Corporal Max Klinger may have spent years trying to convince the Army that he was unfit for service, but Jamie Farr actually served in the US Army, with no dress required.

In an article for Proceedings, Farr wrote about being drafted, his time serving in Japan and Korea, and how his military experience helped shape his role on M*A*S*H.

"I won't try to tell you that serving in the military changed my life or opened up new career vistas," Farr wrote. "But it did help mature me. And having actually spent time as a soldier in Japan and Korea gave me some context later on for my role in M*A*S*H."

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Farr was quick to explain that his own time in the Army wasn't anything like the way military life was portrayed on the series. Even so, his experience gave him a firsthand perspective that influenced his portrayal of Klinger.

"I'd seen the real soldiers who actually had been wounded in combat, and had been healed in the real M*A*S*H units," Farr wrote. "I'd slept in tents, and I'd traveled over bumpy terrain that may still have been minefields."

Farr also revealed one small detail that made his portrayal of Klinger that much more authentic: "For an added touch, on the set of M*A*S*H I wore my real Army dog tags."

While Farr was initially reluctant to embrace his military service because he worried it might get in the way of his show-business career, he later became grateful for the experience. 

"I realized later how important the time I spent in uniform was in my life," Farr wrote. "I learned discipline, brotherhood, and punctuality, among other things — the stuff of a young man's maturing — and I got valuable experience."

So, while Klinger was always looking for a way out of the Army, Farr brought a very real piece of his military experience to the role. M*A*S*H was the real deal, right down to the dog tags.