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-sentiment army asia atmospheric authentic authentic-representation author:-karl-marlantes battalion battle battle-of-matterhorn battlefield battles belonging bloodshed bonds-of-friendship bravery bravo-company brotherhood brothers brothers-in-arms brutality bureaucracy camaraderie character-development character-driven collegesuccess combat coming-of-age comrades conflict confrontation consequences courage cultural-clash danger death dense-prose disillusionment draftees drama duty emotional emotions endurance epic espionage fear fiction fictionalized fictionalized-war firefights friendship friendships gripping grit gritty grueling guerrilla-warfare harrowing helicopter helicopter-pilots helicopters heroes heroic-journey heroism hierarchy hill historical historical-fiction honor hope horrors-of-war hueys human-resilience human-spirit humanity immersive infantry infantrymen insightful intense intrigue jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes leadership loneliness long-march loss love loyalty manhood marine marine-corps marines matterhorn military military-fiction military-history military-operations moral-ambiguity moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morality morality-in-war necessity. novel patriotism perseverance personal-narrative platoon political politics power power-dynamics power-struggle psychological psychological-effects psychological-impact psychological-impact. psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd racial-tension racism realism realistic realistic-fiction redemption reflection resilience resistance sacrifice sacrifices saigon sentimentality sergeant soldier soldiers southeast-asia squad storytelling strategy struggle suffering survival suspense suspenseful tension tragedy transformation trauma united-states united-states-marine-corps unity us-army us-marines us-military valor veterans vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war vietnam-war-fiction vietnam-war-literature violence visceral war war-atrocities war-drama war-experience war-fiction war-literature war-narrative war-novel war-novels war-story war-strategies war-strategy war-tactics war-trauma war-veterans war-violence war-zone warfare