Had this one on my list TBR. When the local library reopened (30 minute limit per person) I got my chance to get this classic, multi-award winner.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book already has more than 134,000 reviews. It really doesn’t need another one. It clearly deserved all the the awards it got. Initially, I laughed a bit at the notion that the military would not only sanction but encourage sexual encounters among combat troops of the opposite sex. That said, Haldeman had the prophetic sense to have both men and women in combat roles. That wasn’t close to being so when he wrote the book.
While the military is resistant to change, especially regarding men and women in combat together (earlier about race), once the chain of command says go, all will eventually follow–grudgingly for some time, of course. Like Haldeman, I too spent a year in Vietnam; not too far removed in time from him. I know the nonsense that goes on. Although the “f*** you sir” sir, like the sex, seemed more than a little unlikely. Probably intended as a satirical jibe–maybe.
The main takeaway for me as a budding sci-fi writer (in my Third Age of life) is this: Be very careful in putting in near-year dates in your stories. Best to avoid dates of future events less than fifty years away. The same problem happened with Philip K. Dick’s famous novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, made into the now classic Blade Runner movie.