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The War Department initiated The Student Army Training Corps as a nationwide program in the spring of 1918, a year after the U. S. had entered World War I. It began at 157 colleges and lasted until December of that year, following the Armistice. The idea was to allow students to volunteer for the army without unduly depleting enrollment at the nation's colleges and trade schools.

Section A, Student Army Training Corps (S.A.T.C.), at the State University in Missoula, Montana, was established on October 1, 1918 and ended on December 18, 1918.

The 300 members of Section "A" on the University campus took regular academic classes along with military training, while those in Section "B" supplement their military work with training for general mechanics, auto mechanics, radio operators, blacksmiths, topographical draftsmen and pipe fitters.

The Corps faced many problems including unfinished barracks requiring that they be quartered in tents, uniforms that had not come, and insufficient bedding. A bayonet course was constructed, complete with trenches, entanglements, and dummies. The young men also learned the work of engineers and surveyors and several men had been selected and recommended for officer’s schools when the war ended.