If there’s any hope, I hope to see the SAF
Psychology Unit (or whatever it’s called nowadays) publish an
updated version of “Youth In the Army.” I stumbled upon a copy of
the latter book quite some years back, & have found myself
returning to re-read it quite often. For those who don’t know, it’s
a 1978 work which, initiated by Goh Keng Swee, sought to profile
some of the NSF peng who served in the ‘70s.
It was very fascinating to learn about the familial backgrounds of
the troops then, & why stuff like drug-taking was so prevalent.
Included was also an appendix of army lingo, quite possibly one of
the earliest compilations of what became known later as
Singlish.
