Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP)

A Chance at Higher Education

“So, I said, 'well, going back to some college, that sounds like us.'” 

“They said, well, the Army just started a new program called Army Specialized Training Program, ASTP. And if you prefer that, we'll send you to some college to take courses in engineering. So, I said, 'well, going back to some college, that sounds like us.' So that's what we ended up eventually going to Syracuse University. We were there about four months, taking engineering courses.

Since we had graduated, we had taken business courses, accounting courses at the University of Florida. Engineering courses was all Greek to us, but we did the best we could.  After about four months, they transferred us to the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.  And after about four months there, some general woke up and said, 'they got thousands of young soldiers in colleges. They need them for combat.' So, they disbanded the program, and that's when the Army split us up."

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