Good TV is subtle. Or like the soldiers, who only wish to go home. People like nog get their legs blown off in war, and then blame themselves because they lived. People collect trophies of their comrades, like Vargas did with the bandage, or of their enemies, as Reese did with the Ketracel White tubes. Communication breaks down, people doubt their abilities.
Death comes randomly, taking people without reason or justification.
That's the problem with war - its greatest crime is its inefficiency. Killing someone can be justified or wrong, in the mean time a lot of people who didn't need to die. And all to defend a communication relay. The story was simple, but simple enough to be effective. They needed to defend the post, but time was running out and manpower was short.