1960s 1970s 20thcentury action action-packed adrenaline adventure adversity american american-dream american-history american-literature american-soldiers american-war american-war-literature army asia asian-american asianstudies atmospheric authentic authenticity author:-karl-marlantes authors battalion battle battle-of-matterhorn battle-scenes battlefields battles black-humor bloodshed bravery brotherhood brothers-in-arms brutality camaraderie canada character-development character-driven colonies combat coming-of-age comradeship conflict confrontation consequences consequences-of-war courage danger death drama duty emigrationandimmigration emotional emotions endurance epic espionage exploitation fear fiction fictionalized fictionalized-war frenchcolonies friendship friendships governmentpolicy gripping grit gritty guerrilla-warfare hardship harrowing harsh-conditions helicopter helicopter-pilots helicopters heroes heroic-journey heroism hierarchy historical historical-fiction history honor humanity ideology impersonal-bureaucracy indochinese indochinesewar infantry infantrymen injustice intense intense. intensity jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes leadership loss love loyalty manhood marine-corps marines matterhorn military military-fiction military-history military-operations military-strategy moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morality morality-in-war necessity. novel patriotism personal-growth personal-narrative platoon political politics politicsandgovernment power power-dynamics psychological psychological-effects psychological-impact psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd pulitzer-prize-finalist racism realism realistic realistic-fiction realistic. redemption reflection refugees relocation resilience resistance sacrifice sacrifices saigon servicesfor soldier soldiers soldiers-experience southeast-asia southeastasia squad strategy struggle survival suspense suspenseful tension thailand tragedy trauma u.s.-marines united-states united-states-marine-corps unitedstates unity us-army us-marine-corps us-marines veterans vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war vietnam-war-fiction vietnamese violence war war-atrocities war-epic war-experience war-fiction war-literature war-novel war-novels war-story war-strategies war-strategy war-tactics war-trauma war-veterans war-violence war-zone warfare warriors women