Chapter 8
Chapter 8 – Lieutenant Scheisskopf
Chapter 8 takes place entirely in the past, during the period of time in which Yossarian was a cadet in flight school.
Lieutenant Scheisskopf (German for “shithead”) is the drill instructor for the squadron of cadets to which both Yossarian and Clevinger belong. Clevinger is described as extremely intelligent, but also a “dope” in terms of being able to apply his great intelligence in the real world. Clevinger continually gets into trouble because of his intelligence, while Yossarian knows enough to keep quiet.
Throughout their time at flight school, Yossarian often sleeps with Lieutenant Scheisskopf’s wife. Scheisskopf’s wife is well known around the base for being promiscuous, mostly because her husband refuses to pay any attention to her. Instead, he concentrates on helping his squadron win the red pennant for best parade marching of the week.
Scheisskopf is fixated with winning the pennant, and spends every waking hour planning and drilling the march for that Sunday. His group always finishes last until he heeds the advice of Clevinger, and allows the men to elect their own cadet officers. From that point on, the men finish first every week.
After some time, Clevinger’s intelligence attracts too much attention, and he is brought up on charges before a three-judge panel, which includes Scheisskopf and two other high-ranking officers. After several pages of circular dialogue filled with double negatives, misunderstandings, and comedic confusion, Clevinger is found guilty. The only thing Clevinger knows for sure at the end of proceedings is that those three officers hate him more than any enemies he might encounter in the war; and he is baffled and confused by this hatred.
