LOVE FOR LIVRES

0610

The novel opens with Rico aboard the space corvette Rodger Young (named after Medal of Honor recipient Rodger Wilton Young), serving with the platoon known as Rasczak's Roughnecks (named after the platoon leader, Lieutenant Rasczak) about to embark on a raid against a colony inhabited by Skinnies (allies of the Arachnids). Rico himself is a 'cap [capsule] trooper' in the Terran Federation's Mobile Infantry. The raid itself is relatively brief: the Roughnecks land on the planet, destroy their targets, and retreat, suffering two casualties in the process (one, Dizzy Flores, dies during the return to orbit). [14] The story then flashes back to Rico's graduation from high school, where the reader sees his close relationship with his best friend Carl and their decision to sign up for Federal Service together over the objections of Rico's father. This is the only chapter that describes Rico's civilian life, and most of it is spent on the monologues of two people: retired Lieutenant Colonel Jean V. Dubois, Rico's school instructor in History and Moral Philosophy and Fleet Sergeant Ho, a disabled recruiter for the armed forces. Dubois elucidates the book's moral position in matters of war[15] whereas Fleet Sergeant Ho's monologues examine the nature of military service, and his anti-military tirades seem primarily in contrast with Dubois. Later it becomes apparent that his attitude and display of truncated limbs are intended to scare off unmotivated applicants.