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I wanted to do a thread on this episode, because I think it rings just as true today, maybe even moreso now than it did back in the 70s, or even the 50s.

I personally find tattoos to be quite a turn off, and one thing I've noticed in this day and age, more and more women are getting tattooed, in fact, I think nine out of ten women I see in public anymore have tattoos somewhere. Why? Just because men do it, apparently. It's hard to believe that in the 21st century, with all the gender equality we have, that women still have this mindset that they feel they have to do everything men do.

As far as tattoos go, I agree with a quote from B.J. in this episode: why would anyone want to hang a picture on their body that they wouldn't be caught dead hanging on their wall? And even what Potter said when Radar told him he was thinking of getting a panther tattoo, "Five years from now you'll wanna get rid of that panther. What do you do, shoot 'im?" My sister got tattoos years ago when she went through a rebellious period... now she regrets them and wants to get rid of them.

I do wonder if Hawkeye and B.J. had to pay that rough-n-tough Marine something to persuade him to discourage Radar from getting tattooed with talks of hepatitis and such? I will confess though, whoever the fella was who played the Marine sergeant was who I had in mind when I was writing Captain Wilkerson in my fanfic where Shadrach fights him for the 8063 nurse Lieutenant Michelle Martin.

This episode also explored character development regarding Margaret and how she displayed much of the time a rock solid manner and that emotion could not be afforded in this situation when she got attached to the dog that came into camp and was feeding it and then broke down upon learning that the dog had been run over it gave her a wider understanding and sensitivity to others.

Especially after she spent most of the episode treating that sensitive new nurse like complete crap.