The first of many novels written by Richard Hooker M.D., which bases his personal experiences from the Korean War. Hooker based the character Captain Hawkeye Pierce after himself.
A very succesful movie was spawned from this, directed by Robert Altman and starring Robert Duval, Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland and others.
The television series based on the movie ran for roughly a decade (1972-1983), and introduced other characters such as Capt. B.J. Hunnicut (not spelled as Honeycut or Honnicut). Gary Burghoff, who starred as Radar O'Reilly, was the only actor that starred in both the movie and television series. The show's final episode back in 1983 had more viewers then the final episode of Seinfeld in 1998.