Mort Walker on who the Beetle Bailey characters really are

But Beetle Bailey is not really a strip about Army life. As Walker says, "The truth is, it isn't military strip. It's a strip about a bunch of funny guys. They could be policemen, factory workers, college students, whatever. The Army is just a convenient setting that everyone understands. The pecking order doesn't have to be explained, and the role of the poor guy at the bottom of the ladder is classic in literature."