The Forever War

William Mandella is a brilliant physicist who is drafted into UNEF - a worldwide military force / government and is sent into space with 50 others to wage war on the Taurans in retaliation for an attack on an Earth star cruiser. Of course, at this stage no one has ever even seen a Tauran, let alone faced one in battle.

Travel through space is via 'collapsers' (think black holes) which due to time dilation means that even though only a few months may pass 'on ship' travelling to destinations in reality decades or even centuries may pass by the time the veterans return home.

The early part of the novel is straight up military SF focussing on the training in space and the travel to the first located Tauran base. The veterans training the recruits are archetypal big bully drill sergeants and training in space has a high chance of resulting in death due to everything from the conditions on planets to what appear to be design faults in their fighting suits. Haldeman manages to create believable alien environments and the reader shares William's wonder and amazement at his first sight of a Tauran. William survives this first battle and returns home.

Whilst for William only a few months have passed by the time he returns home decades have passed. He returns to a world he barely understands. There have been wars on Earth, a population explosion and subsequent reduction. Every factor of life appears to be regulated but the streets are crime ridden. Earth's economy is shattered by the war but entirely dependent on it at the same time. There is a brilliant, yet unsubtle critique of a form of capitalism and that of state capitalism in particular. Here jobs are allocated by the state but only those in the most desperate need are given a job. Of course some people only like to work part time or don't want their job so they half the income from the job and a dealer gets a cut and finds a replacement. In the scenario in the book a job is then shared with another person getting half the wages pro rata for the half time hours worked with again a dealer getting a cut. So, the person doing nothing gets the most money and of the two people sharing a job one gets 50% more than the other whilst the dealer does very little for quite a lot. I really liked this scenario and it demonstrates even with excessive state management and on the face of things 'helping the poor' Earth's future employment structure is exploitative in nature.

Of course William thinks he is going to be rich upon his return with twenty years pay and compound interest for a few months work but unfortunately he's in a 92% tax bracket when he returns.... For those who don't want to 'play the game' people can drop out and join rural economies, sure it's illegal but since the government buys it's food from these places it turns a blind eye...

This section of the book was omitted from the initial serialisation of the novel in Analog magazine as being to bleak which is a shame as it is one of the stronger sections of the novel.

William has little choice but to sign back up to the army and due to his experience is promoted. He faces the Taurans again in battle but when he returns back to Earth centuries have passed. Promotions occur again and William faces the Taurans again and eventually returns home thousands of years into the future where the war is finally over.

I really enjoyed the novel. I found it very entertaining, exciting and thought provoking. The early part of the novel is great fun and the battles are quite exciting. I really liked the vision of 'near future' Earth. It's a pretty frightening world in many respects. The theme of time dilation is brilliant. Every time William returns to Earth he is further and further divorced from the current reality and distanced from a world he no longer recognises or feels part of. Even though he has only been in a handful of encounters with the Taurans he is promoted after each battle - after all, few survive or return from the battles and it would seem stupid for someone hundreds of years old not to be in command, despite William being ill equipped. William the Commander is a great character as it shows the impact of ill advised leadership and of people promoted out of their depth based on seniority. In the end William does the right things and does become a good leader but the novel is a critique of how leadership roles are filled. Not dying does not make a leader...

I also like that when William returns to Earth for a second time he asks if things have got worse and is told, 'things did get bad for a bit, then better, then worse....'. I felt the concept was strong and the universe believable.

Whilst the military SF could be viewed as glamourising war I think this is a novel about the futility of war. The author had served in Vietnam and in the mid-70's American readers would have been under no allusions what this novel was about. Again, I can see why the publishing of this was problematic. The novels anti-war message and allegory to Vietnam shouts out from every page. First of all, the war is started when an Earth cruiser goes missing and Earth retaliates. No-one has seen a Tauran, yet alone communicated with one so on what basis is this for war? Of course decision makers light years away neither know this, nor seem to care - we've met aliens and now we kill them. Due to time dilation the entire Earth economy is built to carrying on a war even though the results of the first battle won't be known for battle. What a waste of money and quality of life!

A more fascinating aspect of time dilation is that since it can take hundreds of years to get to a point by the time Earth gets there technology has moved on in real time back on Earth. The same occurs for the Taurans. Therefore, depending on which side sent off first for a certain point determines which race will have the most advanced technology. One minute someone is dropping planet destroying nukes, the next preparing to bash an alien's head in with a rock. It's brutal and ugly like war. It's a stupid way to fight a war and it does not consider the wellbeing of the people who get their hands dirty. There is an arrogance to Earth - it thinks it' superior weaponry can just wipe the Taurans out on their own territory. Earth's arrogance and unsuitability to fight on alien planets is highlighted and it reminds one of not just the idea that 'bigger guns will win in the Vietnamese jungle' but also, 'we haven't got the right transports / uniforms etc. for Afghanistan'. People die as a result of bad planning and bad intelligence. Whilst there is an excitement to the battles, at the same time people die in ugly ways. Taurans are slaughtered with no mercy.

The treatment of Taurans is also a powerful anti-war message - we are never given their viewpoint or attitudes. They are not considered as having any rights or needs. This strongly echoes what I think about not just Vietnam, but modern wars also. The reasons for withdrawing troops from war are often about the cost to 'our troops' and 'our economy'. The idea that 'the enemy' could have any sense of loss is never considered. Even the idea that the Taurans are a 'collective' willing for an individual to selflessly die in pursuit of the whole objective is a clumsy allusion to the communist North Vietnamese. Earth ventures to new territories and it's first instinct is war.

This novel also contains a soldier's point of view. William is drafted. He wants out and is never enthusiastic about his military career. He returns to a different world. This is a reference to troops drafted to fight in Vietnam but were treated badly upon their return. Fighting a war they did not start nor voluntarily choose to fight. William is a reluctant hero.

The conclusion of the war is a little 'throwaway' but at the same time it does demonstrate just how futile the whole effort has been for thousands of years. It really was all unnecessary. It also is an indictment on humanity and what humans can do as it takes a non-human outlook to learn to communicate with the Taurans and basically enter diplomacy. The message of the novel is, 'don't fight, let's talk about it'.

My only gripe about the novel is the treatment of sexuality in the book. I think Haldeman was trying to make liberal point but I'm really not sure what it is. I think Haldeman was trying to be controversial but whilst the references to Vietnam are still strong to today the sexual politics of the book have not stood the test of time. In short in the early part of the book male and female recruits are encouraged to be promiscuous with each other and have a variation of partners. It's required by law and never really explained but I'm assuming it's for morale. Men are given a vasectomy so there's no kids to worry about (I guess in the 70's STD's were not a factor). William gets to have sex with someone different most nights and the female recruits not only ask him to 'sack' with, they are described as quite attractive. It's a single man's dream! Beautiful women to share every night. I fully get that the women are not coerced and that the women enjoy sex (otherwise they wouldn't do it!). The problem was that this was written and read from an entirely male perspective and this lack of a female perspective made this section of the book a little bit embarrassing in stages. One section sees William's troop land on a base where 18 men have been 'serviced' by only two women. The women are described as being worn out. We are then treated to a massive orgy as William's troop cheer and holler as 'their' women are hungrily leaped on by sex starved men of the base. Of course, the women are up for it and thankfully learn a few new sex tricks in the process. It all seems to be written for men and the women's sexual experience is for the sole benefit of men. Haldeman possibly didn't mean this but this comes across as quite sexist.

When William returns to Earth the first time homosexuality is the norm, ostensibly as a way of population control. William is not entirely comfortable with this.

The next time he returns everyone is homosexual and he one of the only few straight people alive and the only one in his troop. He is called 'old queer' and subject to disgust over his unnatural sexual preferences. I really liked this turning of the tables on William. I hope straight readers in the 70's had an insight into how non-straight persons could feel and how words, actions and attitudes could hurt. I did feel William's discomfort of being different from everyone else yet knowing their was nothing wrong with him.

Women also have more control over their bodies as birth is by genetic science and children are 'quickened' in nurseries. The downside is that people cannot choose who to procreate with whilst there does appear to be freedom over choice of sexual partner.

Even here though, it is still a little problematic. A drunk doctor wants to try hetero out but William is a man of valour. Is the message here, 'hey guys, you can turn a lesbian if she's drunk?'.

I found the ending quite romantic and sweet and it did put a smile on my face however, the underlying message did seem to be 'straight sex and vaginal birth is best' even if the novel on one level is pro-gay.

I highly recommend this novel, it works as military sci-fi, it has a brilliant theme of time dilation and a frightening yet vivid vision of the future. It is a stunning critique of not just the Vietnam war but all war. It also has an interesting yet somewhat dated attempt to challenge attitudes to sexual politics.