If you connected with Johnny Rico’s climb from raw recruit to officer in the Mobile Infantry—earning his chevrons the hard way under Sgt. Zim and learning to make calls that risk lives—you’ll vibe with John Perry’s rise in Old Man’s War. You’ll get drops, squad-level tactics, and the uneasy weight of command as Perry graduates from grunt to someone whose decisions shape whether his people come home. Like those Bug hunts and the raid on the Skinnies, the missions here test loyalty, discipline, and what service really costs.

Loved the brutal efficiency of Mobile Infantry boot camp—where Sgt. Zim’s discipline and endless drills turn Johnny into a soldier? Ender’s Game channels that same crucible. Ender Wiggin’s Battle School is a pressure cooker of zero‑g war games, squad rotations, and tactical puzzles that call back to the way Rico’s training hard‑wires teamwork and initiative. And when Ender faces Mazer Rackham’s final "exams," the moral stakes hit just as hard as any powered‑armor drop.

If Mr. Dubois’s “History and Moral Philosophy” lectures—about citizenship, duty, and who should vote—stuck with you as much as the Bug fights, The Forever War brings that same reflective edge. William Mandella’s tours are punctuated by hard questions about what soldiers owe society, how societies treat their soldiers, and what wars do to the people who fight them. Like Rico’s Mobile Infantry briefings before a drop, Haldeman pairs tactics and tech with debates that linger long after the shooting stops.

Johnny Rico’s journey—from a teen enlisting against his father’s wishes to an officer making life‑and‑death calls—finds a thoughtful mirror in Mia Havero’s coming‑of‑age in Rite of Passage. Mia’s survival Trial forces her to confront responsibility and the value of lives not her own, much like Johnny’s growth after real combat against the Bugs and the consequences that follow. It’s that same arc of earning adulthood through ordeal, judgment, and courage.

If you relished the Mobile Infantry’s powered armor—drop capsules, HUD readouts, and the way tech dictates tactics against the Bugs—The Red: First Light delivers grounded, high‑tempo combat where exos, drones, and battlefield networks matter. As Lt. James Shelley fights through chaotic missions, every sensor ping and comms link feels as decisive as Johnny’s suit‑assisted maneuvers during those orbital drops on enemy worlds.