Agree with most of the above posts especially those that comment on Starship Troopers and those of use who received one of lifes great disappointments when we saw the movie. I have recently read the Al-Denata series by John Ringo. I throughly enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who enjoys SF by someone with first hand military experience.

I have to stand up for a little known David Drake book- The Forlorn Hope. A great story about a band of mercenaties betrayed by their employers. I would also reccomedn Fortschen, who has written some pretty good military sci-fi. I'd say his Gamester Wars is pretty solid stuff. He has a tendency to avoid the tech however and find a way to have the battles be based on historical technology. I've read a fair number of the mentioned titles, though I've been taking not of other authors to consider as well. buzzard

The Sum of All Fears and Without Remorse by Tom Clancy. Red Storm Rising despite it being not part of the JAck Ryan world. The last two Clancy books (Red Rabbit and Teeth of the Tiger) were not is best effort when compared to earlier works. Haven't read my MSF nomination yet (waiting for right time to get from Amazon), but hope I can add Halo: The Fall of Reach after getting or borrowing it. So please don't tell me what it's about!!!

I was hoping someone would mention ?Footfall? by Niven and Pournelle - thanks Sherwood. I think it?s been neglected because it?s based in 80s cold-war politics, but I still like it. Like all invading-space-aliens stories (of which there are thousands) it?s based on that archetype of H.G Wells, ?The War of the Worlds.? I?ve often thought that could be made into a Hollywood blockbuster, especially if they were faithful to the original text. The whole look could be like ?Titanic? meets ?Independence Day.? Not only that, but the 100 year copyright protection for the novel recently expired - they can do whatever they like with it! Also, you don?t have to be a right-wing militarist to appreciate military science fiction. Leftie-deconstructionists can get into it too, as they read ?Footfall? and ?War of the Worlds? as allegories for the struggle of oppressed peoples against imperialism. Think of Cortes in Mexico, landing in huge vessels from another world (galleons from Europe), and fielding high-tech weapons (steel, muskets) and quadraped war machines (horses). Just thought I?d throw that in. Also, I didn?t like ?Ender?s Game? - reminded me of air-cadet camp. And since when does posting your rants on web-forums allow you to take over the world? Yeah right, I wish.

After serving 20 years in the Infantry, I would have to say my favorite, and the one I used to require my Squad and Team Leaders to read was: Starship Troopers. A great motivational piece, still valid in my mind today, to help establish pride in the 11Bs and 0311s.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I would recommend Starship Troopers to everyone, but here are some that I haven't seen posted: 1.Mick Farren's "Their Master's War" 2.John Dalmas' "The Regiment" series 3.John Steakley's "Armor" 4.Rick Shelley's "Officer Cadet" series 5.Dan Abnett's "Tanith Legion" series set in the Warhammer 40k universe 6. William Dietz's "Legion of the Damned" series I also recommend the much mentioned "Hammer's Slammers" series, "The Bolos" series, and Pournelle's "Mercenary" series

Retired11B wrote: "A great motivational piece, still valid in my mind today, to help establish pride in the 11Bs and 0311s" Well, this retired 19K thinks it is a fantastic piece as well. This book actually significantly influenced my view of the military and how it would work best. And it stands the test of time quite well. The technology, even today, doesn't seem that off and the politics/war that lead to the world of ST is still plausible. Ultimately, even when the technology becomes completely dated in the book the story will still be a great read and that is the best test of a story.

I noticed Ralph Peters "Red Army" was mentioned, but not "The War In 2020". Intricate story, stark battle scenes, not to mention M-100 gunships packing EM rail guns.

As I mentioned earlier, I loved "Armor", Haldeman's "Forever War" Chris Bunch's "Sten" series, Doc Smith's "Lensman" series (which caused me to redo calculus in college since I read his books instead of studying!!!) and of course, The Dorsai.

If you want a real hoot, try Poul Andersons High Crusade. Only marginally to be classed as Military SF and probably no longer in print, it will reward the reader for the effort in finding it. Essentially, an alien spaceship lands in an medieval English Village where the local lord is preparing to set off for the Crusades with his retinue. They attack and take over the spaceship and set off for the stars. Read the book for the rest.