At one time during the novel, the army actually provides prostitutes for the soldiers, this shows the corruption of what is "good and just-, like what they are supposed to be fighting for. Heller satirizes the other novels, by not even allowing patriotism to prevail in the slightest. The soldiers in the novel don't have a conscious idea what "their country- is, and just do what they are told. This again goes back to the idea of losing individuality. A prevailing idea in the book, is that of the corruption of the higher officers. They all used the men to make themselves look better. The officers in the book are constantly on "power trips- and at one point, they yell at Yossarian and tell them that he is "their- country. .
The novel has a constant theme of "catches- that are constantly and consistently defeating them. Heller actually makes the reader feel sympathetic towards the men. Anytime they think they are about to win, or do something right, there is a "catch-. This is consistent with the ideas of insanity throughout the novel. The officers say if they go crazy, they can't fly. This is ironic, because all of the characters, in there own form are infact insane. They do not succumb to this, however, because they need the soldiers to fly. Each soldier is unique. Havermeyer likes war a little too much, and just goes crazy with gunfire. Halfoat is constantly threatening his roommate and says he's going to slit his throat. "Hungry Joe- screams in his sleep because of his horrible nightmares. Snark puts soap in the dinner. Yossarian himself is probably the strangest though. He breaks out in song. He also decides that being a nudist is a great idea. Heller is commenting that the stress and chaos drives each soldier to his own distraction. He is saying the only way to deal with the craziness is to be crazy yourself. .
Heller is constanly commenting on the controlling attitudes of superior officers in the war.