"Starship Troopers" is narrated by the main protagonist Juan "Johnny" Rico, a member of the "Mobile Infantry". It is one of the few Heinlein novels which intersperses his typical linear narrative structure with a series of flashbacks. These flashbacks are frequently to Rico's History and Moral Philosophy course in school, in which the teacher discusses the history of the structure of their society. Rico is depicted as a man of Filipino ancestry, although there has been disagreement on this matter among fans. He is from a wealthy family, whose members had never served in the army. Rico's ancestry is depicted to be a thing of no consequence; the society he lives in appears to have abandoned racial and gender-based prejudice.