As ex-military, Air Force, we sent our officers to die...
We made grim jokes, I'll try and find a few out sometime. One oldie was from the Falklands conflict, a guy from one of the para regiments stood on a landmine. His mate shouted "are you OK ?" - "No", screamed the para, "I've lost both my legs".
"No you haven't" his mate replied, "they're over here".
He sounds a very funny man indeed, he seems to 'get' military humour where many civvies never would. And there's a balance in there somewhere - he's just fine.