The lady.

I hear people all around me saying, " Oh noooo my boyfriend hasn't texted me for 3 hours! What do I do, does he love me anymore? " Or things like, " I haven't seen my boyfriend for one whole day my life  is going to end! :(( "

 

You think not seeing him for a day is hard? Look at my situation. I'm the girlfriend of an army boy. Whose guy is serving in the SAF and - get this straight- not even in places like Tekong, whereby there's still a reasonable amount of welfare. He's in 1SIR. A rifleman. The lowest rung in the army. I'll leave you to figure out the type of welfare he's given yourself. 

I don't see him every day, only once a week, and that's already a privilege granted that confinement may occur anytime. Each week, I'm praying and hoping that when Friday comes, I won't receive his call, saying, " dear, I'm confined this week. Sorry." but rather, " I can't wait to see you tomorrow!" I have to 'man up' to the situation that in the very near future I'll have to go for a week without talking to him, let alone seeing him, or even 2 to 3 weeks overseas whereby he won't get to speak with me at all. 

NS doesn't just toughen up the guys. It toughens the girls too, by making them confront a situation that,at 18 years, should still be fairly premature. Having a relationship while in the army is a very risky thing. It's a make or break situation, whereby both partners weather the storm together and ultimately survive, or break off because the situation of a stay-in unit is too much to handle. 

The latter is the situation I fear will happen to the couples who are simply unable to go for days without seeing each other. The constant fear that ' my guy will leave me just because he hasn't spoken to me for a day' is the one thing that will kill a relationship in NS, because whatever it may be, there will definitely be days whereby he won't be able to speak to you, the girlfriend. Then what? 

I guess that's what they mean by NS is the 'greatest test of a relationship'. I can see it now, and I can see why. Not everyone is going to make it. And especially for people like me, who's boyfriends are in the infantry, it's even worse. I'm not going to say that a relationship grows stronger because it's been put to the test so often. I'm going to say that it's simply because these tests force both to grow up, and if the rate at which they grow up is faster than the challenges, the relationship's going to last. Somehow. 

Good luck to all those out there who're facing the same situation as I am. Make it or break it, you decide.