On MAS*H, Klinger tried for years to get out of the army with a “Section 8” discharge, for being mentally unfit for service. I was wondering what would happen if he actually got it. If the army did determine that someone was mentally unfit, would they just send him home, or would he be committed to either a military or civilian psych hospital? I can’t believe he would just be discharged and sent home with no follow up. Klinger would have been worse off if he got his discharge but ended up as a sane man committed in a 1950’s psych ward.
Speaking of Klinger, in the earlier episodes of MASH he is mostly in a dress, however, in latter episodes is in army uniform. Did he give up his quest for a section 8? Was this specifically addressed in an episode?
It depends what the section 8 was for. Men have been discharged on a section 8 for shell shock and are simply sent home. If your section 8 comes from criminal insanity, you’ll wind up in a military or civilian hospital.
If you look really carefully, you’ll see a copy of Catch-22 in his back pocket once he started wearing the uniform 
All I wanna do is to thank you, even though I don’t know who you are…
At Jump the Shark (a great site for TV lovers); it is mentioned in several comments that Klinger began dressing and acting normally when Radar left and Klinger was made company clerk.
Over the course of the series, Klinger’s character became more and more “developed.”
At first, he was simply comic relief. He was not in every episode, and Jamie Farr was not listed in the opening credits. His only purpose was to provide laughs by appearing in a dress. Hairy, swarthy Jamie Farr was cast, because he was so un-feminine that he looked extra-funny in a dress.
In the middle years of the series, Klinger became a regular and the character was fleshed out. He still wore a dress–and became a bit of a fashion maven. But we got to know him a lot better.
By the time Radar (Gary Burghoff) left, Klinger was a firmly established member of the ensemble. He was given the job of company clerk, and IIRC was promoted. By this point, the dress gag had grown pretty old, and was abandoned. Klinger was still ostensibly angling for that section-8, though, and he often wore earrings. His character had become so complex by that point, that the dress was redundant.
Problem was, Klinger without a dress wasn’t really Klinger
Klinger fell victim to that sitcom-disease I call Mash-itis. In Mash-itis, each character becomes so fully “developed” that crucial character distinctions begin to fade. Mash is only the most obvious case of this. By the 11th season, the bad guys (like Hotlips) and the comic relief (like Klinger) had lost their edge–leaving a mish-mosh cast of flawed but noble heroes.
I thought that Klinger stopped wearing dresses when in the first episode with Potter as C.O., he read Klinger the riot act.
Green Bean
Klinger appeared at least once (and I’m pretty sure more than once) in uniform in the early seasons. The episode I remember in particular was one wear Major Burns ordered him to remove a bandana that was given him as a lucky charm by his mother. Except for the bandana, Klinger was in uniform. Klinger was going to blow up Major Burns with a grenade, so maybe was was insane after all.
he was promoted a season or two after he became company clerk. He did pretty much stay in uniform after that, although would occassionally appear in a dress even then (an appearance as Cleopatra comes to mind).
I seem to recall an interview with Larry Gelbart at about the time MAS*H was going off the air that he had grown less and less sanguine with the idea of presenting war as a laff riot, so while still keeping a comedic tone (and occassionally going completely screwball) in later seasons more serious episodes on the consequences of war were made. Plus, Alan Alda became more involved in the creative side and he’s the biggest woman in show business except Phil Donahue so the show got all sensitive.
Lumpy
Potter did read him the riot act (“One guy who said he was a daisy. Made us water him every morning. Another said he was a mare. Carried a colt in his arms for weeks.”) and ordered him into a uniform. Klinger broke out in hives every place the uniform touched his skin. Pierce and Honeycutt advised him to wear a slip under his uniform. Later in the episode, he says he’s fine from the waist down but still broken out above the waist. Wearing a half-slip, you see. Later in the episode, hawkeye and BJ talk to Potter and he rescinds the order.
Cheese Log, Cheese Log, cylindrical and yellow!
Cut the Cheese Log and I’m a happy fellow!
I remember when Dr. Freedman was first called in to evaluate Klinger. He said he was basically a homosexual. Klinger took great offense at this and declined Dr. F’s ticket out of the Army, not wanting to be “branded” once he got home.
You must unlearn what you have learned. – Yoda
Even better was when the visiting Swedish doctor told him she could arrange to have him come to Denmark for an operation. Klinger: “You mean they take a knife…and…they’re crazier than I am!”
“Now that’s tasteful, without being gaudy.” Klinger to Hawkeye, who has just walked nude through the entire camp without any noticing (until he gets to the mess tent).
That’s a little different. Discharges for homosexuality were printed on blue paper. A “blue ticket” did brand you for life, as many, many employers made employment contingent on discharge status. While an employer might be willing to take a chance on someone dishonorably discharged but very few would hire a “pervert.” Blue discharges were abolished in 1947 (one of the first victories for early homosexual rights groups) but homosexuals could not under the replacement regs be discharged under any status but dishonorable.
Jeez Louise, Otto! You do quibble about every little thing, don’t you! Well, I forgive you, because you seem to be the only one on this whole board who understands Etiquette according to Miss Manners.
Anyhow, thanks for the clarifications. Yeah, I know Gelbart and Alda started to have serious reservations about the war-as-comedy thing, but Mash-itis is a separate syndrome. The desire to make Mash a more “serious” program exacerbated the Mash-itis however.
Back to the OP: My husband’s grandfather was (reportedly) kicked out of the Army on a section-8 during the Second World War. He had a successful career and life after that, so I guess it didn’t hinder him too much. But, apparently he was, in fact, crazy as a loon.