Starship Troopers 14

Study Guide Questions for Chapter Twelve (Part 3)

If you are looking for the beginning of the study of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers then you can go HERE for a brief introduction. At the bottom of the introduction you will find the links to each section of the study guide as it becomes available. If you would like to see the growing list of available book studies available for free on this site you can go HERE. Enjoy!

Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)

Hospitality, Loyalty, Home

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. What new experience were Johnnie and the other cadets “shipped out” to get?

2. How did Johnnie describe the Commandant? What stands out about him?

3. What did Johnnie say about saluting “a third lieutenant?”

4. According to the text, why would Miss Kendrick not “do a blessed thing” if Colonel Nielssen died?

5. What would Johnnie’s rank be if he died at O.C.S.?

6. What did Colonel Nielssen say could “turn the best combat team in the Galaxy into a leaderless, lawless, fear-crazed mob?”

7. What one thing, in particular, set apart the officers in the M.I. from officers of past military forces?

8. What story did Colonel Nielssen tell which created “dead silence” among the three cadets in his office?

9. What is the one thing that can “strike terror in the heart of a good platoon sergeant?”

10. What had Colonel Dubois requested on behalf of Johnnie?

11. Whose Pips did Johnnie end up with?

12. What was Johnnie required to continue to work on even while away from O.C.S.?

Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)

1. Why did Johnnie “shut up” and quit singing when he was “within earshot” of the commandant’s office?

2. What should we infer about the Commandant from the fact that he assumed the lower rank of Colonel, even though he “had a permanent rank of fleet general” in order to be head of O.C.S.?

3. Why is the “line of command” so important in the military?

4. Why might Johnnie have felt “naked” when he realized that he was technically a civilian while at O.C.S.?

5. What did Johnnie mean by saying “it’s a lot easier to die than it is to use your head?”

6. Why would Colonel Nielssen tell the three cadets the horror story of the court-martialed third lieutenant? What purpose did that serve?

7. What are the pros and cons of the idea that the M.I. officers are always the first to drop?

8. Why would the “leading sergeant” be of immense help to a young officer in the middle of a combat situation?

9. Why was Hassan willing to accept a lower rank to pursue being a commissioned officer?

Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)

1. Colonel Nielssen emphasized the need for his officers to “give the right orders…in a calm, unworried tone” even under the most unimaginably difficult of situations. Do you think that such cool-minded leadership can be developed or is it just something some people have and others don’t? If you think it can be developed, how does one prepare to be a calm and collected leader in immensely difficult situations? If you think it cannot be developed, explain why.

2. Nielssen said it is the M.I.’s “unbreakable rule that every candidate must be a trained trooper,  blooded under fire, a veteran of combat drops.” Consider the fact that officer candidates, throughout history, have typically come from non-combat backgrounds. Why do you think this has typically been the case (and remains the case today)? What might be good or bad about the idea of officers being commissioned to lead without having first served as enlisted men in the armed forces? Do you think the approach that the M.I. takes, commissioning only field tested officers, is better? Why or why not?

3. Consider the young “third lieutenant” that was convicted for “deserting his post of duty as commanding officer in the presence of an enemy.” Do you agree with the verdict of “guilty” rendered against him? Why or why not?

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read Matthew 20:20-28, John 13:1-20, and Philippians 2:1-11. What style of leadership do we see in Jesus Christ in these examples? How do we see this style of leadership in our book, Starship Troopers? 

2. Read Revelation 19:11-21. In what manner do we Jesus Christ leading in this example? How do we see this style of leadership in our book, Starship Troopers?