Catch-22 Chapter 19: Colonel Cathcart

Colonel Cathcart is eager to win the attention and admiration of his superiors and desperate to become a general. Seeing an article in The Saturday Evening Post about an American bomber group that holds prayers before missions, Colonel Cathcart summons the chaplain to discuss blessings before combat. Rather than depressing religious prayers, Cathcart wants to pray for a tighter bombing pattern. The chaplain intends to speak to Colonel Cathcart on behalf of Yossarian regarding the unfair new requirement of sixty missions. Cathcart gives the chaplain a plum tomato and carelessly advises the chaplain to tell the dissatisfied men to simply trust in God.