After completing his residency at an unnamed Boston hospital, Hawkeye was drafted into the United States Army, and assigned to the 4077th surgical hospital.
Hawkeye spends his military career as an outsider; he refuses to comply with regulations on everything from uniform to salute etiquette, and the bunk he shares with his best friend and fellow surgeon, John Trapper, is so filthy that it has taken on the name “The Swamp.”
Hawkeye’s disdain for the military does not extend to enlisted men or his fellow officers at the 4077th, as he routinely goes out of his way to help other cast members, and frequently throws parties, supplied with gin from a still in his tent, to boost the camp’s morale.
While Hawkeye’s disrespect for the military can rankle more traditional members of the 4077th, even his staunchest critics develop a grudging respect for his exemplary skills as a surgeon. Hawkeyes skills and determination have earned him protection from the camp’s leaders from military brass who would see him disciplined or discharged for his lack of military discipline. He has repaid that trust by routinely working countless hours, or even days in a row, trying to save as many young men and women as he can, regardless of which side they fight for.
In the series finale, Hawkeye suffers a psychotic break after recovering a memory of a woman forced to kill her child while hiding during the war, and he is discharged, returning to Maine to become a local physician. After over a decade as one of America’s most popular characters, Hawkeye left Korea and the MASH unit, in one of the most highly rated events in television history.