Colonel Cathcart and General Dreedle

Colonel Cathcart and General Dreedle are locked in a relationship of mutual contempt and strategic dependence, a central axis of the novel's satire on military ambition and the absurdities of command. Cathcart, the slick, insecure group commander desperate for promotion to general, lives in terror of Dreedle's unpredictable wrath, while Dreedle, the blunt, barrel-chested wing commander, regards Cathcart as a sycophantic fool. Their interactions are a masterclass in the petty tyrannies and performative loyalties that define the upper echelons of the wartime bureaucracy, where a black eye from a superior can undo a feather in one's cap, and where the real war is fought not against the enemy but for personal advancement.

A Hierarchy of Contempt and Fear

General Dreedle, a chunky, red-faced professional soldier who believes the young men under his command should be willing to die for the old men he takes orders from, has no patience for Cathcart's posturing. He runs a "fighting outfit" and is openly contemptuous of Cathcart's schemes, which he sees as crap. Cathcart, for his part, is a slick, successful, slipshod, unhappy man who wants to be a general and measures his own progress only in relationship to others. He is impervious to absolutes and lives in a state of oscillating anguish and exhilaration, terrified that Dreedle might be displeased with him. This fear is well-founded: Dreedle frequently humiliates Cathcart in public, as when he tongue-lashed him ruthlessly in front of Colonel Korn and Major Danby, ordering him to throw open his private skeet-shooting range to all enlisted men and officers on combat duty. Cathcart, who had built the range as a feather in his cap, was forced to see it become a black eye, and he obsesses over whether Dreedle has forgotten or remembered the incident, unable to assess how much ground he has gained or lost.

The Battle of Wills and the Naked Man

The relationship is defined by a series of public confrontations that expose Cathcart's weakness. The most iconic occurs when Yossarian, after the Avignon mission, stands naked in formation to receive a Distinguished Flying Cross from General Dreedle. Dreedle, initially speechless, is amused by the spectacle and asks Yossarian why he isn't wearing clothes. When Cathcart, prompted by Colonel Korn, tries to use the incident to ingratiate himself by invoking General Peckem's memorandum on appropriate military attire, Dreedle's face clouds with confusion and anger. "Peckem?" he repeats, squinting. "Just what the hell does Peckem have to do with it?" Cathcart, after being jabbed in the back by Korn, backtracks frantically, declaring that he decided to take no action until he could discuss it with Dreedle. Dreedle ignores him completely, turning away in baleful scorn to hand Yossarian his medal. This scene perfectly encapsulates the power dynamic: Dreedle's authority is absolute and personal, while Cathcart's is a fragile construct of bureaucratic maneuvering that crumbles at the first sign of genuine confrontation.

The Chaplain as a Pawn in Their Game

The chaplain becomes an unwitting pawn in the struggle between Cathcart and Dreedle. Dreedle, in a moment of drunken approval, declares that the officers' club is the perfect place for a chaplain to mingle with the men. Cathcart, eager to please, immediately orders the chaplain to report there every night. Later, when Dreedle sees the chaplain at the club during a fistfight, he growls that it's a fine thing when a man of God hangs around with dirty drunks. Cathcart, again eager to please, kicks the chaplain out. The chaplain's status oscillates wildly based on Dreedle's whims, and Cathcart's frantic attempts to align himself with each new directive reveal his complete lack of principle. Dreedle's power is such that he can order Cathcart to do something and then, moments later, order him to do the opposite, and Cathcart will obey both commands with equal servility.

The Underlying Conflict and Its Resolution

The tension between Cathcart and Dreedle is not merely personal but structural. Cathcart's ambition to become a general is the engine of his cruelty, driving him to raise the number of combat missions and volunteer his men for dangerous targets. Dreedle, while no less a product of the system, represents a more traditional, less calculating form of military authority. He is a blunt instrument, while Cathcart is a sharp, self-serving one. The relationship is ultimately resolved not by Cathcart's merit but by the machinations of General Peckem and ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen. Dreedle is replaced by Peckem, and Cathcart, who had been currying favor with both, is left to navigate a new, even more absurd hierarchy under General Scheisskopf. The end of the Dreedle-Cathcart relationship is a testament to the novel's central theme: in a world governed by Catch-22, the only thing that matters is not competence or courage, but the ability to manipulate the system, a skill at which Cathcart, for all his anxiety, is ultimately a failure.