In "Base Details," Sassoon satirizes military officers by portraying them in an unflattering light. The speaker imagines wearing the scarlet uniforms used by majors, who remain safely at the military base while they give the orders that send young soldiers off to their deaths. The majors consume excessive amounts of food and drink, and their puffy appearances reflect their gluttonous behavior.
Unaffected by the violence and trauma of actual combat, the major in the poem reads a memorial list of names of soldiers who died in battle. The major then makes a passing comment about the sheer number of soldiers who died in the last battle, referring to this battle as a "scrap." In the poem's final twist, the major safely returns home after the war only to die in bed.
