Fit To Fight. Compulsory Military Training and national Service in New Zealand 1949-72. By P D F Cooke. Large heavy Book in Dust Jacket, First Edition 2013, frontispiece, Colour and Black and White Photographs, illustrations, maps, 631 Pages, Published By David Ling Publishers Auckland. A Near Fine Copy. 'Just four years after the greatest war the planet had witnessed, New Zealand realised 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 a ground-breaking study, 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, broken- 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 of a century, around 100,000 young NZ men were trained in CMT and National Service. This was felt to be essential at the time and, 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 reveal'