PDF Cooke
280 x 210mm, 624pages, over 600 photographs, hardback with jacket
David Ling Publishing - $74.99
What do Colin Meads and Carmen (Trevor Rupe) have in
common? Or Barry Brickell, Jim Bolger, John Hawkesby, Paul Reeves and Witi
Ihimaera? They all took part in Compulsory Military Training (CMT).
Just four years after the greatest war the
planet had witnessed, New Zealand thought it was going to have to do it all
again. As the Cold War brewed over ideology and atom bombs, New Zealand
determined to play its part in collective security. People argued over how to
raise the necessary force but the country willingly adopted Compulsory Military
Training. Young men were registered, examined and forced to learn basic Army,
Navy or Air Force skills.
In this ground-breaking study, military
historian Peter Cooke follows these men through the process of being given a
number, called up and regimented. The voices of over 830 trainees are heard as
they fill out Labour Department forms, try for a postponement and shuffle into
barracks. We witness them getting shouted at and begrudging the discipline,
discomfort and NCOs. But then over three months we see them emerging as
confident, disciplined cogs in a machine. In almost a quarter century, around
100,000 young New Zealand men were trained in CMT and National Service. While this
was felt to be essential at the time, thankfully, the men were never sent to
war. Instead, they came out of it with something unexpected, something they’ve
harboured for life – and were keen to talk about.
Fit to Fight will be launched by The Honourable Dr Jonathan
Coleman MP and Minister of Defence at Parliament on 25 March.
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