U.S. military says goodbye to last MASH

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.

CBS' "MASH" ran from 1972-83, tackling the delicate task of trying to make viewers laugh while showing the horrors of the Korean War. The half-hour show juggled the funny and the serious by being a "dramedy," with multiple plot lines -- some serious, others comic.

The quirky characters became icons in American TV culture, especially the womanizing, wisecracking Dr. "Hawkeye" Pierce, played by Alan Alda, who made his own gin from a still in his tent. Uptight head nurse Lt. Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, portrayed by Loretta Swit, was the butt of many of Hawkeye's jokes and schemes.

At Thursday's handover ceremony, Lt. Col. Ann Sammartino said there was a big difference between the real and fictional MASH.

"I'm supposed to be the Hot Lips Houlihan because I'm the chief nurse, but not exactly," said Sammartino, of Providence, R.I., who added she grew up watching the show and was a big fan.

"We're just as busy as you seen on the show," said Sammartino. "But the other stuff? No, I don't think that happens very often."

Robert Piotrowski, an emergency medical doctor from Pittsburgh, Pa., said no one at the MASH made his own gin for martinis.

"No stills here. We're dry but we do have some great coffee," he said.

Piotrowski also said reruns of "MASH," now available on DVD, weren't even popular in the camp. "We'd rather watch more of the 'Sopranos' and 'Lost,'" he said.