Editing Starship Troopers (section)

==Plot==
The novel opens with Rico aboard the corvette transport ''Rodger Young'' (named after real life [[Medal of Honor]] recipient [[Rodger Wilton Young]]),{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=345–352}} serving with the platoon known as "Rasczak's Roughnecks". The platoon carries out a raid against a planetary colony held by Skinnies.<ref name="Magill"/> The raid is relatively brief: the platoon lands on the planet, destroys its targets, and retreats, suffering two casualties in the process. One of them, Dizzy Flores, is rescued by Rico but dies while returning to orbit.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|loc=chpt. 1}} The narrative then flashes back to Rico's graduation from high school. Rico and his best friend Carl are considering joining the Federal Service after graduation; Rico is hesitant, partly due to his father's attitude towards the military.<ref name="Gifford"/> Rico makes his decision after discovering that his classmate Carmen Ibañez also intends to enlist.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|p=26-45}}

Rico's choice is taken poorly by his parents, and he leaves with a sense of estrangement. He is assigned to the Mobile Infantry, and moves to Camp Arthur Currie (named for [[Arthur Currie]] who rose through the ranks to general in [[World War I]]) on the Canadian prairie for his training under Sergeant Charles Zim.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=50–61}} The training is extremely demanding.{{sfn|Booker|Thomas|2009|p=217}} Rico receives combat training of all types, including simulated fights in armored suits.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=80–95}}{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=105–110}} A fellow recruit is court-martialed, flogged, and dismissed for striking a drill instructor who was also his company commander.  Rico himself is given five lashes for firing a rocket during a drill with armored suits and simulated nuclear weapons without ensuring that no friendlies were within the blast zone, which in combat would have resulted in the death of a fellow soldier.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=130–140}} Another recruit, who murdered a baby girl after deserting the army, is hanged by his battalion after his arrest by civilian police.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=130–140}} Disheartened, Rico thinks of resigning when he receives a letter from Jean Dubois, who taught Rico [[#CITEREFHeinlein2014|History and Moral Philosophy]].{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=95–105}} Dubois reveals that he was once a [[lieutenant colonel]] in the Mobile Infantry, which gives Rico the motivation not to resign.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=120–130}}  After further training at another camp near [[Vancouver]], Rico graduates with 187 others, of the 2,009 who had begun training in that regiment.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=165–175}}

The "Bug War" has changed from minor incidents to a full-scale war during Rico's training. An Arachnid attack that annihilates the city of [[Buenos Aires]] alerts civilians to the situation; Rico's mother is killed in the attack.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=170–190}} Rico participates in the Battle of Klendathu, an attack on the Arachnid's home world, which turns into a disastrous defeat for the Terran Federation.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=175–185}} Rico's ship, the ''Valley Forge'', is destroyed, and his unit is decimated; he is reassigned to the Roughnecks on board the ''Rodger Young,'' led by Lieutenant Rasczak and Sergeant Jelal.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=180–190}} The unit carries out several raids, and Rico is promoted to corporal by Jelal after Rasczak dies in combat.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=187–200}}

One of his comrades in the Roughnecks suggests that Rico go to officer training school and try to become an officer. Rico ends up going to see Jelal, and finds that Jelal already had the paperwork ready. Rico enters [[Officer Candidate School]] for a second course of training, including further courses in "History and Moral Philosophy".{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=205–215}}{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|pp=240–250}} En route from the Roughnecks to the school Rico encounters his father who has also enlisted and is now a corporal, and the two reconcile. He is also visited in school by Carmen, now an ensign and ship's pilot officer in the Navy, and the two discuss their friend Carl, who had been killed earlier in the war.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|loc=chpt. 12}}

Rico is commissioned a temporary third lieutenant for his final test: a posting to a combat unit. Under the tutelage of his company commander, Captain Blackstone, and with the aid of his platoon sergeant, his boot camp drill instructor Fleet Sergeant Zim, Rico commands a platoon during "Operation Royalty," a raid to capture members of the Arachnid brain caste and queens.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|loc=chpt. 13}} Rico then returns to the officer school to graduate.

The novel ends with him holding the rank of second lieutenant, in command of his old platoon in the ''Rodger Young'', with his father as his platoon sergeant. The platoon has been renamed "Rico's Roughnecks", and is about to participate in an attack on Klendathu.{{sfn|Heinlein|1987|loc=chpt. 14}}