AllMovie

Thanks to a bureaucratic snafu, the father of chief surgeon Hawkeye (Alan Alda) receives a letter informing him that his son is dead. Though upset that his dad is in temporary distress, the very much alive Hawkeye intends to take advantage of his "deceased" state--at least until he is denied his weekly paycheck. Later on, Hawkeye discovers that it's harder to prove that he's alive than dead; after all, the Army never, ever makes mistakes.