Sweat, toil, grunts, groans, ohs, and ahs will all be familiar sounds when the men of the AAF Statistical School start running over the newly completed Obstacle Course. It is for certain that the Obstacle Course is not a fat man's dream because everyone who uses the Course for the period of time they are here will be known as "Wasp-Waist Charlie."

The Course starts off with an appetizer of hurdles. The second course on the menu is the high frame ladder for stretching all those weary muscles; and then from the heights down to the depths of a fire trap. Then just to keep themselves going, they practice the art of balancing on a forty-foot combination of zigzag rails. Next, as if they hadn't had enough they go back up into the air over a seven foot wall, clambering over it in a manner similar to the way Tarzan swings from tree to tree, with the aid of ropes. The most interesting part of the Obstacle Course is known as the Wire Maze. This is a substitute for the famous tire series that is used in football to develop agility and coordination of mind and muscle. The men who survive that obstacle have a treat in store for them.

If you have traveled past the Course and wondered about the great big tall telephone pole way up in the air with the dangling ropes-- that is the treat. It is just enough to keep everyone happy. Beneath these dangling ropes is a pit, twelve feet across and five feet deep. The object is to spring the forty yards between obstacles, jump six feet, grab the rope and swing across the chasm to the other side. Another spring of forty feet, another hurdle and then the dessert, (boy, what a meal.) Everyone likes a large, sweet, mouth-watering dessert. The Obstacle Course provides exactly that. A ladder extends in the air for thirty feet. You go up one side and down the other. If you can survive this course, you are a cinch to be good for that last mile you have to run to catch a fleeing German or Jap. In that case the Obstacle Course has proved its worth.

All of this was dreamed up by the artist of the torture chamber, Lt. Carlton L. Ericksen, Physical Training Instructor of this School, formerly an All-American football Star from the University of Washington.