Evening star., 1943-04-04
Army Officers Devise
Own Horror Chamber
To 7oughen Leaders
Mans Five Senses Are
Tested Under IncreosinoIy
borrowing Conditions
By NELSON M. SHEPARD

sSStS0 OluS1 SuI~tSuSSuSI)
Narrowing Conditions
BY NELSON M. SHEPARD.
Combat training for staff officers
to condition them to Withstand the
first shock of battle, has reached
the heights of imaginative realism
in the "lunk trainer" an ingeniously
devised chamber of horrors that is
said to assail mans five. senses with
fiendishly calculating effect.
The "lunk trainer" is designed to
represent the y-equipped dugout
Of a command post with telephone
connected trenches. In this assimu-
lated death-trap the greenest OF
staff officers are tested in routine
performances under nerve-shatter-
ing conditions. Demolition bombs,
wierd sound, light and odor devices
do the trick.
The idea of this method, accord
ing to the two Army officers who
conceived it, is the Systematically
increased narrowing of all five
senses so that the individual officers
may get to know their own capa-
bilities and limitations under du-
ress. Sight, hearing, touch, smell
and thorough smell-taste are pro-
gressively played upon, the current
issue of the Infantry Journal re-
ports, so that at no time does the
victim have a moment to work en-
tirely free of violent sensory stim-
ulation.
Stimulation Never Constant.
Furthermore. the stimulation is
never constant, never in the same
sequence of intensity so that no
opportunity is offered to become ac-
customed to it.
Before the hapless victims de-
scend into the dugout they are
given a Commute exp, which, in
Army parlence, means a command
post exercise. With compasses,
maps and flashlights they crawl in
single file up a narrow tunnel into
q hollow knoll.
For few moments everything is
quite tranquil inside and the staff
gets settled, each man in a sepa-
rate slit trench. They orient them
selves and get their maps ready.
They await H-hour.
Then quite family, the thin sick
ish stencil of decomposition begins
to creep into the picture and the
hackles go up on staff officers necks.
There are night woods noises and
q distant rifle shot which slowly in
tensif1es into sharp firing, Motors
roar close by and a wind whips
across the slit trenches.
"At first the wind is distinct
relief because it clears off the gan
creme odor Then it becomes gradu-
ally worse than the odor, because it
is inconstant. One moment it whips
to a furious force driving Sand into
faces, then it dies and the smell
comes back stronger than before.
Wounded Men Scream.
"The firing increase and comes
in closer and suddenly in a lull in
the wind, heavy shellflre shakes the
ground A man who is hit screams
in full-throated agony. His thrash
ing is awful to hear. Then the wind
again, but this time whipping a
driving rain before it. This is worse
than the sand
"H-hour arrives The staff settles
grimly to it's CPX, raincoat-covered
flashlights to maps. Suddenly the
whole place is lit by binding light
that dilates eye pupils and blinds
temporarily. Hands reach to tele-
phones to get on with the horror.
The telephones are sticky and damp
with red mucilaginous coating that
shines hands, pencils and maps.
The firing is now continuous-the
wind varying always with madden
ing uncertainty. Demolitions shake
the earth. CM. sulphur and powder
smoke weave into the picture and
gas masks 60 on. Motors roar, sand,
rain, CN and gangrene odors per-
meate everything. Binding light
flashes on and off and the 'lunk
trainer continues full blast until the
CPX is over or the staff yells
Uncle"
From this description. little is left
to the imagination and War De-
partment officials say the trainer is
an efficient method of testing mans
ability to take it.
Maj. James w. Bellah, who is the
Intelligence officer with an infantry
division, and Maj Allen F. Clark,
jr.. Corps of Engineers, originated
the idea and drew upon Hollywood
Cor the horror effects. Maj. Bellah
Is former British World War flyer.
Toughens Men for Combat.
The name, no doubt. is play on
the Air Force Link trainer. wherein
the beginner gets to know the "fee"
of plane while still on the ground.
However, the real purpose of the
'lunk" trainer is somewhat differ
ent. It's authors call it that because
they believed it would separate the
staff officers from the hunks and
then, by carefully training those
hunks, make functioning combat
staff officers out of them.
Although an umpire closely
watches the officers in the dugout
and trenches, no rating is made on
performance. Some men pass
through the ordeal satisfactorily at
an initial visit Others must make
continued trips before they can
steady their nerves enough to do all
kinds of detailed work in spite of
violent emotions. There are other
types, of course, who can never make
the grade and it is just as we'll that
these are detected before they are
sent to the front.