Talk:Mobile Army Surgical Hospital

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 7 September 2021 and 14 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Cooper.Lee21.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 04:20, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

97% chance
The stat on a solider having a 97% survival rate once they reach a MASH unit is very hard to verify. There are no reliable references to this stat that I can find on the web, nor a search through some papers on MASH units. The stat appears to originate from the TV series MASH, Season 4, Episode 24. I think that unless someone can find some stats to back it up, it needs to be removed. Besides, my own personal view (which shouldn't come in to it, but does) says that 97% is an incredibly high survival rate for battlefield injuries. The only way I can see that working is that since the MASH unit is back from the war front, in the time it takes to get the wounded to the unit, those that were going to die, already have done so, and therefore don't weigh the stat down. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.98.166.152 (talk) 11:26, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

Mac-Pap
The Mac-Pap Battalion entry claims that Dr. Norman Bethume invented the MASH. I don't know who's right but I wanted to point out the disrepency. —User:207.200.137.3 15:35, 9 April 2005 (UTC)


 * Bethume developed the first modern mobile military medical units during the Spanish Civil War. Strictly speaking a “MASH” (Mobil Army Surgical Hospital) was a specific type of U.S. Army medical unit, eventually replaced by a CSH (Combat Support Hospital).  Due to the popularity of the series M*A*S*H, many people now informally use “MASH” to refer to any mobile military field hospital. —MJBurrage &bull;  talk  &bull; 15:17, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Bethume's article has a vague reference to developing medical units for use near the front, but look at the picture in the article. It is a truck carrying supplies. The MASH was fully functional as a hospital unit, self sufficient in many regards for use in the field. E.g., it had tents for housing patients & staff, surgical units, pharmacy, lab, x-ray equipment, etc. The present article has an excellent WP:RS for the pioneers of the concept -- a NYT obit. I've modified the claim in Bethume's articles (both) to describe what he did as a precursor, not a model for the MASH.--S. Rich (talk) 03:17, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Still a Stub?
Is this article a stub? It provides enough links and information in my opinion to have the stub banner at the bottom removed...

If no one replies to this comment I'll remove it 5 July. —User:Flydpnkrtn 00:53, 3 July 2005 (UTC)

An essay some may be interested in reading
I closed a VFD debate, Votes for deletion/M*A*S*H developments in Korea, over an essay which some people expressed interest in having merged with this article. I have left the essay in the history, and can be found at this link. —Sjakkalle (Check!)  12:11, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Decommissioned?
This article states that the last MASH unit was decommissioned in 1997. However AP reported today that the US Army sent a MASH unit to Pakistan. —User:69.157.125.216 16:58, 24 October 2005 (UTC)
 * The link provided to the 212 website insinuates the MASH is still operating. Why does the article then say that the last unit was decommissioned?Michael Dorosh 19:55, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
 * NPR Story indicating decommissioning: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5219020 Darthnice 20:26, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

The 1997 story was for the unit in Korea, not the very very last MASH.--S. Rich (talk) 03:18, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

I shall add, the NPR story I looked at does not mention decommissioning. Perhaps the confusion arises from the term decommission. My guess is we gave surplus/excess equipment to the Paks and the 212 continued on. Indeed, I've updated the Article webpage that shows them as active and which lists a Soldier and NCO of the Year for 2009. With this in mind, I'm going to tag or delete the material in the article.--S. Rich (talk) 04:07, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

A History
http://www.nmanet.org/JMNA_Journal_Articles/May-JNMA/Hist648.pdf

Among other things it mentions MUST and MAST being in Viet Nam. —User:Gbleem 01:46, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

MASH in M*A*S*H*
It should be noted that this comparison is only to the TV series. In the movie, the staff was much larger. There were 17 nurses, and several other surgeons. Even The Swamp had one more resident and they didn't all work the same shifts. 174.91.4.181 (talk) 05:55, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

MASH
The usage of is up for discussion, see Talk:M*A*S*H -- 70.24.250.103 (talk) 06:03, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

More details about what a MASH consisted of please?
Whilst providing a general overview of what it did, this article gives no insight into the scale of a MASH - how many doctors / nurses / patients / other staff were part of it. Of course this may reflect that many configurations existed over the years, but it seems to be a lack. Ender&#39;s Shadow Snr (talk) 20:48, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

Hello Ender&#39,

I will be uploading a bunch of information at some point soon. Please stay tuned.

Best,

Cooper.21 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cooper.Lee21 (talk • contribs) 18:44, 18 November 2021 (UTC)

Requested move 21 January 2018

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

No consensus to move, after extended discussion. bd2412 T 01:50, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

Mobile army surgical hospital (US) → Mobile army surgical hospital – There is nothing to disambiguate from. RadiculousJ (talk) 00:19, 21 January 2018 (UTC) --Relisting. bd2412  T 20:00, 30 January 2018 (UTC)
 * This is a contested technical request (permalink). Anthony Appleyard (talk) 05:50, 21 January 2018 (UTC)


 * queried move request Anthony Appleyard (talk) 05:52, 21 January 2018 (UTC)
 * other countries usually call them field hospitals but the US term has spread as the US mobile element has been copied. Either retain (US) or capitalize. In ictu oculi (talk) 00:28, 21 January 2018 (UTC)
 * see above Anthony Appleyard (talk) 05:55, 21 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Oppose so as above; either it's a proper noun, in which case capital Mobile A.. S.. H... Or it's a generic common noun phrase (since other field hospitals can also be mobile) and retain (US). In ictu oculi (talk) 08:32, 21 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Oppose and suggest MASH unit - I believe this is the more WP:COMMONNAME for this, demonstrated by this google ngram. Mobile Army Surgical Hospital comes in a close second on the ngram and would acceptable also. The (US) part is redundant/out-of-place and should be eliminated. -- Netoholic @ 10:05, 21 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Many nations' armies have mobile army surgical hospitals, even if they are not called that officially. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 13:34, 21 January 2018 (UTC)
 * That's irrelevant here. If other topics aren't called by this name, it's not ambiguous.--Cúchullain t/ c 22:14, 29 January 2018 (UTC)


 * Support per nom. Only the US Army commonly uses this name for its field hospitals. No need for disambiguation or capitalisation. -- Necrothesp (talk) 16:20, 26 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Move. There are no other articles titled "Mobile army surgical hospital", and the base name redirects here, so disambiguation is unnecessary. Sources don't appear to consistently capitalize the phrase, so MOS:CAPS would recommend decapitalizing it. "MASH unit" doesn't appear to be more common in a straight Google Books search, so my !vote goes for writing out the acronym.--Cúchullain t/ c 22:14, 29 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Reiterate oppose, and call for speedy close as invalid: the discovery of Mobile army surgical hospital (Norway) article which none of the supports noticed makes the rationale for the move invalid. Not that it wasn't already invalid by the fact that the idea was developed by the French in WWI and the AEF Mobile Hospital No.1 was developed following French advice. In ictu oculi (talk) 23:02, 30 January 2018 (UTC)
 * A hatnote is perfectly sufficient for that single instance. The overwhelming use of this term is for American hospitals, so it still qualifies as primary topic. Note that I'm British and I certainly wouldn't associate its use with any country other than the USA. The concept may be identical to other units from other countries; the name is unique to the USA (I would suspect the Norwegian hospital was only given that name in Korea to facilitate international co-operation, as opposed to it being the standard name for Norwegian field hospitals). -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:22, 31 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Especially as that article is actually titled "Norwegian Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" and was known as NORMASH, not "mobile army surgical hospital". At any rate the present topic is the clear WP:PRIMARYTOPIC in terms of both page views and historical significance.--Cúchullain t/ c 21:23, 31 January 2018 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.