Random TV thinkamancy.

[theweaselking]

MASH aired 1972-1983, set in the American War On Korea (1950-1953) . And for the first three seasons, the entire crew was "led" by a drafted colonel who didn't want to be there, Henry Blake. Backstopped by a pair of Majors (Burns and Houlihan) who were drafted-and-incompetent (Burns) or unclear-if-drafted-or-career-but-definitely-female-and-thus-1970s-irrelevant (Houlihan). It took until season 4 for one single definitely-careerist officer (Potter) to show up.

My question is: How realistic is it that a US Army unit would be officered SOLELY by draftee officers in all relevant postions, at any point during the Korean War? And, assuming "all-draftees is unrealistic" is as true as I think it is, what changes to MASH would need to be made to make it realistic?

Comments

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

There was no female draft in the Korean War (or in any war in the US), so Houlihan was career. About equal numbers of Korean War combatants were drafted and enlisted as volunteers (not counting those already in service at the time), so it's pretty unreasonable. It's also unreasonable for a colonel to have been drafted, as draftees would typically be placed into enlisted ranks and rather than commissioned ranks. I don't know if ready reserves were a thing during the Korean War, but that would be the most realistic scenario today for senior-retired-officer-who-didn't-want-to-be-there.

[catlin.livejournal.com]

If they had the training to be physicians, they became officers and were sent to OCS. College graduates generally qualified to become officers.

[scixual.livejournal.com]

Hot Lips was very much career, from a career family.

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

Yeah! Jeez!

[mhoye.livejournal.com]

An interesting modern take on this would be an Army unit officered solely by people who weren't drafted, but who enlisted because the economy was in the tank and they didn't have any other options.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Notably, doctors were drafted with officer ranks. And the Colonel, like Major Burns and the two Captain protagonists, was a surgeon.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

Yes, I had forgotten that bit. Wikipedia also informs me that there was a "Doctor draft" that targeted medical personnel up to age 50 (unless they had other exemptions). So it's not as implausible as I thought it early this morning.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Isn't that basically the premise of Generation Kill?

I gathered China Beach was more realistic

[disgruntledgrrl.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Beach
However it was Vietnam and they were targeting "gritty". Also the promo pic on that wiki entry shows the gratuitous "sexy shot" that seems to be everywhere even though this series actually targeted situations and scenarios more from a female perspective.

MASH was better than it should have been because it was much closer to reality than was normally allowed back in that day, sometimes showing the North Koreans in a sympathetic light and dragging the methods and philosophy behind the US army through the mud.

Houlihan was proudly a career military woman who worshiped her father. Her frustration at everyone "not taking the war seriously" helped highlight more how other characters did not want to be there. During war, in field promotions do happen.
As a Lieutenant Colonel, Henry was actually not that high up the food chain from Pierce. Upon Henry leaving, it IS realistic that his MASH unit would receive a "Commissioned" officer simply because the war was more established at that point. Yes, there is a good chance that early war chaos may have been a factor behind Henry Blake's appointment in the first place.

Interesting note from the WIKI regarding "realism"
Spearchucker Jones[edit]
During the first season, Hawkeye's, Trapper's and Frank's bunkmate was a black character called Spearchucker Jones, played by actor Timothy Brown. (Brown appeared in the film version as a corporal, while neurosurgeon Dr. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones was played by former NFL player Fred Williamson.) The character disappeared after the episode "Germ Warfare" because there was, at the time, no record of black doctors serving in Korea during the Korean War.[11] According to the Memoirs of Harold Secor, a doctor working at the 8055th MASH unit, on which M*A*S*H is based, at least one black doctor did serve in Korea during the Korean War.[12]

So the creative team behind MASH tended to miss some things that were taken for granted later on. While they addressed racism regarding the soldier that didn't want a blood transfusion from a black donor, seems they forgot that many blacks didn't go through the ranks equally. Despite blood transfusions having been

According to Kevin, the actual book MASH was barely readable and the movie was much better than the book.
"...and the movie sucked."
(We actually were discussing MASH just 2 weeks ago)

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

The book was.... yeah. A comedic "memoir". It was very much like a lot of "classic" books and films: media from before they'd figured out how to make good media of that sort.

The movie, with Donald Sutherland as Alan Alda? Also not so great. It's pretty much a step-by-step filming of the book.

The character of Spearchucker Jones was in the TV show because he was in the movie, and he was in the movie because he was in the book. In both the movie and the book, he's a former pro football player who is now a surgeon, and he gets called in to "consult" at a time when there's a football game with a lot of money riding on it.

Basically, he's their ringer. And he's called "Spearchucker" because he was a black quarterback in the 40s, and that's basically the most racist way they could think of to say "he throws the football far and accurately".

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

. . . media from before they'd figured out how to make good media of that sort.

Altman included lots of elements in MASH that give the flick more depth, but you have to see it quite a few times before they become apparent.

[scixual.livejournal.com]

...I like the movie.

I guess I may be in a minority.

My family watched MASH religiously. We were sad when it ended.

Spinoffs were just dreadful, though.

[kierthos.livejournal.com]

And Colonel Potter was Regular Army. Heck, I think Klinger enlisted (rather than being drafted), because there was an episode where it was mentioned that before the war, he was stationed at Fort Dix.

And there was an episode or two that seemed to indicate that Lt. Colonel Blake had been in the military in WWII.

[stormfeather.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the series was definitely awesome. No argument.

The movie had its moments, although I don't like it nearly as well as the series. But at least it gave us "Suicide is Painless," for which it would be forgiven much. (I didn't even realize that song had lyrics until I saw the movie...)

The book... meh. I read it due to enjoying the series so much and being at least neutral on the movie, and from liking to see the sources of things I see in the usually watered-down versions... the book wasn't too memorable on its own though. Or at least, it definitely falls behind the series and book. Although if I didn't have those other two versions to draw from, it might have been more worthwhile.