Mobile Army Surgical Hospital

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Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) were U.S. Army field hospital units conceptualized in 1946 as replacements for the obsolete World War II-era Auxiliary Surgical Group hospital units.^[1] MASH units were in operation from the Korean War to the Gulf War before being phased out in the early 2000s.^[1][2] Each MASH unit had 60 beds, as well as surgical, nursing, and other enlisted and officer staff available at all times.^[1] MASH units filled a vital role in military medicine by providing support to army units upwards of 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers.^[3] These units had a low mortality rate compared to others, as the transportation time to hospitals was shorter, resulting in fewer patients dying within the "Golden Hour",^[4] the first hour after an injury is first sustained, which is referred to in trauma as the "most important hour".^[4] The U.S. Army deactivated the last MASH unit on February 16, 2006, and the successors to Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals are combat support hospitals.