Not Quite Men, No Longer Boys
Young Adult Non-Fiction War Aboriginal & Indigenous Military History Australian Vietnam War Memoir Post-Colonial Australian History Race & Identity in the Armed Forces Military PTSD & Trauma Studies Australian Social History 1960s-1990s
Not Quite Men, No Longer Boys is the powerful 1999 memoir that finally gave Australia’s Aboriginal Diggers a voice. In 352 fast-moving pages, K.C. Laughton—an Indigenous veteran—recounts how he and his mates enlisted as starry-eyed teenagers, only to discover that while they were good enough to fight in Vietnam, they were still “too black” for the locals when they came home. The book blends rollicking barrack-room humour with unflinching honesty about racism, PTSD and the struggle to reconcile warrior pride with a country that refused to recognise them. The result is a rare street-level history of Australia’s national service era told from an Aboriginal perspective, and it has become a sought-after title on both military and Indigenous studies shelves.
Collectors value this first-edition 1999 paperback because it predates the later reprints and retains the raw language and photos that were toned down in subsequent releases. The clean, unmarked interior and tight binding make this copy an excellent reading or reference piece; the external scuffing is normal shelf-wear that keeps the price accessible while still preserving every map, insignia and roll-call list that veterans and genealogists hunt for. Unlike the heavily edited e-book version, this physical edition contains the full appendix of Aboriginal servicemen’s names—a goldmine for family historians.
For general readers, Laughton’s story is an eye-opening bridge between Australian military history and Indigenous survival: you will march through basic training, hit the jungle in ‘66, survive a mortar attack and then ride the bitter wave of protest that greeted the returning troops. Teachers and librarians consistently recommend it to upper-secondary and adult audiences for its accessible prose and cross-curricular themes of identity, mateship and reconciliation. Owning this copy means holding a piece of living history—an unfiltered account that still sparks discussion in university tutorials and RSL clubs alike.
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