Lt. Radar O'Reilly

A Sergeant from I-corps is unable to pay his poker losses. In order to stay in the game, he offers to promote the doctors. They choose not to but ask if he can promote Radar. He goes from Corporal all the way to Second Lieutenant. This is funny at first, but soon his life begins to become complicated. All the things he enjoyed being an enlisted man start to unravel. He gets no respect from other soldiers or from fellow officers. He even loses his clerk's job to Klinger, who is utterly incompetent. He has developed a relationship with a nurse and she now rejects him. It is a clever idea and it works well as Gary Burghoff does his usually fine job as the frenetic little guy.

Often fans think Winchester was the only snob in camp, but BJ had his moments of cruel class discrimination fun, too.

Radar like all Noncoms were from poor families, and the thought of being promoted to an Officer would be like Christmas in July for anyone in his rank, but here comes BJ, having fun to settle a poker debt.

I would think even Winchester would say, "Don't you think this to be a cruel joke when he finds out the promotion is not real?"

Often, I think BJ more the snob than Winchester - at least in Winchester's case, people expected it from him, he being from a wealthy Boston family, but BJ seemed to have the thought he's a doctor with the perfect little family by the Bay, who's here with these jerks I don't have time for...

In the end, the 4077 had its class discrimination - the Officers were all called by their rank, while the Noncoms were all given cruel nicknames or just their last name (Radar, Egor, Klinger, Rizzo, etc.)...

One of my least favorite episodes.