MASH stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. This story takes place in MASH unit 4077 in the Korean War. Colonel Henry Blake runs this place. He's that middle-aged man with the short sandy colored hair.
His second in command is Major Frank Burns. He is SUPER ANNOYING. He's always talking about how we need to act like a real military unit and be proper soldiers… blah, blah, blah. Frank is that blue-eyed man talking to the pretty blonde over there. She's Major Margaret Houlihan. She absolutely adores Frank… Yuck.
See that little fellow over there? That's Walter O'Reilly. We call him Radar. He handles most of the paperwork. Kind of like the 4077's secretary.
Oh, that curly haired guy? That's Captain John McIntyre. He goes by the name of Trapper. Huh, that's funny. Usually he's with Hawkeye. I wonder where he is… What? Who's Hawkeye? His real name is Captain Benjamin Pierce. He has black hair and blue eyes. I'm sure he'll show up.
What's that? Who am I? I'm Nurse Belle Winifred. Let me show you around.
Right now, we're in the mess tent. This is where we come to eat. The food's awful here but it's better than nothing… I suppose. Let's go outside.
To the left are the Nurse's Quarters and Showers. That's where I live. To the right are the Surgeon's Quarters and Showers. Go down that way and to the left is Henry's tent.
That building straight ahead is the OR. That's where the patients are operated on. On either side are the Pre-Op Ward and the Post-Op Ward. In Pre-Op, the patients are prepped for surgery. In Post-Op, they stay until they are recovered enough to either go back into battle or, if they're lucky, return home.
A little way's down is Henry's office. That's where he can usually be found during the day. That's also where Radar can usually be found. Frank and Margaret are always going there to complain. Usually about Hawkeye and Trapper.
Oh, look. Here comes Hawkeye now.
"Belle, where's Henry?"
"In there." I motioned to the mess tent behind me.
He smiled. "Thanks, lovely."
He's such a flirt.
Soon after he went in, Frank came out.
"Could you believe it!" he exclaimed to, as far as I could tell, no one in particular.
"What?" I was curious.
"Pierce wants a vacation! A vacation for crying out loud! We're in a war!"
"I'm aware of that. And I'm sure everyone else does too."
He went on as if I didn't say anything. "The worst part is that the Colonel will probably let him have it! If I were colonel-"
Lucky for me, Hawkeye came out just at that moment.
"Guess what?" he asked excitedly.
Frank turned and left. But that didn't dampen Hawkeye's enthusiasm.
"I just got three days in Tokyo for some R&R!"
I smiled. "Sounds nice."
"You bet it does!"
He hurried off to his tent to pack.