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Frank Burns (Larry Linville) blows his ultrapatriotic top when he finds out that wounded patient Pvt. Fitzsimmons (Brian Byers) has shot himself to get out combat. The reaction of Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) is rather different; eager to understand what motivated Fitzsimmons to injure himself, the good Father asks Radar (Gary Burghoff) to accompany him to the front, where he can experience the "shooting war" for the first time in his life. Ultimately, Mulcahy's ordeal by fire results in a lifesaving emergency tracheotomy--performed via radioed instructions from the 4077th.