Rotation Points Question

[TrapperJXM]

When both Henry and Trapper left it was because they both had aquired the
necessary rotation points to be discharged.....Now assuming that they
(Henry, Trapper, and Hawkeye) arrived at the 4077th at roughly the same
time....then why did Hawkeye supposedly not have the same amount of
points?......And only in the later episodes (specifically the one where he
goes to the Peace Talks) it was said that he was the closest one to get
all of his points. I am assuming this was long after Trapper and Henry
left.....

TrapperJXM

[MrQuixote]

Regarding the use of a point system to determine when a GI would be
rotated out of the combat zone.....it's my understanding that they Army
did away with that system after WWII. The use of the phrase from Radar,
"You got all your points. You're goin' home," to Henry, is most likely
another one of those niggling little errors that crop up occasionally.

Think of it from the point of view of the guys writing the script. "Okay,
McLean is leaving at the end of the season. We can either ignore it and
he just doesn't show up next season, or we can get a good show out of it.
Transferring him to another unit is silly. Let's send him home."

Now they have to figure out a reason that he's going home. Voila. "You
got all your points." It takes about five seconds to set up the entire
premise for the episode, and it's a setup that has absolutely no impact on
the outcome. He wasn't going home because his wife was dying or because
he had come down with some rare Korean parasitical disease. He was just
goin' home, the way a lot of guys did. And, as things turned out, the way
a lot of guys didn't. Which is just one more example of why M*A*S*H under
Gelbart and Reynolds was so special.

Michael Hirsh

[Aimee Pellet]

On 15 Mar 1997, MrQuixote wrote:

> He wasn't going home because his wife was dying or because
> he had come down with some rare Korean parasitical disease. He was just
> goin' home, the way a lot of guys did.

> Michael Hirsh

OK, you have me a little confused. You said they did away with
the point system after WWII, but then you say that Henry went home the
way alot of guys did. Just exactly what was that way if it wasn't the
point system and why didn't they just use that excuse for Henry?

Aimee

[PAUL GADZIKOWSKI]

TrapperJXM (trapp...@aol.com) wrote:
: When both Henry and Trapper left it was because they both had aquired the

In the late-season episode when Hot Lips is afraid that Potter's going to
be made C.O. of another MASH, when speaking of the scarcity of good C.O.s
she reminds Father Mulcahy that Henry was already there before either of
them. Aside from this, we're given no indication who was already there
when who else arrived.

Either of, or both, Trapper John and Henry may have served more time
>before< arriving at the MASH than Hawkeye.

How much do you know about the points system? (How much does anyone who
posts here know?) Either or both of them may have earned points at the
MASH much more quickly than Hawkeye, who was less militarily minded even
than either of them.

Paul Gadzikowski, scar...@iglou.com

http://members.iglou.com/scarfman
T*R*E*K homepage - what if James T. Kirk never existed
and Hawkeye Pierce was born 300 years late?
Also DOCTOR WHO and straight STAR TREK stuff,
and the Return of Archy the Cockroach

"My father served under General MacArthur in the cavalry."
"Her father was a horse, did you know that?"
"The engagement is off!"

[Cory]

Weren't soldiers just rotated out of a war zone after a certain time...
kinda like they had "accumulated enough points", so to speak, but they
were just rotated out (or they signed on for another "tour of duty") for
fresh troops and morale? I'm not able to serve in the military, so this
is something I wouldn't know much about, but from everything I've read,
the scenario I'm wondering about might have actually happen or is
happening in today's military, and that's why I'm asking. --- Cory

[DERKOMAI]

In Suzy Kalter's book she said that the points system was never used on
doctors, and also wasn't used after WWII. M*A*S*H surgeons were sent home
after eighteen months of service or until they got some sort of hardship
discharge. I don't know how long the time is for the soldiers though.

Dorian

[Tim O'Brien]

In article <19970315062...@ladder01.news.aol.com> mrqu...@aol.com (MrQuixote) writes:
>From: mrqu...@aol.com (MrQuixote)
>Subject: Re: Rotation Points Question
>Date: 15 Mar 1997 06:21:01 GMT

>Regarding the use of a point system to determine when a GI would be
>rotated out of the combat zone.....it's my understanding that they Army
>did away with that system after WWII. The use of the phrase from Radar,
>"You got all your points. You're goin' home," to Henry, is most likely
>another one of those niggling little errors that crop up occasionally.

If that's true they made that mistake at least twice. In the episode where
Hawkeye goes to the peace talks, the rotation points needed to get out are
increased from something like 30 to 45. Hawk gets mad, kicks a can around the
compound with Margaret (this is also the one where she finally decides to
divorce him) then heads off to the peace talks.

Tim O'Brien
obr...@ucla.edu

***********************************************
****Check out my M*A*S*H Homepage at: ****
**** members.tripod.com/~obrien/index.htm****
***********************************************

[L Guiness]

MrQuixote wrote:
>
> Regarding the use of a point system to determine when a GI would be
> rotated out of the combat zone.....it's my understanding that they Army
> did away with that system after WWII. The use of the phrase from Radar,
> "You got all your points. You're goin' home," to Henry, is most likely
> another one of those niggling little errors that crop up occasionally.
>

> Think of it from the point of view of the guys writing the script. "Okay,
> McLean is leaving at the end of the season. We can either ignore it and
> he just doesn't show up next season, or we can get a good show out of it.
> Transferring him to another unit is silly. Let's send him home."
>
> Now they have to figure out a reason that he's going home. Voila. "You
> got all your points." It takes about five seconds to set up the entire
> premise for the episode, and it's a setup that has absolutely no impact on

> the outcome. He wasn't going home because his wife was dying or because

> he had come down with some rare Korean parasitical disease. He was just

> goin' home, the way a lot of guys did. And, as things turned out, the way
> a lot of guys didn't. Which is just one more example of why M*A*S*H under
> Gelbart and Reynolds was so special.
>
> Michael Hirsh

Here in Perth, Western Australia, we just had that episode. Yet again
after so many years, I could not help but cry with the rest of the
doctors and nurses of the 4077...