1950s 1990s 1993 action action-packed adrenaline adrenaline-rush adventure aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-warfare african-conflict african-history african-politics air-combat air-force air-warfare aircraft aircraft-carriers ambition american american-history american-intervention american-literature american-military american-soldiers army army-rangers atmospheric aviation aviators battle battle-of-mogadishu betrayal black-hawk black-hawk-down black-hawk-helicopter black-hawk-helicopters bravery brotherhood camaraderie casualties chaos character-driven combat combat-missions coming-of-age competition comradeship conflict courage danger dangerous-missions death delta-force destiny determination drama duty emotional endurance excitement exhilarating existential existentialism fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots flying friendship grief gripping helicopter helicopters heroes heroic heroism history honor hunters infantry intense intense-action intensity international-affairs international-conflict international-intervention international-relations investigative-reporting james james-salter journalism journalist journalistic journalists korean-war leadership literary-fiction literature loss love love-affairs love-triangle loyalty masculinity maverick-aviators military military-fiction military-history military-operations military-strategy military-tactics mission missions modern-war modern-warfare mogadishu morality mortality non-fiction nonfiction novel obsession operation-gothic-serpent operation-restore-hope passion perseverance pilots politics power-dynamics psychological pulitzer-prize pursuit rangers real-life real-life-events redemption relationships rescue rescue-mission resilience risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry romance sacrifice salter self-discovery soldiers somali-civil-war somali-militia somalia somalia-civil-war somalia-conflict special-forces special-operations special-operations-forces strategy struggle suppression-of-enemy-air-defenses survival suspense suspenseful tactical-operations task-force-ranger teamwork tension terrorism the-hunters thrill thriller thrilling tragedy trauma triumph true-story u.s.-army-rangers united-nations united-states united-states-army united-states-army-rangers united-states-military us-army us-army-rangers us-military victory vietnam vietnam-war violence war war-correspondent war-journalism war-reporting warfare wild-weasels world-war-ii