The Producers and Directors were much more interested in creating a special effects extravaganza than in adhering to Heinlein’s story, so we were left with a relatively free hand regarding training.
Since the story involved here involves forces which do not exist and takes place far in the future, we fell back on re-reading Robert Heinlein’s book and began to speculate in details how the Mobile Infantry of his story might be organized and trained. In Heinlein’s world of the future, a resident of earth must earn the privileges of citizenship by service to society such as a stint in the military. His infantrymen of the future fight from inside ‘jump suits’ which give them incredible mobility and protection and serve as launching platforms for an impressive array of weapons.Īlso included in the story are some intriguing social commentaries regarding citizenship and the attendant privileges. Heinlein projects ‘amphibious landing’ of the future as being assaults or ‘drops’ from orbiting warships after which his Mobile Infantry troops ‘hit the beach’ on alien planets to do battle with defenders dug into cavernous fortifications that are reminiscent of the way Japanese forces defended many islands in the Pacific during World War II.
While he takes his readers into the 25th Century where forces of earth are engaged in an inter-terrestrial struggle with giant arachnids and insect intelligence of other planets, many of the characters could just as easily have been found in an infantry platoon of more contemporary conflicts. He used his background both in science and the military to create this fable of the future. He retired from active duty after contracting tuberculosis, although he returned to the Navy to do engineering work during the war. King, who later became commander in chief of the U.S. Naval Academy, served aboard the Lexington under Captain E.J. Heinlein’s classic science fiction work of the same title. The basic story and premise of this film is related to Robert A.
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