Corrected entry: When Frank learns he is to take command of the MASH, he says "I just wish I'd taken ROTC in school" However, in Season 2 Episode 2 "Five O-Clock Charlie" he says that he learned gunnery in the ROTC. (00:05:10)
M*A*S*H (1972)
1 corrected entry in season 2
Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen - S11-E16
Other mistake: How did Hawkeye Pierce, a surgeon, know how to drive a tank? It is nothing like driving a car and takes skills, training and experience that a surgeon simply would not have. He wouldn't even be able to start the engine.
Frank Burns: You disgust me!
Hawkeye: You're right, Frank... I discussed you with everyone I know and we all find you disgusting.
Trivia: Season 4. Episode 1 "Welcome to Korea". At the end of the episode the new commanding officer, Colonel Sherman Potter, played by Harry Morgan is introduced. In Season 3 Episode 1 "The General Flipped at Dawn", Harry Morgan played Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele.
Question: A number of times it is mentioned that the outfit is unarmed, yet several times, Frank has a rifle, or a pistol, and once Klinger had a grenade, and the guards and Klinger, while on sentry duty, has a rifle. Was this standard, or is this a mistake?
Answer: Even an Army field hospital would have SOME weapons for self-defense if the enemy attacked. What's meant is that it's not a combat outfit, and therefore wouldn't have enough weapons to actually attack anyone. (It's also mentioned a few times that the Officer of the Watch is supposed to carry a pistol at all times, but Hawkeye refuses to do it when he's in charge and Colonels Blake and Potter don't enforce the rule).
Answer: The Geneva Convention allows even doctors to carry a sidearm to be used in their self defense or the defense of their patients, however it is rare to do so.
Answer: As an old medical unit staffer, my experience is that med units have combat units assigned to defend them. Usually it was marines.
Answer: My old doctor (now deceased) served in Korea during the War. He was required to carry a sidearm anytime he was not in the hospital.
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Correction: As demonstrated throughout the series, Frank is the type of person who will exaggerate or outright lie about himself to impress others. When put in a situation where he must actually perform, he usually fails spectacularly. Pumping up his ROTC credentials is just one example.