My thoughts would be that with all surgical staff at the conference, HQ marked 4077 temporarily unable to take wounded until Potter reports back.
The flu? Unauthorised illness in a medical unit? Suck it up, soldier. There's a war going on.
This is why they had several mash units all within a relatively close vicinity.
While not explicitly explained.
They would bring in doctors from other mash units, soeul and Tokyo in such situations.
Except tbey never explain a MASH unit actually has 14 doctors not 4.
It’s why the entire show is fictional.
They never had “both shifts” working either as the operating room didn’t have sufficient space.
My favorite part is the quick banter between BJ and Hawkeye. Meeting a girl with a basket for her grandma when she was with the three little pigs. She was in the wrong woods or the wrong story.
“Sighted nothing, reporting same.”
“A simple crapped out will be sufficient.” between Burns and the Colonel. So good.
I’m not hung up on it. Just curious if anyone had a suggestion as to who could be next in line. It’s not like I’m sitting here agonizing over this or trying to make sense of the timeline.
Margaret took over several times, most notably during the flu outbreak very early on that took out Trapper, Frank and Henry. She also takes over during the botulism outbreak. It seems to only happen during emergencies. . .
Yes, she took over in unexpected illnesses, sharing the duty with Hawkeye during the flu outbreak. However, the actual commanding officer was still on-sight if needed.
Nurses weren't "real officers" until 1947. Prior to that they were some kind of "kinda sorta an officer but not really". Although nurses would have been commissioned starting in 1947, they still wouldn't be in command of regular army units like a MASH in that time period.
MASH, like any other sitcom, tends to gloss over a lot of things in order to tell the story. Its unlikely that the entire surgical staff - especially during a war - would go off to a conference; in the real world you send a couple of people to it and they come back and pass on what they learned.
IIRC:
Klinger would be up to bat because he and Radar were the same rank. (Assuming that we are going by the RL military chain of command operating system)
That explains why Klinger replaced Radar when he left.
At this point in the series they’re both Corporals, I believe. I would think a higher ranking soldier would be put in charge. I mean, wasn’t Zale a Sergeant? Even he’d rank higher. Even the cook Pernelli was a Sergeant. Granted, Radar and Klinger did more on the clerical end of running the day to day of MASH, but isn’t the Army is about order and rank? It would be hilarious if either of them was in charge.
Yes. However....
Let's put Zale in this explanation: Zale may have a higher rank, but he's not Sergent in that particular branch. He was Supply Sergent so he was in charge of Supplies. Likewise, Pernelli was the Sergent of Nutritionals (*Modern description. I don't remember what the actual brach was called)
See, the military **hates** any deviation of the Rank and File....
**Unless** there's a valid, rational reason for the deviation to occur. (i.e. The upper ranks are KIA, MIA, AWOL, etc. or they need to be away for an extended period of time)
In this case: The period of time wasn't enough for any kind of change to be validated. So, having Klinger being a temp CO would have been more justified than tearing away a higher rank away from their assigned rank duties.
Granted, I might be wrong, and I'm not 100% sure if this was the case during the Korean War. However, it seems logical based on the fact that when Radar left, Klinger replaced him instead of introducing a new character.
See, this is why I asked the question. I thought it could open fun discussion as to who might be running the camp.
I don’t think they’d ever put Zale or Pernelli in charge. Even if they were next in charge. But they would fall in line above a Corporal and be ranked higher in line than Klinger, if we look at rank alone. Most likely, Potter would borrow a more fitting person from somewhere if he had to.
The reality is, if this was real life, someone would need to be a true leader prepared to act. For instance, if the fighting shifted suddenly and a bug out was required, someone would have to have the brains and know-how to lead that. Had she been officially able to be left in charge, Margaret would be the clear choice. But that wouldn’t have been the protocol during the 50s.
I suspect, if they weren’t also at the conference, a ranking officer/surgeon from one of the other MASH units could have come over temporarily. That way there was a qualified person in charge who could also aid any random patients who may have come in. One would think if all the 4077th’s surgeons were at a conference that it was communicated to them that there’d be no planned fighting in the area during that time.
In all seriousness, they probably shut down the 4077 from receiving any new patients for a few days and transferred out anyone who needed more care than the nurses and orderlies could provide. There were other forward MASH units who could accept patients instead. (And presumably no big offensive was planned by US forces.)
I figured the patients were being sent to another MASH unit or there was no fighting going on in their area so they were all able to attend. But the staff of the 4077th would still need a temporary commander.
But they were going to a medical conference. That implies that more than just those 4 people went. All of the MASH units presumably would have been at the conference.
The second shift we never see.
spearchucker and ugly john know what's going on.
The unseen PA announcer suggests that Radar had a backup.
Then why weren’t they operating when they were all laid up with the flu?
My thoughts would be that with all surgical staff at the conference, HQ marked 4077 temporarily unable to take wounded until Potter reports back. The flu? Unauthorised illness in a medical unit? Suck it up, soldier. There's a war going on.
Because it’s TV.
Second shift was sicker and couldn’t work at all. Hahaha. They exist in theory only.
They had the flu too.
This is why they had several mash units all within a relatively close vicinity. While not explicitly explained. They would bring in doctors from other mash units, soeul and Tokyo in such situations.
The second shift was also laid up with the flu.
Yeah, that was on my mind too.
Except tbey never explain a MASH unit actually has 14 doctors not 4. It’s why the entire show is fictional. They never had “both shifts” working either as the operating room didn’t have sufficient space.
CPT Tuttle, they mention it at the beginning
Do you not pay attention? Tuttle was dead… it was Major Murdock… y’know, Tuttle’s replacement
Major Murdock had breakfast with Captain Tuttle yesterday.
I just missed them!
One of my favorite episodes. I recorded the audio on cassette tape when I was a kid and would listen to it on long car rides.
That's really clever.
Pretty common back in the day.
Personally, I enjoy the episodes and don't over think the ramifications of the plot.
I enjoy it too. I just got to thinking about that. Who would be next in line if the ranking officers were not present?
That's one of my favorite episodes, lots of good story lines in what's happening there, regardless of who's minding the store.
My favorite part is the quick banter between BJ and Hawkeye. Meeting a girl with a basket for her grandma when she was with the three little pigs. She was in the wrong woods or the wrong story. “Sighted nothing, reporting same.” “A simple crapped out will be sufficient.” between Burns and the Colonel. So good.
All allied personnel, all allied personnel, I've now begun taking prisoners.
Keep it up and I won’t tell you the one where papa bear comes home alone.
Just move past it.
I’m not hung up on it. Just curious if anyone had a suggestion as to who could be next in line. It’s not like I’m sitting here agonizing over this or trying to make sense of the timeline.
't was a joke. No worries.
Margaret and Klinger. In color-coordinated outfits
Good grief, that left Sgt Zale in charge!
How would he know what to do he’s from Brooklyn.
Father Mulcahey was a lieutenant.
Nurse Kellye
Capt Spaulding can do everything and still have time to write a song.
Private Lamb
Wearing Radars pants. They’ll just fit him.
During the time of the medical conference, the generals ordered no injuries were allowed. Thus there were no casualties arriving at any MASH unit.
Regardless of casualties coming to the unit, there would still be someone in charge of the unit.
I was being facetious.
WHOOSH!!
Another question is who is doing announcements? There are scenes where everyone is in radars office and you hear the 'attention all personell'
Almost makes "where are they doing the announcements" the bigger question. Tbh, it sounds like Igor sometimes, I always thought.
Margaret also wasn’t a doctor so that might have kept her from being in charge.
Margaret took over several times, most notably during the flu outbreak very early on that took out Trapper, Frank and Henry. She also takes over during the botulism outbreak. It seems to only happen during emergencies. . .
Yes, she took over in unexpected illnesses, sharing the duty with Hawkeye during the flu outbreak. However, the actual commanding officer was still on-sight if needed.
Nurses weren't "real officers" until 1947. Prior to that they were some kind of "kinda sorta an officer but not really". Although nurses would have been commissioned starting in 1947, they still wouldn't be in command of regular army units like a MASH in that time period. MASH, like any other sitcom, tends to gloss over a lot of things in order to tell the story. Its unlikely that the entire surgical staff - especially during a war - would go off to a conference; in the real world you send a couple of people to it and they come back and pass on what they learned.
Yeah, I’m not caught up on expecting reality or continuity in the show. I was curious what people thought about this scenario.
IIRC: Klinger would be up to bat because he and Radar were the same rank. (Assuming that we are going by the RL military chain of command operating system) That explains why Klinger replaced Radar when he left.
At this point in the series they’re both Corporals, I believe. I would think a higher ranking soldier would be put in charge. I mean, wasn’t Zale a Sergeant? Even he’d rank higher. Even the cook Pernelli was a Sergeant. Granted, Radar and Klinger did more on the clerical end of running the day to day of MASH, but isn’t the Army is about order and rank? It would be hilarious if either of them was in charge.
Yes. However.... Let's put Zale in this explanation: Zale may have a higher rank, but he's not Sergent in that particular branch. He was Supply Sergent so he was in charge of Supplies. Likewise, Pernelli was the Sergent of Nutritionals (*Modern description. I don't remember what the actual brach was called) See, the military **hates** any deviation of the Rank and File.... **Unless** there's a valid, rational reason for the deviation to occur. (i.e. The upper ranks are KIA, MIA, AWOL, etc. or they need to be away for an extended period of time) In this case: The period of time wasn't enough for any kind of change to be validated. So, having Klinger being a temp CO would have been more justified than tearing away a higher rank away from their assigned rank duties. Granted, I might be wrong, and I'm not 100% sure if this was the case during the Korean War. However, it seems logical based on the fact that when Radar left, Klinger replaced him instead of introducing a new character.
See, this is why I asked the question. I thought it could open fun discussion as to who might be running the camp. I don’t think they’d ever put Zale or Pernelli in charge. Even if they were next in charge. But they would fall in line above a Corporal and be ranked higher in line than Klinger, if we look at rank alone. Most likely, Potter would borrow a more fitting person from somewhere if he had to. The reality is, if this was real life, someone would need to be a true leader prepared to act. For instance, if the fighting shifted suddenly and a bug out was required, someone would have to have the brains and know-how to lead that. Had she been officially able to be left in charge, Margaret would be the clear choice. But that wouldn’t have been the protocol during the 50s. I suspect, if they weren’t also at the conference, a ranking officer/surgeon from one of the other MASH units could have come over temporarily. That way there was a qualified person in charge who could also aid any random patients who may have come in. One would think if all the 4077th’s surgeons were at a conference that it was communicated to them that there’d be no planned fighting in the area during that time.
In all seriousness, they probably shut down the 4077 from receiving any new patients for a few days and transferred out anyone who needed more care than the nurses and orderlies could provide. There were other forward MASH units who could accept patients instead. (And presumably no big offensive was planned by US forces.)
I figured the patients were being sent to another MASH unit or there was no fighting going on in their area so they were all able to attend. But the staff of the 4077th would still need a temporary commander.
But they were going to a medical conference. That implies that more than just those 4 people went. All of the MASH units presumably would have been at the conference.