Johnny Rico

John D "Johnny" Rico is a soldier in the Mobile Infantry.

Johnny was a student in a high school in Buenos Aires, where he lived, along with his friend Carl Jenkins, and girlfriend Carmen Ibanez. Johnny did not really know what he planned to do after school. Carl and Carmen, unlike Johnny had their eyes set on Federal Service. Johnny decides to join Federal service to chase his girlfriend Carmen Ibanez, however unlike Carmen, Johnny does poorly in his math tests and joins the Mobile Infantry while Carmen joins the Fleet. John D "Johnny" Rico soon finds the boot camp more difficult than he anticipated, with terrible injuries being inflicted by the officers and NCOs — particularly his drill Sergeant, Zim — in an effort to train the recruits quickly and efficiently. Johnny excels at the training and eventually is promoted to squad leader. After Johnny makes an error as Squad Leader during a training exercise which results in the death of a squad mate, he is punished by public flogging and states his intention to quit. However, just as he is leaving the camp, a Bug asteroid destroys Buenos Aires, killing his entire family and millions of people. He rejoins his unit and the newly-declared war against the perpetrators of the attack being the Arachnid from deep in the Arachnid Quarantine Zone. The Federation launches a full scale Invasion of what they believed to be the Arachnid home world Klendathu; However this invasion turns out to be a complete disaster with over 300,000 dead or missing; including several of Johnny's fellow boot-mates. He is one of the few wounded to survive. Johnny is then reassigned to another Mobile Infantry unit, the "Roughnecks". Its soldiers were extremely loyal, most of whose lives have been saved by their commander, who turns out to be Johnny's old high school history teacher (now fitted with an artificial, robotic arm), now Lieutenant Jean Rasczak. Johnny's next mission plunges them into a trap, as they are assigned to investigate the silence of an outpost on one of the Bug worlds, Planet-P. From the only survivor (and now a post-traumatic wreck) General Owen, they discover that the bugs possess a high intelligence, and are "sucking" the brains out of humans to learn directly from them. As the troopers realize their situation, a massive swarm of bugs attack. Lieutenant Rasaczak, Dizzy, General Owen, and almost all of the Roughnecks are killed in the battle. The survivors barely evacuate in a ship piloted by Carmen and Zander. After a funeral service for Dizzy on the Rodger Young, Johnny's old friend Carl, now a Colonel in intelligence, gives Johnny and Carmen his unapologetic reason for the deaths of many of Johnny's squad mates - the Roughnecks were used as bait. Rico is horrified, but Carl lets him know that humans are vastly outnumbered and the strategic sacrifice was necessary. Military Intelligence had ascertained that there might be a centralized intelligence, a brain bug, on Planet-P, and he tells Johnny that the Mobile Infantry will return to Planet-P and attempt to capture the Brain Bug for research. Johnny accepts the mission and Carl gives him command of the Roughnecks, who are then reinforced by fresh soldiers sent directly from boot camp. During the invasion of Planet-P Johnny goes off mission on a rescue mission to save Carmen who has crash landed in a Bug infested cave with the Brain Bug. When Johnny and two of his men reach the cave a skirmish ensues and Private Watkins sacrifices himself to nuke the bug hole after being severely injured. Johnny, Carmen and Ace escape to the surface safely, where the Brain Bug has been captured by Johnny's former training sergeant Zim, voluntarily demoted to private in order to be allowed to transfer from training to combat. Johnny, Carmen, and Carl renew their friendship.

Eleven years on Johnny Rico (now a Colonel) is stationed on the agrarian planet Roku San when the popular Sky Marshal Omar Anoke pays a visit. Off-duty, Rico's old friend General Dix Hauser gets into a bar-fight with farmers protesting the war. During the fight, Rico stops Dix from shooting one of the farmers. Dix tries to have Rico arrested, but the base defenses suddenly fail. Rico knocks Dix out and leaves to help fight the Arachnids. When Roku San falls, Johnny is blamed by the Federal Network and set for execution for insubordination and striking a superior officer. On their way back to Sanctuary, the Fleet's secret HQ, Captain Lola Beck is marooned on a classified planet known as Planet OM-1 with Sky Marshal Omar Anoke and Admiral Enolo Phid suppresses this information. Dix finds out and recruits Johnny to rescue the Sky Marshal and Lola, the latter being one of the few in possession of the coordinates to Sanctuary, which would cripple the military if the Arachnids learned of its location. Rico leads the Marauders, an elite team of troopers comprised of his command staff from Roku San, on a rescue mission, using the Federation's new battle-suits. They defeat the Arachnid warriors on OM-1, suffer no casualties, and rescue the two survivors. OM-1 is revealed to be the home of the Bug Hive, the Arachnid's ruling body, and Fleet destroys it from orbit with a planet-cracking Q bomb. Johnny is subsequently offered a promotion to general, and permanent command of the Marauder Project.