"Hawkeye's a pacifist."
Listen. I love Hawkeye "I Won't Carry a Gun" Pierce, but he's not above physically harming someone. He's against weapons and war, but he isn't devotedly non-violent.
Hawkeye has leaped over tables to get into a fist fight with Frank Burns. He's almost gotten court martialed for shoving brass. He has physically postured more than once to get people to back off.
He won't carry a gun but you will absolutely catch his brilliant surgeon hands if he's pushed far enough.
The thing is, Hawkeye isn't GOOD at fighting. The one time he gets a knockout is when Frank had no idea it was coming. That wet noodle of a man goes off way more than BJ both emotionally, verbally and physically despite BJ getting pinned as the more aggressive of the two. It's just that when Hawkeye gets into a fight (with someone that isn't Frank) he's almost immediately overwhelmed. Also on a meta level Hawkeye's violence is always played for laughs.
The thing about BJ is that if he gets set off he might actually murder you because he can actually do damage. Hawkeye will get violent out of frustration, BJ gets violent from rage. That said in situations where BJ can keep a cool head he will verbally talk people down, or trick them if he has time. Early days he tries to soothe Hawkeye and talk sense into him when Hawkeye's frustration has boiled over and gotten him in trouble. That's why it's so jarring when he attacks someone. And with BJ it isn't played for laughs. Whenever it happens it's serious.
As for Trapper, despite his knowing how to fight he is not prone to sudden physical violence. Sometimes he will posture. The only times he actually tries to physically harm someone he usually has at least a second to think about it. Like smacking Hawkeye with his duffle when he's drunk. The situation he has a full beat to consider when Hawkeye tries to stop him before he acts. He isn't loud or intimidating, he just thinks about it and does it. The other time is when he's stewing over the death of his patient and cuts off the blood supply to the soldier that did it. Once again it's a very cool and deliberate action. So Trapper is less volatile. He thinks about it. I don't mean to say he has a clear head about it, just that he'll get to a bad enough place in his head where it feels like a solution rather than a sudden release of frustration like Hawkeye or a flash of uncontrollable rage like BJ.
The reason Hawkeye gets less physical later on is that Frank is gone, who apparently has been evoking Hawkeye's fight reflex on an almost daily basis.
