Finding The 4077th

A New Colonel

It was a sunny morning and Hawkeye felt grateful Chris slept peacefully through the night. BJ has been with them for a couple of days now, and Chris woke him up once, by screaming in the middle of the night. It startled the other doctor immensely but he was being a really good sport about it. Hawkeye was very grateful for his new friend, he liked the man, and even Chris started to open up to him. And with Frank being out of the Swamp they had a lot less complaining.

Today Chris slept even longer than Hawkeye, which was a first. Normally the boy was up early and reading or playing when Hawkeye woke up.

Hawkeye watched his son, the boy was playing on the ground but seemed a bit sulky, he was quiet today even for him. But Hawkeye had to admit he and BJ didn't give Chris much room to be noisy or talkative.

The two of them were building a small bar, so they had something to put in the place where Frank's cot used to be. Frank had moved his stuff to the commander's tent, the minute Henry left.

Thinking of Henry, Hawkeye sighed and mentioned that Henry would have loved this bar and that he misses him.

BJ suggests they call it the "Henry Blake Memorial Bar," to which Hawkeye happily agrees.

They raised the bar and moved it to his destination. They even ornamented it with a light string. “Chris, come look at this! Do you think Henry would like it? ”

Chris looked up and nodded. He didn't feel okay, he just felt like doing nothing and he was bored at the same time.

“Do you want to help decorate it some more?” Hawkeye tried.

Chris thought about it but shook his head, he didn't feel like decorating. “ I'm playing,” the child mumbled.

Hawkeye looked at Chris and then to BJ, but BJ just shrugged.

This was a bit strange, Chris always wanted to decorate.

'I need to keep a close watch on him if I want to know what's wrong, he seems so bleak today' Hawkeye thought. He wanted to ask Chris if he was alright but Radar walked in, looking very anxious.

“Sirs?” the clerk started but Hawkeye and BJ pretend Radar is their first customer. But Radar wasn't in the mood for the two joking doctors, as he said he got something important to tell them.

Radar looked around in case someone was near to overhear this, he saw no one except the small boy playing in BJ's corner of the tent.
He gave the boy a quick smile and a wave before turning his attention to the two doctors.

“We're getting a new commander!” the clerk whispered.

“Frank's out?!” Hawkeye loudly asked.

“Shhh... Not that loud!” Radar almost had a heart attack as he nervously tried to explain. Hawkeye simply took the letter from the clerk and read it.

"Colonel Sherman Potter"  Hawkeye read out loud.

"Surgeon, medical..." Hawkeye mumbled, reading, "USA! " he added, shocked as he looked at the clerk.

The nervous Radar explained this Colonel is a career man in the Army, and that could mean trouble. "Maybe he's worse than Frank! if that is even possible! " Radar said, with his voice a bit higher than usual.

Hawkeye looked from Radar to BJ as he said "An Army doctor! He'll have people bleeding by the numbers." He sighed, "He's gotta be a loser"

Chris was getting very nervous about this as he made his way over to stand next to his dad. He looked at the man nervously. He didn't want anyone worse than Frank! Frank was mean sometimes, especially towards Radar.