Sergeant Barney Hutchinson is an enlisted man makes a one-time appearance in the Season 9 episode "Your Retention, Please". The part of Barney Hutchinson is played by Sam Weisman.
About Barney Hutchinson[]
Barney is a corpsman who is a corpsman who has been recently temporarily assigned to the 4077th and is expecting to end his tour in a few weeks. Back in the U.S. he was a registered nurse. However, the U.S. Army at that time did not recognize the deployment of men as nurses and he was only allowed to join the service as an enlisted man, as he was given the rank of private (perhaps E-2), whereas women with hiss qualifications were instantly made officers (usually 2nd lieutenants) straightaway. Nonetheless, Hutchinson is highly qualified as a nurse. Margaret comments that he is as good as any of her nurses.
During an operation in the O.R., Barney offers some advice to Major Winchester on nerve surgery. Winchester, at first rejects advice "from an amateur", but Barney points out that he is not an amateur. He reveals that he had spent two years as a technician on the surgical team of Dr David Worsley, a pioneer in peripheral nerve surgery. The other doctors urged Winchester to listen, as he grudgingly accepts Barney's advice. Later, the doctors and nurses show how much they have come to respect him. When Margaret asks Winchester for instructions on the care of a patient, Winchester tells Margaret to ask "the expert" and she turns to consult Barney, who is with them.
But Barney is bitter towards the way the US Army has treated him. He never got to utilize his skills and expertise as a registered nurse, and spent a lot of time resentfully "pushing a broom" as a lower ranked enlisted Army Corpsman. When Sergeant Joe Vickers (played by Barry Corbin), a US Army recruiter and retention officer, arrives at the 4077th to try to persuade the enlisted men in camp to re-enlist, he makes the big mistake of speaking to Barney, and then gets punched! Margaret, however, decides to right the wrong. In a parade, Margaret presents her 1st Lieutenant bars. For the remaining few weeks of his tour, he would be treated as an honorary First Lieutenant, as she declares that "anyone who didn't agree would have to answer to her!" Even Winchester acquiesces, and addresses Barney as "lieutenant" during the celebration in the officers club.