Monster M*A*S*H
Advertisement

Private Collins was a U.S. Army or U.S. Marines private who made a single appearance in the Season 6 episode of the CBS-TV series M*A*S*H titled "Major Topper". The part of Collins was played by Paul Linke who is better known for playing the part of Officer Grossman in CHiPs.

About Collins[]

Collins is Hawkeye's patient and he is recovering in post-op after an operation but the MASH has run out of morphine painkillers. So the MASH staff devise some sugar pill placebos to give to them. Hawkeye gives Collins a placebo, telling him it is a really strong painkiller. "And it'll really put me out?" he asks Hawkeye. "You're gonna be asleep in a few minutes," assures Hawkeye. And Hawkeye has administered the placebo most convincingly for a few minutes later, as a delighted Hawkeye shows the other MASH staff, Collins is really sound asleep!

Collin's rank is not given or mentioned nor is he ever seen in uniform, but in the M*A*S*H series it is a common practice to give ranks to Corporals and Sergeants in the billings and list Privates simply by their last names, so it is deduced that Collins is a private.

Collins might be a marine. In the opening scene of the episode, in the O.R. while operating on the soldiers Potter mentions that the marines may be good fighter but are lousy drivers. According to Hawkeye, their troop truck went over a cliff, leading to many of the patients having broken bones. They were, it seems, returning from the front after a battle when the accident happened.

Advertisement