In service World War I A precursor to MASH units, the
American Expeditionary Force Mobile Hospital 1 was established, following the example of the French military
automobile-chirurgical units shortly after the American entry to the war.
World War II Principles for a mobile medical unit and their implementation were established through trial and error in the dental field during World War II by Major Vincent P. Marran, a medic in the
United States Third Army. The effectiveness of his efforts were widely admired and supported by the command structure, but no formal designation was established. The first trials for what would become MASH units were established by the U.S. Army during World War II. MASH units often took 24 hours to set up at new locations once moved with armored units, trucks and airmobile. 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. In 1997, the last MASH unit in
South Korea was deactivated. A deactivating ceremony was held in South Korea, which was attended by several members of the cast of the
M*A*S*H television series, including
Larry Linville (who played
Frank Burns) and
David Ogden Stiers (who played
Charles Winchester).
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, known as the "2nd MASH Unit", served actively, and only from October 1966 to July 1967. The Vietnam War was a very different environment from the Korean War which MASH units were created in.
Operation Iraqi Freedom The 212th MASH – based in Miesau Ammo Depot, Germany – was deployed to Iraq in 2003, supporting coalition forces during
Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was the most decorated combat hospital in the U.S. Army, with 28
campaign streamers on the organizational colors. The 212th MASH's last deployment was to
Pakistan to support the
2005 Kashmir earthquake relief operations. The
U.S. State Department bought the MASH's tents and medical equipment, owned by the DoD, and donated the entire hospital to the Pakistani military, a donation worth $4.5 million.
Conversion to Combat Support Hospital Internationally, the 212th MASH was converted to a
Combat Support Hospital on October 16, 2006, as the last MASH unit. The 212th MASH's unit sign now resides at the Army Medical Department's Museum in San Antonio, Texas. In addition, one of the last MASH units worldwide was located in Pakistan serving as a civilian hospital to aid in recovery efforts following an earthquake in 2006. 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; the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and the Iraq War were in different terrains than they were designed for resulting in different needs as they were much harder to traverse than Korea. New transportation vehicles such as the
Bell H-13 (known as the first evac helicopter) and later the
Sikorsky UH-60 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 many fewer troops being deployed. ==Field care==