Yes, the P.O.V. or point of view shot had been used before this. In fact it is still to this day, a staple in horror cinema and had prior to this been put most brilliantly on display in the criminally underrated film noir Lady In The Lake. However, no one had ever been brave enough to put it on TV to any extent. I mean who could sit through 30 minutes of a mostly low angle view from a bed ridden soldier's perspective? It took a series with some sway and some power like M*A*S*H to pull it off. I'm sure CBS fought them tooth and nail on this but luckily the writers won the battle (assuming there was one). We follow the soldier and his point of view from the battlefield all the way to his bus trip and everything that happens in between. As it is television drama, when done right, makes us feel like we're spying on the lives of the characters. This episode takes that concept all the way by putting you in the action with the way it's filmed. You can't communicate with the M*A*S*H principles, but neither can the character whose eyes we are seeing through. Episodes like Point Of View, Life Time or Dreams may not be a barrel of laughs, but almost no other TV series would ever be so bold as to experiment with an episode like this one...simply a masterpiece that displays some serious creative genius that I can't recommend highly enough.
Review of Point of View
