1960s 1969 1970s action action-packed adrenaline adventure adversity american american-dream american-history american-literature american-soldiers american-war american-war-literature american-war. anti-war army asian-american authentic battalion battle battle-of-matterhorn battlefield battlefields battles black-humor bloodshed bravery brotherhood brotherly-bonds brothers-in-arms brutality bureaucracy camaradarie camaraderie character-development character-driven combat combat-fiction coming-of-age conflict confrontation consequences consequences-of-war courage courageous cultural-clash danger death drama duty emotional emotions endurance epic espionage exploitation fear fiction fictionalized-war first-person-perspective friendship friendships gripping grit gritty guerrilla-warfare gunfights harrowing harsh-conditions helicopter helicopter-pilots helicopters hemingway heroes heroic-journey heroism heroism. hierarchy historical historical-fiction honor humanity ideology immersive impersonal-bureaucracy infantry infantrymen innocence insightful intense intensity jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes leadership loneliness loss love loyalty manhood marine-corps marines matterhorn military military-fiction military-history military-operations military-strategy moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morale morality narrative necessity. novel patriotism perseverance personal-growth personal-narrative personal-struggle platoon political politics power power-dynamics power-struggles psychological psychological-effects psychological-impact psychological-impact. psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd racial-tension racism realism realistic realistic-fiction redemption reflection resilience resistance sacrifice sacrifices sergeant soldier soldiers soldiers-experience southeast-asia squad strategy struggle survival suspense suspenseful tension tragedy transformation trauma trenches troops u.s.-marines unforgiving-terrain united-states united-states-marine-corps us-army us-marine-corps us-marines us-military valor veterans vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war vietnam-war-fiction vietnam-war-literature vietnamese violence war war-atrocities war-drama war-epic war-experience war-fiction war-literature war-narrative war-novel war-novels war-stories war-story war-strategies war-strategy war-tactics war-veterans war-zone warfare warriors