The Catch...22

The literature-lover in me is itching to get into Catch-22, arguably one of the best war novels of the twentieth century. I read the introduction to the novel yesterday, and I was struck by the absurdity of the logic of the Catch-22 itself. A Catch-22 is a situation in which a man is considered insane if he willingly puts himself in danger, but is considered sane if he takes himself out of danger. The catch is that if he is considered sane, he is ineligible to be relieved from service. I've always loved paradoxes, and I'm sure that I'll love this one as well. Scanning the first few pages of the war novel, I was intrigued when Yossarian says that he fell in love with the chaplain. A chaplain is defined as a member of the clergy attached to a private chapel, institution, ship, or a branch of the armed forces. The chaplain seems to be a male figure...what exactly is going on?
I already love the style of the novel. Heller writes in a style that is very active and sarcastic, and I imagine his character Yossarian, who is narrating the novel, to be the same way. I can understand why Yossarian would be slightly crabby and sarcastic, as he is fighting a war he doesn't want to fight, and in order to avoid his predestined fate, must remain cramped up in a hospital room feigning sick.
I found it interesting that Yossarian had to pretend to be sick in order to evade the war. Though I understand that the premise of the Catch-22 is that Yossarian has no choice but to remain in the hospital, I feel like the theme of seems vs. is will be prevalent throughout the novel. Yossarian obviously has a fun-loving and interesting personality, and I am excited to see how he handles the monotony of the hospital and faking his illness and whether he will even be able to stay in the hospital for the duration of the war.
One major idea that I came across even in reading the first few pages was whether or not Yossarian is a coward. At this point in the novel, I feel like he is a bit of a coward. True, I don't know his entire story, of why he even needs to get away from the war in the first place. But I believe, as a man, he should live up to his own masculinity and stop the Catch-22 madness. I mean, isn't that what all male heroes do in war novels? Fight to the death against the enemy, win, and go back home to his true love? Yet, I'm getting a good feeling about the anti-fairy tale this novel has taken on.