Thanks a bunch everyone. The idea was just to share very unique moments with friends, so the trip pix uploaded here. Glad everyone enjoyed. Here is a report which I filed yesterday.
US MASH unit marks end of era in Pakistan
by Masroor Gilani
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Feb 16, 2006 (AFP) - Hot Lips and Hawkeye were all that were missing as the US Army Thursday handed over its last remaining MASH unit to earthquake-hit Pakistan.
The field hospital, made famous by the 1970s comedy show about doctors and nurses in the Korean War, has been used for the past four months to treat casualties of the October 8 South Asian earthquake.
US officials donated the 84-bed facility to the Pakistani military at a ceremony in Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
"Today we transfer this MASH unit to Pakistan and in so doing we are celebrating a new dimension in an old alliance and partnership," US ambassador Ryan Crocker said at the handover.
The handover marks the end of an era for the 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, which was founded in the First World War and whose khaki tents have since seen action in conflicts including Vietnam, the Balkans and the Gulf.
"It is a 4.5-million-dollar facility and it is state of medical art," Crocker said.
This MASH was one of a number of field hospitals flown in by various countries after the 7.6-magnitude quake killed more than 73,000 and seriously injured around the same number in Pakistan.
Since October the hospital has treated more than 20,000 Pakistanis and given about 20,000 vaccinations to 8,000 patients. Medical treatment remains a priority in the high-altitude disaster zone, currently in the grip of winter.
"The 212 will live on but as of today the chapter that began on the battlefields of Europe in World War I comes to an end because there will no longer be the 212 MASH," Crocker said addressing the colourful ceremony.
"As that chapter closes a new chapter opens in the long courageous distinguished history of (Pakistan's) 67th medical battalion."
Earlier US and Pakistani medical corps soldiers lined up in the mountain-fringed MASH compound, holding the standards of their units as the Pakistan army band played military tunes.
US Colonel Angel L. Lugo, commander of 212th MASH and Pakistani Lieutenant Colonel and commander of 67th Medical Battalion Zafar Chaudhry exchanged national flags as senior military commanders, bureaucrats and aid officials watched.
Then came the wrapping of the 212th MASH colours and the unfurling of the Pakistani medical battalion flag to mark the transfer of authority to the South Asian country.
Inside the MASH Pakistani medical corps soldiers and officers were running various sections of the tented field hospital after two weeks of intensive training.
"While we will miss our Pakistani friends, our mission was to provide initial relief," said US army Major Soo Lee Davis, MASH executive officer.
The US army is replacing the MASH with the lighter and more mobile CASH, or Combat Support Hospital, as it adapts to the challenges of 21st century warfare.
The popular US TV series MASH, a spin-off from the Robert Altman film of the same name, followed the lives and loves of its fictional staff as they treated the wounded in the 1950-53 Korean War.
Featuring characters such as cynical doctor Captain "Hawkeye" Pierce played by Alan Alda, and uptight nurse Major Margaret "Hotlips" Houlihan played by Loretta Swit, it ran from 1972 until 1983.
Ends