Plot: Trapper has an ulcer, but new Army regulations spoil his going-home party.

Everyone is getting a check-up in this episode, which is how Trapper's ulcer comes to light. Only the officers rate private check-ups; the noncoms are done on an assembly line. Trapper and Hawkeye comment that Goldberg has a thing wrong with his spine, something that he was born with. Klinger, who's behind Goldberg in the line, afterwards touches up a spinal X-ray to indicate that he has the same problem. Why did he bother? The problem would have shown up at Goldberg's draft physical, and they obviously didn't think it bad enough to class him as 4-F. Goldberg was not sent home after this episode, either. So what was the point of Klinger's faking the problem when it wouldn't get him anywhere?

Hawkeye was assigned to give Margaret her physical, which he performs with great pleasure in her tent--alone. Excuse me? In a later episode, Hawkeye will require a chaperon when he is merely examining Margaret's FEET. Surely regulations regarding female exams by a male docter were in place long before the Korean War. Also, in the episode "Hepatitis", Hawkeye was to probe her liver, look in her eyes and under her tongue (Margaret refused the tongue check) and give her a shot in the rump--all unsupervised.

By the way, who examined all the other nurses? And how?

Why would Henry allow an eighteen year old clerk to conduct his exam, instead of a qualified doctor? This was not the only time Radar examinined him, either. He would freak Henry out with his comments on Henry's ear--"It's like a tiny Nativity scene!"

Why would Henry allow an eighteen year old clerk to conduct his exam, instead of a qualified doctor?
besides the comic effect, you mean? Doctors are often the worst patients, and maybe henry didn't want the examiner to find anything, so he used radar, who doesn't know anything about medicine and won't find any serious problems, which hawk or trapp might notice.

I mean, the other doctors aren't keen on being checked, either. Remember the later ep. with potter: when word about his high blood pressure gets around, everybody treats him special, so they won't loose him, which drives potter almost mad. So maybe henry didn't want sth. similar taking place.

Here’s the thing, why was Radar giving Henry an physical? Was it just Henry having it done out of curiosity, to see how he’s doing? That wouldn’t be a good idea. Radar, not being a physician, may overlook something, or fail to describe something properly to the Colonel.

On the other hand, if this is an official check up, there’s a problem. (Beyond the fact that it doesn’t look like it’s an official regularly scheduled examination. No one else in camp seems to be getting a physical. Just Henry.) There’s no way it could happen. If Radar performs the official physical, is a “Dr. O’Reilly” listed as the medic conducting the exam? I-Corp might wonder why they haven’t heard of a “Dr. O’Reilly” before. Why he isn’t listed as a surgeon assigned to the 4077th. If it goes that far. It won’t.

The 4077th is a small camp. It has a small pool of surgeons. Generally four doctors are assigned to the unit. If there is an official medical examination being given to the camp personnel, one of those four surgeons will conduct it. (That surgeon will in turn be examined by one of the other three.) That is, I’m sure, Army regulations. If Henry lets his physical be conducted by Radar, he’s violating regulations, and will be ratted out by the camp’s resident tattle tales – Majors Burns and Houlihan. Again, if it goes that far.

For Radar to give Henry an official physical, the Colonel will first have to get past Hawkeye and Trapper. Neither of who would allow it. (Remember, Trap once dismissed Radar’s intelligence by saying, “Radar? He has the IQ of a houseplant.”) Pierce and McIntyre would insist that Henry allow one of them to conduct the physical. (And Henry, being generally spineless, would cave in. It doesn’t matter how adverse to the idea he might be.)

Keep in mind, that while Potter might not have liked how he was being treated in regards to his high blood pressure, it was Hawkeye, with the Colonel’s consent, who diagnosed the problem while conducting the physical.

Duh! This is what I get for posting while still half asleep. It was an official medical check up. Duh! Still for the reasons stated above, Henry couldn't have gotten by with Radar examining him.

I just got the third season DVD set today (4th in July) and watched the first disc.

The nurses were all given a preliminary exam by Margaret, with the doctors conducting the rest (not seen). Margaret addresses the nurses, all standing bare from the shoulders up. She talks about how the doctors are not permitted to say or do anything sexual during the exams, that it must be strictly professional. And then she says something incredibly vicious. "You ARE women...beautiful, desirable women...most of you."
My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe that she had said something so nasty, even in an early-Margaret episode.

When examing Radar, Henry instructs him to strip to the waist. Radar removes his outer shirt, revealing another long-sleeved shirt beneath. Removing this, he's down to the standard olive T-shirt. Removing THIS, he has still another shirt (tank top) beneath. He explains to an exasperated Henry that his family never took their clothes off, considering skin to be "the Devil's slipcover." Turning a little, Henry and the audience see something that makes a long-future episode utterly ridiculous: Radar has A TATTOO! A Navy anchor on his right bicep. No mention whatsoever of its being drawn with ink. When Henry mentions his concern for hygiene, Radar replies that he washed his hands before getting it.

During a scene in Henry's office, after examining the X-ray that shows Trapper's ulcer, Henry asks Radar to bring in some milk so that Trapper can join in their toast to his homecoming. A startled Radar brings in a pitcher, and is invited to join in. I expected him to take a glass of milk, but in fact, he poured himself a drink out of one of Henry's bottles. Yet another indication that he was a drinker.

In point of fact, I did not see Radar exam Henry. I think that I remembered that from a different episode, the one where he sees a Nativity scene in Henry's ear.

Klinger also tries the dodge of having a grossly inflated blood pressure. Hawkeye's comment: "Been sticking cigars up your armpit again?"

This episode contains yet another Godzilla movie sequel reference. Seeing as they original has not yet been made, it is impossible for any sequels to exist.

These days I work as a CNA (Certified Nurses Aid) at a Nursing Home. Part of my job is get the vital signs of the residents. This, of course, includes getting the blood pressure. When Hawkeye gets Margaret's blood pressure, she rolls up her sleeve. Pierce then places the cuff of the sphygmomanometer on Hot Lips' forearm. I was taught to put the cuff on the bicep. Also, you have to place the bell of the stethoscope on the crotch of a person's arm to listen for the sound of the blood pressure. Hawkeye doesn't do that either.

Wonder why Radar has so many layers of clothing on in this ep? He didn't have that many in the episode "Officer of the Day".

Hm. When Klinger comes into the Swamp claiming his blood pressure is 200 over 310, he has the sphygmomanometer on correctly. Of course, the reading Klinger cites - 200 over 310 - is pretty much an impossibility, I believe. The first number represents the heart at work, the second, the heart at rest. The second/bottom number is always lower than the first/top number. And just having the sphygmomanometer on wouldn't show anything. You have to listen for the pressure through the stethoscope. (Although, admittedly, there are devices [monitors] that do it electronically these days.)

There's a scene where a drunken Henry is wondering where Radar is. Margaret asks if the Colonel's afraid someone will step on Radar. This scene takes place between the one where Radar gets the call about HQ's decision on Trapper's ulcer and the one where Trapper is told about that decision. It's been cut for syndication.

This episode marks the second time Margaret confesses to being attracted to Trapper. The first time was in "Hot Lips and Empty Arms". On both occasions, the Major was "snoggered".

Abyssinia!

This would've been a good episode to have when Trapper actually left.