Army Specialized Training Program (Rec. Gr. 118)

Historical note

The Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) was established to train college students for the war effort. The accelerated training program gave participants the opportunity to graduate college in three, rather than four, years. This not only decreased the necessary college time for Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) students working toward an officer’s commission, but also allowed other graduates the opportunity to join the war effort one year earlier. The fields of study included engineering, agriculture, science, business administration and home economics. This program was similar to the Students' Army Training Corps (RG #111) established during World War I.

The Specialized Training Program of the Army of the United States Service Command, Unit 1148 held its first, and only, graduation exercises on March 25, 1944 in Edwards Hall on the campus of Rhode Island State College.

In 1944, citing military necessity, the U.S. Army announced its intention to remove the 110,000 student trainees from participating programs on all US campuses. The U.S. Army then called the students to active duty. According to a 1944 letter from Adjutant General, Major General J.A. Ulio, this action was designed to compensate for current military personnel shortages (See Folder #16). The removal of students caused grave financial consequences to colleges and universities, in the United States, already facing reduced enrollment caused by mandatory military service and fewer college deferments (See Rhode Island State College, Annual Report 1940-41-1944/45, Archives LD4706 A11). In order to offset the financial result of the curtailment in enrollment in the Army Specialized Training Program, Rhode Island State College President, Carl R. Woodward (1941-1958), campaigned to establish the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program on campus. His efforts proved unsuccessful as Colonel Morton Smith, Director of the Army Specialized Training Division, First Service Command, informed President Woodward that the enlistment in the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program was not high enough to insure that Rhode Island State College have a reserve program (See Folder #22, Letter from Col. Smith to President Woodward, June 20, 1944).

For more information on the ASTP, see The University of Rhode Island a History of Land-Grant Education in Rhode Island by Herman F. Eschenbacher, New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts [1967].