MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - The U.S. Army said goodbye to its last MASH Thursday, handing over the green tents, emergency room and surgical tables to Pakistani doctors and nurses who had never seen the hit TV show that made the field hospital a household name in America.
For the past four months, the 212th MASH — or Mobile Army Surgical Hospital — has been stationed in a mountain valley in northern Pakistan treating survivors of the Oct. 8 earthquake that killed more than 80,000 people.
The military decided to donate the MASH — worth $4.6 million — to Pakistan because the Army is switching to a new approach, called "combat support hospital." The new system is more flexible, with surgical squads that can go out into the field instead of waiting for patients to be flown in.
Surrounded by snow-covered peaks, the Army said farewell to the MASH in a brief, simple ceremony with a Pakistani army band in maroon jackets and gold-trimmed hats playing marching tunes — not "Suicide is Painless," the TV show's theme song.
more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060217/...ash_farewell_3
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