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{{quote|''"Anyone who clings to the historically untrue -- and thoroughly immoral -- doctrine that 'violence never settles anything' I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] and of the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of [[Godwin's Law|Hitler]] could referee..."''|'''Lt. Col. Jean V. DuBois, M.I. (ret.)'''}}
 
''Starship Troopers'' is a [[Military Science Fiction]] novel written by [[Robert A. Heinlein]] as an argument against a unilateral U.S. ban on nuclear testing, and published in 1959. It waxes [[Anvilicious]] on the merits of soldiers being willing to give their lives for their country and the proper merits of a soldier, an officer, and an army and nation as a whole. Having no combat experience himself Heinlein, an ex-naval officer, interviewed infantry soldiers and officers to get the "flavor" of ground combat for his book. The story traces the evolution of Juan "Johnnie" Rico from feckless civilian into an [[Officer and Aa Gentleman]] during the [[Bug War]] as a [[Framing Device]] and example. Much of the military action in the novel parallels the Pacific campaign of [[World War II]] ending at Guadalcanal.
 
''Starship Troopers'' is significant, and controversial, for its description of the Terran Federation's political system. It is a limited democracy, in which only "veterans" of Federal Service are eligible to vote, run for office, hold certain jobs, or even teach some subjects at school. Federal Service must legally accept ''every'' volunteer, provided they are legally adult and mentally capable of understanding the oath they are required to take.
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* [[Bizarre Alien Biology]]: The Bugs.
* [[Book Dumb]]: Mostly Averted: Johnny thought his education was "well-rounded," even though he's deficient in math and it's revealed he took classes like "Appreciation of Television." One of his squad mates does mention that his education makes him an acceptable candidate for OCS, putting him fairly well ahead of the pack, but he still has a lot of catching up in the hard sciences. Johnny points out even an MI private has to learn so many skills he would easily be a master of many other trades if he trained as hard in them, and officers are forced to read everything from advanced natural sciences, pure mathematics, and political theory to "why Napoleon lost the big one."
* [[The Brigadier]] and [[Officer and Aa Gentleman]]: every officer in the series, especially Rasczak.
* [[Brits With Battleships]]: Rico goes through a number of different units within the Mobile Infantry, each with their own uniforms and traditions, very similar in flavor to the Regiments in the British Army.
* [[Bug War]]: The Arachnids, also the [[Trope Namer]].
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* [[Everybody Calls Him Barkeep]]: Rico's platoon sergeant. [[The Reveal|Revealed]] at the end of the book to be {{spoiler|Sergeant Zim.}}
* [[Evolutionary Levels]]: All over the place; the struggle between humans and Bugs is portrayed as one of biological imperative, not political choice. Rico visits a planet with low radiation and wonders if it will "retard" the development of future inhabitants.
* [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]]: The Thirty Second Bomb, certainly truth in advertising, designed as a psychological warfare device to frazzle nerves.
{{quote| '''Thirty Second Bomb''': I'm a 30 second bomb! I'm a 30 second bomb! 29, 28...}}
* [[Fantastic Racism]]: most of the human characters in the book knows they might have to exterminate the Bugs to win, and are basically okay with that ("Us or them" is the exact phrase). Arguably a [[Justified Trope]]: all those characters are [[A Real Man Is a Killer|soldiers]], and the Bugs ''are'' pretty clearly bent on exterminating us. Bugs are also a different species so calling this "racism" is a bit of a stretch anyway.
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* [[The Great Politics Mess-Up]]: An "Anglo-American-Russian" alliance is mentioned as part of Earth's history.
* [[Guilt-Free Extermination War]]: The war between the Terran Federation and the Bugs (Arachnids).
* [[Hard Onon Soft Science]]: Johnnie states at one point that "everything useful is based on math", and his teachers tend to have a fairly low opinion of the social sciences (see [[Politically-Motivated Teacher]]).
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: A major theme of the book; Rico's ship, the ''Rodger Young'', is named after a private who did exactly such a thing during the Battle of the Pacific.
* [[Hobbes Was Right]]: The general consensus in the novel is that the great democracies of the 20th Century all inevitably crumbled because most people are too stupid to know how to govern themselves effectively. See also [[Humans Are Bastards]], below.
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* [[Insignia Rip Off Ritual]]: Played deadly seriously during the execution of a baby murderer who deserted from boot camp.
* [[Insectoid Aliens]]
* [[Kill It Withwith Fire]]: Handheld flamethrowers. Text in the first chapter implies that they might be more exotic than that.
* [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better]]: averted. They are used in training, but rarely (if ever) in actual combat.
* [[Never Found the Body]]: What happens to most men who enter Bug tunnels {{spoiler|but not Rico's platoon at the end.}}
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** It also serves the purpose of ensuring that any frustrated recruit who appears likely to lash out against a sergeant is unable to get close enough to do so. One recruit ends up striking his instructor, and is given [[Corporal Punishment]] for it. The instructor is then harshly berated for ''letting'' the recruit be in a position to get in trouble because he hesitated to strike the recruit first.
* [[Strawman Political]]: The Arachnids as Communists. Heinlein even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this himself by saying that communism is okay for the bugs since they're evolved for it, but humans are different. More specifically, the Arachnids are the Chinese Communists -- Heinlein felt they were less concerned with individual lives than even the Soviet Union.
* [[Stay in Thethe Kitchen]]: Subverted, sort of. The Mobile Infantry is exclusively male, but women serve in the Navy as pilots (and are the majority of them) and other dangerous things. Amusingly, the protagonist wanted to be a pilot and his last choice was the MI.
* [[Tanks for Nothing]]: Tanks are explicitly stated to be useless against Mobile Infantry.
* [[Team Dad]]: Rico describes both Jelly and Lt. Razchak as this.
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* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Johnnie is deeply moved when he learns that his father was proud enough that he decided to join the Mobile Infantry himself.
** Not just his father, but also his former high school teacher, whose letter saying how happy and proud he was that his former student had joined his his mobile infantry helped him through a significant psychological barrier. The same instructor later indicated how proud he was that Johnny was becoming an officer by asking that Johnny receive his own officer's "pips" as part of his final test. Johnny's disappointment that they're unavailable ([[Unusual Euphemism|real-estate deal]]) is profound.
* [[What Happened to Thethe Mouse?]]: A third race referred to as the Skinnies, humanoids with some kind of alliance with the Bugs, are the target of the first raid in the book. Somewhat later in the book Johnnie mentions that the Terrans have managed to break that alliance and turn the Skinnies into Terran allies of sorts (in fact, that's what the raid was about), but their eventual fate is never revealed.
* [[World War Three]]: The war between the Anglo-American-Russian alliance and China.
* [[Writer Onon Board]]: As pointed out above, that was the reason it was written. Heinlein stopped working on ''Stranger In A Strange Land'' just so that he could start this book.
* [[You Are in Command Now]]: Discussed multiple times; happens to Johnnie during Operation Royalty.
* [[Zerg Rush]], subverted: the rush was mostly composed of non-combatant bugs and was meant as a decoy. Played straight later when the Cap Troops actually get rushed by warriors when moving in to rescue {{spoiler|Sergeant Zim}} who'd captured a brain bug. Due to the close proximity of the bugs and the fear of friendly fire (which the bugs don't have towards other warriors) the MI are forced to fight the bugs hand to hand. {{spoiler|Sergeant Zim}} used a similar tactic with regards to the Brain Bug. He rushed in alone and captured it, then positioned himself so to fire on him was to shoot the Brain Bug. For the bugs to attack him would literally require [[Boom! Headshot!]].
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