New York, Dec 5 – If war is hell, what better place to prepare for it than Wall Street?

For two hours Monday and another two hours today, the men who trade crude oil and the men who fight wars tested themselves in each others world. The idea for the Marines to learn something from a trader's quick - witted reactions to sudden gold fever or an Alaskan oil spill that could help a colonel make rapid-fire decisions while stuckon a besieged beachhead.

It is unusual, experts say, for successful military establishments to look outside their own barracks for ideas.

The idea and framework for the mercantile-Marine exchange came from Bing West, President of Falls Church-based GAMA Corporation, which conducts simulations in military and corporate decision-making under stress.

See MARINES, A16, Col.1