Here it, my first MASH fanfiction, originally an English essay. Now it is here for all to read and review. I do not own any of the MASH characters, it's too bad cause I want Radar. sob

The dirt covered his face, a single bead of sweat dropped from his forehead onto his nose. Young, eighteen year old, Cpl David Tomas had been stuck in a foxhole on Hill

# 59 for the past fifteen days, the last fourteen where filled with heavy rains. Today it was sunny and unbearably hot, like most summer days in Korea were. His company, Delta

Company, was fighting hard to get that small hill from a company of North Koreans on the other side. So far today, it had been quiet. This was a big change from the past three days. David recalled the mortar rounds, gun shots and screams that occupied the day, and the way the night was lit up by the fire of ammunitions. Four people in Delta Company had been wounded and one was M.I.A., Sgt Doug Linney, Pte Tommy Coleman, Sgt Steve Minco, and Cpl Freddy Nelson were the ones that were injured. The one M.I.A. was an eighteen year old private from Spokane, Idaho. The young private had been missing for 2 days and was currently presumed dead. From what David heard from their Lieutenant, Lieutenant William Jackson or Billy as everyone called him, all of the wounded men were sent to a MASH unit three miles away, sadly Doug died on the helicopter from his injuries. The rest of them where in stable condition, but not out of the woods yet. David sighed and leaned against the dirt wall of the foxhole, a bit of the dirt fell into his black hair and onto his shoulders, he lazily brushed it off. "Hey, do you think the North Koreans will give up today?" asked a red-haired boy that was sitting next to

David. "Maybe, I hope so, I don't know how much longer we can last. But let's just take it easy and take advantage of this peace and quiet while we can." David took his buddy's advice and closed his eyes. At least he was stuck here with Sam, David Tomas and Sam

Johnson had been best friends since both were little kids. Sam was a three years older than David, so he had been drafted a two years earlier when the U.S. declared that it was going to help fight the communist threat, so he would be going home soon. David on the other hand, was just drafted three weeks ago. "Yeah, we should, after the fight we've been giving them, but they won't be quiet forever. Last time we tried to take this hill back, we fought for five weeks straight. They just love their land too much" Sam said, with sadness in his voice. The 20 year old had seen much bloodshed, too much, from both sides of the war; everyone, both communists and imperialists were fighting hard for what they thought was right. Both of the boys closed their tired eyes and slept while it was quiet. Their dreams where filled of memories of home, home cooked meals, parties, and a nice warm clean bed. Sam was right, the next hour the fighting started again, the North Koreans started it, by sending a mortar round. It was followed by gunshots and more rounds, Sam and David fought back hard, but they eventually ran out of ammunition. After the boys ran out, all they could do was huddle in their foxhole, listening to the mortar rounds get closer and closer to their sanctuary in the ground. One of the mortar rounds finally found Sam and David's foxhole, both of the boys where blown five feet. Searing pain shot through his right leg. He looked down at it; there was a large piece of shrapnel in his leg. Dark red blood was gushing out of the wound, the sight of blood almost always made David faint. The darkness then overtook the young Corporal.

"Two units of whole blood, A Positive over to Cpl. Tomas" David awoke, the smell of blood and burning flesh filled his nostrils. A black haired doctor hovered over him, at least he thought the man was a doctor, he had no insignia on him. "Hey, doc, how am I?" Asked David. "You'll be just fine kid; we just need to do a little patchwork on that leg of yours. Don't worry; you'll get to keep it." Replied the black haired doctor,

David laid back into his stretcher and prayed that the doctor was right. "Hawk, I need you over here." Called out another doctor, this one had blonde hair, to the black haired doctor, who David assumed, was Hawk. "This kid has suffered massive trauma to the brain, pupils are fixed and dilated, also there's too much blood that has been lost. He'll take up lot of time and will need at least two surgeons, worse yet, I don't think he'll make it."

David looked over at the patient that the doctors where talking about. No, it couldn't be, it was Sam. The bandage on his head was soaked with blood, his face was pale and lifeless. "Doc, there must be something you can do?!" Shouted David at the doctors in a frantic voice. "Sorry Tomas, there is nothing we can do. B.J. you're right there is nothing we can do for him." Looking over at a young blonde haired man with thick, round glasses, he tapped him on the shoulder. "Father we need you over here." "Not another one, war is such a waste of life." Responded the Father, David then heard the priest quietly mutter to himself. "I hope this madness ends soon." Meanwhile Hawk was looking over David again. "Corpsman, get this man into pre-op." He directed to two men behind him. One of them wore thick glasses and a kaki green wool cap. He didn't look much older that David. The other one David was not sure what sex it was. The corpsman looked like a very hairy woman with a huge nose; he, or she was wearing a white summer dress with red polka dots, or maybe that was blood. At a closer look David found out, to his relief, that it was a man and the red spots were polka dots. David blacked out as they lifted his stretcher up.

David woke up again in a large wooden room, this must be the pre-op room they were talking about on the bus. There were bodies all around him on stretchers, some of them screamed and moaned with pain, others were silent. After a while of observation David discovered the silent ones where going into the O.R. first. He spotted the man in the dress again. "Hey, you in the dress!" David called out to the man. He turned around to face David. "Yeah, what do you want kid?" The man said. "Who are you and why are you in a dress?" He asked. "I'm corporal Klinger and I'm bucking for a section 8 discharge, I've been trying really hard to prove that I'm a psycho. Someday with all of these crazy stunts, they'll have to believe that I'm crazy." replied Klinger. "Klinger get over here" Bellowed an old man on the other side of the room. "Duty calls, talk to you later kid." Said Klinger before walking off to talk to the old man. David remembered a guy in his company that tried that same trick, Pte. Eric Wilson was the man, if he remembered correctly from what he heard. Eric kept on saying that he was a daisy, and insisted that he was watered every morning. He eventually got his discharge after only two weeks of the act, David smiled, the sight of Eric must have been hilarious, David never got to see Wilson for himself because Eric was discharged before David was drafted. Sam was the one that told David about Wilson, it was hard to believe that Sam was dead; a tear of remorse ran down David's cheek and his blue eyes filled with sadness. "Hey, are you ok, I mean I know your not ok, your injured, but what's wrong?"

Asked a young man with glasses, he recognised him as the one of the corpsman that carried him off of the bus. "Yeah, it's just that my buddy, Sam Johnson, died on the bus.

Well he wasn't dead yet, but there was nothing the Docs could do for him." The young man's hazel eyes filled with sympathy. "Gee, that's too bad; I've seen many people come in here that wouldn't be able to make it. The Docs try to give everyone a chance, but...."

The young man's slowly voice trailed off. "I understand." He said before walking off.

Soon after two other corpsmen brought David into the O.R., they put him onto Hawk's table. "Cpl. Tomas, we meet again. Tell me how old you are?" Said Hawk, while taking a look at the x-ray of David's right leg. "Just turned eighteen four weeks ago, got my draft notice a few days after that. When I got the notice, I thought to myself 'what a birthday present.'" "You're just a child, all of them are children; we're not surgeons operating on solders, we're penetrations working on children." Said the surgeon that was in front of

David. "Cut out the wisecracks Pierce, these men are proud to serve their country." The voice that said those words sounded heartless and uncaring. "Ignore Major Burns; he is just a regular army asshole pretending to be a doctor, in reality he should be a pastry cook" "Nertz to you Pierce." The cold, whiney voice of the Major said. The surgeon ignored Major Burns' comment and continued on with his work. "Margaret put him under." He directed to a blonde haired nurse. "You'll get my bill in a few weeks." David looked up; the Doc had a sly smile on his face. "Breathe in deep and count to ten." ordered Margaret. The gold oak leaves on her indicated that she was a major. A high rank for a woman so young, she must command a lot of respect. As she put the mask over his face, the bitter taste of the anaesthesia filled David's mouth. 'One.. two... three.... four....... five..............' Everything went black.

That's all she wrote, please review and let me know what you think. Thanx.