In March, 1941, at Kelly Field, TX, I took Part I of The Army Alpha Test, the standardized "mental test", which R. M. Yerkes and others had developed in 1917. The conditions under which I was forced to take it were unfair and should have distorted the results.

I had pulled guard duty all night. Two hours on, two hours off in "The Guard House" with other duties. After breakfast, I headed for my tent to sleep. But I was rousted out to take the Test. I protested that I had not slept for 20 hours. But to no avail.

I fell asleep twice during the testing and barely finished.

A short while after this, I passed an exam at the Weather Station and was tranferred out of Recruit Training to weather duty. In May, I came off the 8-hour night shift at the Weather Station, ate breakfast, and headed for my cot, when again ... I had to take Part II of The Army Alpha Test. I hadn't slept for 18 hours. But ... I think I fell asleep three times during testing, but managed to finish.

My scores under these unfair conditions went into my Service Record.

During the next five years in the Army Air Corps, I often heard of similar experiences of