the film's a real study in military sociology. the tensions and politics of the Officer's Mess are (uncomfortably) authentic.

The reference to "the friendly regiment' is a particularly telling 'dig' ( as a Brigade Staff Officer I had to deal with a unit that liked to think of itself as hospitable and presented that facade to the world - whereas within the Sergeant's and Officer's Messes it was famous for (metaphorically) 'killing its wounded and eating its own dead'...

All the more reason to present the film's regiment as a fictional entity, so the viewers would concentrate on the film as 'Morality Tale' and not as an indictment of a real unit.