Private Rifkn 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 Rifkin was played by Peter Zapp.
About Rifkin[]
Rifkin is Potter'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. Potter tries to give Rifkin the placebo but Rifkin tells him he can't swallow pills. He says he even chokes on "sen sen". Potter tells him he is like his horse, he has to hide the pills in an old apple core. Potter finally succeeds in getting the pill into Rifkin. He tells him he should be out of pain soon, which was more than he could say about his finger because Rifkin had bitten it! Later, Rifkin tells Potter the pill must be working because his arm has stopped throbbing.
Rifkin'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 Rifkin is a private.
Rifkin 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 fighters 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.