Re: So...
Certainly Spikes books don't go as far as pointing out the profits to be made from war, but they definitely don't portray his senior officers in a uniformly good light (cf everything he says about 'Jumbo' Jenkins).
I'm not sure where you get the idea that "Most of the officers are decent blokes who enjoy a joke and are good leaders."? He was clearly fond of some of the brass, but mostly despite their attempts to lead him, not because of.
Yes he was in a citizen army, but he was conscripted, and did his best to avoid the draft (ignoring the letters, trying to get a medical deferment). Whenever possible, he and his friends would try and shirk their duties and bunk off for a fag.
The biggest similarity though is Spike's mad sense of humour, which he deployed as the only way to stay sane in the midst of an insane war. Both books have the underlying message that war is a fucking stupid idea, usually thought up by people who will be nowhere near it, but fought by people who have no personal quarrel with their enemies.
(The other obvious similarity is that they're both set during the invasion of Italy, but that's less of a tonal similarity).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
