Army Specialized Training Program

During World War II the US Army apparently suspended at least certain advanced elements of ROTC training (around 1943). This was a particularly problematic situation for the numerous land grant colleges around the country, which have in their constitution the agreement to train "militia". In addition, far-sighted military planners could look forward to a sudden and massive emergency requirement for junior officer replacements during the forthcoming amphibious invasion of the Japanese mainland. So during the late part of the academic year 1942-3 a national testing program was conducted among the male college student bodies. The test instrument used at some, if not all schools, was Army OCT-X3, a IQ test of standard Stanford-Binet type. Selection was based upon approximately 1 S.D. above the mean, or above. Apparently at the same time enlisted men already upon active duty were also tested. Individuals who passed at the acceptable level were sent to intensive (approximately 25 class-time hours per quarter) courses in engineering and science at land grant colleges around the country. This included all volunteers from the civilian echelons who were over 17 but below 18 years of age. The active duty students were terminated prematurely, apparently due to unexpected casualty losses, and returned to active duty. those who had sacrificed noncommissioned rank to qualify for the college training diversion were not reinstated, and generally shortly went into combat as private soldiers. The 17-year olds were continued in school until 18, when they were transferred from Army Reserve to AUS status and sent to Infantry Basic training. After basic training, those who assented were returned to the reduced number of land-grant schools still maintaining ASTP. At this stage, the pressure to train individuals who were perhaps eligible for direct commissions and being dropped onto bloody beaches as emergency replacements had been alleviated by the promise of successful A-bomb technologies, and the presence of the ASTP students was most likely an army subsidy of the land grant colleges and military schools, whose male student bodies had been decimated by the diversion of about 14 million men into the various armed forces.