The Sniper (M*A*S*H)


"The Sniper" is the 34th episode of the M*A*S*H television series, and tenth of season two. The episode aired on November 17, 1973.

Plot

Hawkeye's picnic date with new nurse Lieutenant Marquette is interrupted by gunshots from a sniper. The couple quickly heads back to the camp, where everyone but Radar and Colonel Blake, who are pinned down in the showers, shelters in the main hospital building. Eventually Radar and the Colonel join the staff in the hospital building and they manage to treat casualties which soon arrive.
Help from headquarters is not immediately forthcoming, and Frank's attempts to be "a real man" leads him and Hawkeye to ambush a figure in the mess tent, who turns out to be Radar, desperate for food. It's not until the following day that outside help arrives, in the form of a US army helicopter firing shots at the sniper. Hawkeye operates on the sniper, and reports to the Swampmen that the sniper was a scared kid who got separated from his unit and targeted the camp in the belief that he was firing on MacArthur's headquarters.