MASH is an abbreviation that means either Mobile Auxiliary Surgical Hospital or Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. MASH equipment is a mobile critical care unit and operating theater often employed by military forces to treat their injured troops in a forward area. Unlike ambulances or medevac teams, MASH units do not typically operate on patients while on the move. Instead they're used to set up a field hospital in a fixed location.
MASH equipment can be found in trucks, DropShips (like the Dove), and ocean going vessels. The most common design of MASH equipment is mounted on a wheeled chassis, though several MASH modules have been created for transportation in conventional Cargo Aircraft.
MASH equipment cannot be installed on BattleMechs, IndustrialMechs, ProtoMechs, Conventional or AeroSpace Fighters, or VTOLs. A VTOL can mount paramedic equipment however to transport injured people to a MASH.
Every MASH unit has a core component that weighs 3.5 tons. This core component has a single surgical theater, lab facility, pharmacy/dispensary, supply storage, laundry, and administrative office. Manufacturers also offer additional surgical theater modules that can treat an additional patient and weigh one ton each. Any unit mounting MASH equipment must include the core component as it contains the support structures needed for the surgical theaters.
Each surgical theater has a 5 person medical team attached, consisting of one doctor and four assistants.
- TechManual, p. 228, "MASH Equipment"
- Strategic Operations, p. 169 "Medical Personnel"