History Headscratchers / StarshipTroopers

** The injuries were completely different. A stab in the leg is going to cause severe pain, injury, and blood loss, but only to a single limb. Listing him as KIA was either a mistake or simply done prematurely because he was brought back by the Roughnecks rather than his own unit. Dizzy was stabbed multiple times (and given the locations of the exit wounds it appears the bug got her in the shoulder, intestines, lung, and liver), shaken around for 10 seconds (increasing the size of the wounds), and then had the bug part grievously ripped out of her (making it even worse). It's surprising Dizzy lasted as long as she did.

*** Out of genuine curiosity, how does the book have fascist elements? Heinlein can get up his own butt when it comes to gushing about the military (and this is coming from a pro-military Troper), but where are the major elements of a fascist state? The Federation practices limited Democracy, but so did several civilizations, both historic and contemporary, that were decidedly non-fascist. The main qualification for citizenship is civil service; while military service is the biggest we see (due to the viewpoint characters being career soldiers/officers), it’s mentioned (admittedly casually and not often enough), that it’s not the only, or even the largest, method of citizenship. You could be a pencil-pusher, or an asteroid miner, but as long as you worked for the state, that qualifies you as a citizen. Non-citizens can still do business, have personal rights and freedoms, and bear arms/raise militia. There’s nothing barring them from obtaining citizenship either, except their own limits. This is, admittedly, a weirdly-idealistic take, but not one consistent with any form of fascism this Troper knows of. Even the conflict with the bugs isn’t rooted in racial/species bigotry, but the simple result of two powerful enemies that have the same needs, not enough resources for both, and unable to coexist.

** This question confuses "Federal Service" with "Government Employees". "Federal Service" is grueling work for the public good, not just military service but is not the typical paper shuffling expected of the Civil Service. You get the franchise after two years of Federal Service and then can apply for a regular government position. While veterans are given priority, "Legal Residents" (i.e. non-veterans) are not excluded. During Johnny's induction process, the doctor giving him his physical indicates his job is not part of the Federal Service and is dismissive of the process. Also, Johnny himself mentions the MI hire civilians where fighting spirit is not needed implying non-veterans. Legal Residents like Johnny's parents have legal rights, just not the right to vote or hold elected office.

** Secondly, yes the book does promote the idea that if you're not willing to sacrifice your limbs, or even your life, for your society, you don't deserve to have a say in how it is run. If you want to read literature that exactly conforms to the values of say, the average New York Times reader, then don't read Heinlein. Personally one of the things I like about Heinlein is that he often explicitly disagrees with my values. He doesn't necessarily convince me (he rather handwaves the argument for that idea in the book by just asserting that it works pretty well in his SF story, just like assserting that FTL travel works pretty well), but personally I find it refreshing to have my assumptions challenged.

* How come they couldn't use the regeneration tech that brought Rico back after Klendathu on Dizzy? Didn't he receive similar injuries while there? Unless the movie is trying to imply that he did survive his injuries and was brought back alive to get regenerated.

** You serve the state, then you get a job in the civil service. Johnny would have to give up his franchise if he wants to be a career soldier - yes, exactly. You can't draw retirement pay before you retire! The franchise is earned upon exiting the service successfully/honorably/alive. Can't do that if you're still serving. Once he retires from the military, he can pursue another career as a citizen, and work in the DMV, etc etc. A great many service personnel in America exit military service and join Federal or State government service; it would be the same in the Terran Federation, except that to even qualify for a State/Federal job requires a 2 year commitment. But the commitment isn't "I wrote parking tickets for 2 years, now I can write parking tickets", it's "I counted caterpillar fuzz by touch ''during my Federal tour'' for 2 years, now I can write parking tickets." A great many countries [[https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-with-mandatory-military-service]] have mandatory service tours for their citizens, and they have thriving bureaucracies.

* How does anything get done in the Terran Federation of the novel, when, based on all information we are given, the civil service is an absolute mess? The purpose of the citizenship system is to prove willingness to make sacrifices. The duties of your typical civil servant are not ones that require much in that direction. While the book talks about being basically a living test dummy, the civil service is things like the Post Office, the DMV, the IRS, and so on. None of them are very glamorous, but no modern state can survive without them, so a robust civil service is key to a functional state. A robust civil service requires the cultivation of talent, ensuring a relatively meritocratic system where those who do their jobs well and follow the rules get into the right positions. Meanwhile, the demands of the citizenship system require that the civil service not be an easy ride to citizenship to anyone whose pencil-pusher material. Whatever system they use to prove willingness to sacrifice, it means they must be pushing much of their volunteers to drop out. A civil service where employees drop out regularly is suffering from brain drain, and it destroys institutions. Furthermore, the mention that Rico has to give up the franchise until he retires if he wants to become a career officer causes another problem. It implies that becoming a career civil servant also means giving up franchise until retirement. Meaning the competent civil servants are further incentivized to leave once their term is up instead of staying and building institutional memory. In short, the demands of the citizenship system are entirely contrary to everything needed for an effective civil service and the civil service of the novel!Federation should be staffed by the most BeleagueredBureaucrat servants of all time, and the machinery of state grinding to a halt.

** It is possible that Rico was Scapegoated. Had he requested investigation and full court-martial IRL, the ones that designed this excercise would be found responsible with Rico possibly only being reprimanded for ordering removal of the helmet. The entire excercise was just [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace]] waiting to happen in several ways.

* How did Rico not bleed to death when the warrior bug stabbed him in the leg especially after when Rico pulled out the mandible from his leg he would have bled to death instantly since it obviously penetrated and severed his arteries in the leg.

** Short Answer: You’d be surprised what you could live through.

*** OP here, thanks for that. That part of the movie always bugged me.

*** Even when it was going to called "''Bug Hunt at Outpost 9''," it was still going to be based on ''Starship Troopers'', just not an actual adaptation of it. They changed it so it'd more obvious what it was based on. This is at least according to Knowing Better.

*** Even when it was going to called "''Bug Hunt at Outpost 9''," it was still going to be based on ''Starship Troopers'', just not an actual adaptation of it. They changed it so it'd more obvious what it was based on. This is at least according to Creator/KnowingBetter.

** Even when it was going to called "''Bug Hunt at Outpost 9''," it was still going to be based on ''Starship Troopers'', just not an actual adaptation of it. And anyway, as others have said, it's actually a faithful adaptation in broad strokes, with entire scenes adapted word for word. Apart from the usual kinds of changes made when adapting a book to a movie, the only really big change was how we're meant to respond to the way the fictional civilization is presented. The civilization shown in the movie is, by and large, the same one from the book, but whereas Heinlein asked us to admire it, Verhoeven asks us to find it cringeworthy.

* why did Zander give the knife to Carmen when he could've cutted off the Brain Bugs proboscis instead of getting his brain sucked out.

** This was one of the scenes that they tried to shoehorn in from the book. In the book, Rico was whipped for "in simulated combat, gross negligence which would in action have caused the death of a teammate." In simpler terms, he didn't do an adequate check to ensure that the big explosion he was about to cause wasn't going to kill any of his men before setting off the weapon. In the book, he acknowledges that he knew it wasn't textbook, but he was in a rush to fire the shot.

* No one ever gets briefed in the Federation. No really. Captain Deladier(sp?) seems to have received some very cursory, and inaccurate briefs about the invasion of Klendathu. However, she did not seem to feel it necessary to pass any of that information along to you know, her bridge crew. Presumably this is case throughout the entire fleet as well. Carmen seems to have no idea what they should be expecting. Rico's unit officer also seems to not have been briefed either, provided with maps, or indeed, any sort of objectives or battle plan or the role of him and his troops in it, besides hit the ramp screaming and fire at anything with more than 2 legs. The only briefing the troops get is on the way down. Which is rather funny thing to say, given the feds willingness to execute there own on the spot for the slightest of reasons. As an aside, if Carmen is such a hot pilot, why could she not evade the rather slow moving uhhh.. plasma bolts. Even if the purpose of not briefing the fleet the bugs had ship killing capability was to intentionally cause the destruction of a few of its own ships, you would think she would be good enough to avoid a hit.

First off, he's missing his hand, and the prosthetic hand he has seems rather clumsy. Unless the wars purpose is to kill as many humans as possible on the battlefield, there is NO way, in any army, that he would be assigned a front line combat command with a missing hand-sorry. If he volunteered, he might be accepted for a support role on Earth, but that's about it.\\
Secondly, he does not seem to be very good at his job. On the walk to the outpost, he orders his comm nco to higher ground, yet does not think to assign a section of troopers to cover him. Made worse, just moments earlier, he spies what could be enemy movement above him, but sends a single man up to high ground alone anyway. Then to top it all off, proceeds to 'mercy' (i.e. execute really) kill him when grabbed by a flying bug. If Rasczak is such a good shot, even with his missing hand, why does he not attempt to kill the bugs with his superior marksmanship, but instead finds if more expedient to kill his own man. How would soldiers feel if they knew there officer would is just as likely to kill them if they get into trouble than try to save them? Myself, I'd rather be badly injured, but alive, rather than simply shot out of hand with no attempt by my fellows to save me. Radscak is lucky his own troops are as dumb as he is, in any other army, he'd have to sleep with a loaded handgun in his bedroll. Nor is any attempt made to recover his body, dog tags, anything, he's just left where he was. Later, at the outpost, he's shown as being fully prepared to execute a hysterical senior staff officer on the spot, with witnesses no less, and no authorization whatsoever to do so. I'm pretty sure Lieutenants executing generals is frowned upon in most militaries. How he commands such loyalty amoung his troops is a real headscratcher given his total lack of concern for there lives and his enthusiasm for summary execution.