From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Thu Sep 05 2002 - 21:56:34 MDT
http://www.kentaurus.com/troopers.htm
an essay by Christopher Weuve (mailto:caw@kentaurus.com)
e.g.:
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Gifford does an excellent job of supporting his case, and reconciling it
with Heinlein's (incorrect) statement that "In Starship Troopers it is
stated flatly and more than once that nineteen out of twenty veterans are
not military veterans...[but] "former members of federal civil service."
[Heinlein 1980:397, emphasis in original]
I substantially agree with Gifford's conclusions about the nature of
Federal Service, although I would add that there seems to be a willingness
to invent "military support" duties as necessary to soak up applicants who
are not qualified for more traditional military duties. Federal Service is
a constitutionally guaranteed right, and as such, anyone who can understand
the oath -- and isn't a convicted felon -- must be accepted, but what they
do with you afterwards is less clear:
"But if you want to serve and I can't talk you out of it, then we have to
take you, because that's your constitutional right. It says that everybody,
male or female, should have his born right to pay his service and assume
full citizenship -- but the facts are that we are getting hard pushed to
find things for all the volunteers to do that aren't just glorified KP. You
can't all be real military men; we don't need that many and most of the
volunteers aren't number-one soldier material anyhow...[W]e've had to think
up a whole list of dirty, nasty, dangerous jobs that will...at the very
least make them remember for the rest of their lives that their citizenship
is valuable to them because they've paid a high price for it...A term of
service is...either real military service, rough and dangerous even in
peacetime...or a most unreasonable facsimile thereof." [Heinlein
1959:p.29-30]
Note that this is coming from Fleet Sergeant Ho, who mans the recruitment
desk in the rotunda of the local Federal Building where Juan and his buddy
Carl have gone to sign up. As such, part of his job is to discourage people
from joining Federal Service by putting it in the worst possible light; he
does not wear his prosthetic legs and arm while on duty for just that
purpose. [Heinlein 1959:39] We learn from other parts of the book that the
vast majority of the people who serve do not end up doing something
terribly dangerous; most of them either are in non-combat arms (e.g.,
supply) or serve in combat branches during peacetime. The risk is still
there, though, as we know that at least 13 people died during Johnny's
training, not including the man executed for kidnapping and murder.
[Heinlein 1959:129] We also know that this was not unusual, based on
Johnny's statement that the two who died in the survival exercise "weren't
the first to die in training; they weren't the last." [Heinlein 1959:59]
The test remains, however: when you sign up, you don't know what branch you
are going to get, you only know that there is a real possibility of getting
something unpleasant and/or potentially life-threatening. You make your
list of preferences, alright, but they are just that -- preferences. You
could put down military intelligence and find yourself in a labor battalion
in Antarctica instead.
Admittedly, though, this book does not present a complete picture; we don't
know what Heinlein's society would have done with a Thoreau, for example,
as we don't know if there were any activities which would have met his
Federal Service requirement. I suspect there would be accomodation in there
somewhere; many of the combat medics in World War II were conscientious
objectors who refused to carry a gun, but who were nonetheless able to
serve without compromising their ideals. The book has vague references to
"labor battalions" and medical experiments, but these are often presented
in a context that questions their real-world applicability. One could also
make the case that of various non-law-enforcement rescue workers (e.g.,
firefighters) also demonstrate the requisite civic virtue, but they are not
mentioned.
Myth #5: "If you 'fail' basic training, you are permanently relegated to
non-citizen status. And, if you don't pass certain psychological tests
along the way, you can be cashiered at any time, without explanation or
appeal."
This is patently not the case -- in this instance, it is "stated flatly and
more than once" that the only way you can be permanently prevented from
getting full citizenship is through one of the following:
you aren't allowed to sign up because you are incapable of understanding
the oath; you aren't allowed to sign up because you have a criminal record;
you commit an offense sufficient to get you booted out; you quit; you die.
If you can't physically hack MI boot camp, for example, and decline a
medical discharge, you are sent somewhere else -- in the case of one minor
character, to the Navy, to be a cook on a troop transport. You don't have a
choice where you are sent, but you don't have to accept a medical. Most of
the 99% of Johnny's class who didn't finish basic training didn't flunk
out, they quit.
As for the second assertion -- that there is a constant series of
psychological tests designed to strip people of their citizenship -- this
is incorrect. The only psychological testing in the entire book was the
aptitude test administered at the very beginning, which was used to
determine the duties for which a recruit might be suitable.
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Damien Broderick
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