EXPERIENCE IN THE ARMY : THE IMPACT ON THE ATTITUDES OF FULL-TIME NATIONAL SERVICEMEN

Abstract

This Academic Exercise is a study on the impact of national service on the attitudes of the full-time NSmen, more specifically on the effects that NS had on the social relationships of the latter. There are two parts of the discussion, the first being an in-depth analysis of the social relationships formed among the NSmen in the military while the second takes a look at the impact of NS on the latter's relationships with their significant others, more specifically their family members and girlfriends. This study will show that while there are indications of enhancement of social relations among the NSmen in terms of ethnic interaction and those from different educational background, it was found that these relationships are mostly formed at a superficial level. It also makes an interesting discovery on how vulgar language is used in the army in the negotiation of relationships among the NSmen. As for the relationships with the significant others, it is seen that during conscription, the NSmen felt more appreciation for their family members as seen from the positive feedback by the latter, their mothers and sisters. But an opposite impact was noted when the relationships of the NSmen and their girlfriends were analysed, whereby a more problematic period, often culminating in broken relationships, was seen. The data for this study will be based on interviews that were conducted with twenty males who had already completed their national service and ten other individual family members and girlfriends who gave detailed description about their personal experiences during the time of conscription. These face-to-face interviews would serve to complement the secondary data that were also collected in aid of this research.