Starship Troopers organisation

[Captain Seafort]

In the world of 'Troopers, it seems that downtime is more readily available. An individual battle is generally followed by evac, then interstellar travel.

Travel which will, invariably, be filled with paperwork.

[Aaron]

Depending on your military, the staff may just be pulling double duty as a unit CO. In a Canadian Brigade the Signals Squadron CO is the Brigade Sigs O but they are usually co-located so that isn't to big a deal.

This brings me to a different issue though. The often overlooked point of Starship Troopers wasn't to showcase a super-awesome military or cool power-suits but to have a working "culture of service", that's a big reason why it is a recommended read at various military universities. And it's certainly the most interesting part of the book, for me at any rate.

[Mikey]

Absolutey agreed, and I think that was one of the points about Heinlein's discourse on the MI's organization. You don't have to be an officer for your contributions to be meaningful or appreciated.

[Aaron]

Absolutey agreed, and I think that was one of the points about Heinlein's discourse on the MI's organization. You don't have to be an officer for your contributions to be meaningful or appreciated.

Indeed, further more you don't even need to be in the military to contribute. The Feds in ST would take anyone who could could give informed consent and find a place for them.

[GrahamKennedy]

Absolutey agreed, and I think that was one of the points about Heinlein's discourse on the MI's organization. You don't have to be an officer for your contributions to be meaningful or appreciated.

Indeed, further more you don't even need to be in the military to contribute. The Feds in ST would take anyone who could could give informed consent and find a place for them.

That's a debatable point, actually. Heinlein later said that Federal service was not necessarily military service and there were other ways to serve. But in fact, whilst that may have been his intent, it's neither supported nor contradicted by the text itself. Certainly everybody we see serving in the book is serving in the military, and it makes no reference to anybody serving who is not in the military.

It does military noncombatants, though. Carl is an example, doing tech work on Pluto. Being a guinea pig for survival gear was another job. It was suggested half jokingly that if a blind guy in a wheelchair joined, they would find something for him to do even if it was counting the fuzz on a caterpillar by touch alone.

[Deepcrush]

The federal service was anything that you would find in a federal job or make up for one. Weither its stocking or counting fuzz.

[GrahamKennedy]

The federal service was anything that you would find in a federal job or make up for one. Weither its stocking or counting fuzz.

That is not supported in the book.

[Deepcrush]

Wow, you just made a statement similar. Federal service is how a civilian proves they are willing to put their lives aside for the good of the population. Service is by bulk need but cannot be turned down to those unable to fill the current and will be provided with an able service too perform.

[Captain Seafort]

The federal service was anything that you would find in a federal job or make up for one. Weither its stocking or counting fuzz.

That is not supported in the book.

It's at least implied when Rico discusses sailors wanting the (seaborne) merchant navy to count as federal service. If federal service was strictly military-only then this would be an exceptionally odd demand, and limited to the usual suspects looking for a fight, but the impression given is that it's a serious request (albeit frequently used by the aforementioned usual suspects). The impression, therefore, is that the requirements are only that federal service must perform a public service and be (at least nominally) strenuous, and not necessarily military. Nonetheless, I agree that the concept of it including non-military as well as military services was far less evident than Heinlein apparently intended.

[GrahamKennedy]

The federal service was anything that you would find in a federal job or make up for one. Weither its stocking or counting fuzz.

That is not supported in the book.

It's at least implied when Rico discusses sailors wanting the (seaborne) merchant navy to count as federal service.

He says they want to be and are not. I don't see that citing an example of non military service not counting supports the idea that non military service can count.

If federal service was strictly military-only then this would be an exceptionally odd demand, and limited to the usual suspects looking for a fight, but the impression given is that it's a serious request (albeit frequently used by the aforementioned usual suspects). The impression, therefore, is that the requirements are only that federal service must perform a public service and be (at least nominally) strenuous, and not necessarily military. Nonetheless, I agree that the concept of it including non-military as well as military services was far less evident than Heinlein apparently intended.

Given Heinlein's apparent intent I can imagine that things like being a Firefighter would be good candidates for Federal service, police officer perhaps, things like that. But whatever his intent, the simple fact is that in the book it never says non military FS is possible, and never shows anybody serving who is not military personnel.

Indeed, when Rico is given the chance to list his choices on the first day, this is how it is described :

The thing I did most carefully was to list my preferences. Naturally I listed all of the Space Navy jobs (other than pilot) at the top; whether I went as power-room technician or as cook, I knew that I preferred any Navy job to any Army job -- I wanted to travel. Next I listed Intelligence -- a spy gets around, too, and I figured that it couldn't possibly be dull. (I was wrong, but never mind.) After that came a long list: psychological warfare, chemical warfare, biological warfare, combat ecology (I didn't know what it was, but it sounded interesting), logistics corps (a simple mistake; I had studied logic for the debate team and "logistics" turns out to have two entirely separate meanings), and a dozen others. Clear at the bottom, with some hesitation, I
put K-9 Corps, and Infantry.

Heinlein doesn't list a single non military role in the list.

[Mikey]

That could as easily apply to Juan's preferences as to the type of service that counts as "Federal."

[Deepcrush]

Or that since he's in the armed forces that that's what he knows best on the topic.

[GrahamKennedy]

That was Rico's first day after enlisting in FS (well actually his third, but his first day after reporting in). The book says nothing about him deciding to be in the military up to this point; it stresses that he wants to be in the Navy, and he puts those as his top choices, with the Army next. And that's it. No fire service, no police, no nothing. They are not even mentioned in passing as possibilities.

It's not conclusive, to be sure. Non military jobs could be included within "and a dozen others" for example. But it's certainly a good indication that there are none.

[Aaron]

Looking at that list, every role listed save infantry could involve a civvie element in today's military. When the book was written however, they would have been almost excusively military.

[Mikey]

Again, I see your point; but if he had decided on military service, then we couldn't expect him to list non-military service jobs in his internal monologue.