Juan "Johnnie" Rico is the fictional protagonist from Robert A. Heinlein's book Starship Troopers. He was the son of a wealthy Filipino family who joined the Terran Mobile Infantry almost on impulse and over his parents' objections. He was sent to boot camp "Arthur Currie" with 2008 other recruits and graduated as one of the 187 still enlisted. He was assigned as a Private to Company K, Third Regiment, First M.I. Division, or "Willie's Wildcats" on the transport corvette the Valley Forge. His first engagement was the foul-up "Operation Bughouse", during which 80% of the Wildcats were taken out of commission. He was then transferred to "Rasczak's Roughnecks" aboard the Rodger Young, where he achieved the rank of corporal and survived several successful battles. He later entered Officer Candidate School at the encouragement of his friend Ace. He eventually became a lieutenant after commanding in the critically successful "Operation Royalty". At the end of the novel he is commanding a platoon back on the Rodger Young, with his father, Emilio Rico, as his platoon sergeant.
Adaptations
In the films Starship Troopers (1997) and Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (2008), John Rico is played by Casper Van Dien.
In Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, which takes place eleven years after the first film, Rico is a colonel. Rico does not command the Roughnecks but rather the military post on the frontier planet Roku San. At the end of the film, Rico is offered a promotion to general and command of the Marauder Program by the new Sky Marshal-Admiral Enolo Phid.
In the Starship Troopers 2005 computer game, which takes place five years after the first film, Rico is a general.
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