->''"We've got another delivery from the Cowboy."''

Another chopper comes in for a landing at the 4077 helicopter pad bearing more wounded, one of which is the chopper's own pilot, the eponymous Cowboy. Later on, after surgery, Hawkeye has a conversation with the guy where he learns the pilot believes that there may be troubles with his wife back home and promises to try to arrange some temporary leave for him. There's only one problem; the person who can get the ball rolling, Henry Blake, is in a sour mood due to the continuing war and the mounting pressures and responsibilities of running the camp and has been lashing out at everybody, particularly Trapper who wanted to use Henry's Jeep to take a nurse on a date. When Hawkeye meets with Henry to discuss the possibility of Cowboy getting leave, Henry turns him down flat.

Hawkeye endeavours to cheer Henry up to get him back to his loose and lazy self so he doesn't come down so hard on people anymore. But that task itself becomes complicated when someone at the camp develops a bad grudge against Henry. Bad enough to want him dead.

[[RuleOfFunny Don't worry, it's still a light-hearted comedy.]]

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!!Attention, all personnel! We have another delivery of tropes from the Cowboy!

* AshFace: Despite [[NonFatalExplosions the entire latrine exploding around him,]] Henry is only left with ash on his face and [[AmusingInjuries a toilet seat around his neck.]]
* BaitAndSwitch: When handing temporary control of the 4077th over to Frank, Henry is careful or quick with pulling out his desk drawers and filing cabinet, just in case the person who is trying to kill him has laid any traps in those places. To his and Frank's terror, the deadly trap was in a different spot of the office. The commander's chair had been rigged with an explosive.
* DeadpanSnarker:
** Hawkeye does not take being woken up abruptly very well.
--->'''Radar''': Hawkeye.\\
'''Hawkeye''': I'm gonna count to one and then you'd better be out of here.\\
'''Radar''': Sir, I hate to wake you - \\
'''Hawkeye''': ''[grabs him by the face]'' How would you like me to take out your tonsils? ''Through your ear?''\\
'''Radar''': You're needed in surgery.\\
'''Hawkeye''': That figures. Ten minutes sleep a week oughta be enough for anybody. I'd give anything to be able to see the inside of my eyelids.
** One scene later, in the O.R.
--->'''Father Mulcahy''': Not the Cowboy again.\\
'''Hawkeye''': Same guy, different shoulder. I'm thinking of putting in zippers.\\
'''Father Mulcahy''': Is he gonna be alright?\\
'''Hawkeye''': Unless somebody shoots him in here.
** Henry gets a few lines of his own.
--->'''Hawkeye''': We're worried about you, Henry.\\
'''Henry''': Welcome to the club.\\
'''Hawkeye''': Do you realise if anything happens to you, Frank Burns takes over?\\
'''Henry''': Boy, your unselfishness is touching.
* DearJohnLetter: Averted, thank God. Also played for laughs, as Cowboy's real name is John.
* DistinctionWithoutADifference: Trapper when he is accused of pilfering Henry's Jeep.
--> '''Trapper''': No sir, I was not pilfering. I was stealing.
* DisproportionateRetribution: A superior officer won't let you go home for an admittedly important reason? Apparently fragging him is the first and best solution. Henry also suspects this of Trapper, because he wouldn't let Trapper use his Jeep.
* DivorceInReno: The surgeons' first fear when they notice the letter to the Cowboy is from Reno. Turns out, so is he.
* TheDogBitesBack: Invoked. Henry believes someone is trying to kill him as payback for not relenting on a previous request.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: When reprimanding Trapper for trying to take the Colonel's Jeep, Frank Burns not only doesn't cave in to Trapper's threatening to run him over with the vehicle, but also actually dares Trapper to go ahead with it. A far cry from the DirtyCoward Burns is renowned for being in later episodes.
* EntertaininglyWrong: After the second attempt on his life, Henry immediately suspects Trapper and goes to accuse him at the Swamp.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The Cowboy is introduced flying some wounded men into the camp. After safely landing and making sure they're taken care of, he collapses from his own shoulder wound.
* ExplainExplainOhCrap: When Henry confronts Trapper at the Swamp after the Jeep crashed through his own tent, believing he's the one trying to kill him, Trapper is casually bewildered by the whole thing until Henry lays it out in plain black and white that he's accusing Trapper of attempted murder. Trapper very visibly panics and goes on the defensive.
--> '''Henry''': Okay, Trapper. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Don't think I don't know what you think I don't know.]]\\
'''Trapper''': ''[to Hawkeye]'' Could you translate that, please?\\
'''Henry''': You wouldn't be the first in this man's army to try and kill his commanding officer.\\
'''Trapper''': ''[gulps]'' Steady, Henry. Your glue is melting.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: As an irritated Henry is discussing about the [[RunningGag signing of papers]] after banning Trapper from using his Jeep to take a nurse on a date, Trapper is seen angrily threatening to throw a baseball at Frank Burns for ratting him out to the colonel.
* GunsInChurch: For some reason, Cowboy's got his revolver and gunbelt on while recovering in post-op. He also managed to get his hands on some relatively low-yield explosives.
* JerkassBall: Henry is in an unusually bad mood in this one, which is why he refuses to sign off on sending the Cowboy stateside for his recovery.
* JumpScare:
** Someone unseen shoots at Hawkeye, Henry and Ho-Jon as they play golf.
** In-universe. The officers' latrine is blown up and Hawkeye ducks for cover.
** Played for laughs. Henry jumps once more at the end of TheStinger.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Cowboy reacts to his wife's letter in a non-verbal emotional form of this.
* OhCrap:
** Henry as the Jeep runs through his tent.
** Henry and Frank have a [[MassOhCrap shared one]] when the colonel's chair explodes, right when the latter was going to take temporary command.
** Trapper, when he and Hawkeye discover who has been trying to kill Henry, and he realises that the colonel is ''all alone on an airborne chopper with the guy''. Henry gets one too when the same thing is revealed to him.
** There are two in the scene where Cowboy is told the contents of his wife's letter.
*** Hawkeye reads the address but stops the minute he gets to [[TheDreaded "Reno"]], [[LampshadeHanging a town infamously noted for its high divorce rate]].
*** The second one occurs with Trapper when he opens up the letter for Cowboy and silently reads the first two words. Then he hands the letter over to Hawkeye.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Subverted with Cowboy. [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep While it is what people call him]], his real name is revealed as John Hodges.
* PostVictoryCollapse: The Cowboy marks his first appearance by delivering the wounded soldier he's carrying in his chopper to safety, then passing out himself from shrapnel wounds in the shoulder.
* PreMortemOneLiner: Done twice in the same scene. Thankfully though, due to the well-timed arrival of a letter, the murder is not carried out.
-->It'll only break your fall!
-->Neither was you not letting me go home.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Apparently, this is not the first time the Cowboy has visited the 4077 as a chopper pilot or as a patient.
-->'''Father Mulcahy''': Not the Cowboy again?\\
'''Hawkeye''': Same guy, different shoulder. I'm thinking of putting in zippers.
* SanitySlippage: Henry suffers a bit of this after the first and second attempts on his life.
* SkewedPriorities: Done twice, played for laughs. Once, after the first attempt on Henry's life, Hawkeye comments while they're hiding under a bush that he doesn't know what's going on, but Henry's going to have to take a stroke (two strokes, since he can't even find his ball). Then again, when Hawkeye (somewhat jokingly) worries that if Henry dies, [[TheNeidermeyer Frank Burns]] takes over.
* SuddenlyBilingual: During surgery, Father Mulcahy surprises Hawkeye and Trapper by reciting a ''Mi Shebeirach''[[note]] a Jewish prayer for healing [[/note]] in Hebrew for the wounded Private Goldstein. TruthInTelevision, as military chaplains have to cater to all faiths.
-->'''Hawkeye''': ''[to Trapper]'' Funny, he doesn't look it.
* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Subverted. Trapper points out the food Henry's about to eat could have something wrong with it and offers to taste-test it, but it's just an excuse to eat his meal and get back at him.
* TemptingFate: Henry at Hawkeye's improvised golf course, stating "I'm really starting to unwind." A second later comes the startling gunshot.
* ThreatBackfire: Trapper and Frank trade blows of this trope over Trapper wanting to use Colonel Blake's Jeep for casual reasons rather than official.
-->'''Trapper''': Frank, you're sucking around to become a hit-and-run case. ''MOVE!''\\
'''Frank''': Over my dead body.\\
'''Trapper''': [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Great! I-dea!]]\\
'''Frank''': I dare you.\\
'''Trapper''': Now listen, Frank. I have just completed three straight days of surgery without rest. And this nursie and I are going out and [[SexualEuphemism doing some nature studies]]. So if you ''don't wanna become a hood ornament, you better MOVE!!!''
* UnderwearFlag: A brassiere is used as a hole marker for the golf course Hawkeye and Trapper laid out.
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