1950s 1960s action action-packed adrenaline adrenaline-fueled adrenaline-rush adventure adversity aerial aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-warfare air-combat air-force aircraft airplanes ambition american american-dream american-history american-literature american-soldiers american-war army atmospheric authentic aviation aviators battle battles beautiful-prose betrayal bloodshed bravery brotherhood brutality camaraderie character-development character-driven character-study combat coming-of-age competition comradeship conflict courage danger dangerous-missions death desire destiny determination drama duty elite emotional emotions endurance epic espionage evocative excitement exhilarating exhilaration existential existentialism fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots fighter-planes flying friendship friendships grief gripping grit gritty guerrilla-warfare harrowing helicopter helicopters heroes heroism hierarchy historical historical-fiction honor humanity hunters hunting infantry intense intensity introspection introspective james james-salter jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes korean-war leadership literary literary-fiction literature loss love love-affairs love-story love-triangle loyalty machismo marine-corps marines masculinity military military-fiction military-history moral-dilemmas morality mortality narrative novel obsession passion perseverance pilot pilots platoon poetic politics post-war power power-dynamics psychological psychological-impact psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd pursuit realism realistic redemption relationships resilience risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry romance sacrifice salter self-discovery skill soldier soldiers southeast-asia squadron strategy struggle success survival suspense suspenseful teamwork tension testosterone the-hunters thrill thrill-seeking thriller thrilling tragedy trauma triumph us-marines veterans victory vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war violence visceral vivid-imagery war war-atrocities war-fiction war-literature war-novel war-novels war-story war-strategy war-veterans war-zone warfare world-war-ii