Captain John Watson, RAMC, wondered just what this temporary assignment had gotten him into when he noticed a very male soldier wearing a blue muumuu walking out of the operations hut of the 4077 MASH.
"Stand easy, son," Colonel Potter, his new CO, advised when Watson reported for duty. "You've already met Corporal Klinger, so it should be obvious that this is no spit-and-polish unit."
"Radar, take Dr. Watson's kit over to the Swamp and then introduce him around."
Captain "Hawkeye" Pierce seemed a cynical man who took perverse joy in teasing Watson about his accent, his very English turn of phrase and the way he spelled certain words in the chart notes, but when the chopper brought in a sergeant with a blown aorta, Pierce was suddenly all business.
Watson told him, "I learned a new technique at St. Bart's on my last leave. If you'll assist, we can save this man."
To Watson's surprise Pierce simply nodded. "Tell me about it while we scrub."
They worked together with rock steady hands and a minimum of words. They had 30 minutes to get this done or there'd be no point.
The sergeant rolled into postop in critical but stable condition. Pierce pulled off his surgical mask, slumped against the wall, then looked up and smiled.
"That, Dr. Watson, was brilliant!"