I thought he was idealising them just a little bit. There are good men there, bad men and probably the majority are somewhere in between. Like most people, probably.
"Chicken soup - with a beep straw."

Maybe it goes to the point that nobody gives a beep about patriotism or love of country when the bullets are flying in some God forsaken place on the other side of the world. Taylor knew they were not rich kids humping the boonies but learned to respect them because of their backgrounds not as educated, broken homes etc. They never quit in what they were doing or quit on each other, Barnes finally went dinkie dau when Sal and Sandy were killed. Taylor got an education from his fellow grunts in how to stay alive as long as you can, you cant get that in a classroom.

chris

very good and insightful point.
Shall we play a game?

Well of course he had no practical reference with which make such a definitive observation but I think he said it as a sort of rich guilt thing.
I've had a lot of sobering thoughts in my time Del Boy, it's them that started me drinking!

I'm sure a just turned 19 year old Taylor had already seen so many great warriors in battle before he volunteered to go to the Nam.
Shall we play a game?