"Slash" means a fan story in which one or more of the characters has sexual feelings for or has sex with another character of the same sex. In this novel, one of those characters is an ordained Roman Catholic priest. If you feel that this is likely to cause you any emotional, moral, spiritual, or other difficulty, you should probably not read further. Other usual warnings also apply.
This novel is based on the TV series M*A*S*H, broadcast from 1972 to 1983, starring Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce, William Christopher as Father Mulcahy, Mike Farrell as B. J. Hunnicutt, Wayne Rogers as Trapper John McIntyre, Loretta Swit as Margaret Houlihan, Jamie Farr as Maxwell Klinger, Larry Linville as Frank Burns, Gary Burghoff as Radar O'Reilly, Harry Morgan as Sherman Potter, David Ogden Stiers as Charles Emerson Winchester III, and McLean Stevenson as Henry Blake. This novel includes spoilers for many episodes of M*A*S*H, including the events of the series finale, Goodbye, Farewell, Amen. No infringement of copyright is intended, no profit is being made, and no conclusions should be drawn about the sexual orientation of any of the real people named.
M*A*S*H was based on the events of the Korean War, which officially began on 25th June 1950 and officially ended with an armistice on 27th July, 1953. It's estimated that between 3.8 and 5.6 million people were killed on either side of the conflict.
"M*A*S*H" stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and refers to a United States Army medical unit serving as a fully functional hospital in a combat area of operations. The units were first established in August 1945, and were deployed during the Korean War and later conflicts. MASH units were designed to get experienced personnel closer to the front, so that the wounded could be treated sooner and with greater success. Casualties were first treated at the point of injury through buddy aid, then routed through a battalion aid station for emergency stabilizing surgery, and finally routed to the MASH for the most extensive treatment. The last MASH unit in South Korea was not decommissioned till 1997. The U.S. Army decommissioned the last MASH unit, 212th M*A*S*H, on 16th February 2006. (Details from Wikipedia.)
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