Insignia of the U.S. Army Specialized Training Program: the lamp of knowledge suggests academic learning, the sword represents the military profession
The Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) was a military training program instituted by the United States Army during World War II to meet wartime demands both for junior officers and soldiers with technical skills. Conducted at 227 American universities, it offered training in such fields as engineering, foreign languages, and medicine.[1]
The ASTP differed from the V-12 Navy College Training Program in producing technically trained personnel rather than officers as its primary goal,[2] though recruits were told that they had the opportunity to become officers upon completion. The program was approved in September 1942, implemented in December of that year, and drastically curtailed in February 1944.
History
Inception
After the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor sparked U.S. entry into the war, the Army suspended the summer camp required for advanced members of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps in February 1942 for the duration of the war. This presented a problematic situation for the nation's numerous land-grant universities established under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts, whose constitutions included the legal agreement to teach "military tactics." A program that could provide a "continuous and accelerated flow of high grade technicians and specialists needed by the Army" would both help the war effort, offset ROTC enrollment turndown, and keep universities operating when most, if not all, male students would be absent.[3] Colonel Herman Beukema, a professor of history at West Point, was named director of the Army Specialized Training Program, responsible for sending over 200,000 soldiers to 227 colleges at cost of $127,000,000.[4] The program was proposed in September 1942, formally announced in December 1942, and began with a pilot program on college campuses in the spring of 1943. A maximum of 150,000 men were authorized to be enrolled in the program at any one time.
Army Specialized Training Reserve Program
During the late part of the 1942–1943 academic year, a national testing program was conducted among the male college and high school student bodies to determine acceptance into the ASTP or the V-12 college training program.[5] A maximum of 25,000 high school graduates were offered scholarships through the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program (ASTRP). Examinees had to be older than 17 but not older than 18 years old, designate "Army" preference, meet or exceed the cutoff of the test (approximately one standard deviation minimum above the mean), and enlist in the Enlisted Reserve Corps and be found physically qualified for general military service. Reservists were called to active duty at the end of the academic term in which they turned 18.
Entry requirements were high. Potential candidates included all enlisted men who were completing or who had completed basic training[7] and had scored at least 110 (later 115) on the Army General Classification Test, a Stanford-Binet-type IQ test, compared to 110 for OCS candidates. Score requirements for certain specific programs were even higher. If under 22 years old, they had to have completed high school or its equivalent along with specified mathematics courses; if older than 22 years old, a minimum of one year of college, and "substantial background" in one or more languages, or a year of mathematics and physics, or biology.[8]
Demographics
During 1943, about 100,000 participants in the ASTP came from within the Army, while about 50,000 were new inductees who had established their eligibility for the ASTP prior to entering the Army.[9]
Civilians
During the national testing program, roughly 400,000 civilians were tested for pre-induction eligibility for the ASTP. Additional tests were conducted in November 1943 and March 1944.[5]
Soldiers
Enlisted men were also given the qualifying test, and accepted only at the rank of private. Initially, field selection boards screened men and sent them directly to ASTP training from their units, but a downside of this arrangement was that many unqualified candidates were forwarded as many board members did not understand the program's objectives and requirements. Trainee selection was soon shifted to Specialized Training and Reassignment (STAR) units located at colleges, where men's academic and testing qualifications were examined and they and met with professors and Army officials about the types of training offered; if found unqualified, they were returned to their units.[10]
In the spring of 1942, the Army had allowed men in colleges and universities studying specific subjects to enlist in the Enlisted Reserve Corps and defer a call to active duty until they had completed their degree requirements, left or dropped out, or were called to active duty by the Secretary of War. The director of the War Manpower Commission. Paul V. McNutt, announced in August 1942 that the destiny of all male students would be the armed forces, and the Secretary of War soon announced the termination of the program effective in the spring of 1943. By November 1942, about 70,000 men, or one in every seven male college students, had chosen to enlist in the Enlisted Reserve Corps. [11] Reservists who had been found qualified for the ASTP were sent to basic training, and then assessed again when they returned.[12]
Because so many men had graduated from ROTC and received commissions – 93,000 by March 1942, outnumbering Regular Army officers by over three to one – , and that program would become suspended during the war, men who wanted to advance had few choices but ASTP.[citation needed]
ROTC
The advanced ROTC program was suspended in its entirety in the spring of 1943 and no new contracts were issued for the duration of the war. The basic ROTC curriculum was kept intact as part of the military indoctrination for the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program. Several major categories of ROTC students existed:
Members of the normal college class of 1942, who had completed a full four-year program plus the summer camp.
Members of the normal college class of 1943 who had chosen to accelerate their studies via summer sessions offered in 1942 that gave a full semester or quarter of credit. These men graduated with a completed advanced course minus the summer camp at the end of 1942 if on the semester calendar, or in the early spring of 1943 if on the quarter calendar. These men, along with the members of the normal class of 1943, then went directly to officer candidate schools.
Members of the normal college class of 1944 who had taken the 1942 summer session. These men graduated in the fall of 1943 with a partially complete (either three semesters out of four or four quarters out of six) advanced course. These men also went directly to officer-candidate schools, although some men attending institutions on the quarter calendar were allowed to remain in school through the summer quarter to ease congestion in officer-candidate schools.
Members of the normal college class of 1945 who had taken the 1942 summer session, called "ROTC juniors." If their institution was on the semester calendar, they were due to begin advanced ROTC in the spring semester of 1943. They, along with the remaining members of the normal class of 1944, were sent to basic training after the spring semester ended.
After returning from basic training in the early fall of 1943, the ROTC juniors were allowed to resume their civilian curricula at the institutions they were attending or act as instructors in basic ROTC, which functioned as military indoctrination for the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program until called to officer candidate school. These men were only attached to the ASTP for administrative purposes.[13]
Course
The highly accelerated ASTP was offered at 227 land-grant universities around the country.[1] Class sessions were in twelve-week terms, with a break of one week between terms. Intensive courses were offered in engineering, science, medicine, dentistry, personnel psychology, and over 30 different foreign languages, with a different number of terms required to complete each. Most subject areas were divided into two phases, the first ("basic") phase covering general education in a subject, and the second ("advanced") phase covering instruction in a specific area. The Army prepared the curricula to be used; professors contracted to teach ASTP courses were required to teach eighteen "contact hours" per week, which was about twenty-five percent higher than their normal civilian course loads would have been.
While in academic training the soldiers were on active duty, in uniform, under military discipline, and received regular Army pay. Recruits marched to class in groups (the Army stipulated that they be taught separately from civilian students or other military students on campuses), ate in mess halls located in their barracks, and trained in the fields around campus.[1] The soldiers' week featured fifty-nine hours of "supervised activity," including at least twenty-four of classroom and lab work, twenty-four of required study, six of physical instruction, and five of military instruction. At its height in December 1943, about 145,000 men were enrolled in the program.[2]
Administrative difficulties, 1943
The number of voluntary applications soon proved disappointing, and all men already in the Army began to be screened for ASTP eligibility, regardless of interest. Beginning in the summer of 1943, the number of ASTP trainees from civilian sources (men who had become eligible before induction into the Army via the national testing program, scored 110 or over on the Army General Classification Test, or ERC members called to active duty) increased. Members of the first civilian group were assigned to replacement training centers or directly to units, under the assumption they would apply for the ASTP if interested; a downside of this was that "replacement centers trained men who did not become replacements and that units trained men whom they could not keep." Eligible men in the latter two civilian groups were already earmarked for the ASTP. In spring 1943, the Army Ground Forces proposed to train men of the first group in special basic training units.
Facilities for 50,000 men, the number the Army expected to appear in June and July 1943, were provided, 30,000 by redirecting facilities at existing replacement training centers, and 20,000 at Fort Benning, Georgia, and Camp Hood, Texas by spaces made available by the reduction of officer candidate quotas. Unfortunately, by 15 August 1943, only 17,152 of the 50,000 men were received, making a total shortage of 32,848 men, 21,799 of whom should have been received at the replacement training centers.
Requirements for overseas replacements intensified in mid-1943 because of the Invasions of Sicily and mainland Italy. Additionally, the output of replacement training centers, already incorrectly adjusted to the rate of ground combat casualties, fell off precipitously in the last half of 1943. This had several causes. Facilities unused by ASTP trainees sat idle and were not used for new classes of normal replacements until December 1943. The extension of the basic training cycle from thirteen to seventeen weeks in summer 1943 caused many groups of trainees to be held in the centers for over a month past the date when their graduations had been expected. Facilities also had to be reserved for several thousand college students enrolled in ROTC who had to complete basic training before admission to officer candidate school. Through January 1944, the Army was obliged to take 26,000 men from existing units for use as overseas replacements, comparable to the number of men who could have been trained at replacement training center facilities reserved for ASTP trainees who failed to appear. ASTP basic training was subsequently concentrated at Fort Benning and Camp Hood, and later at Fort Benning only.[15]
By November 1943 the Army was having difficulties integrating men who received the specialized ASTP training back into their old units. In January 1944, Colonel Beukema reported to a U.S. Congressional investigating committee that the requirements for the ASTP were more demanding than those of either West Point or the Naval Academy.[2] It was initially contemplated to allow only the graduates of the "advanced" course (roughly 25 percent of the ASTP participants) to apply for admission to officer candidate schools. With the reduction of the Army's troop basis in summer 1943, the need for additional officers in the ground arms nearly disappeared, and the Army was legally obligated to accommodate ROTC graduates (large numbers of whom became eligible from the spring of 1943 to the spring of 1944) in officer candidate schools first. The number of ASTP graduates being produced could not also be sent to schools without eliminating officer applicants from units and installations entirely. No quotas for ASTP students ever ended up being allotted to any officer candidate schools and few, if any, ASTP men ever got the opportunity to become officers.
Each step of the ASTP story was tied in with the ups and downs in the Army's estimate of its manpower requirements. In all such changes, the college training program, as a marginal undertaking, was sharply affected. [The choice was] between specialized training and an adequate combatant force.
General Lesley J. McNair felt, with the full extent of the poorer morale and mental quality of U.S. combat troops when compared to men in other types of units being revealed in the winter of 1943, that the ASTP took young men with leadership potential away from combat positions where they were most needed; annoyed, he stated, "...with 300,000 men short, we are sending men to college." Manpower planners calculated that more infantrymen than expected would be required in advance of the planned invasion of Europe.[16] The ASTP was not only one of the easiest programs to reduce or eliminate, but it also provided a large pool of already-trained soldiers. In November 1943, the G-3 of the War Department proposed that the ASTP be cut to 30,000 trainees, while the Army troop basis published in January 1944 called for the reduction of the ASTP to 62,190 trainees by the end of 1944.[17] In mid-February 1944, about 110,000 ASTP students were told they would be transferred to more important duties by the beginning of April. Through the month of March 1944, all students in the basic programs, and some in the advanced programs, were gradually released and returned to the Army Ground or Service Forces or other branches of the Army.
Of the 86,167 men terminated from academic programs, 68,995 went to the Army Ground Forces, of which about 55,500 were assigned evenly to thirty-five airborne, armored, and infantry divisions. The divisions got roughly 1,500 former ASTP men each, while twenty-two of the divisions got roughly 1,000 former aviation cadets each; some divisions that were the most depleted or had the lowest intelligence ratings received nearly 3,000 men from these two sources combined. These thirty-five divisions amounted to essentially all of the divisions still in the United States that were not already scheduled for immediate overseas shipment, save the 10th Mountain Division, which already contained "an exceptional proportion of high-grade men." The divisions that received the ASTP men principally assigned them to their infantry components. The remainder were assigned to nondivisional AGF units. Since another purpose of curtailing the ASTP was to use the men to improve the quality of junior leadership in ground combat units, Army Ground Forces units that received the ASTP students gave up an equal number of men who had scored in the lower three grades on the Army General Classification Test, who were then transferred to the Army Service Forces.
16,086 ASTP students went to the Army Service Forces, of which 7,535 went to the Signal Corps, 3,153 to the Corps of Engineers, 656 to the Transportation Corps, and 4,742 to other service branches. 568 went to the War Department Military Intelligence Service, 274 to the Army Air Forces, 144 to the Army Civilian Affairs Division, and 100 to the Office of Strategic Services. The rest of the reduction consisted of men who left the program (either voluntarily or involuntarily) before they were terminated, about 12,000 men in STAR units whose processing was terminated, about 5,000 men in the advanced ROTC holding pools who departed for officer candidate schools, and men in basic training who had already been selected for the ASTP.[18][19][14]
The 17-year-olds were continued in school until the age of 18, at which time they were transferred from the Organized Reserve to active duty and given their mandated basic training. After basic training, those who were willing were returned to the reduced number of land-grant schools still maintaining ASTP. From a wartime high of 145,000 students, the ASTP was immediately reduced to approximately 35,000 members. Units other than infantry units were permitted to select one-fourth of one percent of their men for ASTP testing per month to keep the program running on this highly-reduced basis.
Those men who had sacrificed non-commissioned rank to qualify for the college training were not necessarily reinstated, and often shortly went into combat as privates. Even though the ASTP men did not have the practical experience to qualify for non-commissioned officer rank, the Army anticipated that their superior training and intelligence levels would result in advancement to leadership positions.
Graduates in action
George Marshall
Fresh out of college, the new replacements were often given harsh receptions by both officers and veteran NCOs. One company commander asked, "What kind of soldiers deal out bridge hands during their ten-minute training breaks?"[2] Conversely, ASTP personnel were often skeptical of the capabilities of their new superior officers and NCOs. However, as they integrated themselves into their new units and once in combat, the ASTP men rapidly proved their worth as good soldiers in most cases, and any distinctions between the regular Army and the college soldiers were erased. When the defeat of Germany was in sight, and the testing of the new atomic bomb successful, the apparent need for potential junior officer replacements disappeared and the final ASTP groups were largely disbanded, although there were ASTP units for medicine and engineering still existing in August 1945.
Legacy
While the ASTP initiative suffered from manpower drawdowns to meet immediate combat needs, it did serve as an important financial subsidy of land grant colleges whose male student bodies had been decimated by the diversion of about 14 million men into the various armed forces.
Another positive effect of the ASTP effort was a softening of university resistance to lowering the draft age from twenty to eighteen. Finally, and most far-reaching, it exposed a large number of potentially very capable men to college who might not have attended otherwise. After the war ended, fully four out of five surviving ASTP alumni returned to college.[2]
Still, critical views were held. A highly dismissive opinion was expressed by Major General Harry L. Twaddle, a former Army Assistant Chief of Staff G-3, who wrote, "The underlying reason for institution of the ASP [sic] program was to prevent some colleges and universities from going into bankruptcy. From a strictly mobilization viewpoint, the value of the program was nil."[20]:128
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
An officer candidate school (OCS) is a military school which trains civilians and enlisted personnel in order for them to gain a commission as officers in the armed forces of a country. How OCS is run differs between countries and services. Typically, officer candidates have already attained post-secondary education, and sometimes a bachelor's degree, and undergo a short duration of training which focuses primarily on military skills and leadership. This is in contrast with a military academy which includes academic instruction leading to a bachelor's degree.
The Glider Pilot, Liaison Pilot, and Service Pilot badges were qualification badges of the United States Army Air Forces issued during the years of World War II to identify a rating in one of three specialized, limited-duty pilot categories whose selection and training differed from that of the traditional military pilot.
The Air Education and Training Command (AETC) is one of the nine Major Commands (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force (USAF), reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force. It was established 1 July 1993, with the realignment of Air Training Command and Air University.
The United States Army's Officer Candidate School (OCS) is an officer candidate school located at Fort Moore, Georgia, that trains, assesses, and evaluates potential commissioned officers of the U.S. Army, U.S. Army Reserve, and Army National Guard. Officer candidates are former enlisted members, warrant officers, inter-service transfers, or civilian college graduates who enlist for the "OCS Option" after they complete Basic Combat Training (BCT). The latter are often referred to as college ops.
The United States Army Airborne School—widely known as Jump School—conducts the basic paratrooper training for the United States Armed Forces. It is operated by the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 507th Infantry, United States Army Infantry School, Fort Moore, Georgia. The Airborne School conducts the Basic Airborne Course, which is open to troops from all branches of the United States Department of Defense, Reserve Officer Training Corps, and allied military personnel.
Santa Ana Army Air Base (SAAAB) was a World War II-era air base located near Santa Ana, California. The air base was decommissioned in 1946, and part of the land was annexed by Costa Mesa in 1953. The air base was used for basic training, although it did not have planes, hangars or runways. The base was 1,336 acres (5.41 km2), and the main section of the base was located between Baker Street to the north, Harbor Boulevard to the west, Wilson Street on the south, and Newport Boulevard on the east. The land formerly occupied by the air base is today the home of John Wayne Airport, the Orange County Fairgrounds, and Orange Coast College.
The United States Army Air Forces during World War II had major subordinate Commands below the Air Staff level. These Commands were organized along functional missions. One such Command was the Flying Training Command (FTC). It began as Air Corps Flying Training Command on 23 January 1942, was redesignated Army Air Forces Flying Training Command (AAFTC) on 15 March 1942, and merged with Army Air Forces Technical Training Command to become Army Air Forces Training Command on 31 July 1943. Continuing service after the war, it was redesignated Air Training Command on 1 July 1946. During the consolidation of Air Force Major Commands in the retrenchment of the 1990s, Air Training Command assumed control of Air University and became Air Education and Training Command on 1 July 1993—today's Air Education and Training Command (AETC), which celebrated its 75th anniversary 23 January 2017. see the Lineage and honors statement for AETC.
The United States Army Air Forces was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and de facto aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II (1941–1947). It was created on 20 June 1941 as successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and is the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force, today one of the six armed forces of the United States. The AAF was a component of the United States Army, which on 2 March 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the United States Army Services of Supply, and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff.
The Flying/Aviation Cadet Pilot Training Program was originally created by the U.S. Army to train its pilots. Originally created in 1907 by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, it expanded as the Army's air assets increased.
The Flying Division, Air Training Command, was a training formation of the United States Air Force. The unit was established in 1926 as the Air Corps Training Center to be the primary pilot training center for the Air Corps. It was reorganized into one of three training commands created by the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps in 1940 to accommodate the large number of air cadets being recruited as a result of the expansion of the corps after the fall of France. During World War II, thousands of cadets attended various flight schools throughout the Central United States being trained as pilots for fighters, bombers and transports. It also trained the navigators, bombardiers and gunners necessary for the bombers to attack enemy targets in the combat areas overseas. After World War II, it became the primary pilot and aircrew training unit of the United States Air Force Air Training Command.
The US Navy had four programs for the training of naval aviators.
Page Field Army Airfield' was a United States Army Air Forces base, approximately 4 miles south of Fort Myers, Florida. It was active during World War II as a Third Air Force training airfield. It was closed on 30 September 1945, two years prior to the establishment of the United States Air Force as an independent service.
An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service.
The Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (AROTC) is the United States Army component of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. It is the largest Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program which is a group of college and university-based officer training programs for training commissioned officers for the United States Army and its reserves components: the Army Reserves and the Army National Guard. There are over 30,000 Army ROTC cadets enrolled in 274 ROTC programs at colleges and universities throughout the United States. These schools are categorized as Military Colleges (MC), Military Junior Colleges (MJC) and Civilian Colleges (CC).
Operational Training Units (OTU) and Replacement Training Units (RTU) were training organizations of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Unlike the schools of the Army Air Forces Training Command (AAFTC), OTU-RTU units were operational units of the four domestic numbered air forces along with I Troop Carrier Command and Air Transport Command, with the mission of final phase training new pilots or crews. Most were disbanded in the spring of 1944 and replaced by combat crew replacement centers assigned to base units.
The 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group was a unit of the United States Army Air Forces. It was inactivated on 31 March 1944 at Hammer Field, California.
Oregon State University Army ROTC is an ROTC Battalion assigned to Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. Its mission is to train Cadets in basic military leadership and commission them as 2nd Lieutenants upon the completion of a bachelor's degree. Founded in 1873, the ROTC Battalion has continued to serve the nation and US Army Cadet Command and was given the nickname, "The West Point of the West" after it produced more commissioned officers than any other ROTC Battalion in the USA during World War II.
Pilot training in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) had several programs, which expanded, evolved and changed throughout the years. The aim of these programs was to train aircrew for the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS). Initially, the pilot training program was open only to officers who graduated from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy. However, the training was extended to include non-commissioned officers (NCO) in March 1914 and eventually also to enlisted navy personnel in May 1920. Over the years, the number of NCO and enlisted pilots significantly surpassed the number of commissioned officer pilots, and officers would typically only command units and lead formations in combat. As the Pacific War progressed and attrition impacted the units, it was not uncommon for NCOs to lead battle formations due to the lack of officers, and some units even ended up without officers, as in the case of 204th Air Group in summer 1943 after Operation SE. Prior to the Pacific war, the training programs were extremely selective and competitive, and produced only a small number of elite pilots every year. However, during the Pacific War, a rapid increase in the demand for replacement pilots significantly reduced the selectiveness and training time.
During World War II, the United States Army underwent significant changes and played a crucial role in the conflict, fundamentally shaping its purpose and structure. The primary objective of the U.S. Army during this period was to mobilize and deploy forces to combat Axis powers, including Germany, Italy, and Japan. This required a vast expansion of personnel and resources, leading to the largest military mobilization in American history up to that point.
↑ Palmer, Robert R.; Wiley, Bell I.; Keast, William R. (1991). United States Army in World War II, The Army Ground Forces, The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army. p.33.
↑ Palmer, Robert R.; Wiley, Bell I.; Keast, William R. (1991). United States Army in World War II, The Army Ground Forces, The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army. p.33-37, 194-95.
↑ Palmer, Robert R.; Wiley, Bell I.; Keast, William R. (1991). United States Army in World War II, The Army Ground Forces, The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army. p.38.
Cardozier, V. R. (1993). Colleges and Universities in World War II. Westport: Praeger. p.22. ISBN0275944328.
Keefer, Louis E. (1988). Scholars in Foxholes: The Story of the Army Specialized Training Program in World War II. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. ISBN0-89950-346-2.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
