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Hunnicutt resided in [[Mill Valley, California]], before he was drafted. He was educated at [[Stanford University]] and was a member of the [[Tau Phi Epsilon]] fraternity. He is a third-generation doctor in his family. He went through his military training at [[Fort Sam Houston]]. When he arrived at MASH 4077 in September 1952 he is 28 years old; later when he meets a medical college friend "Practical Joker" it is revealed that BJ has been both married and practicing medicine for 10 years.
He is devoted to his wife Peg (née Hayden) who writes many letters to him while he is in Korea. The couple has a daughter, Erin, who was born shortly before B.J. left for Korea. In contrast to the philandering Trapper John, B.J. remains generally faithful to his wife and daughter, saying that it's not because he thinks it's morally wrong to do otherwise, but "I simply don't want to." One time he accidentally had an unplanned one-night stand while comforting a nurse, and was also similarly tempted into having an affair with a visiting female journalist. The nine months he spends in Korea caused him to have an [[emotional breakdown]] because of the separation from his wife and child. However, he was later written as a recreation of Trapper when in one episode ("Movie To-night) he and Hawkeye sing a duet about how they ''both'' "work on patients through the day and nurses through the night". He is also more reserved than his predecessor, often serving as the voice of reason when Hawkeye goes too far. Nonetheless, he also participates in and initiates practical jokes, such as secretly switching Major Winchester's clothing for that of other soldiers to make him think he is gaining or losing weight, or filling Frank Burns's air raid foxholes with water and then having the visiting Sidney Freedman yell ''"Air raid!"''.<ref> M*A*S*H, Episode 5/08, "Dear Sigmund." First aired November 9, 1976.</ref> On other occasions, B.J. encourages members of the 4077th to play jokes on each other, starting escalating joke wars for his amusement, with neither side knowing that he is the instigator. Unfortunately, this has often backfired on him when both parties he was pranking find out and retaliate. B.J. is also an inveterate, bordering on compulsive, [[pun]]ster.
While he assumes the same general disregard for military discipline exhibited by both Hawkeye and Trapper — going as far as to grow out a moustache at the start of the 7th season in clear violation of [[Uniforms of the United States Army|Army uniform guidelines]] (and would be retained by the character for the rest of the series, though Farrell would shave it off immediately after the series ended)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://metv.com/stories/mike-farrell-had-complicated-feelings-about-bj-hunnicutts-mustache | title=Mike Farrell had complicated feelings about B.J. Hunnicutt's mustache }}</ref>—B.J. professes stronger moral values. For example, in the episode "Preventative Medicine" he refuses to participate in a scheme to have an overzealous officer relieved of command by performing an unnecessary [[appendectomy]] on him. He is a skilled surgeon, willing to take extraordinary measures to save a patient, such as in "Heroes", where he undertakes an experimental procedure he had read about in a medical journal, using a primitive open-chest [[defibrillator]] and open-chest [[heart massage]]. On another occasion, he gave away a [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star]] he was awarded because he felt he did not deserve it.<ref>Episode 11/06, "Bombshells". First aired November 29, 1982.</ref>
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