Stark's War

Stark's War (2000) is the first Combat SF novel in the Stark series. A century from now, America was the only remaining international power. The end of the Cold War followed by the Millennium Crash had left American corporations owning every significant technology and resource in the world. These corporations soon owned the politicians and the politicians controlled the military. The military fell into the hands of the political generals. Most honest officers resigned from -- or were driven out of -- the services during this period. The military eventually became a separate institution from the civilian culture and most soldiers were drawn from within this military society. The US military developed the most comprehensive suite of C-three gear in the world. With this capability came micro management of the troops on the battlefield. Commanding generals could literally call the shots of individual soldiers. When the rest of the world went to the Moon for necessary resources, America retroactively claimed the whole satellite. The American military was ordered to take all foreign installations on the newly reclaimed territory. The military followed these orders and US troops soon occupied these installations. In this novel, Sergeant Ethan Stark is an oddball. For one thing, he comes from a civ family. After graduating from community college without learning much of anything, he really didn't want to follow in his father's footsteps. Being a war movie fan, he had a distorted view of the military and enlisted in the US Army instead. Stark is also strange in another way, having acquired a strong sense of responsibility for those under his command. Where necessary, he finds -- or devises -- authority to match these responsibilities. For example, he has fortunate losses of communications when given orders to lead his squad into certain death and then accomplishs the mission by other methods. Stark soon develops a reputation among the officers. Of course, these officers are never in his chain of command for more than six months, but outgoing officers pass on the word to their replacements. The newcomers know to keep an eye on this loose cannon noncom, but it is hard to argue with success. In this story, Stark pushes his troopers hard after taking their objective on the Moon. Even after months of training for the mission, the Moon is still an alien environment. Just walking and crawling take lots of practice. So does situational awareness in the strange lighting and landscape. When the enemy counterattack finally comes, Stark's squad is ready for the onslaught. However, the division is too widely dispersed and has to contract into a tighter perimeter. They rally around the new settlement being constructed in their area. Even in these new positions, the enemy still has too much momentum in the attack. Without prepared positions, Stark's squad is being whittled down by artillery and infantry fire. So Stark leads a counterattack

From what I've been told by my ex-army buddies this is about as accurate as it comes in terms of laying out army life. Moron officers, cheap equipment, faulty weapons built by the lowest bidder and an overriding stupidity and rigidness from above.This book doesn't glorify anything and is one of the better military scifi I have read.

Science fiction is usually an extrapolation into the future and some authors "futures" can get pretty far-fetched, and that can be fun. But this novel is dead on. The author must be ex-military to have captured so accurately military life and the end game of where the military seems to be heading. The novel is set in the not too distant future where promotion in the US officer core is determined by political correctness rather than effectiveness. Military weapons acquisition is ruled by political pay-backs and the enlisted men and women have become virtually military slaves. The battle is for the resources of the moon, trench warfare in "Starship Trooper" like battle armor. It reminds me of the first time I read "The Forever War." The writing style is a lot like the Starfist series by Dave Sherman and Dan Cragg.

During the first century of the new millennium, all the governments of the world collapsed except America, leaving that nation as the only superpower on the planet. American government officials funded the military but political office was awarded to those individuals will to do the corporation's bidding. Former President Eisenhower's worst nightmare had come to pass as military actions were dictated by corporate profits. Those individuals seeking freedom from the oppression of the United States established colonies on the moon. This situation irked the corporate and political leaders of America, who declared the moon as American territory and dispatched troops to enforce the edict.The military receive no resistance upon landing on the moon. The colonists are returned to earth while loyal American are transported to the lunar colonies with the military assigned to keep them safe from invasion. Other earthlings band together to stop the American thrust to dominate space as they have done on the planet. The war on the moon lasts for years. Men like NCO Sergeant Ethan Stark lead soldiers into combat, but his loyalties are with the safety of his men and not some government 250,000 miles away.STARK'S WAR is a high caliber military science fiction thriller that belies the fact that this is John G. Henry's first published novel. The fast-paced story line reads as if the audience is seeing the war first hand due to the nonstop action and the likable characters. Hopefully, Stark stars in a series of novels that should spell adult Skywalker (Luke not Darth).Harriet Klausner