Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-01-10

Foreign Legion, Worlds most fumous militoy fighting
unit.
ern psychological tests available he claimed.
reaching into battered wooden cabinet to
gather his materials.
I'm two years have given more than 500
men these tests. The results have often in
dicated how the Legion can best use these
men. Here is simple test where We ask the
Legionnaire to draw two trees. The mere
drawing Of trees will show much about his
personality" the corporal said.
One need only imagine battle-hardened
Legionnaire, pencil in hand. drawing trees
under the watchfu eye of reporter turned
psychologist to realize the Legion must be
changing. l#
There are five other complex tests which
the corporal gives each man sent to him, and
there is no gainsaying his statement that he
has learned much in the last two years.
Extensive Records Kept
The testing and classification program
has resulted in the keeping Of extensive rec
ords. and once again the Legion proves 1t
needs little but a shoe box and a patient man
to do the work normally assigned to costly
machines.
The major in charge of the ORT is proud
OF the fact that in seven seconds he can tand
did produce the full examination and service
record of any of the $4,000 Legionnaires on
active duty. He does so from stacks of seem
ingly disordered papers kept in corner Of his
Office.
These Legion records are compiled in pen
and ink. adding to the homemade and I'M
businesslke atmosphere surrounding the en-
tire operation.
1t is determining apttudes from test re-
suits that the ORT proved most successful,
however Instead of machines a lone Legion
naire operates well-smudged box filled with
cardboard cards cut by hand from graph
paper.
Each test result indicates certain apti-
tude and calls for a special card which has
specific squares or areas cut inside It, AS card
is piled on card. the blocked In areas overlap
until only a few holes show through to the
bottom OF the box.
linked on the box bottom are numbered
squares. When all the proper test-result
cards are piled the numbers showing through
indicate the aptitude fields Of the legionnaire
The system meets the normal Legion standard
OF being simple. inexpensive. and accurate.
Only Pet. Dropped
This final judgment is proved statistically
Before the Legion started its testing program
IS per cent to the men sent to special train
ing schools were unable to complete their
courses. The most recent figures indicate
per cent are now dropped from such schools
Now, when we recommend q man for
special training we don't hope he'll pass" the
psychologist notes, I'VE know he'll pass"
Testing Is only half the work done by the
ORT, which also operates "time-and- move
ment section" This section, in the words OF
the bald. school masterish major who has
commanded ORT since its inception. studies
everything Legionnaire is called upon to do
to find If 1t can be done with less time or
motion"
Amounting to research branch, this sec
ton Of the ORT works on plans for anything
from new type Of pack frame to the draw
ing Of complete construction plans for large
buildings.
That the ORT, as a symbol of the modern
Foreign Legion, operates in a fourth-fioor
attic might indicate the unit is not well re-
cetved by the top Legion officers
Nothing could be more incorrect. This
month the ORT will move into the newest
Legion building In Sidi bel Abbes. a one-story
modern structure being constructed by Le-
gionnaires
The ORT and the Foreign Legion have
their eyes on the future