1960s 1970s 20th-century action action-packed adrenaline adventure adversity american american-dream american-history american-literature american-soldiers american-war american-war-literature anti-war army authentic authentic-representation battalion battle battlefield battlefields battles belonging bloodshed bonds-of-friendship bravery brotherhood brotherly-bonds brothers-in-arms brutality bureaucracy camaradarie camaraderie character-development character-driven combat coming-of-age conflict confrontation consequences courage courageous cultural-clash danger death disillusionment drama duty emotional emotions endurance epic espionage exploitation fear fiction fictional-war fictionalized fictionalized-war firefights friendship friendships gripping grit gritty grueling guerrilla-warfare harrowing harsh-conditions helicopter helicopter-pilots helicopters hemingway heroes heroic-journey heroism heroism. hierarchy historical historical-fiction honor hope hueys human-spirit humanity ideology immersive impersonal-bureaucracy 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 narrative 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 survival suspense suspenseful tension tragedy transformation trauma troops unforgiving-terrain united-states-marine-corps us-army us-marine-corps us-marines us-military veterans vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war vietnam-war-fiction vietnam-war-literature vietnamese violence visceral war war-atrocities 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-zone warfare warriors