The Enlgish Patient by Michael Ondaatje

I've seen the movie, now I've read the book, and I am no more wiser than I was. To start with, it makes no sense to me that I seriously wounded person, presumably civilian, would be brough from the Desert war to Italy to be cared for in a military hospital.

It may be pretty, but it's mostly weird to me. Maybe I'm just too stupid to understand.