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D Lt. Col. c. W. McGeehan Col. Paul Dowling "Soldiers at school, not students in uniform." 24 hours per week of classroom and labora- In the annals of the history of Western tory work, 5 hours of military instruction, 6 Maryland College July 12, 1943, will stand hours of physical training, and 24 hours of out as the beginning of an unprecedented study required by the program, it is easy to phase of her growth and activities, because it see that from reveille at 6: 15 a.m. until taps was on that day that 300 young soldiers be- at 10: 15 p.m. the cadet had a full pack of came her adopted students and alumni-to-be. work to carry. What took place on the Hill was happening At no stage of their college training were on more than 225 campuses throughout the the AST cadets allowed to forget that they nation, for the largest educational project in were soldiers in the service of their country. the world was taking shape in America to They marched to and from class, and even in meet the challenge of total war. It went by the classroom their section leaders called them the name of the Army Specialized Training sharply to attention upon the entrance of the Program, and its purpose was to provide the professors. Before long, civilian and military vitally needed specialists and technicians for students alike were aware that the bugle calls the Army. Under this program thousands of of reveille and taps had become as familiar Uncle Sam's brainiest soldiers, many of whom on the Hill as the distant chimes of the town would never have been able to go to college clock. in civilian life, were sent to the best universi- Following regular Army procedure, the ties in the land, with the Army paying for trainees were organized into squads, pla- their tuition, food, clothes, books, and rooms, toons, companies, and a battalion. Though in addition to continuing their regular pay. a permanent commanding officer led the Most of them were high school graduates battalion, the administration of the companies under 22 years of age, embarking on a course was delegated by him to cadets who acted as that was to have lasted almost two years, and officers and non-commissioned officers. The from which they would emerge as specialists following was the organization of the cadet in civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, sani- battalion: tary, and marine engineering. The first three terms of the curriculum in ARMY OFFICERS engineering are known as the basic phase, Commandant: Paul J. Dowling, Colonel, and these are the terms which Western Mary- Infantry. land undertook to teach. Physics, chemistry, Adjutant: George J. Richards, Jr., 1st Lt., mathematics, history, geography, English, and Infantry. engineering drawing were the main courses Classification Officer: Herbert B. Jaffe, 2d on the schedule of the WMC soldier-student. Lt., AGD. Roughly, they are equivalent in credit to the Battalion Commander: Bruce E. Ferguson, first one-and-one-half years of college. With Captain, Infantry. 96