Plot: When a wounded colonel must turn in his fancy ivory-handled Colt to Radar, Frank admires it. The gun then disappears and Radar is blamed.

Frank seems to have forgotten that in the second season episode "The Sniper" he had his own fancy pearl- or ivory-handled Colt, one that Margaret drooled over.

Best line: "My bear went off!"

Radar does a marvelous drunk schtick.

Happened to notice tonight that Radar makes reference to a sister. He locked up his bike before leaving home because whenever his sister borrowed it, the chain flipped.

Elsewhere, Radar had spoken of several other uncles besides Ed. Why didn't any of them pitch in when Uncle Ed died?

I think margaret acts very strange in this ep. She knows that frank has the colt, she hears that its being missed because a search is done, yet she neither tells potter nor makes frank give it back. When she chews him out after he has given it back, she says him lying to her was worse than the theft itself. What about letting radar stew, and that an innocent person almost went to prison because frank didn't own up? the overall impression of margaret is that she tends to ride on the rules, but is a capable nurse and an integer character besides it - contrary to frank, who is a weasel and incompetent. But going along with frank and covering for him doesn't seem to fit her.

Also, when radar tells potter the gun is missing, all four of them look at frank. But neither before nor after the search does potter put pressure of rank or charges against frank. Hawk and BJ talk to frank only about poor radar going to prison innocently which of course doesn't bother frank at all. I'd have expected more pressure. After all, frank stole the weapon, yet everybody seems glad that he returned it because he got radar of the hook. Noone charged him before. I just don't get it - was there some dialogue to explain it?

The scene in the mess tent is funny: when radar says "15 years in prison - I'll be 30 when I come out, I'll be an old geezer/like dead" the expression on BJs face is wonderful. Hawk and Potter have no trouble with it, but BJ seems to be rattled.
Is radar bad at calculating or does he confuse the expression? 15 years in prison does only add up to age 30 if he is now 15 years old - but then he couldn't have been drafted. Did he mean "in my thirties"?

I think Radar said he'd be in his thirties when he gets out of prison, Constanze.

While in Margaret's tent, after accidentally shooting himself in the foot while trying to return the Colt, Frank claims to have a low threshold for pain. He says that a hernia could put him in a coma. No it won't. We've already seen Frank with a hernia in the episode, "As You Were". Margaret should have called him on that lie.

Just how and when did Potter and Radar switch their glasses? We do see Potter remove Walter's glasses after Radar has passed out. But the Colonel is still wearing his glasses. So when were the specs switched?

Potter informs Colonel Chaffey that among the items confiscated during the search for the missing gun, were 3 moonshine equipment. (I think it was three.) Does that include the one in the Swamp?

BTW, I love the scene where Radar is passed out and Potter tucks him and put Radar's teddy bear in the Corporal's arms. A very sweet scene.

Part of the scene is cut from the Officers' Club, where Radar and Klinger are discussing the situation. Radar goes on to say that, after he was made a corporal after basic training, he sent a picture of himself in his new stripes to all the students from Ottumwa High--some 300. He used one of those little photo booths. Took him 16 hours, but he got one for everyone. This finally explains a line to Col. Chaffey that I had long passed off as gibberish: "I'm Corporal Radar O'Reilly. I'm the one who had his picture taken for 16 hours for nothing on account of your gun!"

One thing I've never understood--why Frank would have been so helpful to Radar in the first place, taking a load of guns to the storage bin just because it happened to be on his way. When did Frank ever volunteer to help an enlisted man? I suppose that he got turned on holding a bunch of weapons, but it still seems funny.

During the O.R. scene, there an announcement concerning the "second post-op" shift. How many shifts are there at the 4077^th? Seeing that Pierce, Hunnicutt and the Colonel were in O.R., does this mean Frank was supposed to be in charge of the second post-op shift? Who was in charge of the first shift? As a matter of fact, I believe that whole O.R. scene has been cut for syndication.

I guess Hawkeye and B.J. weren't being too noisy in the Swamp. Frank was asleep in it, but as the opening clearly showed, Pierce and Hunnicutt were wide awake. With the lights on in their tent.

When Colonel Chaffey asks if Pierce was the doctor who operated on him, Hawkeye responds that he "merely held the ball", B.J. did "the punting". Actually, in the O.R. scene, Pierce was busy with his own patient.

In this ep, we see Margaret practicing yoga. It must have been a fad with her as we never see her engaged in that activity again.

I can't make out the year, but the Stars and Stripes Colonel Potter is reading in the Mess Tent is the June 25^th edition. That most likely places this ep in the summer of '53, near the end of the War. Except, where's Charles? Why are Frank and Radar still in the unit? (References to President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon would confirm this ep takes place in 1953.)

Did he mean "in my thirties"? - constanze

He didn't just mean "in my thirties", in the English version, he says, "in my thirties". Radar, IIRC, was supposed to be 18 years old. That means, that if he went to jail, he'd be 33 years old when he got out.

Radar goes on to say that, after he was made a corporal after basic training, he sent a picture of himself in his new stripes to all the students from Ottumwa High--some 300. - D.K. Henderson

The actual number was 400. Incidentally, the booth he took the photos in was a four-for-a-quarter booth. It cost Radar $25 to get those pictures.

The floor to Radar's office appears to be concrete. If the office's floor is concrete, why isn't the O.R.'s floor? ("Cementing Relationships")

You gotta wonder why Frank didn't suspect a set up when he took the keys to the gun bin again. The first time he took them, if what Radar said was true, Frank had to have taken them off the Corporal's person. Yet, when Frank goes to return the Colt .45, the keys are on a nail by Radar's bed.

Having stolen the gun once, you'd think Frank might have a better idea of which key unlocked the gun bin. He's used it once already. Bad memory?

Once again, the camp compound, which in many other episodes is dirt, has been paved in this ep.

I've gotta know, just where the flamin' did Frank hide that gun? Potter said they gave the camp a thorough search. If so, Frank found an incredibly good hiding place for the Colt.

I think margaret acts very strange in this ep. She knows that frank has the colt, she hears that its being missed because a search is done, yet she neither tells potter nor makes frank give it back. - constanze

Actually, I'm under the impression that Margaret somehow didn't know that the Colt was stolen until Potter announced it over the P.A. The trouble with that, is how did the Colonel explain searching Margaret's tent? Or was her tent somehow exempt from the search? If so, that's probably where Frank hid the gun. But then, how could he have gotten the gun out of her tent to put back into the bin?

Horse hockey!

It's more than likely that Frank may have let Hot Lips borrow the gun when they were searching the
Swamp.Since she showed an interest in it it would have given him an excuse to get rid of it for the time being.
Also if it were found in her tent there would have been less suspicion that she stole it,since she could have claimed it as a family heirloom if asked.
Considering her father was also an Army officer that alibi would be believable,at least more believable than Frank's.
What is puzzling though is why it took them so long to figure out it was Frank that stole it since he was the only one besides Radar who was at the gun bin when Radar opened it the first time.
Since everyone KNEW Radar was completely inable of doing such a thing they should of ASKED him right off who else was with him.
Frank being the Weasel he was of course let Radar
hang in the air.

Also if it were found in her tent there would have been less suspicion that she stole it,since she could have claimed it as a family heirloom if asked. - Scott McClenny

I doubt that Margaret would have escaped suspicion. I mean, how likely would anyone think it is that Hot Lips just happens to have a gun matching the one stolen from Colonel Chaffey? I was somewhat under the impression the gun was one of a kind. Besides, even if the camp believed Major Houlihan's alibi, I doubt Chaffey would.

"Horse hockey!"