Escape and Evasion
Simulated POW Camp
Soviets Say Course at Fort Sill Makes ‘Beasts’ of Young Officers (1967)
A Soviet newspaper published an article on a special school at Fort Sill, describing it as a “Camp of Murders.”
The article, which appeared in Trud, a publication of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions in Moscow says the class transforms young artillery officers into “beasts—cruel unfeeling animals.”
The training described in the article is thought to be the 5 1/2 day “escape and evasion” phase of Sill’s 23-week officer candidate school. The special training is aimed at showing officers the treatment they might expect as prisoners of war.
The Trud article showed a soldier, suspended from a rope, dangled head down inside an empty barrel. It says, “If the year 1943 were substituted for the year 1967 in the captions beneath the photograph, one might think that the picture was made by German SS troops in concentration camps.”
The article said the man was twisted around on the rope, knocking his head against the side of the barrel. The article said a gallows dominates the camp and future officers must dangle in the noose. It said, “He will have a rattle in his throat and twitch. True, he won’t be allowed to die. He is only permitted to look death in the face.” Other alleged brutalities such as beatings are described in the article.
Lt. Col. Richard G. Wheeler, Fort Sill information officer, said the officer candidates are “exposed to a POW exercise that closely approximates treatment they might receive as prisoners of war in actual conflict.” The young officer candidates are, he said, forced to crawl through mud, are taunted, interrogated and finally allowed to escape.
There’s no cruelty,” he said. Wheeler said the training is designed to prepare the men to withstand possible indignities from enemy “beasts.” Fort Sill officers could "find little in the article resembling things that really exist at the U S. Army Artillery and Missile Center."
See for yourself: Below is a slideshow of the activities at the simulated POW compound: Welcome to "Xing Loi"
A Soviet newspaper published an article on a special school at Fort Sill, describing it as a “Camp of Murders.”
The article, which appeared in Trud, a publication of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions in Moscow says the class transforms young artillery officers into “beasts—cruel unfeeling animals.”
The training described in the article is thought to be the 5 1/2 day “escape and evasion” phase of Sill’s 23-week officer candidate school. The special training is aimed at showing officers the treatment they might expect as prisoners of war.
The Trud article showed a soldier, suspended from a rope, dangled head down inside an empty barrel. It says, “If the year 1943 were substituted for the year 1967 in the captions beneath the photograph, one might think that the picture was made by German SS troops in concentration camps.”
The article said the man was twisted around on the rope, knocking his head against the side of the barrel. The article said a gallows dominates the camp and future officers must dangle in the noose. It said, “He will have a rattle in his throat and twitch. True, he won’t be allowed to die. He is only permitted to look death in the face.” Other alleged brutalities such as beatings are described in the article.
Lt. Col. Richard G. Wheeler, Fort Sill information officer, said the officer candidates are “exposed to a POW exercise that closely approximates treatment they might receive as prisoners of war in actual conflict.” The young officer candidates are, he said, forced to crawl through mud, are taunted, interrogated and finally allowed to escape.
There’s no cruelty,” he said. Wheeler said the training is designed to prepare the men to withstand possible indignities from enemy “beasts.” Fort Sill officers could "find little in the article resembling things that really exist at the U S. Army Artillery and Missile Center."
See for yourself: Below is a slideshow of the activities at the simulated POW compound: Welcome to "Xing Loi"
