Plot: Hawkeye drafts his childhood imaginary friend, in order to obtain supplies and money for Sister Theresa's orphanage. "Captain Tuttle" takes on a life of his own.

The producers threw in one final joke during the closing credits. Look carefully, and you'll see they list "Captain Tuttle as himself."

I dunno why, but this is one of my favorite episodes. I love watching how real this non-existent Captain Tuttle becomes to everyone. I love the games Henry, Frank and Margaret play to make each other jealous because of their "relationship" to Johnny (as his friends call him ;-)).

And most of all, I love Hawkeye's eulogy of Tuttle. Later in the series Hawkeye would give the eulogy for a nurse the others barely. An interesting parallel.

At the end, Radar drinks from their bathtub gin, and seems quite used to it. IIRC, Radar is supposed to be not so good at holding his liquor.

Like a lot of things about Radar, they got a bit contradictory. At the end of "Private Charles Lamb", for one, it's quite obvious that Walter's a little on the tipsy side. In "Chief Surgeon Who?", he's shown sitting behind Henry's desk, a cigar and a glass of Scotch (I'm guessing) in his hands. It looks to me like it was a matter of what would be a good joke; Radar able to hold his liquor or not.

The one thing I always found interesting about this episode was that no one said to the General give our condolences to your niece. In one scene Hawkeye prentends to be the general and tells Burns and Hotlips that Tuttle is engaged to his niece. That would have made an interesting conversation.

Trekkers, take notice...this episode guest-stars James Sikking as the payroll officer; among many subsequent roles, (including the father on Doogie Howser M.D.) he's probably well-known to you as the preening Captain Stiles of the ill-fated USS Excelsior in STIII.

Helping Sister Theresa's orphanage? That seems a bit out of character for Hawkeye doesn't it? Sure he gave all that "back pay" to Father Mulcahy in "Pay Day". But that was to help Father Mulcahy out. It wasn't an intrinsic desire on Pierce's part to help the orphans. We never see Hawkeye display so much concern for the children. That trait was passed on to Father Mulcahy.

As much as I like this episode, I realize that it has a central flaw. It wouldn't take the Army too long to figure out that there never was a Captain Tuttle. Even if Hawkeye really could carry out the deception as far as he did, surely the Army Insurance people would discover the fraud. If not the Insurance people, then what about the officer who goes to inform Harry and Frieda Tuttle their son is dead? That officer will probably find out there is no Harry and Frieda Tuttle.

Radar says he had an imaginary friend, Shirley, when he was a little boy. He also said that Shirley looked like him, only with "tiny little breasts." I doubt she looked that much like Radar. Sounds like, at the least, she was older than him. And probably taller.

It looks to me that the Captains go from outright stealing the supplies for the Orphanage, to having Tuttle fill out requisition forms for those supplies. How did they cover up the theft?

From the way Henry and Frank talk, it sounds like there's a lot of surgeons at the 4077th. Neither officer can recall meeting Tuttle. They both ask "Which one is Tuttle?" If there are so many Captains/surgeons at the MASH unit, how come never see them? It's almost invariably the four doctors that we see. (I know. There was sometimes a fifth - Spearchucker, Spalding and Sam Pak.)

Either Radar is a slow reader, or very bored. That comic book he's reading is the same Captain Savage #10 he was reading in "Henry, Please Come Home".

While Tuttle's file is being created, Radar suggests making his hometown Tuttle's hometown. The name of Radar's hometown was not identified in this episode, however.

Did Hawkeye, Radar and Trapper really have enough time to create a file for Tuttle? Why is it being written in the Swamp for that matter? Radar's office might be a better place so they can quickly slip it into the cabinet.

While getting Captain Tuttle's file, Henry informs Majors Burns and Hoolihan that he "had breakfast with Tuttle yesterday morning." However, in trying to remember if he's already met Tuttle, Henry tells Radar he "didn't have breakfast yesterday morning."

This episode contains two firsts. It is the first time Radar uses a stethoscope to listen to what's going on the C.O. Office. And it is the first time Radar listens in to a phone conversation.

Oh. There is one more first in this ep. A first and only, really. It is the first and only time we see Sparky. And it is the only time he is refered to by a name other than Sparky - his real name. It's Sgt. Pryor. (We're never told his first name.)

From all indications, the comic book book Sparky reads is supposed to be a "Captain Marvel Annual". From what I can tell, it appears to be a war comic. Probably Captain Savage #10.

Okay one more first - this is the first episode where Hawkeye says M.D. stands for "Manic Depressive". The next time Pierce would says it, he's talking about Frank Burns.

In the X-ray lab, Frank, at first, mistakes Radar for Captain Tuttle. Uh, Tuttle was supposed to be 6'4". Radar is much shorter than that.

Hammond, Barker, Clayton - Is there a General Magaret hasn't slept with?

Where was Trapper when General Clayton came to issue the citation to Tuttle? It's not a big deal. I'm just curious.

Henry says that Hawkeye knew Tuttle best. How would he know? Henry never really spoke with Captain Pierce (or Trapper) about Tuttle. The only people with whom the Colonel had a conversation about Tuttle were Radar, Frank, Margaret and General Clayton. But not Hawkeye.