This is a Ironic reference to the not-so-glorious “path” (political not on the battlefield) taken by some officers for the fulfillment of their careers and ambitions, which results in enlisted men going to their graves. Quoted from Thomas Gray’s (1716-1771) Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow’r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave Awaits alike the inevitable hours:
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
