MASH Doctor in Vietnam: A Memoir of the War and After

Reuel Long’s experiences as an MD in the emergency rooms of Flint, Michigan, prepared him for only some of what he would see in a mobile army surgical hospital. Antiwar sentiment among the doctors in basic training at Fort Sam Houston set the tone for his tour as a general medical officer. In March 1971, the 27th MASH played a critical role treating survivors of the deadliest attack on any firebase during the Vietnam War.

Long’s vivid memoir recalls the casualties he cared for during the war, including one he crossed paths with 44 years later--who in his own words describes his rehabilitation from the loss of his legs and his protesting the war from a wheelchair. An addendum gives an insider’s account of the U.S. military’s failure to remedy a fatal design flaw in the M16 rifle, which caused an unknown number of American casualties.

Reuel S. Long, M.D. graduated from the University of Michigan in 1964 and from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1968, completed his internship at McLaren General Hospital in Flint, Michigan, in July of 1969 and worked the emergency room in Flint for one year prior to being deployed to Vietnam. He completed his anesthesia residency at the University of Michigan after Vietnam and was engaged in the private practice of anesthesia for thirty years before retiring. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.