1960s 1969 1970s 20th-century action action-packed adrenaline adventure adversity american american-dream american-history american-literature american-military american-soldiers american-war american-war-literature anti-war anti-war-sentiment army asia authentic authentic-representation author:-karl-marlantes battalion battle battle-of-matterhorn battlefields battles belonging bloodshed bonds-of-friendship bravery brotherhood brotherly-bonds brothers-in-arms brutality camaradarie camaraderie character-development character-driven combat coming-of-age comrades comradeship conflict confrontation consequences courage courageous danger death disillusionment draftees drama duty emotional endurance epic exploitation fear fiction fictional-war firefights friendship friendships gripping grit gritty grueling guerrilla-warfare harrowing harsh-conditions harsh-realities helicopter helicopter-pilots helicopters hemingway heroism heroism. hierarchy historical historical-fiction honor hope horrors-of-war human-spirit humanity ideology impersonal-bureaucracy infantry infantrymen injustice innocence intense intense. intensity jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes leadership loneliness long-march loss love loyalty manhood marine marine-corps marines matterhorn matterhorn:-a-novel-of-the-vietnam-war military military-fiction military-history military-operations moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morale morality morality-in-war narrative novel patriotism personal-growth personal-narrative perspective platoon political politics power power-dynamics power-struggle psychological psychological-effects psychological-impact psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd pulitzer-prize-finalist racism realism realistic realistic-fiction realistic. redemption reflection resilience sacrifice saigon sentimentality soldier soldiers soldiers-experience southeast-asia squad storytelling strategy struggle survival suspense tension tragedy trauma troops unforgiving-terrain united-states-marine-corps united-states-marines unity us-army us-marine-corps us-marines veterans vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war vietnam-war-fiction vietnamese violence visceral war war-atrocities war-drama war-epic war-experience war-fiction war-literature war-novel war-novels war-stories war-story war-strategy war-tactics war-thriller war-veterans war-violence war-zone warfare warriors