I have been in the Army for little while now. Just like kslimlb3 said, there is no way to compare the two situations. As for what I do in the Army, if you quit, you die. When you get into a firefight and just decide, "man I'm sad, I think I'll try something else."; you get shot in the face. For Wally's situation it's much easier, move on or pull yourself by the rough ridin' bootstraps and quit feeling sorry for yourself.
Tanks, Hell on Wheels.