1960s 1970s action action-packed adrenaline adventure adversity american american-dream american-history american-literature american-military american-soldiers american-war american-war-literature american-war. anti-war anti-war-sentiment army asian-american authentic battalion battle battle-of-matterhorn battlefields battles bloodshed bonds-of-friendship bravery brotherhood brotherly-bonds brothers-in-arms brutality camaradarie camaraderie character-development character-driven combat combat-fiction coming-of-age comradeship conflict confrontation consequences courage courageous cultural-clash danger death draftees drama duty emotional endurance epic espionage exploitation fear fiction fictionalized-war friendship friendships gripping grit gritty guerrilla-warfare gunfights harrowing harsh-conditions harsh-realities helicopter helicopter-pilots helicopters hemingway heroic-journey heroism heroism. hierarchy historical historical-fiction honor human-spirit humanity ideology immersive infantry infantrymen injustice innocence insightful intense intense. intensity jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes leadership loneliness loss love loyalty manhood marine marine-corps marines matterhorn military military-fiction military-history military-operations military-strategy moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morale morality morality-in-war narrative necessity. novel patriotism personal-growth personal-narrative perspective platoon political politics power power-dynamics power-struggles psychological psychological-effects psychological-impact psychological-impact. psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd pulitzer-prize-finalist racial-tension racism realism realistic realistic-fiction realistic. redemption reflection resilience resistance sacrifice sacrifices sentimentality soldier soldiers soldiers-experience southeast-asia squad strategy struggle survival suspense suspenseful tension tragedy transformation trauma troops u.s.-marines unforgiving-terrain united-states-marines unity us-army us-marine-corps us-marines 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-strategy war-tactics war-thriller war-veterans war-zone warfare warriors