User:Cooper.Lee21/Mobile Army Surgical Hospital

GENERAL INFO

U.S Army MASH Units or “Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals” were conceptualized in 1946 as revolutionized units of ASG Units which were “Auxiliary Surgical Hospitals” made during World War II became obsolete. MASH units had 60 beds, surgical, nursing, other enlisted and officer staff available at all times. Often working long hours to save lives in many wars. MASH Units were in operation from the Korean War all the way to the Gulf War and the remnants slowly disappeared in the early 2000s. MASH units filled a very vital role in military medicine, that was providing close support to army units upwards of 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers. There is also a low mortality rate as a whole coming from these units as the transportation time to hospitals was low resulting in less patients ding within the “Golden Hour”. The “Golden Hour” is the first hour after an injury to a person which is referred to in drama as the most important hour. This is because mobility and mortality have the highest chances of being kept for a patient, that is one of the reasons why MASH units were located so close to the front lines.

Wounded casualties being transported to a MASH Unit.

World War II

The first trials for what would become MASH Units were established by the U.S Army during World War II. The necessity for the U.S Army to have more convent treatment centers was shown by the long logistics of the stretched out supply lines during the World War. These units were known as “Auxiliary Surgical Groups” and would care for the wounded much closer than permanent hospitals, making them essentially hospitals. In the Early 1940s Colonel Michael DeBakey and another medical professional were selected to give recommendations on how to provide surgical care for the U.S Army. The result was the ASG, Although these units were very inexperienced, they were incredibly effective resulting in five ASG units being created in 1943, this resulted in the ASG units being able to move along with the U.S Army units located in Italy and was the bases in which MASH would directly come from.

Korean War

MASH units often took 24 hours to setup at new locations once moved with armored units, trucks and airmobile. Airmobile or the early stages of what we now call helicopters was crucial to the war effort as they were fast traveling units that could pickup casualties and deliver them effectively back to MASH units. With mountainous terrain in Korea this was crucial as ground transport could compromise the patients lives and would take longer to arrive to MASH units.

The Bell H-13 helicopter known for its service to MASH units in the Korean War.

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War had little action for the MASH units within the U.S Army. The Vietnam War marked the demise of the MASH units as only one unit served actively known as the “2nd MASH Unit” active only from October 1966 to July 1967. The Vietnam war was not a conventional war. In fact, it was much different war from The Korean War which MASH units were created in. The Vietnam War required a change from MASH to MUST or “Medical Unit Self-Contained Transportable” units. MUST units had trailers, inflatable sections and technology focused on a wider range of wounds from war. In MUST units the wounds were much different then the Korean war resulting in many changes needed to the units as a whole with new innovations were required. New treatments were also needed for burn victims which MASH units created a mortality rate of up to 90%  for burn victims. Although this clearly showed progress in the medical field the type of warfare changed making MASH obsolete in many cases. MUST units had to keep their equipment on standby at all times effectively replacing MASH units and later transferring into more revolutionized units in war-zones. The idea of a MASH unit is to be available at all times to those who have been wounded in combat on the front generally requiring general or trauma surgery but, as technology got better. There was a lot more room to improve transportation, technology used to treat soldiers and the layout of these units resulting in MASH being converted to MUST units.

Combat Support

One of the last MASH units world wide was located in Pakistan serving as a civilian hospital to aid in recovery efforts following an earthquake in 2006. Known as the 212th MASH unit which was originally in Miesu, Germany. Was re established for the Iraqi war of 2003. In addition to treating soldiers, they treated over thirty thousand civilians. With an average mortality rate of 97%, this was impressive considering how many victims there were of an earthquake and the longevity of these units from the late 1940s to the early 2000s. Although these hospitals were very effective in being able to provide suitable care to those in the battlefield and civilian populations. The MASH units soon became obsolete as MASH units were made for conventional wars, Vietnam war, The Gulf War and the Iraq war were in much different terrains resulting in much different needs as they were much harder to traverse than Korea. New vehicles transportation such as the Bell H-13 known as the first evac helicopter and later the Black Hawk Helicopter made airmobile and other ground units ineffective in desert and tropical terrain. Lastly, technology made for treating patients in the operating room and elsewhere has gotten much more complex resulting in more space and care needed to treat soldiers along with much less troops being deployed.