I’m not going to go line by line for you. But the basic idea is that war is not to be praised. Only the people outside of the actual action use words like that, trying to make it seem romantic, or better than it is. That you go to war and die a hero. But the author says (truthfully) that War is an ugly thing. It is hell. Sacrifices are human slaughter, bloody and gory. It isn’t courage or heroic or glorious. It’s death. There is nothing to be lauded by it. The words used by the people promoting the war as romantic don’t understand and the words don’t mean anything. They are not solid, concrete things but fleeting ideas that are meaningless. The only thing that will remain after the courage and glory fade away are the facts – names and dates.

Or so I read it.

To sum up, “War is just a slaughter house where the cows are expected to bury each other.” ~ me