seen the film a few times but something I didn’t notice before was that the ship they pilot is called the Rodger Young
Born in the small town of Tiffin, Ohio, in 1932, Young suffered a sports injury in high school that led to his becoming nearly deaf and blind. Despite this, he was able to pass the exams necessary to enter the Ohio National Guard. Soon after the United States entered World War II, Young’s company was activated as part of the U.S. Army. Soon after his activation, in 1943, Young was killed on the island of New Georgia in Solomon Islands while helping his platoon withdraw from a Japanese ambush. For his actions, he was posthumously awarded the United States’ highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.
“we’re gonna send you out to do stupid shit. sure you’ll be killed… but we’ll give your family a medal and the flag your corpse was wrapped in so it all evens out”
seen the film a few times but something I didn’t notice before was that the ship they pilot is called the Rodger Young
so much of the movie is about the death drive
I think that’s the name of the ship in the book too, except Heinlein did it because he thinks it’s cool, and not because he was satiring fascism.
At least he died fighting fascists instead of impoverished peasant farmers.
“we’re gonna send you out to do stupid shit. sure you’ll be killed… but we’ll give your family a medal and the flag your corpse was wrapped in so it all evens out”