The most important difference between the major and the other
wounded men is that the major is older than the other men. This is true both chronologically (we
assume) and mentally or emotionally.
We can know that the major is
older partly because he is a major -- a rather higher rank than the others have and therefore
probably older. We can also see it from the fact that the narrator refers to the others as
"boys" who are the same age as he is. He does not refer to the major in that
way.
The major is also at a different level than the boys in terms
of his mental state. He is much more serious and mature than they are. He has been a champion
fencer. He is married. He does not go hang out with the younger men after they have worked on
the machines.
The major is on a different plane than the others in
terms of his physical age and his mental/emotional seriousness and maturity. This is one reason
why he is the one whose circumstances end up being the most tragic -- he is the one who would
feel things most profoundly because of his mental and physical age.
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