first of all, TS should IGNORE everyone who says crap like "BE A
MAN, NS 2 yrs only".
it's easy for them to say, but for some people, NS is a very
difficult period of time.
you could probably ask him to call SAF counselling hotline, but
will it work? even if it's a real case, if your fellow mates know
you call hotline, they'll see you as chao-keng.
like what above poster says, most of us DON'T EVEN need NS.
not sure about you guys, but the most saddest part in my life
was the 2 yrs i serve in NS.
not school, not anything, but NS.
let's face it like a real man: NS S***S.
NS is only for people who love PAP or SAF, for punks and
gangsters, who need 2 years of hard training to make them
behave.
i've some tips for people like TS:
1) first, and most important: DO NOT COUNTDOWN to your ORD
date. instead, live it day by day. This was what I did back then
and it works a lot better. If I had instead count down to my ORD
date, i probably would be in "Hougang chalet" now.
this tactic was later further confirmed by a barber i know. his
advice is "when in NS, don't count down to ORD date or you'll go
crazy. Live it day by day and before you know it, ORD has come".
Back then, I didn't even want to think about ORD date.
for your case, what you should do is to LOOK FORWARD to your
next weekend, not ORD date. So, if today is Wed, tell yourself, 2
more days and Sat comes!!!!!
yes, you need to book-in on Sun night, but when that happens,
look forward to the next weekend. Best trick i can teach you. Sat
should be your motivation, your motivator.
2) if you tell yourself that if minus the weekends, holidays,
and your off-entitlement and leave entitlement, you'll be serving
way less than 2 yrs of NS. Furthermore, people in the past serve
2.5 yrs, not 2 yrs.
3) try to force yourself to be engaged in whatever your jobscope
is and do it well.
at first i hate it, but as time goes by, i become proficient at
my job scope and was able to get engrossed in it. Result? time
passes faster.
4) during Sat and Sun, hang out and maximize your time on family
and friends.
use the computer for 2 hours at most to catch up with
technology. if possible, make it a point to eat dinner with your
family / gf on Sat and Sun. They're the ones who can comfort you
most, not friends. Friends only provide pleasure and fun but no
real emotional comfort, not as much as families.
5) fifth, is that when you become lao-jiao, life will be a lot
easier.
6) remind yourself that some fools out there still have to serve
3 years of DB and after that, serve another 2 yrs of NS liability.
you should feel better.
7) don't chao-keng too obviously or people will make life hell
for you (like ask you come back on CNY to do guard duties).
if you're like 1.5 years into the army liao and try to keng, at
least not so bad cos' u lao-jiao.
8) it's true that BMT is the toughest; after posted to units,
will be a lot laxer.
for all you know, you may even get posted to everyday-sign-out
unit.
btw, some units, even if it's those stay-in units, are so slack
that the people inside are slacking around in their bunk 70% - 80%
of the time.
9) doing NS will not make your gf proud, like what above
guy says. Unless the guy is some 2LT. even then, most local girls
don't even care. NSF is one of the lowest job in SG, unlike in
other countries where girls are proud of their soldiers (USA, for
e.g).