1960s 1970s 20th-century action action-packed adrenaline adventure adversity american american-dream american-history american-literature american-soldiers american-war american-war-literature army atmospheric authentic authentic-representation battle battle-of-matterhorn battlefield battlefields battles belonging bloodshed bravery brotherhood brotherly-bonds brothers brothers-in-arms brutality bureaucracy camaradarie camaraderie character-development character-driven combat coming-of-age conflict confrontation consequences courage courageous cultural-clash danger death dense-prose drama duty emotional emotions endurance epic espionage exploitation fear fiction fictional-war fictionalized fictionalized-war friendship friendships gripping grit gritty grueling guerrilla-warfare harrowing harsh-conditions helicopter helicopter-pilots helicopters hemingway heroes heroic-journey heroism heroism. hierarchy hill historical historical-fiction honor hope human-resilience humanity ideology immersive infantry infantrymen innocence insightful intense intense. intensity jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes leadership loneliness loss love loyalty manhood marine-corps marines matterhorn military military-fiction military-history military-operations moral-ambiguity moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morale morality necessity. novel patriotism perseverance personal-growth personal-narrative perspective platoon political politics power power-dynamics power-struggle psychological psychological-effects psychological-impact psychological-impact. psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd racism realism realistic realistic-fiction redemption reflection resilience resistance sacrifice sergeant soldier soldiers soldiers-experience southeast-asia squad strategy struggle suffering survival suspense suspenseful tension tragedy transformation trauma troops united-states united-states-marine-corps us-army us-marine-corps us-marines us-military valor veterans vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war vietnam-war-fiction vietnam-war-literature vietnamese violence war war-atrocities war-drama war-epic war-experience war-fiction war-literature war-narrative war-novel war-novels war-stories war-story war-strategies war-strategy war-tactics war-thriller war-trauma war-veterans war-violence war-zone warfare warriors