Even the da Vinci surgical robot, now a mainstay in many operating rooms worldwide, traces its roots back to DARPA’s early 1990s investments in robotic medical systems. A Proposers Day for researchers and companies interested in joining the MASH program will be held virtually on September 18, 2025. Today’s hospital-based surgical robots remain firmly under the direct control of physicians, with no independent decision-making. Just as the doctors in M*A*S*H patched together wounded soldiers in improvised conditions, the modern MASH program seeks to extend life-saving care where it’s needed most. If successful, DARPA’s MASH program could ensure that more soldiers survive injuries once thought untreatable outside of an operating room, rewriting the rules of battlefield medicine and perhaps bringing a little science fiction into reality.