# Why does the 4077th have a minefield? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 7, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929 "2016-11-07T01:57:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/1 "2016-11-07T01:57:29Z")
I’m watching the rerun of the episode of MASH where a kid wanders into a minefield. The minefield was obviously laid by the Americans because Radar has a map of it (filed under B for Boom). So, why does the 4077th have a minefield? Is it to keep the North Koreans/Chinese from knocking at the back door? I can see why they would want to cover the rear, but there is nothing to stop the enemy from knocking at the front door. They’re a non-combat unit. There’s another episode where an American artillery piece gets abandoned on their post and they start drawing enemy fire as a result. So, why do they need to mine the back when everything else is open? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/2 "2016-11-07T01:59:18Z")
Because it makes for a great plot point. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/3 "2016-11-07T02:06:16Z")
It was also SOP at the time to mine likely approaches to any installation that would be there for more than a couple of weeks. BTW, the minefield dates back to the movie - “Minefield’s out of bounds to the left, Chinese Communists are out of bounds to the right.” ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/4 "2016-11-07T02:27:12Z")
Minefields are also notoriously difficult to remove, so if it was put there to protect some other base that has since moved, the 4077th’s just sort of stuck with it. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/5 "2016-11-07T03:31:02Z")
Moved to Café Society from GQ. **samclem** , moderator ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/6 "2016-11-07T03:48:04Z")
Wouldn’t this have a factual answer? Perhaps another way of asking is, did Korean war era MASH units have a minefield and why? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/7 "2016-11-07T03:56:54Z")
Actually the minefield was in the book, which the movie was based on. And the book was based on the experiences of the author at a real MASH unit. The book doesn’t say why the minefield is there, though. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/8 "2016-11-07T06:01:37Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Actually the minefield was in the book, which the movie was based on. And the book was based on the experiences of the author at a real MASH unit. The book doesn’t say why the minefield is there, though. duh! The minefield was to protect the airstrip. The airstrip was for supplying mines to build the minefield. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/9 "2016-11-07T08:49:11Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > The book doesn’t say why the minefield is there, though. It was drafted. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/10 "2016-11-07T09:43:29Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > It was drafted. In spite of wearing a dress on duty for weeks, the minefield couldn’t get a section 8 discharge. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/11 "2016-11-07T09:56:39Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > duh! The minefield was to protect the airstrip. The airstrip was for supplying mines to build the minefield. That sounds like a Catch 22. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/12 "2016-11-07T17:21:34Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > That sounds like a Catch 22. 😃 Radar made a deal with Milo Minderbinder for the mines in return for some slightly used bedpans. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/13 "2016-11-07T18:10:15Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > It was also SOP at the time to mine likely approaches to any installation that would be there for more than a couple of weeks. Even in rear areas? The MASH units were typically deployed 20 miles or so behind the front lines, which is plenty far back to not be overrun very quickly (only the very fastest armored advances in WWII against light opposition covered that much ground in a day). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/14 "2016-11-07T18:51:41Z")
3 miles, not 20. Hawkeye specifically references the distance in the movie as the reason they don’t have olives for Trapper’s martini. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/15 "2016-11-07T19:04:53Z")
The front moved quite a bit. That minefield may have been laid months earlier as part of the front lines and left behind but marked on maps. Then the MASH comes along later and sets up next to it. Radar has a map because the army distributed maps of known mine fields to its own units to keep its own troops from walking in them. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/16 "2016-11-07T19:09:17Z")
Which they did quite often anyway. There are some real horror stories about lost mines and minefields during Korea. **H-T** probably has it right, though. The minefield is likely an old one. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/17 "2016-11-07T19:41:05Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > 3 miles, not 20. Hawkeye specifically references the distance in the movie as the reason they don’t have olives for Trapper’s martini. Everything I could find says that they were typically 10-20 behind the lines, with most closer to 20. 3 miles is well inside of artillery range; they’d be stupid to deliberately put MASH units that close to the front. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/18 "2016-11-07T20:11:16Z")
The TV version was caught in an artillery crossfire at least once. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/19 "2016-11-07T20:44:27Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Everything I could find says that they were typically 10-20 behind the lines, with most closer to 20. > > 3 miles is well inside of artillery range; they’d be stupid to deliberately put MASH units that close to the front. Hey, I don’t write 'em, I just report 'em. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929/20 "2016-11-07T23:55:30Z")
It was required for the plot, so the 4077 moved to be near one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-4077th-have-a-minefield/770929.md?page=2)