1940s action action-packed adrenaline adventure adversity american american-dream american-history american-literature american-soldiers american-war american-war-literature army army-life atmospheric authentic authentic-representation battalion battle battle-of-matterhorn battle-scenes battlefield battles belonging betrayal bloodshed bravery brotherhood brothers brothers-in-arms brutality bureaucracy camaraderie character-development character-driven classic combat coming-of-age conflict confrontation consequences corruption courage danger death dense-prose destiny discipline discrimination drama duty emotional emotions endurance epic espionage fate fear fiction fictional-war fictionalized fictionalized-war forbidden-love friendship friendships gripping grit gritty grueling guerrilla-warfare hardship harrowing hawaii hawaiian-islands helicopter helicopter-pilots helicopters heroes heroic-journey heroism hierarchy hill historical historical-fiction honolulu honor hope human-resilience humanity iconic immersive infantry infantrymen infidelity injustice insightful intense japanese-attack jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes leadership life loss love love-affairs loyalty manhood marine-corps marines matterhorn military military-fiction military-history military-life military-operations moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morale morality navy necessity. novel pacific-theater passion patriotism pearl-harbor perseverance personal-narrative platoon political politics power power-dynamics psychological psychological-impact psychological-impact. psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd pulitzer-prize racism realism realistic realistic-fiction redemption reflection relationships resilience resistance romance sacrifice sergeant soldier soldiers southeast-asia squad strategy struggle suffering survival suspense suspenseful tension tragedy transformation trauma united-states united-states-army united-states-marine-corps us-army us-marines us-military valor veterans vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war vietnam-war-fiction vietnam-war-literature violence war war-atrocities war-experience war-fiction war-literature war-narrative war-novel war-story war-strategies war-strategy war-tactics war-trauma war-veterans war-violence war-zone warfare world-war-ii