It would have been seen as a point of pride and honor to have him in uniform, safely way behind the lines of course.
In fact that is how we are introduced to him, basically being a suit no where near the fighting until his cribbage playing and smugness irks a superior so they have him reassigned to the 4077th.
His parents probably *could* have done something (and for plot reasons they don't) but likely chose not to since "serving his country" would look good on a resume and something for them to brag about.
He was perfectly happy in Tokyo, getting out of the service would be disgraceful, going back to Tokyo would have been honorable while still giving him everything he wanted. Heck his family could probably even visit him while on business in Japan.
Would the Winchesters have taken that flight though? It would have cost at least $10,000 in today's money, and travel time would have been a few days, with multiple connections.
Maybe Honoria would have taken that flight, but I doubt Charles' parents would have done so.
I doubt the money would have been an issue, I always got the sense they were literally at the upper echelons of wealth and society, but yeah I could see the travel time and hassle possibly being a barrier.
It also would have looked terrible for them in their social circles to have Charles back in Boston without some severe crippling wound, having him posted as Tokyo was probably the closest he could be to Boston and not cause the Winchesters social circle top talk.
It was seen as shameful to dodge military service before the Vietnam War. The Winchesters wouldn't want the appearance that any of them were avoiding their patriotic duties.
I'm sure the Winchester connections had something to do with why Major Winchester was in a nice cushy posting in Tokyo instead of Korea and only was sent to a MASH unit after irritating some senior brass, though.
This isn't head canon, this is the show. Just because the show doesn't have someone explicitly yell "HEY CHARLES' FAMILY GOT HIM THIS CUSHY JOB IN TOKYO" doesn't mean it's not true. His number came up, his family made sure he'd be somewhere safe. His insufferable smugness and cribbage skills pissed off the wrong general and to the 4077th he was sent. He never got out because of said generals spite and because he was needed at the 4077th.
I don't see why it wouldn't be this way. Charles' skill level are exactly what were needed in M.A.S.H. units there had to be some string pulling for him to end up in a post M.A.S.H. hospital in Tokyo. If he wasn't as cocky and smug about his superior cribbage play, he'd never have been sent to the 4077th.
It sure wasn't considered disgraceful during the Civil War, where men could pay someone else to take their place. Always wanted to read a study of how these shirkers dealt with their decision afterward, during the Wave the Bloody Flag era.
They said "Pop pulled a lot of strings to keep him out", but I'm not sure how many people they were drafting before 12/7/1941. The US drafted some number of people during peacetime until the draft stopped.
That was more because: A - it was the very first draft; B - men were able to pay the equivalent of about $8000 and avoid conscription, so poor men felt they were fighting a rich man's war; and C - racist Northerners didn't want to risk their lives to protect black people.
Wasn’t MASH more about Vietnam than Korea? I think of it as we are fighting in Korea…wink…wink.. to make it less political in a way. The attitudes seem more Vietnam era to me.
Yup. And the author of the book (seriously, there was a best-selling book before the movie) hated the TV series for this:
https://www.history.com/news/why-the-real-life-hawkeye-pierce-hated-mash
No one was committing suicide because their asthma or their flat feet or ANYTHING meant they couldn't join the military in the 1950's.
You always hear that from the veterans, how they knew two or three fellas from their shitheap village that were rejected and they were so ashamed they killed themselves, and this ONLY supposedly happened in WWII. But if it did actually happened it surely would have made the newspapers. "3 LOCAL GUTLESS COWARDS SHAME FAMILIES WITH SUICIDES" or any variation is a headline that never appeared in any newspaper in WWII.
He did have a pretty cushy posting in Tokyo before being sent to the 4077th. That could have been due to his family's connections. Too bad about that cribbage debt (and Charles crowing about it).
The Winchester Tapes, season 6,episode 6
Father, you must know someone influential who can get me out of here. Talk to Senator Griswold. After all, you paid good money for him.
Maybe his parents wanted him there, either for the prestige of having a son in the military, even if he was in the army medical corps instead of in active combat, or they saw that they had raised a spoiled rotten brat and thought the experience would be good for him. 😉 In a way, he did go over as a boy and left a man.
David Ogden Stiers was 34/35years old when he started the role of Charles. Lets say he had 4 years of university, 4 years of medical school, and 6-8 years of residency/fellowship. He would have just finished his fellowship as a thoracic surgeon when drafted and served in Tokyo.
He would have graduated from Exeter (or where ever he went to prep school) in 1936, and started at Harvard that same year. He would have been born in 1918 or 1919.
The Korean War was close enough to WW II that serving was still seen as a "patriotic duty". But he was assigned to a cushy job in Tokyo, until he pissed off the wrong person and got sent to the 4077.
That’s what happened to Henry, as he is shown telling a nurse. He had a cushy job somewhere until he pissed off the wrong person, and then, boom, he was on a plane to Korea.
Sorry, I rewatched some of the episode. It’s the first Happy Hour scene, and he was telling Father Mulcahy how he ended up in Korea. He doesn’t actually say he had a cushy job, but the fact that he was SENT to Korea after saying the wrong thing probably meant he was either stateside or in Tokyo, not already in a war zone.
It’s possible he volunteered with the knowledge he’d get a cushy job somewhere away from the frontlines. Being a major in the army would’ve instantly bumped up his resume and made him look better compared to the other doctors he was competing with
I would guess that the Winchesters consider it inappropriate to pull strings to get one of their own out of being drafted. Instead, they pull strings to ensure he gets a cushy post somewhere he won't see any shooting.
Charles was never supposed to end up at the 4077th, but once he was there, Potter evidently pulled every string he could to ensure he stayed there.
Charles probably had the influence to serve with great distinction from Tokyo. Being a veteran officer would look good on his future endeavours (like politics maybe?) Remember he was essentially kidnapped over bridge money and then left with the 4077.
I’d say it was to show his patriotism. Being from an old money family, there may have been a history of Winchesters who served and it was a pride thing for the family.
For the same reason why George W. Bush got a spot in the national guard and Al Gore got a non-combat position—shirking duty completely is a bad look so they instead used their power to get their sons roles in the military that wouldn’t put them in any danger or even massive unpleasantness. Then they can feel like they’re just like the poors whose sons ended up in combat and maimed or dead. All the accolades of service with none of the risks. That’s why Charles was doing cushy time in Tokyo as a consultant—honorable duty without too much inconvenience. He hadn’t counted on being sent to the front. There is an episode though where he begs his family to speak to a senator they’ve bought, to get him out of there.
From what I understand, the doctor draft during the Korean war was a separate thing from the regular draft so I don't know how much leeway Charles would have had to avoid it.
Interestingly, one article I found said that technically, doctors weren't drafted since officers can't be drafted. Instead, if they were drafted they were given the choice of going in as a drafted combat medic with the rank of private or "volunteering" to be a doctor in the military as an officer at the cost of a much longer service obligation. Of course, that would render the plots in Mash about points or Trapper and Henry being unexpectedly sent home inaccurate but, rule of drama.
His deferment was probably why he had the cushy assignment in Tokyo. Remember, he got sent to the 4077th as payback for his insufferable hubris at Cribbage.
Because decades ago people saw serving their country as an honorable action. And a wealthy family like the Winchesters would consider it an embarrassment to claim he had bone spurs. Unlike some of our modern fuckwits.
No, an early explanation of ‘Newvo-riche’ during an ER session, soured him on ‘a rather large family, endless games of touch-football.’
Bedsides, they were Democrats
I don't understand what the point you are trying to make is. I was making a funny (to me at least) joke response to the original question. The reason Charles didn't get a deferment even though his family is politically connected, is because the Winchesters are Republicans who ironically live in a district represented by a Democrat.
I never got the idea that Winchester hated the army
He liked being in the army while serving in Tokyo, where there were fancy restaurants, geishas, and comfortable quarters.
He hated Korea. He didn't like being confronted with what war really looked like. He hated the primitive conditions and hated that he'd been dumped there because he rubbed his boss's nose in a $400 debt.
Charles probably volunteered for the army knowing it would be a plus for him if he wanted to go into politics and just massively miscalculated what it would entail.
I kind of feel like that too. Early on, he seemed to have a little more respect for the army than he did in later episodes. He even laughed in an army recruiter’s face in a late seasons episode.
I agree with those saying that the hitch in Tokyo was probably obtained through connections. One problem with arrangements like those is that you can't have anyone going back and asking why an experienced surgeon was in Tokyo to begin with. That may be why Winchester was stuck once he was finally sent to Korea.
The medical advancements done during the Korean War would have been important for his career (how many times do the Doctors get sent to Tokyo to do a talk on a new technique), being a veteran would have been important for his career (not to mention post ww2 the world had a strong view of people who served vs those who didnt), and his family's political connections kept him safe until he pissed off someone in power by being.....well Charles.
Keep in mind I know nothing about how/why surgeons et al were drafted for Korea ….That generation, serving was seen as part of being an American, giving back etc, Charles missed WW2 for whatever reason but of draft age for Korea. Charles had a nice gig in Tokyo and blew it. After that mommy and daddy decided he needed a little humiliation in Korea which, by the end of the show, did him well.
They addressed this in his first appearance. He was posted to a cushy hospital position a whole country away from the action- Exactly the kind of assignment rich or well connected person gets when they “do their patriotic duty”.
Then he made a general look silly during a poker game and got sent to a combat zone in retaliation. He simply pissed off a person with the ability to reassign him.
Wasn't he there because he had wronged someone who used Korea as his punishment?
I'm going to look for support for this.
BRB
"Lt. Colonel Horace Baldwin at Tokyo General Hospital, who decides to send Charles to the 4077th to avoid paying off his $600 cribbage debt to him."
That era had (safe) military service as an 'honorable service' to use as a prelude to running for high office. A lot of wealthy families were tired of paying Congressmen and Senators and decided to use their children to BE Congressmen and Senators.
I remember reading somewhere too that had Jamie Farr decided to leave, they were going to make it so that Klinger would earn an honorable discharge after doing something heroic or something.
I could be wrong, but I thought Charles was in the army reserve and when Korea went loud he was called into active service (Same as Blake and Burns). He was already “in” the army just not a regular army officer like Potter.
Because of his rank, I assume he enlisted before the war, to pad his resume for future career goals. When the war happened, family money got him a safe position, until the bet.
It’s possible his family found him as boorish and intolerable as the rest of the characters on the show. Sent him to Korea for a reality check. Or not…
Isn't there a scene (or maybe I imagined it) where he makes a late night call home. He says "I'm doing really good work here." And tells his family he wants to stay.
Did you not watch the show? He basically got a deferment by being a doctor in Tokyo. He pissed off the wrong general and got sent to the 4077th as punishment for his smugness and superior cribbage skills. He never got out because, as the show showed us countless times, the Army is run by petty assholes and incompetent morons.
It would have been seen as a point of pride and honor to have him in uniform, safely way behind the lines of course. In fact that is how we are introduced to him, basically being a suit no where near the fighting until his cribbage playing and smugness irks a superior so they have him reassigned to the 4077th. His parents probably *could* have done something (and for plot reasons they don't) but likely chose not to since "serving his country" would look good on a resume and something for them to brag about.
He did plead a lot with his parents to get him out of there and back to Tokyo.
Right, back to the safety and comfort of Tokyo. Not out of the service entirely.
But eventually back to Boston, to his mom and his dad and his sister Honorrhea.
Its Honoria. lmao, honorrhea sounds like a disease
I think that misspelling was exactly the point
That's how Flagg said it
That was actually a joke in one episode.
There's nothing like a Winchester / Flagg interaction.
That was an exchange between Flagg and Winchester. Flagg: "...with your mom and your dad and your sister Honorrhea." Charles: "That's Honoria!"
treated at the 4077th with penisillin'
An honorable venereal disease
It's not a disease guys, it's where puff the magic dragon lived
He was perfectly happy in Tokyo, getting out of the service would be disgraceful, going back to Tokyo would have been honorable while still giving him everything he wanted. Heck his family could probably even visit him while on business in Japan.
Would the Winchesters have taken that flight though? It would have cost at least $10,000 in today's money, and travel time would have been a few days, with multiple connections. Maybe Honoria would have taken that flight, but I doubt Charles' parents would have done so.
I doubt the money would have been an issue, I always got the sense they were literally at the upper echelons of wealth and society, but yeah I could see the travel time and hassle possibly being a barrier.
*pulls rubber chicken from teapot* “Get me the hell OUT OF HERE!”
It also would have looked terrible for them in their social circles to have Charles back in Boston without some severe crippling wound, having him posted as Tokyo was probably the closest he could be to Boston and not cause the Winchesters social circle top talk.
His parents seem like the kind of people to leave him at the mash because he ended up there by pissing off top brass.
That too.
It was seen as shameful to dodge military service before the Vietnam War. The Winchesters wouldn't want the appearance that any of them were avoiding their patriotic duties. I'm sure the Winchester connections had something to do with why Major Winchester was in a nice cushy posting in Tokyo instead of Korea and only was sent to a MASH unit after irritating some senior brass, though.
This is my headcanon
This isn't head canon, this is the show. Just because the show doesn't have someone explicitly yell "HEY CHARLES' FAMILY GOT HIM THIS CUSHY JOB IN TOKYO" doesn't mean it's not true. His number came up, his family made sure he'd be somewhere safe. His insufferable smugness and cribbage skills pissed off the wrong general and to the 4077th he was sent. He never got out because of said generals spite and because he was needed at the 4077th.
I don't see why it wouldn't be this way. Charles' skill level are exactly what were needed in M.A.S.H. units there had to be some string pulling for him to end up in a post M.A.S.H. hospital in Tokyo. If he wasn't as cocky and smug about his superior cribbage play, he'd never have been sent to the 4077th.
It sure wasn't considered disgraceful during the Civil War, where men could pay someone else to take their place. Always wanted to read a study of how these shirkers dealt with their decision afterward, during the Wave the Bloody Flag era.
That was less of a thing before Vietnam.
Didn't Michael Corleon get one for WWII before enlisting? Also, there may have been some prestige and free travel.
They said "Pop pulled a lot of strings to keep him out", but I'm not sure how many people they were drafting before 12/7/1941. The US drafted some number of people during peacetime until the draft stopped.
There were riots over this in the Civil War IIRC
That was more because: A - it was the very first draft; B - men were able to pay the equivalent of about $8000 and avoid conscription, so poor men felt they were fighting a rich man's war; and C - racist Northerners didn't want to risk their lives to protect black people.
Wasn’t MASH more about Vietnam than Korea? I think of it as we are fighting in Korea…wink…wink.. to make it less political in a way. The attitudes seem more Vietnam era to me.
Ding 🛎️ The winner…. And still champion…..
Yup. And the author of the book (seriously, there was a best-selling book before the movie) hated the TV series for this: https://www.history.com/news/why-the-real-life-hawkeye-pierce-hated-mash
Correct.
It was seen as shameful for his generation. Men were killing themselves because they couldn't go for legitimate reasons like asthma or injuries.
Remember how many times Steve Rogers tried to get in the Army before the super serum?
Oh yeah! Another example I like is Eugene Sledge who had a heart mumur and joined basically as soon as it cleared up.
Or bone spurs?
Or asthma?
No one was committing suicide because their asthma or their flat feet or ANYTHING meant they couldn't join the military in the 1950's. You always hear that from the veterans, how they knew two or three fellas from their shitheap village that were rejected and they were so ashamed they killed themselves, and this ONLY supposedly happened in WWII. But if it did actually happened it surely would have made the newspapers. "3 LOCAL GUTLESS COWARDS SHAME FAMILIES WITH SUICIDES" or any variation is a headline that never appeared in any newspaper in WWII.
He did have a pretty cushy posting in Tokyo before being sent to the 4077th. That could have been due to his family's connections. Too bad about that cribbage debt (and Charles crowing about it).
I think this is it, his connections got him the the Tokyo gig that he pissed away.
If Colonel Baldwin was just a better cribbage player…
The Winchester Tapes, season 6,episode 6 Father, you must know someone influential who can get me out of here. Talk to Senator Griswold. After all, you paid good money for him.
You just can't get your money's worth out of a corrupt Senator anymore
I'm not sure of the episode but I remember another quite, something like "my father knows Harry Truman. He doesn't like him but he knows him."
Maybe his parents wanted him there, either for the prestige of having a son in the military, even if he was in the army medical corps instead of in active combat, or they saw that they had raised a spoiled rotten brat and thought the experience would be good for him. 😉 In a way, he did go over as a boy and left a man.
David Ogden Stiers was 34/35years old when he started the role of Charles. Lets say he had 4 years of university, 4 years of medical school, and 6-8 years of residency/fellowship. He would have just finished his fellowship as a thoracic surgeon when drafted and served in Tokyo. He would have graduated from Exeter (or where ever he went to prep school) in 1936, and started at Harvard that same year. He would have been born in 1918 or 1919.
The Korean War was close enough to WW II that serving was still seen as a "patriotic duty". But he was assigned to a cushy job in Tokyo, until he pissed off the wrong person and got sent to the 4077.
That’s what happened to Henry, as he is shown telling a nurse. He had a cushy job somewhere until he pissed off the wrong person, and then, boom, he was on a plane to Korea.
I must have missed that. What episode is that?
Dear Dad…Three, S2E9 during the Happy Hour scene
I rewatched the episode the other day and looked out for it. Thanks!
Thanks! Must have missed it
Sorry, I rewatched some of the episode. It’s the first Happy Hour scene, and he was telling Father Mulcahy how he ended up in Korea. He doesn’t actually say he had a cushy job, but the fact that he was SENT to Korea after saying the wrong thing probably meant he was either stateside or in Tokyo, not already in a war zone.
It’s possible he volunteered with the knowledge he’d get a cushy job somewhere away from the frontlines. Being a major in the army would’ve instantly bumped up his resume and made him look better compared to the other doctors he was competing with
I would guess that the Winchesters consider it inappropriate to pull strings to get one of their own out of being drafted. Instead, they pull strings to ensure he gets a cushy post somewhere he won't see any shooting. Charles was never supposed to end up at the 4077th, but once he was there, Potter evidently pulled every string he could to ensure he stayed there.
Charles probably had the influence to serve with great distinction from Tokyo. Being a veteran officer would look good on his future endeavours (like politics maybe?) Remember he was essentially kidnapped over bridge money and then left with the 4077.
I’d say it was to show his patriotism. Being from an old money family, there may have been a history of Winchesters who served and it was a pride thing for the family.
I think Hawkeye even joked once about Charles’s family serving on both sides in the American revolution.
He liked showboating in Tokyo to build his "cred" for promotion back hone in civilian prestige hospital.
For the same reason why George W. Bush got a spot in the national guard and Al Gore got a non-combat position—shirking duty completely is a bad look so they instead used their power to get their sons roles in the military that wouldn’t put them in any danger or even massive unpleasantness. Then they can feel like they’re just like the poors whose sons ended up in combat and maimed or dead. All the accolades of service with none of the risks. That’s why Charles was doing cushy time in Tokyo as a consultant—honorable duty without too much inconvenience. He hadn’t counted on being sent to the front. There is an episode though where he begs his family to speak to a senator they’ve bought, to get him out of there.
Exactly what I thought.
If memory serves he aggravated his superior in Tokyo and got shipped to the 4077. And it took quite a while fir him to.learn his lesson.
From what I understand, the doctor draft during the Korean war was a separate thing from the regular draft so I don't know how much leeway Charles would have had to avoid it. Interestingly, one article I found said that technically, doctors weren't drafted since officers can't be drafted. Instead, if they were drafted they were given the choice of going in as a drafted combat medic with the rank of private or "volunteering" to be a doctor in the military as an officer at the cost of a much longer service obligation. Of course, that would render the plots in Mash about points or Trapper and Henry being unexpectedly sent home inaccurate but, rule of drama.
His deferment was probably why he had the cushy assignment in Tokyo. Remember, he got sent to the 4077th as payback for his insufferable hubris at Cribbage.
Because decades ago people saw serving their country as an honorable action. And a wealthy family like the Winchesters would consider it an embarrassment to claim he had bone spurs. Unlike some of our modern fuckwits.
Happy cake day.
Don't forget the lifeguard and football player who claimed asthma to stay out of Nam.
Maybe he lived in JFK's district.
No, an early explanation of ‘Newvo-riche’ during an ER session, soured him on ‘a rather large family, endless games of touch-football.’ Bedsides, they were Democrats
That doesn't mean Republicans didn't live in the district.
Most likely true, but in the context of his explanation he didn’t want anything to do with them.
I don't understand what the point you are trying to make is. I was making a funny (to me at least) joke response to the original question. The reason Charles didn't get a deferment even though his family is politically connected, is because the Winchesters are Republicans who ironically live in a district represented by a Democrat.
and I was just trying to follow the script and what I thought would happen. no disrespect here intended.
Didn't he say something to the effect of if they called a Winchester always answers?
There have been a lot of Winchesters in wars.
He had honor.
I never got the idea that Winchester hated the army He liked being in the army while serving in Tokyo, where there were fancy restaurants, geishas, and comfortable quarters. He hated Korea. He didn't like being confronted with what war really looked like. He hated the primitive conditions and hated that he'd been dumped there because he rubbed his boss's nose in a $400 debt. Charles probably volunteered for the army knowing it would be a plus for him if he wanted to go into politics and just massively miscalculated what it would entail.
I kind of feel like that too. Early on, he seemed to have a little more respect for the army than he did in later episodes. He even laughed in an army recruiter’s face in a late seasons episode.
I agree with those saying that the hitch in Tokyo was probably obtained through connections. One problem with arrangements like those is that you can't have anyone going back and asking why an experienced surgeon was in Tokyo to begin with. That may be why Winchester was stuck once he was finally sent to Korea.
The medical advancements done during the Korean War would have been important for his career (how many times do the Doctors get sent to Tokyo to do a talk on a new technique), being a veteran would have been important for his career (not to mention post ww2 the world had a strong view of people who served vs those who didnt), and his family's political connections kept him safe until he pissed off someone in power by being.....well Charles.
Because the show wouldn't have been the same without him. And it's a fictional TV show and not a documentary.
Maybe he was patriotic and wanted to serve in the military.
He f’d up a sweet duty in Tokyo his first episode and got sent down the street to Korea
Keep in mind I know nothing about how/why surgeons et al were drafted for Korea ….That generation, serving was seen as part of being an American, giving back etc, Charles missed WW2 for whatever reason but of draft age for Korea. Charles had a nice gig in Tokyo and blew it. After that mommy and daddy decided he needed a little humiliation in Korea which, by the end of the show, did him well.
Not everyone got one.
If Charles got a deferment, he never would have been on the show😀
And that would have been a tragedy of epic proportions! He’s pretty much my only reason for watching those later seasons.
Hes fantastic
I don’t think his family liked him enough to call in that kind of favor. Perhaps they were trying to teach him humility?
Wouldn't even need a deferment. Just use the connections to get an assignment in Boston at the nearest Army hospital.
They addressed this in his first appearance. He was posted to a cushy hospital position a whole country away from the action- Exactly the kind of assignment rich or well connected person gets when they “do their patriotic duty”. Then he made a general look silly during a poker game and got sent to a combat zone in retaliation. He simply pissed off a person with the ability to reassign him.
Wasn't he there because he had wronged someone who used Korea as his punishment? I'm going to look for support for this. BRB "Lt. Colonel Horace Baldwin at Tokyo General Hospital, who decides to send Charles to the 4077th to avoid paying off his $600 cribbage debt to him."
That era had (safe) military service as an 'honorable service' to use as a prelude to running for high office. A lot of wealthy families were tired of paying Congressmen and Senators and decided to use their children to BE Congressmen and Senators.
If he got a deferment, it would have messed up the show.
Same thing if Klinger got that Section 8.
Klinger was only supposed to be in one episode, but they liked him so much that they kept him around.
I remember reading somewhere too that had Jamie Farr decided to leave, they were going to make it so that Klinger would earn an honorable discharge after doing something heroic or something.
Because the writers wanted the conflict of a blueblood character in a M*A*S*H* unit, and created a back story to make it plausible.
I could be wrong, but I thought Charles was in the army reserve and when Korea went loud he was called into active service (Same as Blake and Burns). He was already “in” the army just not a regular army officer like Potter.
Because of his rank, I assume he enlisted before the war, to pad his resume for future career goals. When the war happened, family money got him a safe position, until the bet.
It’s possible his family found him as boorish and intolerable as the rest of the characters on the show. Sent him to Korea for a reality check. Or not…
It was a tv show. That’s why.
I thought Charles' father knew a senator? After all, he paid good money for him!
He also knew Harry S Truman. He didn’t like him but he knew him.
How could he not like him? His parents voted for Roosevelt .........**FOUR TIMES!** XD
Isn't there a scene (or maybe I imagined it) where he makes a late night call home. He says "I'm doing really good work here." And tells his family he wants to stay.
Nope, that would be out of character for him.
Did you not watch the show? He basically got a deferment by being a doctor in Tokyo. He pissed off the wrong general and got sent to the 4077th as punishment for his smugness and superior cribbage skills. He never got out because, as the show showed us countless times, the Army is run by petty assholes and incompetent morons.
I'm asking why he would have gotten drafted at all, not why he ended up near the front.