Final ISU

Starship Troopers VS The Forever War










Alex van der Mout










ENG 4UE
Rockland District High School
12/10/08

Empires raise and fall on the blood of young men and women. Armies of humanity have ravaged our fair world to almost the brink of disaster. Humans have perfected the art of war so that it has become second nature to us. Only in times of great distress have enemies put aside the feuding to fight a greater evil then either one of them. That greater evil can take many different forms, as can be seen in the two novels Starships Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein, and The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Each has its’ own villainous enemies be it bugs or the alien Taurans. When one with a love for literature compares these two excellent novels, they would see that while they are similar “[Haldeman’s] war is the opposite of the one Heinlein glorified in Starship Troopers – bloody, cruel and meaningless.”- Kirkus (Haldeman, book flap)
Every war rests in the hands of the soldiers that bravely march across the battle field to wipe the enemy from the face of the earth. Each solider must be trained and prepared mentally and physically to stand firm in the face of blood and death. Training takes many forms from strict rules and procedures to mass chaos. Starships Troopers demonstrated training as professionals gearing potential soldiers for war. Here the individual is completely wrapped in the fold of the army, educated in the way of war. In striking contrast is Haldeman’s future world, training is based on fear, fear of death.
“Now I’m gonna say this once so you better listen,” he growled. “We are in a combat situation here, and in a combat situation there is only one penalty for disobedience or insubordination.” He jerked the pistol from his hip and held it by the barrel, like a club. “This is an Army model 1911 automatic pistol, caliber .45, and it is a primitive but effective weapon. The Sergeant and I are authorized to use our weapons to kill to enforce discipline. Don’t make us do it because we will. We will.” (Haldeman, p. 12)
Haldeman showed the same training as useless and irrelevant and senseless. Here the army is incompetent, ignorant and scornful of its soldier’s lives. There was only two ways out of the army: either your mind snapped or you were carried out in a body bag. Morale was kept by poorly used rituals, and had no value.
“OK. Tench-hut!” We staggered upright and he looked at us expectantly.
“Fuck you, sir,” came the familiar tired chorus.
“Louder!”
“FUCK YOU, SIR!” One of the army’s less-inspired morale devices. (Haldeman, p. 4)
In the world of conditioning, the stupid and the smart have equal standing and both qualify to serve their country. Heinlein agreed with today’s recruitment campaigns that all come the army willingly, eager to serve their country. Each one may leave at any time, and forced to face the consequences. The Forever War was fought by drafted brilliant youth, the jewels of humanity, forced to fight and be killed.
“Were you in school when you got drafted?” she asked
“Yeah. Just got a degree in physics. Was going after a teacher’s certificate.”
She nodded soberly. “I was in biology . . .”
“Figures.” I ducked a handful of slush. “How far?”
“Six years, bachelor’s and technical.” She slid her boot along the ground, turning up a ridge of mud and slush the consistency of freezing ice milk. “Why the fuck did this have to happen?” (Haldeman, p.6)
“So here we were, fifty men and fifty women, with IQs over 150 and bodies of unusual health and strength, slogging elitely through the mud and slush of central Missouri.” (Haldeman, p.8)
As solider is only as good as the weapons that he is wielding, the best solider is nothing when he only wields a spade versus a child with a machine gun. The two novels both present a idea of powered armored suits. In Starship Troopers, one infantry man is an unstoppable foe with enough fire power to completely level a mountain. These exoskeleton suits made a man into a killing machine that could singlehandedly destroy any amount of opponents.
Our suits give us better eyes, better ears, stronger backs (to carry heavier weapons and more ammo), better legs, more intelligence (in the military meaning...), more firepower, greater endurance, less vulnerability.
A suit isn't a space suit - although it can serve as one. It is not primarily armor - although the Knights of the Round Table were not armored as well as we are. It isn't a tank - but a single M.I. private could take on a squadron of those things and knock them off unassisted […] Suited up, you look like a big steel gorilla, armed with gorilla-sized weapons.

The real genius in the design is that you don't have to control the suit; you just wear it, like your clothes, like skin. The secret lies in negative feedback and amplification. (Heinlein p. 97)
A weapon is only as good as the user, everyone can fire a gun, but not all can use it in war. If a solider misuses his powerful weapons he could not only kill the enemy but also his comrades. Any weapon is a ‘two-edged sword’. The Forever War vividly depicted how weapons can kill your allies as well as the enemy. Every wear of the powered amour could hurt himself and others as “it is easier for the user to kill himself through carelessness.” (Haldeman, p.14) Through physic-hypnosis the solider in The Forever War were turned into brutal savages with only one need; to kill. The urge was so great that not even their comrades came in the way of their killing spree.
Suddenly a laser flared through the Taurans from the other side, somebody missing his mark. There was a horrible scream and I looked down the line to someone […] writhing on the ground, right hand over the smoldering stump of his left arm, seared off just below the elbow. (Haldeman, p.60)
War is a terrible plague that ravages humankind since our first steps. Some wars need to be fought, while some millions died over an insult said when drunk. When mankind’s future is at stake no one hesitates to take up arms. The backdrop to Heinlein's Starship Troopers is a war between humanity and hive-minded insectoid aliens simply called “the Bugs". The ‘Bugs’ threatened every man and women in the galaxy. There was a need to fight for the homeland, to fight, kill or be killed.
It is an elaboration of the instinct to survive. The instinct to survive is human nature itself, and every aspect of our personalities derives from it. […] But the instinct to survive […] can be cultivated into motivations more subtle and much more complex than the blind, brute urge of the individual to stay alive. (Heinlein, 118)
Earth’s history is blackened by periods of petty wars. These wars were where humans were sacrificed for such petty matters as a leaders honor or for the greedy of those on top. So many good men were thrown into the inferno not even knowing why they were fighting. Haldmen depicted such a raging fire in his novel The Forever War. Here “Earth’s economy needed a war, and this one was ideal. It gave a nice hole to throw buckets of money into, but would unify humanity rather than dividing it.” (Haldeman, p.215) The war against the mysterious Taurans was nothing but a huge mistake, a mistake that cost the universe millions of deaths on both sides.
“The 1143-year-long war had been begun on false pretenses and only continued because the two races were unable to communicate.
Once they could talk, the first question was “Why did you start this thing?” and the answer was “Me?”
The Taurans hadn’t known war for millennia, and toward the beginning of the twenty-first century it looked as though mankind was ready to outgrow the institution as well. But the old soldiers were still around, and many of them were in positions of power. They virtually ran the United Nations Exploratory and Colonization Group, that was taking advantage of the newly-discovered collapsar jump to explore interstellar space,
Many of the early ships met with accidents and disappeared. The ex-military men were suspicious. They armed the colonizing vessels, and the first time they met a Tauran ship, they blasted it.
They dusted off their medals and the rest was going to be history.” (Haldeman, p.214)
There is one aspect however that every military veteran will agree on, as does Robert A. Heinlein, and Joe Haldeman, that is: War is frightening. In war men become beasts, tamed humans become savages lusting for blood. War makes grown men cry like little girls, never has there been a more terribly experience for man. Rico, in Starship Troopers, felt the gripping hand of fear, every time he had a ‘drop’.
"I always get the shakes before a drop. I've had the injections, of course, and hypnotic preparation, and it stands to reason I can't really be afraid. The ship's psychiatrist has checked my brain waves and asked me silly questions while I was asleep and he tells me that it isn't fear, it isn't anything important - it's just like the trembling of an eager race horse in the starting gate.
I couldn't say about that; I've never been a race horse. But the fact is: I'm scared silly, every time." (Heinlein p. 1)
Even our hero, William Mandella, had the frits before going into combat. “Scared? Oh yes, I was scared – and who wouldn’t be? Only a fool or a suicide or a robot. Or a line officer.” (Haldeman, p.67)
My stomach flipped twice and, getting out of the chair, I had to swallow back nervous bile. I'd felt about the same, every time the speaker had crackled in the two days since the first muster. It wasn't simply the fear of going into combat - that was bad enough - but also the terrifying uncertainty of the whole thing. This could be a milk run or a suicide mission or anything in between. (Haldeman, p.73)
It can be said that the two novels Starships Troopers and The Forever War while they are similar in their overall plot, they are drastically different stories. There are obvious differences such as time dilation and totally different aliens. But it is the underlining message that makes these two novels unique. Starships Troopers glorified the war. Stating that war was necessary and it was everyone’s honor to serve. This novel represents an influential and timely message about the significance of defending the patria, the motherland, and how wars needed to be fought and what it took to become a solider and a liable citizen of a human society.
On the flip side The Forever War shows how war is useless and pointless. This novel follows the course of the training of an infantryman from civilian to officer, and through that training how he copes with an ever changing world. Due to excessive time factors associated with interstellar travel at relativistic speeds, decades past on earth while mere months pass for Mandella. Upon completing his first tour of duty, Mandella finds earth changed and for the worse. It goes into a deep analysis of social change, and the hardship one faces to catch up. While Rico in Starship Troopers remains a solider because of his love for war, Mandella returns to military duty, not because he loves it, but because its familiarity destroys the alternative.
After a thousand years Major Mandella had learned to cope.
He could cope with the savagery of the alien Taurans . . .
He could cope with the deep-sleep learning process that forced the whole of Earth’s military history into his brain . . .
He could cope with having his leg blown off and the wait for regeneration . . .
He could cope with a regiment of lesbians and homosexuals who considered him a pervert . . .
But when they sent the women he loved into the future, Major Mandella really began to wonder what he was fighting for! (Haldeman, cover)
Both novels are a fascinating read for any science-fiction fan. Similar but different they have a story that makes one think about your selves as human. If there was ever to be a competition of which novel was better, The Forever War would win hands down, due to that fact that it is not just destruction and warfare but goes into the human mind and how one must cope to survive.
“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly . . . it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. – Thomas Paine” (Heinlein, 78)









Bibliography
Haldeamn, Joe. The Forever War. 1. Toronto, Canada: Ballantine Books, 1976.
Heinlein, Robert. Starship Troopers. New York: G.P Putnam’s Sons, 1959.