Planning Section Chief

[SARMedTech]

Incidentally, I think the Army had MASH units until something like 2006.  A Mobile Army Surgical Hospital was intended to provide surgical care at a level between the Battalion Aid Station and a Field Hospital.  They were not intended to provide nursing care beyond postoperative care, as the patient would be evacuated farther to the rear real fast.

They were usually located in the Brigade rear, but could also be found in the Division Support Area.

I thought the last MASH to be disbanded was the 4077th. Perhaps I just remember it being disbanded because of its notoriety and assumed it was the last. I know there was the 8055th, the 8063rd and Im not sure about the rest. When theh 4077th was disbanded I remember there was a big deal about it because of the TV show and several of the actors from the program were honored guests at the "decommisioning" ceremony. Im willing to admit that I may be wrong about it being the last. I thought it was disbanded sometime around 1996 but could be wrong there as well. As Stonewall says about being wrong, "aint no thang." I also thought that MASHs were the intermediate between Aid Stations and Evac Hospitals but I suppose it depended on whether the service member was wounded severely enough to go home. I remember reading a book about the Korean conflict and it talked at some length about the 121st Evac in Seoul. I read it a long time ago and that head injury during the auto accident knocked alot of historical knowledge out of my skull. I guess I was also under the impression that the CSHs had replaced MASHs now. I guess these are the things that someone like myself without PME doesnt know the intricacies of.

[JohnKachenmeister]

SARMed:

The actors from the MASH TV series were invited to the deactivation of the last MASH unit in Korea.

The MASH unit, unlike what was depited in the series, was rendered obsolete by the helicopter.  The purpose was to provide a surgical capability close to the front, that could move with the division.  When helicopters became the preferred method of battlefield evacuation in Vietnam, they could take a casualty to any of several medical units in a short time.  In Vietnam, the presence of doctors with specialties determined who was evacuated where.  Except, of course, when the situation went all to hell, and any casualty would be taken anywhere.

So, when I was on the USS Repose and we had a neurosurgeon, we got a lot of head injuries.  (Which developed in me a psychotic and obssesive desire to wear a helmet when in combat)  Later, we got a plastic surgeon, and then we got a lot of burns and disfiguring facial wounds through our Triage unit.

[sardak]

16 October 2006
U.S. Army Converts Last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital

By Lea Terhune
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington – The Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) was famous on the front lines of war long before a movie and the television series M*A*S*H made it a household word in the United States and, after satellite television, around the world.

But the real MASH is no more. The 212th MASH, the last of its kind, was converted into the 212th Combat Support Hospital (CSH) October 16 with a ceremony to mark its recasting into a modernized unit. In its new incarnation, the 212th will be an upgraded medical field hospital more responsive to current military needs. The event was held at the Miesau Army Depot in Germany, where the 212th MASH has been based since 2000.
---------------------------
U.S. closes MASH unit that inspired movie, TV show
June 11, 1997

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea (CNN) -- The Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, the U.S. military unit that inspired the book, classic movie and long-running television series "M*A*S*H," officially disbanded in South Korea Wednesday.

"Today you are joining us in making history ... saying farewell to America's MASH," unit commander Col. Ronald Maul said at his camp 35 miles south of Seoul.

Maul's 43rd MASH unit was among only four left in the world that are being phased out to make way for what the military says is a smaller, faster, more efficient medical group called the Forward Surgical Team.

Attending the ceremony, and later signing autographs and cutting the farewell cake, were three actors from the television series...

[This MASH started the Korean war as the 8055th but it became the 43rd sometime before the end of the war.  The author of the book "M*A*S*H", which was used as the basis for the movie, then the TV show, was an MD in the 8055th.]

Mike

[ZigZag911]

The 4077 designation used on TV (and in prior book & movie) was fictitious, no doubt to protect innocent and guilty alike!

[SAR-EMT1]

MERT and DMAT are identical but for the agency in cahrge.

I am fairly up to date with  DMATs and MERTS (and IMERT in particular)
- as for ToC and Lolopalooza in Grant Park... BTDT

I apologize if I enflamed anyone with my use of the term 'bastardized MASH'

I know IMERT isnt a MASH - I was refering more to the mobile medical facility aspect.
But I never mentioned that calling a MERT/DMAT a MASH unit is a slap in the face.
Most MASH units had fine personnel and werent slap and dash outfits with second rate personnel.

Maybe instead of bastardized I should have said civilianized.

Again, I am sorry for my enflamed reaction. Youre right that it was the word "bastardized" which to me has the connotation of being sort of watered-down and not as good. I think "civilianized" is a better word, though Ive found IMERT so far to be loosely based on the military model, but then most of EMS is. In fact, IMERT uses the terms "Commander" and "Lieutenant" for certain higher ups on each team, generally physicians. The rest of us are merely "Specialists." SAREMT, are you on IMERT?

Have applied, wasn't accepted. (I wasnt deemed experienced enough at the time)