Evening star., 1943-08-08
By Jane Eads,
Associated Press Stan Writer.

Associated Press Stan Writer
In the beginning it was brute strength,
steady nerves, courage.
Az the war progresses. however. the
Army is finding that the soldiers most
powerful weapon is his brain.
So that he may be taught to make the
fullest use of this weapon. the worlds
greatest university" with current en-
rollment OF 7o,500 enlisted men, has been
set up-the Army specialized training
program (ASTP).
ASTP Is not to be confused with the
wartime studies Of civilian students, the
officer candidate school, aviation cadet
training courses, the Navy's vast educa-
tional program, or the new allied mill
tary government of occupied territory
(AMGOT).
It is a plant to train soldiers for spe-
cific Army needs, utilizing the faculties
and facilities of colleges and universities,
some 100 at present, additional others as
enrolment expands.
Army Specialists
Peak enrolment is limited to 100000,
but Army officials say present demands
for trained personnel exceed that num-
Der. About two out of every three Army
enlisted men now must be specialists in
certain fields.
With our soldiers barging into strange,
far-distant ports of the world, or drop
ping out of the skies into some Shan
gri-La, a chief interest of the Army is
that they speak f1uently one or more
foreign languages, know the section of
the world in which the languages are
used, and have insight into the elements
which favor, or endanger, relations be-
tween the U. S. Army and the people"
The Army pays for the housing, food,
equipm ent and instruction of the
trainees. 1t tells the institutions what it
wants the boys to know But the insti-
tutions use their own methods of in
struction.
Many Special Courses
The boys are trained for different
branches of the services and in different
ways. At the University OF Michigan,
for example, they are being taught the
Japanese language. Engineering is the
course most in demand. Among others
are courses in personnel psychology,
medicine meteorology
The ways and means of teaching these
enlisted men are often revolutionary.
ASTP experience has shown, for in
stance, that a soldier can learn to speak
and understand a colloquial language
like a native, sometimes in less than
fve weeks time.
Part of the new system in teaching
languages includes drill sessions in the
presence of colloquial speaker of the
language, one who knows the slang
preferably native born. This individual
may never have reached high school. He
may be an immigrant laborer, for ex-
ample. he is there to give instructive
reactions to what soldiers may say
One phase of this course is devoted to
the institutions and culture of the peo-
plies who speak these languages, in an
effort to create an understanding which
will be sympathetic enough to remove
the native American sense that inhabi-
tants of certain area are queer and
comprehensive enough to give the trainee
sense of poise and assurance"
What Training Covers
Some of the things the boys must
know:
l. Food and drink habits.
q Types of dress and relation to CHI
mate.
g. Folk ways; taboos and conventions
particularly those bearing on religion,
family and sexual relationships
T. Revolutionary or underground
movements.
s. Public information facilities and
types of government control
6. Some knowledge of popular litera-
ture, as well as language classics.
The Army is picking trainees for ASTF
from the army at large. ASTP says II
doesn't matter whether soldiers father
could have afforded to send him to col
lege, that he Is selected on the basis oi
aptitude and intelligence and not on the
basis Of economic status.
Choice of ASTP trainees formerly wa.
done In the field.
Now all soldiers who are eligible art
interviewed by the field selection boards
ana tdien, IL tney nave tne general quail
fications, are sent to specialized trainin,
and reassignment tstaD units. Ther,
are 81 Of these units.
Eligibility is based on these rules:
l. The soldier must have scored lis O
more IN his Army general classification
test.
2. Soldiers under % years of age mus
have a high school education or 1t
equivalent.
3. Those with more than years O
college must also have had at least on