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The Never Ending Quest - Episode 33628

Josh Burbank now found himself in quite a familiar locale. It was a mobile army surgical hospital, the surgical camp popularly known as the 4077th, just a few miles from the front in Korea. But you still know, the place still looks vaguely like California.

It was a slow day at the 4077. Conflict between the allies and Korean forces has been almost nil. The last major rush of incoming wounded had been patched up with the trademark meatball surgery and sent off as quickly as possible almost a week ago to larger medical units as far away fron the front as one can get. Rumors were circulating among the lower ranking soldiers at the camp that peace was imminent, and they might all be going home soon.

After wandering around a bit, Josh ascertained that he had landed at this MASH unit at some point during the show's fourth season. Henry Blake was dead. After Blake's plane went down in the Sea of Japan, Trapper John McIntyre was discharged and he had headed back home to Boston. The majors, Frank Burns and Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, whose "secret" romance was the worst kept secret in Korea, had split up just days before, and Major Burns was already slipping down a slope into mental instability. Corporal Max Klinger still dressed in drag and campaigned for a section 8 discharge, but he still knew when it was time to get serious and help out in the operating room.

Meanwhile, head surgeon Hawkeye Pierce and his new best friend, B.J. Hunnicutt coped the best way they could, relaxing with their still in the Swamp whenever they weren't cutting up to entertain one another (to the chagrin of Burns and Hot Lips). New commanding officer Sherman T. Potter had worked hard to win over his surgeons, nurses, and other soldiers, often confiding in his favorite Padre, Father Mulcahy.

And right in the middle of the action was the shy, naive Iowa farm boy who was the real reason why the trains at the 4077 ran on time, Radar O'Reilly, the company clerk. Radar still performed his duties as only he could, but everyone who knew and loved the kid could see that he never really got over the death of Henry Blake. What's worse, it was Radar who had to break the news of that tragedy to the rest of the camp during one particular difficult session in the operating room.

Radar was walking from the mess tent back to the offices when he stopped dead in his tracks and looked up in the sky towards the east. He could hear something...

"Choppers," he whispered.

Josh, who had managed to get a uniform from a storage facility so he could fit in without drawing too many suspicious looks, now realizes that business is about to pick up. Luckily, he has some medical training if it comes to that!

  1. The choppers land. Dozens of wounded allied soldiers. It's going to be a tough one, folks, and yes, Josh is roped into giving a hand in the OR. No one seems to know where he showed up from, but they need the extra help badly.

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Ben McClellan

6/26/2013 9:42:23 PM

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