Could you use the word in one of the contexts in which it appears? There is
a term STRACK or STRAC which was in wide use in the army at that time. It
referred to an official condition of combat readiness applied to certain
units identified by the Pentagon to be maintained at a very high degree of
efficiency and quality - characterized by unblemished service records, high
readiness of equipment, morale of the soldiery in the unit.
This term then became adopted by the army in general to refer to any single
soldier or small unit that was considered to be very "together," very
military in the by-the-book sense, well-turned-out, efficient, etc. In
short, it became slang for the best the military had to offer. It was a
very wide-spread trope from about 1967 to about 1973. Today I believe it is
virtually non-existent. The concept of STRAC units in NATO was a cold-war
development that probably carried over into the mid to late vietnam era.
John S. Baky
Director of Libraries
Connelly Library
La Salle University
1900 W. Olney Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19141
Phone: (215) - 951-1285 or 1286
Fax : (215) 951-1595
e-mail Baky@alpha.lasalle.edu