Gizmo_Duck
blathering blatherskite!
The novel actually plays it straight. The whole story is Johnny Rico only becoming a man when he serves in the military and kills aliens. Rico's dad is angry when his son joins up, but a few years later, he also joins and straight up tells his son that he was angry because his son was more of a man than he was and so he had to join too.
The film is definitely anti-militarization, though. Paul Verhoeven got halfway through the book and hated it so much that he specifically made the movie a mockery of the book's pro-militarization, pro-fascist stance.
If Robert Heinlein were alive, he'd be angry tweeting about Helldivers taking after the movie version of his book.
Also, I can't believe Helldivers is getting this much hype and excitement.
You ever read the forever war? Its funny because that actually seems to be more of a cynical take on the same concept