Stateside Service: Stanford University/STAR Unit

Coming in from the Palo Alto train station to the Stanford campus for the first time was quite a thrill. I'd never seen any campus like it. It was a beautiful place with palm trees and gardens all about. We were billeted in Encinia Hall, a former freshman dorm I believe. Every morning we had roll call but military formations ended with that. Besides being a part of the nationwide ASTP program, Stanford was what was called a STAR unit. I can't recall what the exact letters meant but it had two functions: first, to provide refresher courses in selected basic courses depending on the field you were seeking to enter; and, second, when this was completed, to give examinations to determine eligibility and area of specialization for assignment to a cooperating college or university in the geographic area covered. If accepted, all rank was lost and while in the ASTP all soldiers would be of equal rank, viz., buck private, but the prospect of eventual commissioning was implied, at least most of us thought so. In any event, as a "private" to begin with, this posed no problem to me.

We were there about six weeks and I struggled with the math courses. It had taken me three years to complete a two-year course of algebra and geometry in high school. Math was definitely not my strong suit but I was headed for "basic engineering" where apparently we were automatically assigned if we had no previous college record in other fields the Army was interested in, e.g., language, medicine. I studied hard; one weekend trip to San Francisco (which I promptly fell in love with) was the only time off I had. Then came the final exams. As soon as possible after they were done, an officer interviewed each of us separately regarding the result. My interview did not start off auspiciously because, as expected, my test grades in math were far from outstanding but I tried earnestly and desperately to explain the reasons for the poor math base I had from high school and my conviction that I was now mature enough to do better, given the opportunity. I remember the officer said to me something like "We expect about two percent of those selected to flunk out the first semester and of that two percent, you would be at the bottom of the list". Evidently, my pleading has some effect for I was soon assigned to the ASTP unit in Oregon Sate College in Corvallis, Oregon. It is interesting to note, that the failure rate for first termers was actually closer to 40 percent than two. Whatever, I owe that officer a debt to this very day for taking a chance on me.

Encina Hall, Stanford

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