The Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) was a military training program instituted by the United States Army during World War II to meet wartime demands both for junior officers and soldiers with technical skills. Conducted at more than 222 American universities, it offered training in such fields as engineering, foreign languages, and medicine.^[1]

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 expected to become officers upon completion. The program was approved in September 1942 and implemented in December that year.^[1]from Wikipedia

This is the program attended by Tom’s friend, Karl Abt, at Princeton University. Karl was ultimately assigned to a military intelligence unit, primarily interviewing German prisoners of war.