I've just finished reading the book, and have added a few more tropes that somehow got missed: Anyone Can Die, Badass Army (although they possibly also function as a Redshirt Army), Death World, and The Spartan Way.
The current caption for War Is Hell ("We're fighting them because they are fighting us because we are fighting them because...") doesn't sound quite right to me. Unless I've misunderstood the definitions, that seems to be an example of Forever War. War Is Hell is certainly appropriate for this work, but it should refer to the whole "You may die in training. You'll probably die in service. If you do survive, you'll probably get sent out to die again. Any reward you earn will be worthless. And ultimately the whole war was unnecessay theme.
There are a few other tropes that need mentioning, but I can't find an appropriate page for:
- The "psychic overload" that kills Ho when they kill the "teddybears". More serious than a Psychic Nosebleed, but not (physically) Your Head Asplode. (That episode may almost be an Obligatory War Crime, except it probably doesn't count as they were (subsequently found out to be) really just animals.
- Military regulations (initially at least) requiring everyone to sleep with each other (might be too rare to be a trope, but its significant enough to the plot that it needs mentioning).
Moving this natter off the main page: the original and later versions are the full version.
- Mandella's mother dies of a bug (maybe Flu) not cancer, and nor did she have a lover. There is also no mention made of Potters parents beyond the fact that she has no living relatives. At least that's what it says in my edition (1976, Futura).
- In the edition that came out in 2009 (St. Martin's Press), Haldeman writes that in the original edition (due to Executive Meddling and Haldeman not wanting to sink the publication deal), the middle third of the novel dealing with Mandella's return to Earth had been cut down significantly. Starting in 1997, since he was now a famous Hugo-winning author, the novel has been published as Haldeman intended it.
- Mandella's mother dies of a bug (maybe Flu) not cancer, and nor did she have a lover. There is also no mention made of Potters parents beyond the fact that she has no living relatives. At least that's what it says in my edition (1976, Futura).
Forever Peace is listed under both Sequel and Spiritual Successor. Is that necessary?