Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk: Preface Summary & Analysis

The author, Ben Fountain, prefaces the novel with a speech he gave at the United States Air Force Academy in 2013. The story began to form in his mind in 2003-2004, when it became clear that the United States had gone to war under false pretenses with no clear plan. Soldiers were dying, Iraqi civilians were dying by the thousands, and the country was amassing a great deal of debt. Despite all this, President George W. Bush continued to insist to the American public that the war was just and necessary. His reelection in 2004 indicated that the public believed him.

Fountain explains that America has recently witnessed a similar situation, since the Vietnam War followed a similar pattern. He mentions a quote from an investigative journalist that insists that all governments lie and shouldn't be believed. Fountain admits that although al-Qaeda was (and still is) an enemy of the U.S., and that al-Qaeda’s attacks certainly warranted retaliation, there was no reason to invade Iraq—a country that was already an enemy of al-Qaeda and had nothing to do with the September 11 tragedy.

Fountain wonders how this happened in the first place. He proposes that Americans aren't stupid, but rather, that American culture is stupid. Fountain defines culture as the consistent immersion in movies, internet, and around-the-clock news cycles. He terms this immersion the Fantasy Industrial Complex, and defines it as the state of constant advertisement of anything—products, lifestyles, or political agendas. He argues that this complex makes it easy to obscure what's real and what's not, as people's lives take place in fantasy and consequently numb them.

The problem of existing within the Fantasy Industrial Complex is that it doesn't give people the tools to handle the reality of death, failure, or trauma. Fountain says that September 11 was a crisis for the American people, and though it initially started a discussion about America's role in the world, it soon devolved into simplistic us versus them rhetoric. Several prominent figures at the time counseled that some sense of history would've helped the country figure out how the events of September 11 happened in the first place.

Fountain tells the cadets that they don't have the luxury of living in a state of numbness, as the war isn't a game. Fountain suggests that the reality of the military is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the Fantasy Industrial Complex, and it's ridiculous that the military quickly became something that the Complex used for its own means.

There are several facts that could've helped keep the us versus them rhetoric at bay. First, none of the hijackers from the September 11 tragedy were from Iraq or Afghanistan. However, instead of acknowledging this fact, the American government embarked on an advertising campaign to rally support for the "War on Terror." Congress approved invading Iraq in the spring of 2003, and President Bush spoke in May of that year declaring that the conflict was over.

Fountain mentions an interview with Karl Rove, the man known as "Bush's Brain," in which Rove said that the United States is an empire and therefore acts to create its own reality. As the war continued to defy America's "power to create reality," the Complex went into overdrive and began marketing the war even more heavily. Supporting the troops became one of the most effective angles of this—Fountain says it's easy to thank veterans for their service, but superficial acts of thanks don't translate to true love for one's country.

Love, Fountain believes, is what makes war real for people and removes it from the fantasy realm. In the case of the Vietnam War, everyone who knew someone of draft age was emotionally invested in the war. Now, however, ordinary citizens aren’t forced to feel the effects of war. There have been no raised taxes or rationing, and Hummers (trucks and SUVs based on military Humvees) jumped in popularity in the states while soldiers drove under-armored ones in Iraq. Fountain suggests taxing the Hummers at home to support the underfunded Veterans Administration as a way to actually support the troops.

Fountain says that the cadets are going to be forced to sacrifice for reasons that aren't clear, which Fountain declares is a tragedy. Further, soldiers raised in a democracy must turn into slaves when they join the military, which explains why soldiers are so adept at compartmentalizing. Although this is a stellar coping technique, human nature dictates that at some point, soldiers will have to grapple with the reasoning for what they're doing. Fountain insists that it's obscene to ask soldiers to sacrifice their humanity.

Fountain asks what literature has to do with war and reality. He defines literature as writing that preserves reality and the written language. Essentially, literature is the opposite of Karl Rove's definition of "reality." Fountain offers Homer’s Odyssey as an example, as it's "news that stays news." The epic poem tells the story of soldiers trying to get home from a war fought for questionable reasons. Fountain insists that the Odyssey is more than just entertainment, as it allows a person to better understand his or her own situation. Fountain encourages the cadets to read so that they can continue to connect to reality.