MovieChat Forums > M*A*S*H (1972) Discussion > A question about the real military

A question about the real military


Would doctors have been drafted? I don't know anything about it I'm just wondering if Doctors were really drafted and sent to combat zones as portrayed in the show/movie.

reply

Yes they were, but they had to be 18 years old, at minimum, and their rank was based on education, rather than on a military career that didn't exist. Which branch of the service they were put into, and where they were sent was based on what was needed at any one time.

They did get a few things wrong with this show, such as the age of most of the characters on the show, but nobody minds because it is just a fictional account. However, many of the episodes are based on real-life stories that soldiers and other witnesses wrote about in their experience in Korea. You would be surprised how wacky real-life can be in situations like that.

reply

Yes, doctors were drafted and World War II impacted the normal availability being only several years earlier. So many doctors were needed for WWII that the end result was many were not available via the draft for Korea and fairly few volunteered. However, it should be noted that while a considerable amount of slack was cut for doctors in Korea the show way stretched the boundaries for them.

reply

Especially how they grew out their hair in casual 1970s manner.

reply

Some may have taken advantage of "direct service commissions".

reply

I was fairly certain that they did draft doctors. But I have another military type question concerning Klinger. No, not about his dresses!

It's that we see Klinger carrying litters of wounded, he wears a nurse's uniform while he is seemingly working as a medic in the O.R. But then he is seen on guard duty at night asking for "the password."

I've often wondered how he could walk a post all night in heels. But that's another topic. lol

My question is, did enlisted men, a corporal like Klinger, have so many varied duties? In "Officer of the Day", Radar tells Hawkeye that "the guard needs to be changed" and that they need a new password.

Would a soldier like Klinger work as a guard and then in the O.R.? Were MASH units different in that everyone helped out in many areas as they were needed? I mean, at times there was such a deluge of wounded that Hawkeye would call out to Hot Lips to "close a patient" while he ran off to start another surgery.

reply

Doubtful. Real Korean War MASH units had hundreds of people on duty so I doubt that there was much doubling or tripling up when it came to duty. Having Klinger on MASH was cashing in on Uncle Miltie and other cross-dressing acts from the 1950's which were fading by the time MASH debuted. If the show was ever rebooted either the character would be deleted or substantially altered so his section 8 scheme had other roots to it.

reply

Thanks, that makes sense. Klinger became such a popular character that they had him popping up everywhere in an evening gown or a nurse's uniform.

I sort of suspected that he wouldn't be pulling down so many different types of duties.

reply

I HOPE SO...OR THOSE DOCTORS WERE LIARS.

reply