Best Care Anywhere
By: Walter "Radar" O'Reilly
Dedicated to: All the beautiful people who ever served at MASH 4077, and special dedication to bestest colonel I ever knew, Henry Blake.
Chapter One - A Symphony
"Choppers"
Among the many things I won't miss about Korea was the sound of choppers bringing in more wounded. Not too many choppers fly over here in Iowa so I only hear the dreaded sounds of choppers blades in my sleep. For those in the infantry, the sound of choppers was the sound of rescue, help and possibly freedom. But for us back at the 4077, it was agony, fear and labor. Not every soldier made it, but by God we were the best there was around. Our doctors and nursing staff were put above all. Not to say our fellow aid station workers, bus drivers, chopper pilots and medics weren't God's gift to the war. After watching everyone work in what seemed like chaos it almost had a rhythm to it. The choppers fly, touch down and unload. The nurses run, the doctors yell for stretchers, plasma and nurses. It was a sad, slow symphony, one I will never ever forget. I was always the first one to hear the choppers coming, talk about shooting the messenger. The war did have its way of interrupting things. Sometimes when it would get real still and quiet at night, I'd think I heard the choppers coming, but it was only my imagination. The sound tormented me and it still does till this day. Every time I heard them, my stomach churned and my mind didn't even have enough time to register what was happening right at that moment, all that mattered was the wounded.and they never stopped coming.
Dedicated to: All the beautiful people who ever served at MASH 4077, and special dedication to bestest colonel I ever knew, Henry Blake.
Chapter One - A Symphony
"Choppers"
Among the many things I won't miss about Korea was the sound of choppers bringing in more wounded. Not too many choppers fly over here in Iowa so I only hear the dreaded sounds of choppers blades in my sleep. For those in the infantry, the sound of choppers was the sound of rescue, help and possibly freedom. But for us back at the 4077, it was agony, fear and labor. Not every soldier made it, but by God we were the best there was around. Our doctors and nursing staff were put above all. Not to say our fellow aid station workers, bus drivers, chopper pilots and medics weren't God's gift to the war. After watching everyone work in what seemed like chaos it almost had a rhythm to it. The choppers fly, touch down and unload. The nurses run, the doctors yell for stretchers, plasma and nurses. It was a sad, slow symphony, one I will never ever forget. I was always the first one to hear the choppers coming, talk about shooting the messenger. The war did have its way of interrupting things. Sometimes when it would get real still and quiet at night, I'd think I heard the choppers coming, but it was only my imagination. The sound tormented me and it still does till this day. Every time I heard them, my stomach churned and my mind didn't even have enough time to register what was happening right at that moment, all that mattered was the wounded.and they never stopped coming.