This requires either a lot of research or a lot of firsthand knowledge. Another plot, told in flashbacks, concerns Jesse's horrific experiences in the war in Vietnam, at Da Nang. Because ambition is cheap.
Real achievement is hard.
If the author hasn't the skills to meet the task, then the novel winds up an ambitious failure. In trying to attain diversity, the author has lost any sense of unity in the novel. We assume that it's Jesse's story, but the novel's point of view switches regularly into the minds of any and every character that steps on stage. Some of these characters are only incidental to the story, but they, too, must express their philosophical two cents' worth. They must think something, observe something, comment on something, before they suddenly exit the story for good, leaving the reader mystified about whose story this is.