Old Man’s Starship Forever Troopers War War

S. Andrew Swann takes on?the triptych of seminal military SF novels in a quick look at Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, Haldeman’s Forever War and Scalzi’s Old Man’s War.

I think some of his views are more a reflection of hype and internet babble than they are a true representation of each book.

If you’re going to do a deconstruction of these three novels, you can’t just lightly skip over the surface, you’ve got to dig deep.

I’ve had the pleasure of reading all three: ST probably 20+ times, FW at least 6 times and OMW just the once – it will be due for a re-read in just a few months time.

Swann declares the existence of these three books to be an example of how broadly a single subject can be handled.? What’s the subject?? Military science fiction? War in space? Infantry war in space? The plot line of following a new recruit all the way through his career?

Probably what he means is that these three stand head and shoulders above the rest of military SF, because there have certainly been plenty of other novels that feature future infantry soldiers enhanced in one way or another.

He states that on a broad scale, these three novels are very similar, while looking more closely we find wild divergences.? True, but the differences Swann notes are not as accurate as he would have us believe:

Government: ST – benign and competent, FW – not – OMW – competent but ambiguous.? ?

ST – benign? You only get to vote if you’ve done service and this is benign? All high school kids go through an indoctrination class that they don’t have to pass but MUST attend?

FW – not competent?? They decide to go for quality rather than quantity – how is this not competent?

OMW – morally ambiguous? When they’ve accepted the way the galaxy is and are dealing with that reality mostly effectively?

Military Duty: – ST: respected and voluntary FW: – compulsory and a burden OMW: – a crapshoot

In ST military service is certainly respected and absolutely voluntary – if you can call not being a citizen unless you serve voluntary.? Rico’s family was entirely dismissive of the military at the beginning of the book.? Reactions to the then current society were not monolithic.

FW – compulsory.? Well, when you grab up the top 1 percent of the world’s young, smart, physically capable?people and stick them in uniform it could be called compulsory.??I’d call it a harsh reality, since the human race can’t afford to do things any differently if it wants to win the war with the Taurans.

OMW – no idea what they’re volunteering for.? Hmmm.? Actually, they do.? They know they’re going into?military service, they know they have to leave their old life?behind and they know they’ll never come back to Earth.? Kind of like?joining the French Foreign Legion.??They do all that in exchange for living longer.? Pretty fair trade, I’d say.

Training: ST: – relevant, FW: – pointless, OMW: – useful but lacking

He got it right on ST.? The training?is relevant to the soldier’s tasks.? FW – woefully wrong.? The training was just as effective in that book as was the training in ST.? In fact, that training helped Mandela sort out a bunch of problems during the book -?like the force field scene.? OMW – the training was fine, it taught the recruits that in order to?handle a nightmarish?galaxy, they had to do nightmarish things, like sacrifice a hand to win a knife fight.

Heinlein pioneered this type of gritty, military SF – as a YA title! He introduced the?basic?plot line and various key elements (powered armor) but the central theme of the story is responsibility.? Haldeman claims NOT to have written FW as a ‘response’ to ST.? He deals with many of the same issues because, after all, it’s a military SF story and basic training is going to be basic training no matter who writes about it.? The unique aspects he introduced in his novel mostly dealt with the effects of time-dilation on?interstellar warfare.? Scalzi substituted new, enhanced bodies for powered armor, introduced a new and unique version of AARP and created one of the nastiest galaxies ever.

About the only sameness to be found in these three books is they are all ‘tales about a new soldier experiencing interstellar warfare’.? Just about EVERYTHING else in them is different.