Much of the preparation for life as a citizen-soldier began in school. It was here that children learned about their roles as citizens and future defenders of their country. Lessons begun at school, however, were reinforced outside of the classroom through play and the consumption of various forms of popular culture including board games, toys, comic books, magazines, television shows, music, trading cards, popular novels, parades and pageants. Although much of this was designed largely for male children, girls were also expected to do their part to become loyal Americans and good anti-communists.

Toys for male children encouraged them to envision themselves engaging in a variety of ‘manly’ jobs as adults. The most important of these was the role of a soldier, and toys of the Cold War period designed for boys have a distinctly military theme to them. Even at very young ages, boys could begin to prepare for their roles as soldiers by playing at conventional warfare. These military-themed toys included guns that sounded real (or at least real enough to frighten and annoy adults), which were extremely popular. One gun, the Sound-O-Power military rifle, a realistic reproduction of the M-16 rifle used by American troops, was advertised as making sounds so authentic that even the police would be fooled. Jimmy Jet had a simulated cockpit featuring a ‘moving picture screen’ to give boys the illusion that they were actually in flight.