1950s 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 army army-life atmospheric authentic aviation aviators battle battles beautiful-prose betrayal bloodshed bravery brotherhood brothers-in-arms brutality camaraderie character-development character-driven character-study classic combat coming-of-age competition comradeship conflict courage danger dangerous-missions death desire destiny determination drama duty emotional emotions endurance epic espionage excitement exhilarating exhilaration existential existentialism fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots fighter-planes flying forbidden-love friendship friendships grief gripping grit gritty guerrilla-warfare harrowing hawaii helicopter helicopters heroes heroism hierarchy historical historical-fiction honor humanity hunters infantry infidelity intense intensity introspection introspective james james-salter jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes korean-war leadership life literary literary-fiction literature loss love love-affairs love-triangle loyalty manhood marine-corps marines masculinity matterhorn military military-fiction military-history military-life moral-dilemmas morality mortality novel obsession pacific-theater passion patriotism pearl-harbor perseverance pilot pilots platoon poetic politics post-war power power-dynamics psychological psychological-impact psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd pursuit racism realism realistic redemption relationships resilience risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry romance sacrifice salter self-discovery soldier soldiers southeast-asia squadron strategy struggle survival suspense suspenseful teamwork tension the-hunters thrill thrill-seeking thriller thrilling tragedy trauma triumph us-marines veterans victory vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war violence vivid-imagery war war-fiction war-literature war-novels war-story war-strategy war-zone warfare world-war-ii wwii