mike%bambi@mouton.ARPA@caip.RUTGERS.EDU (01/28/86)
From: mike%bambi@mouton.ARPA WAR YEAR was originally written as a "beginning adult reader". It was intended to have a more mature theme than most juveniles (Heinlein excepted :-) but be easy for beginning readers to cope with. In that form, the narrator does survive and return to the US. Haldeman wanted him to die, but that was deemed too downbeat by the publisher. When WAR YEAR was released in paperback (with a shameless "try and sell it as SF" cover) the original Haldeman ending was restored. The beginning adult version was only ever printed in hardback. You might find it in a library (though I couldn't say where in a library it would be). By the way, Haldeman's DEALING IN FUTURES, a short story/novella collection just out, is well worth reading, especially for the alternate treatment of the "return to Earth" from FOREVER WAR. Mike Caplinger mike@bellcore.arpa ihnp4!bambi!mike