History Mash / TropesAToI

* EveryHelicopterIsAHuey: Mostly averted in favor of the historically-accurate Bell 47G (or H-13 Sioux, as it was designated for military use). However, some early episodes have a model Huey hanging from the ceiling of Col. Blake's office, and later on the O Club has a poster on the wall reading "4077th Med. Co. Air Ambulance" and featuring an illustration of either a Huey or another Vietnam-era chopper.
** Possibly intentional, as in the movie and in the first few seasons, Korea was meant to be a metaphor for Vietnam.
** Incidentally, the Bell 47G is the only helicopter that really makes that "chirp-chirp-chirp" sound as the drive belts disengage. It's become a well-known [[https://www.airwarriors.com/community/index.php?threads/helicopter-movie-cliches.13560/ helicopter movie cliche]].

*** He could've grown up in Maine and moved to Chicago later on

** Mulcahy's actions in the finale can be seen as a (barely) averted one, since he left shelter during a bombardment to rescue a group of prisoners who had been left out in the open. He survives, but loses most of his hearing from a near-miss artillery shell.

** He reguarly dealt with the black market on a regular basis ("You'd be surprised what a priest can get away with") in order to get supplies for the local orphanages he worked with.
** Mulchaey once performed an emergency tracheotomy under enemy fire.

** He then disarmed a private who pointed a rifle on him at point-blank range.
** During the annual April Fools spate of pranks and pratical jokes threatend to give Klinger the last rites and a few lefts when Klinger made a joke about someone switching his bathrobe for a woman's bathrobe.

** In the series finale "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" Mulchaey ran to a POW compound under heavy shelling to free the prisoners who were sitting ducks. ([[spoiler:This act seriously damaged his hearing. In the AfterShow ''Series/AfterMASH'' Potter arranged for Mulchaey to undergo a new surgical procedure that restored much of his hearing, but he was still rendered permanently deaf in one ear]]).

* BadassPreacher: Father Mulcahy, who ''seemed'' rather quiet, unassuming, and largely ineffective, was credited by many in the unit as being the driving force behind any sense of sanity or morality in the camp, frequently dealt with the black market ("You'd be surprised what a priest can get away with"), disarmed a soldier who had a gun on him at point-blank range, talked Klinger out of using a live grenade on Frank Burns, performed an emergency tracheotomy under fire, ran to a POW compound under heavy shelling to free the prisoners who were sitting ducks ([[spoiler:which cost him his hearing]]), and [[BewareTheNiceOnes had a right hook like a brick house]].

* AnachronismStew: Although the show tends to be good about actual history, there are times that the research breaks down.
** In one episode, both ''[[Film/{{Gojira}} Godzilla]]'' and ''Film/TheBlob1958'' are referenced. Neither of those movies were released during the Korean War (''Gojira'': 1954/''Godzilla, King of the Monsters'': 1955, ''The Blob'': 1958).
*** Another borderline case of this is with ''Film/TheMoonIsBlue'': The movie was released on July 8, 1953 and was still in first-run release in the US by the time the war "ended" on July 27, 1953. While it's within the realm of possibility that the unit could have seen it, it seems highly unlikely given two reasons: The episode revolved around the MASH wanting to see the movie to see what all the fuss was about, which most likely wouldn't have happened till the film was very close to release or already released; and transit times for movies to the Korean Front. If by plane, it might be plausible.
*** In "Movie Tonight", Radar shows off his impression of Creator/JohnWayne, but the line he quotes ("I'm not gonna hit ya, I'm not...the Hell I'm not!") is lifted from ''Film/McLintock'', which was released in 1963.
** When Radio Tokyo is playing on the camp loudspeakers, it’s often playing Kyū Sakamoto’s “Ue o Muite Arukō,” otherwise known as “Sukiyaki.” While notable for being one of the first Japanese songs to gain popularity in the West, it wouldn’t be released until 1961.
** In the episode "Der Tag," Radar is shown sleeping with a copy of ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' comic book on his chest, with the 1970s logo. One shot later, it switches to another issue of the same comic with the '60s logo. Either way, the Avengers weren't around during the Korean War (in fact, none of the major characters from the Marvel Universe had even been ''created'', other than ComicBook/CaptainAmerica). In "The Novocaine Mutiny," Radar is shown possessing a ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' comic book. Spidey wouldn't be created until 1962.
** The "points" system referenced in some episodes was no longer current for rotation of personnel, nor was it ever used for surgeons.
*** According the [[http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/kw-stale/stale.htm U.S. Army Center of Military History]] “…a soldier earned four points for every month he served in close combat, two points per month for rear-echelon duty in Korea, and one point for duty elsewhere in the Far East…The Army initially stated that enlisted men needed to earn forty-three points to be eligible for rotation back to the States, while officers required fifty-five points. In June 1952 the Army reduced these requirements to thirty-six points for enlisted men and thirty-seven points for officers.”
** Several times, Korean soldiers are shown with AK-47-type rifles ([[http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/M*A*S*H_(TV_Series)#Valmet_M71 actually stand-ins]]) before any communist nation even issued them yet.
** In one episode Klinger hands out Hershey bars with UPC symbols on the back wrapper to recovering patients.
** A pinball machine from the 1970s appears in the Officers' Club, along with a poster on the wall with an illustration of a Vietnam-era helicopter.
** In one episode Henry uses a bullhorn that wasn't invented until after the war.
** In "Officer of the Day," Flagg appears wearing the branch insignia for military intelligence. This insignia wasn't used by the Army until 1962.
** Medics are always shown wearing helmets with the Red Cross painted on the front. This practice was stopped in early 1951 because North Korean snipers were using them as targets.
** General [=MacArthur=] is almost constantly referred to as the Allied Commander. [=MacArthur=] was relieved of command in April 1951 for insubordination, after less than a year in command.
** In the episode "War of Nerves", Sidney Freedman asks Radar, "Do you know how many people...think ''I Love Lucy'' is real?" ''Series/ILoveLucy'' premiered in October of 1951. Given when the characters were supposed to have been in Korea, there is no way that either of them would have ever seen the show.[[note]]Sidney, being stationed in Tokyo, might have been aware of the show, but Radar would certainly have no idea what it was.[[/note]]
** In one episode, Klinger, the surgeons, and Margaret are all playing poker. Margaret buys Klinger's hoop earrings off him so he can stay in the game, and Klinger mentions he'd wear hula hoops in his ears if he thought it'd get him out of the Army. Later in the series, he technically invents the hula hoop (or at least decides to patent it so he can make money). The hula hoop wouldn't be officially invented until 1958.
** You know that wool cap that Radar always wears? It's called a Jeep Cap, and it's actually a uniform accessory from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, not the Korean War; in fact, Patton and other American officers hated the Jeep Cap because it looked "sloppy" and "unmilitary" that it was eventually replaced with the standardized field cap before [=WW2=] ended. It was only after Radar made the Jeep Cap famous that the U.S. Army started to issue them again as surplus, though they look nothing like they used to.
** In one episode Hawkeye can be seen wearing bright blue '70s tennis shoes while walking through the compound.
** Noted in ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'''s parody "M*U*S*H" (not to be confused with the one mentioned below) when Luke-Warm Lips's appearance is commented on thusly: "This is 1950 and she's wearing a hairdo that won't even be invented until 1981!"
*** Several actresses from the period can be seen in glamor shots with roughly similar styles to Margaret's season 5 and 6 look. However (as Klinger would tell you) a side part was more common. Parting down the middle is a very '60s look, and the feathered style of the last seasons didn't come in until the mid-'70s.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Too many to count, but a few stand out above the others:
** Frank demands and receives a Purple Heart for getting an eggshell in his eye during an artillery barrage (he claimed he was hit by shell fragments, and omitted the part about the shell in question being an eggshell). In real life, he would have been denied as the injury wasn't directly caused by enemy action. He earlier demanded a Purple Heart for "slipping" on the way to the "shower" (actually a back spasm while dancing with Margaret).
** Potter is correct in stating that the Army Good Conduct Medal is only for enlisted soldiers. He's wrong in insisting that his status as a prior-service enlisted soldier entitles him to wear the medal, which he is seen wearing from time to time and he has his medal framed on his wall. What he (or the writers) failed to realize is that the medal was awarded long after Potter was an enlisted soldier and that the retroactive dates don't go back to when he was enlisted and eligible for the award.
** As a Chaplain, Mulcahy would have entered the military as a Captain, not a Lieutenant.
** Doctors didn't automatically enter service as a captain. There were plenty of surgeons in the war that were lieutenants.
** The Points system was never used for rotation of doctors. It was never used in the Korean War at all. Most of the doctors and nurses spent 12-16 months in Korea, then were sent to Japan or a Stateside Army hospital to finish up their military obligation.
*** Aside from Henry Blake earning enough Points to be discharged, the Point System was a plot point in a later episode, where the peace talks had failed again, but Potter reminds everyone if they receive enough Points, they would be rotated home. Although Hawkeye gripes the most, Charles points out he actually has the least amount of complaining to do as he has more Points than the rest of them. Later still, when Potter breaks the news that the Army upped the number of rotation Points to get transferred back to the states, Hawkeye loses it.
** In one episode, the doctors think it's ridiculous that Frank has made them pack up the unit and move it across the road, and in another, General Steele makes them move 20 miles closer to the front. Part of the reason for the unit's existence was to follow the troops into battle so the wounded could be taken care of as quickly as possible. In the early part of the war, MASH units were quite mobile, and it was only in the latter part of the war, when the battle lines stabilized, that they tended to stay put. While Frank's reasoning was absurd, Steele's wasn't, and moving the entire unit quickly wasn't out of the question; in fact it was one of the functions of a MASH.
** Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, just about every character could be charged with a plethora of ''very'' serious offenses, and being a doctor would not have saved anyone.
** [[http://www.koreanwar-educator.org/memoirs/secor_harold/index.htm#LifeMash Somewhat]] TruthInTelevision, but only somewhat.
** It's likely a case of TheMainCharactersDoEverything, but the administrative section of a MASH would have consisted of two Medical Service Corps officers (non-doctors), a warrant officer, a first sergeant, and numerous enlisted men ranging from master sergeant to private, not just one guy named "Radar". Granted, in any military organization there are "go to" guys like Radar that can get stuff done that no one else can, but a unit run by the hospital commander and one company clerk would have fallen apart fairly quickly.
*** It's implied in several episodes that Radar does have underlings, and his ''chief'' job is to negotiate and barter with other clerks, though we never see any.
** Two different characters go completely bonkers and are quietly promoted and given cushy posts to get them out of the way. The US military was not known for being kind to people who cracked under the stress of war; summary discharge under Section 8 was the usual remedy. The first example is justified as being a general, whose friends probably protected him. The second example, Frank Burns, had no friends, and it is a mystery why anyone would go out of their way to keep him in the Army.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: Definitely PlayedForLaughs, but in "Tuttle", Hawkeye and Trapper list Tuttle's religion as "druid" and prays to trees, but note he's "reform" and can pray to bushes, too. Druids were priests in the ancient Celtic religion, not just followers or the name of the religion itself, and there was a pantheon of gods similar to other Indo-European religions of the time, with gods ''of'' nature, rather than followers praying to trees.

** The movie version of the theme, written by Johnny Mandel and then-14-year-old Mike Altman, was a ''huge'' hit on college and community radio stations - and a number-one single in England ten years later, in 1980. The lyrics were probably MistakenForProfound; at best, they're an IceCreamKoan; Creator/RobertAltman, who directed the film, asked for "the stupidest lyrics ever written" and his son turned them out in five minutes. Painless Pole, the character that the song refers to, received only a passing mention in the pilot and other, so the double meaning the lyrics contain is lost.

** More recently, the show is presented in HD widescreen on Hulu. The picture quality is passable, but it's yet another victim of having the entire series reframed and cropped to fit a 16x9 TV for reruns/streaming.

* DeusAngstMachina: While everyone had breakages and awful things happen and came out more exhausted than when they came in, Hawkeye got put through so much extra shit that they even lampshaded it both in-universe and out: “Bottom’s Up” had the characters note that if anything bad happens it’s bound to happen to Hawkeye, and the writers trolled Trapper John MD with a fake synopsis that Trapper died in a car crash and Hawkeye fell apart, and the Trapper writers panicked, thinking that plot was totally real and plausible.

** Sparky, the telephone operator at I Corps, was a constant fixture on the other end of Radar’s calls, but only appeared on-screen once, in the "Tuttle" episode. He was shown sitting at a switchboard, eating an apple and reading a ''[[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]'' comic. He only got two lines of dialog, but judging from that, Sparky seemed to have a Southern drawl. The same scene revealed his real name (Sgt. Pryor) for the first and only time.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Col. Bloodworth after he watches Pierce work, and Hawk admits that wisecracks are his only way of opening his mouth without screaming.

* HawaiianShirtedTourist: Hawkeye and Trapper in particular wore a lot of Hawaiian print shirts when not in something resembling uniform.

** The movie version of the theme, written by Johnny Mandel and then-14-year-old Mike Altman, was a ''huge'' hit on college and community radio stations - and a number-one single in England ten years later, in 1980. The lyrics were probably MistakenForProfound; at best, they're an IceCreamKoan; Creator/RobertAltman, who directed the film, asked for "the stupidest lyrics ever written" and his son turned them out in five minutes. Painless Pole, the character that the song refers to, recieved only a passing mention in the pilot, so the double meaning the lyrics contain is lost.

* CallBack: In trying to make friends, Margaret in “Temporary Duty” offers B.J. and Winchester a talk over coffee, in a nod back to her “did you ever once offer me a lousy cup of coffee” speech of “The Nurses”.

* DaylightHorror: Lampshaded by Hawkeye in "Hawk’s Nightmare", when Frank tells him "There’s nothing in the dark that's not there in the light". He responds with "Why do I find no comfort in that thought?"