20th-century action action-packed adrenaline adventure adversity american american-dream american-history american-literature american-soldiers american-war american-war-literature army asia atmospheric authentic authentic-representation battalion battle battle-of-matterhorn battle-of-okinawa battle-of-peleliu battle-scenes battlefield battles belonging bloodshed bonds-of-friendship bravery brotherhood brothers brothers-in-arms brutality bureaucracy camaraderie character-development character-driven combat coming-of-age comrades conflict confrontation consequences courage cultural-clash danger death dense-prose disillusionment drama duty emotional emotions endurance epic espionage fear fiction fictional-war fictionalized-war firefights friendship gripping grit gritty guerrilla-warfare harrowing helicopter helicopter-pilots helicopters heroes heroic-journey heroism hierarchy hill historical historical-fiction history honor hope horrors-of-war hueys human-resilience humanity immersive infantry infantrymen insightful intense japan japanese japanese-army japanese-empire jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes leadership long-march loss love loyalty manhood marine-corps marines matterhorn memoir military military-fiction military-history military-memoir military-operations military-strategy moral-ambiguity moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morality necessity. non-fiction novel okinawa pacific-campaign pacific-islands pacific-theater pacific-war patriotism peleliu perseverance personal-account personal-narrative platoon political politics power power-struggle psychological psychological-effects psychological-impact psychological-impact. psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd realism realistic realistic-fiction redemption reflection resilience resistance sacrifice sergeant soldier soldiers southeast-asia squad storytelling strategy struggle suffering survival suspense suspenseful tension tragedy transformation trauma troops united-states united-states-marine-corps us-army us-marines us-military valor veterans vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war vietnam-war-literature violence visceral war war-atrocities war-experience war-fiction war-literature war-narrative war-novel war-novels war-stories war-story war-strategies war-strategy war-tactics war-trauma war-veterans war-violence war-zone warfare world-war-ii