MASH Truck

A MASH Truck is a generic term for any ground based vehicle that carries MASH equipment. The concept of a MASH Truck was pioneered on Terra, but the first modern MASH units were introduced during the Age of War. They were an immediate success, with a wounded soldier's chance for recovery improved by 300 percent. Several companies produce MASH trucks, but one of the best known is the MIT 23 produced for ComStar. The model described here is built by Talon Vehicles and is a representative sample of the broad category of MASH Trucks.

The featured MASH Truck in this article, introduced in 2671, carries seven and a half tons of advanced medical equipment, including five operating theaters for each of the five team doctors, which are folded out from the main vehicle to create a temporary structure. Each theater includes an automated surgery table, which can prep the patient and assist the surgeon during medical operations through multiple robotic hands. Each table can also be quickly converted to an airtight tube allowing for an emergency freezing procedure, with the temperature inside lowered and the tube filled with a clear, oxygen-rich liquid, while allowing the surgeon to continue operating through attached sleeves. Prior to an operation an on-board medical computer can suggest a plan of action using the results of medical tests, provide updated reports on the patient's condition during surgery including X-ray scans, and store data on post-op care for later access.

A fully-deployed MASH Truck can be ready to move again in less than four hours, with room to carry essential medical supplies, six patients and one operating theater, and even when moving at high speeds some surgery can be performed. Four tons of armor protect the highly-sensitive medical equipment in the MASH Truck, however they are rarely attacked since they provide services to the wounded of both sides in a conflict.

Weapons and Equipment
The armament on a MASH Truck is not intended to fight off an attacking 'Mech, but rather discourage theft. Due to their value, mercenary units will sometimes try to capture a MASH before or after battle, when they are not treating patients, by blockading then or killing the driver, hence the armament, but no unit will risk destroying a MASH. However, many doctors feel that arming a MASH Truck violates their Hippocratic Oath, and have the weapons removed.

Traditionally MASH units are not considered valid targets, as they will treat injured from both sides of a conflict. Although they are armored with 4 tons of standard armor to prevent damage from accidental strikes, intentionally attacking a MASH while it is treating patients is a black mark on any units record. Even the Clans respect the mission of the MASH unit, deploying their own equivalents to conflict zones, and consider attacking a MASH to be such a breach of honor that units or warriors who do so intentionally can face expulsion from the warrior caste (and will often be refused entry into most other castes as well).

An 80-rated fusion engine allows an unlimited range, as well as providing power for equipment. Due to the decreasing supply of fusion engines, newer units are often built with internal combustion engines out of necessity, and older units that have lost their fusion engine will be refitted with one, however in both cases the resulting units are less capable than fusion engine-equipped models.

For the primary mission of medical aid, the vehicle has features 7.5 tons worth of MASH equipment, providing five surgical theaters.

Variants
During the Succession Wars, the fusion engine used by the MASH truck was often removed and replaced with an ICE. This was an unpopular refit with most soldiers however, as the MASH truck's top speed was typically reduced and the amount of medical equipment the truck could carry was dramatically reduced.