How does Nelson DeMille use imagery in Word of Honor?

Imagery:

"What they wanted was a final offering to Mars, a last scrap of flesh, because 57,939 sacrifices weren't enough, and the soothsayers had somehow divined that 57,940 was what was required to put the war to rest for all time. But, Tyson thought, since he didn't recall having started the war, he saw no good reason for sacrificing himself to end it."

"Me, I am like a little cork bobbing on a raging yellow sea. You and your Army are ... well, like the Titanic."