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.

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.

In 1917, it was a field-artillery target range. In 1933, the artillery field became Camp Ord, named in honor of Union Army Maj. Gen. Edward Otho Cresap Ord, (1818-1883) a leader during the Civil War. In 1941, Camp Ord was officially named Fort Ord. During World War II, the concept of combat readiness training was introduced there and soldiers practiced attacking a small simulated German village called Krautville . After the D-Day invasion, POW German soldiers were interned at the Fort. During the 50s it was a staging area for units departing for the Korean War. During the Vietnam war, Fort Ord was a major training facility, that included drills in a mock Vietnamese village. The post continued as a center for instruction of basic and advanced infantrymen until 1976, when the training area was deactivated and the Fort again became the home of the The 7th Infantry Division, following their return from South Korea after twenty-five years in the Demilitarized Zone.

The majority of participants in the ASTP were already on active duty in the Army. Enlisted men were also given the qualifying test, and accepted only at the rank of private. 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; one in seven chose to do so. The director of the War Manpower Commission 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.[8] Reservists who had been found qualified for further training under the ASTP were sent to basic training, and then assessed again when they returned.

**Fort Huachuca, AZ