This is a wry and comedic account of a National Serviceman’s experiences serving in a dysfunctional infantry battalion in an undeclared, and now largely forgotten, war known as the ‘Malayan Emergency’. Beginning with an account of basic training and life in a transit camp prior to embarking for Singapore, it goes on to chronicle the cock-ups and cover-ups during the battalion’s brief period on operations when, to the frustration of its commanding officer ‘Coco-Oscar’, it mostly found itself in the wrong places at the wrong times to demonstrate any fighting capabilities. The pinnacle of the battalion’s achievements in Malaya was winning the Far East Army Football Cup.
