his high school friend, Carl, to the Federal Building on Carl’s 18th birthday, Rico surprises himself by enlisting, hoping to become a spaceship pilot despite poor grades in math. He is placed instead in the Mobile Infantry (“MI”) on his high school teacher’s recommendation, and quickly takes to the premise MI is the Army. Basic training is cruel and arbitrary, but produces the kind of warrior one wants to fight beside. Rico nearly resigns several times, but gets over the psychological “hump”.

He is assigned to Company K, Third Regiment, First MI Division – “Willie’s Wildcats” – aboard the Valley Forge, early in the...