For most of the novel, Waddy is seen as a sniveling coward, first as a combat officer in World War II and then as a life-long communist who fears being outed by the McCarthy committee. A Yale University graduate, Waddy is a captain in the U.S. Army in 1943, aided by WOJC Barnabas "Barney" Wolkowicz. "Force Jessup" is a crack team of killers and linguists, who use stealth and cunning behind Japanese lines, rather than throwing themselves suicidally onto the beaches.