National Service: From Aldershot to Aden: tales from the conscripts, 1946-62

...on British social mores and class as well as on the experience of the conscripts themselves. A fascinating read. (I was conscripted into the American Army in 1966-69 and the contrast and similarities between my experience and the experience of the subjects of this book are quite interesting). Anyone who has ever been a soldier in any country will like this. Well-written, though a bit repetitive as others have noted here.

I served in the army, as a regular, '56-'59 along side N.S. lads.. I do not remember anyone having a fall out or serious argument even. Book gives a good impression of what life was like in those days , plenty of laughs were had because even after having been shouted and yelled at, and made to feel a complete pillock all day, though there were jobs to do in the evening, no one took any of the drill pigs seriously. We all knew we would be posted after 6 weeks, and as was written behind one of the toilet doors " don't worry, even gobsh*tes pass out " all perfectly true. I can understand some lads who had never been anywhere or done anything wondering what the hell at hit them. A good read and it certainly brought back some memories

The people who told their stories in the main thought the experience had been very worthwhile. Meeting and mingling with people from all walks of life and the way you are trained and bonded as a team is very well told. Having done my National Service I appreciated it and in a way was sorry to put the book down. Colin Schinler's summaries and introductions clearly explained the periods in our more recent history.

Good anecdotal material on a very significant experience in the lives of many young british subjects, some of who sadly paid the ultimate sacrifice and were unable to practice the lessons and the vista of life opened up to many. More information is becoming available, and it is well worth reading by those who experienced it, and those who did not - Good read

This book accurately conveys the highs and lows of national service.Having completed N.S. in 1959 I was able to empathise with a number of the writers and their experiences.I really enjoyed this and it was interesting to compare their experiences with mine.I had been in the Air Training Corps,then the R.A.F.been posted overseas and flown as aircrew in piston engine aircraft.Unfortunately because N.S. was a repetitive system of training ,square bashing followed by trade training etc I soon tired of the many similar stories of service life.I think the book may be of more interest to someone who had not served as it gives an accurate account of typical N.S.

This book is one of the best in this genre. Thousands of young chaps were "called up" in the 1940s/50s/60s to go through months of military training - some of them losing their lives in the process.Extremely well-written; Colin Shindler has done a great job in collecting so many ex-service-men stories of those days. I have no hesitation is recommending this book.

This is a well-organised selection of personal stories from people who were conscripted into National Service. The selection is well balanced, with a good coverage of the different services and the different periods during which the system operated.The one minor problem is that the stories can be quite repetitive because they'd been asked questions and the answers were then edited by Shindler to make for smooth reading. Shindler explains in his introduction that it's to ensure consistent comparisons of the people's experiences but sometimes you wish they could go into more detail about aspects that might have been important to them that hadn't been asked about.Overall, though, this is an important collection of National Service memories. For a fuller insight into the politics and experiences of the system, I heartily recommend Tom Hickman's The Call-Up: A History of National Service.

Like others here I bought this book for my father for fathers day. He had been conscripted into National Service during the early 50's, serving in the Royal Artillery and stationed in Germany. He read the book from cover to cover and wasn't overly impressed. As other reviewers have mentioned the stories of the men featured do tend to put an overly rosy tint on what actually went on. Needless to say a book he was looking forward too reading was a let down, and not something he enjoyed.

I have always been fascinated with National Service or conscription especially the British experience. The stories of those young men in this book explain the absurdity of military service imposed on people who did not volunteer. The positive aspects such as mateship or the opportunity to travel are also highlighted. Binding it all together is that most precious gift - British sarcasm.

A well written book but one that would appeal most to those who went through National Service. I was interested in how often the same comments were made by the interviwees. The book would have benefited by the inclusion of photographs of the interviewees during National Service. I recommend the book to all who did National Service in England.

I've just begun the book. Got it at a bargain, used. If the rest of the book lives up to the delightful writing in the Introduction, I'm in for a treat. At the moment am finishing one of Tolstoy's lesser works (yes, apparently these do exist), "Resurrection". I'm eager to come to the end of Tolstoy's book so I can delve into Mr. Shindler's. This is high praise, indeed.I'll update this review when I've sampled more of "National Service".

Im in to reading and trying to understand how National Service Influenced the UK and the generations subjected to it. This was an good pastiche in to this. It showed the services human side which is where I would liked to seen Shilinder take it further. I was hoping for the book to perhaps analyse in a broader context how N.S Shaped the society of the late 60's, 70's and 80's? Did the national service shape society? This does not detract from the work, perhaps the next issue will discuss this ?

This is a gift for someone else.