PLATOON VERSUS PLATOON........ Amazing Race!!!

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24 January 2010, Kuala Lumpur. The Original Bootcamp Malaysia (OBC) organised the first Platoon Versus Platoon competition that saw the merger of recruits from KL Alpha & KL Bravo platoons into ONE-TEAM called the "KAY-AL KIASU" against the recruits from three PJ Platoons PJ Alpha, PJ Bravo and PJ PM into one-team named "ASTAKA Warriors".

Selva Kumar, the franchise holder for the Original Bootcamp Malaysia had made known of the challenge to everybody on 18 January 2010, 6-Days before the actual event that took place in Metropolitan Park, Kepong at 5:45am today.

All Bootcamp recruits that had previously completed or are currently completing a full month of OBC were allowed to participate in this First Platoon Versus Platoon Challenge.

"The challenge was conducted to determine which platoon is the strongest in a friendly, enjoyable and slightly competitive way" said the Admin in his email invitation. "The challenge was organized without any entrance fee but there was a Donation box to collect money for Rumah Ozanam, a registered voluntary organization established since 22 March 1987 by the National Society of St Vincent de Paul for the underprivelege, abused, abandoned, neglected and homeless children. 100% of the donation collected will be channeled towards to Rumah Ozanam to raise funds for the childrens school book and school fees.

The announcement was made a day after the new Balance 30km race which more than a dozen of KL Alpha elite participated. Upon receiving the news of the much awaited Platoon Vs Platoon........ KL Alpha was concerned as some of KL Alpha elite were injured during the New Balance 30km race and some strong Deltas and Seals had prior engagement on the competition-day. Amongst those injured, were Kenny Smith, Michelle Smith, Chun Chia Kai SSJ, Nawal Aini, Zulkifli, Rose Emini, Nyna Mohsein, Zaiem Razak and me. Marcus Chan, Danial Ismail, Jordan Bracker, Claire Campbell, Biing Wen Yin had other engagements.

Astaka Warriors had the competitive advantage in the total numbers from their three platoons; PJ Alpha, PJ Bravo & PK PM. They have at least three times the number of Deltas and Seals compared to KL Kiasus. We have to strategize to ensure we could gained sufficient number of participants to match the expected higher number from Astaka Warriors

Despite the injuries, in an exemplary display of camaraderie, majority from KL Alpha Delta, Seals and Rangers quickly responded to participate. Most gathered on Monday, 18 January 2010 the day the announcement was made  itself to strategize.. and the first task was to elect a leader to coordinate and lead. I was selected to lead and my first task was to form a committee. The committee was formed, comprising of those committed to Bootcamp and ACE. The ACErs had a proven Attendance, Commitment and Effort record.

There was a huge advantage of being a leader....... all work and tasks can be delegated!! and the core-key person entrusted with the most important task are as follows:

Battle-Ground

We were informed the battle-field will be alien to most of us. Therefore, we must have an insight of the battle-ground and secure the parameter with sufficient knowledge. Wai-yee was entrusted to site-visited and survey the Park and compare it to our training ground. Her report was perfect with specific details on available parking, public toilets, depth of mud, size of field, nearest food-court or mamak, travelling time and gathering spot........ etc etc...

Team-Image and Identification

Without any knowledge of the circuit or challenge that we have to compete, it will be imperative to us to be able to identify our team members especially at Five in the morning. The council decided upon an identity to differentiate KL Kiasu team members & supporters to the Astaka Warriors and one of the identity was a red-bandanna. Farhanah, the Seal-in-charge, bought a big 8-metres of red-cloth and sent it for cut and sew. Farhanah was able to produce 58 red-bandanna from the 8-metre cloth that cost every person RM3.00 each. Farhanan was also asked to purchase a few Noise-Horn.

Disguised & Undercover

KL Platoons are a bunch of cheerful, funny, jolly, loving and obedient bunch with Handsome and pretty faces. A character that will leave opponent laughing instead of being intimidated. Therefore, the council decided to use a Reverse-psychology to disguised our fun character into a hantu-like & fierce-look, with a Face-Paint ala 'Commando!!!'.  Wan Rozana aka Ana was incharge to make us Fierce-full and she bought a water-based but water-proof paint to convert us all into a Soldier. Ana sponsored two tube of the Black-paint that cost her RM15.00.

Strategic Planning

Four person was in charge for devising a stragegy through listing down the strength and weaknesses ala SWOT of the whole team mates. Three leaders were selected, Shobha Bala, Malek Aziz and me to study the strength of our members to enable the strong team mates to support the weaker. Our Motto was to obtain as many participation from everybody even from the weakest Ranger. Part of the strategy, was to hype and rev up the interest by spamming the OBC Wall @ Facebook which Shobha Bala and Shera Ann was in charge. The sole purpose was to create interest in all participants and called-upon teammates to stay united.

Official Photographer

Suriana Saiful was the appointed official photographer for KL-Kiasu. Rose's 50D was the official Camera! This was imperative to capture the historical moment.

Chief Loudspeaker

Zaiem Razak (pic on the left) was the appointed team's Loud-Speaker for the "KL -Kiasu War-Cry" due to his excessive voice volume.

The war-cry lyrics was done by Vinod Kumar (pic on the right). That was sang to the tune of US Marine Corp.  There were three (3) War-Cry songs that were shortlisted but we took the first War-Cry as the official Song. Vinod too was made the KL-Kiasu CALL-CENTRE HOTLINE to all KL Platoon teammates and supporters for direction to the Battle Field to avoid any Late-Comers due to lost of direction.

KL KIASU WAR CRY

(Sing to the tune of US MARINE CORP)

We are KL and we are loud;
Loyal fans and we are proud;
We gonna beat PJ at this game;
Send them packing the way they came.
Grunts and squat is what they'll get
Come on Pee Jay meet your fate
Sound off.... Kay AL..
Sound off..... Platoon...
Sound off...... KAY AL Platoon
HOOYAAAAH!!!!

Lists & Communication

Nyna Mohsen gathered the list of all KL Alpha Deltas, Seals and Rangers and approached KL Bravo platoon to synergized. I took the responsibility to communicate with all team members via Group-Thread-Email and SMSs. We met Sham Ser and Selima from KL Bravo whom approached their teammates at KL Bravo. We had a total of three meetings including a group site-visit and lunch at the Battle-field. We were ready within 3 days prior to the announcement being made and impatiently waited for the actual Challenge!! During the countdown, a mass-group-thread SMS and EMAILS was sent a few times a day, everyday to rev, hype up and motivate the team as well as to provide the latest updates.

Eight sub-leaders were appointed to take care of 8 team members and give them a WAKE-UP CALL @ 4am and make sure everybody arrived by 5am for the distribution of Red-Bandanna and Face-Paint. The Eight sub-leaders were: Rose Emini, Shobha Bala, Danny, Zaiem Razak, Saroop Rampal, Selima Bee (from KL Bravo) and me.

The committee and sub-committee had various  meetings with 120 email thread correspondences. For the FIRST TIME.. everybody within KL Alpha and within KL Bravo took the initiative to get to know one another. Majority from the Bootcamp (me included) attended the twelve Bootcamp sessions half awake at 5:45am, barely before the training began and left immediately once the session ended that we hardly knew everybody there...  Now, three days before the event, everybody knew everybody at the Bootcamp. This was already the biggest of achievement and success even if we were fated to lost.

With most elite from KL Platoon injured and not available for the competition, our call for unity within our platoon was the only way forward. We spam the OBC FB-Wall calling for unity and reminders. The hea-count of opponent were bigger with their three platoons combined.

The show began......... on 24 January 2010. At 4am, all the Eight leaders woke-up earlier to call everybody under their care...... and ALL were awake except for Arvind Patmarajah. By 5am, everybody was at the battle-field and Farhanah Bamadhaj distributed the RED-BANDANNA.

Wan Rozana Kasim began FACE-PAINTING.... to make us look like Hantu...... and intimidate our opponent that is our key to winning without the many KL Elites..

By 5:30am....... we were all ready with Red-Bandanna & Hantu-look...

We tried to look Fierce.......... but we look cute instead.........

When the time comes.......... The trumpet was blown to call everybody to gather........

Sargeant Simran requested for 2 leaders from KL Kiasu and two leaders from Astaka Warriors. Shobha Bala and I represented our team and Alex Nathan and Nicholas Chan represented the Astaka Warriors.

The Challenge today was the "Amazing Race"......... the two leaders were briefed of the instructions. KL Kiasu and Astaka Warriors were split into two teams and the combine points collected by the two teams will determine the Winner. All the four teams were given a map and we had to search for 11 items and had to answer 4 quizzes.

At Five in the morning, we had to read the map under the Moonlight.......... eh, ok I lied, we read map under the lamp post.

We hunted and searched for all the items and carried them back to the finishing point. We found 10 items as follows: One big tyre, One big white pipe, Two mock rifle, One bag-pack, Two sand bag, One huge rope, Two eggs...

Our team KL 1, arrived and completed first at 7:12am... Second was PJ1 at 7:24am, then KL2 7:28am and finally PJ2 at 7:57am

When all the four teams arrived, the trainers calculated our points and deliberated on the winners....

The winning team's name will be engraved on the trophy. The trophy is a shared trophy from Australia, where the Original Bootcamp was first established in 1991.

After much deliberation, Selva made the announcement................. The winner is........

KAY-AL KIASU!!!!!!!

I accepted the trophy on behalf of KL Kiasu

We won...!!! I am very proud to lead the team especially with the undivided support and cooperation from everybody. Shamser was a great navigator, reading the map in darkness leading the team to every 'check-point'. Daing Danial Fitri and Tomi Soetjipto our fastest runner sprinted up the tower and a hill to get our next clue. Tomi fell twice and hurt himself to give our team the trophy. Nobody in our group left anybody behind. When anyone lacked the strength, everybody supported. When anybody was tired carrying the huge tyre, everybody quickly came to support. I was overwhelmed to see such a strong spirit of camaraderie... to see everybody as a team player.

Tomi injured himself twice when he fell while running to win!!

Aisan was so happy to win she could just KISSS AND LIIIICK LIIIIIZZZA...

Chun SSJ could not 'tahan' the joy.... and bear-hugged until I cannot breath....

KL Kiasu quickly call Astaka Warriors to share the Victory... It is not about winning or losing. Its about sportsmanship. This is the first time for KL recruits and me to meet other people from PJ recruits. PJ recruits were great.

After the event, KL Kiasu and Astaka Warriors became One Platoon, One Bootcamp and One family... 

Both KL Kiasu & Astaka Warriors group camwhoring

Other Snapshop of the event..........

Daing Danial Fitri......... KL Kiasu Delta that sprinted all the way to success... but the 'Boot' was too big for his small size.........

ASTAKA WARRIORS is a great team..... we are proud to have you at OBC Bootcamp.

We were proud to meet and befriended the Astaka Warriors............

The spirit of unity was so great within the platoon that Peggy came back all the way from Singapore to participate.

I didnt know why the Astaka Warriors started doing'Grunts'.. but I had to 'check' ala Red-Tee, their forms...

The FOUR-LEADERS of KL 1, KL2, PJ1 and PJ2.... (from left: Nicholas Chan, Alex Nathan, Armin Baniaz and Shobha Bala) being interviewed...

SNAPSHOT of ASTAKA WARRIORS.......

Astaka Warriors......... you were great and you Rocks!!!!!!!

After the event, KL Kiasu went for breakfast at Kanna Curry House, Bandar Manjalara. I personally went to invite everybody from Astaka Warriors to ask them to join us for breakfast.

I am disappointed... although i personally approached almost every Astaka Warriors to join us........ but only two came including the Astaka Warrior leader... ALEX NATHAN.

Alex......... thank you for accepting and joining KL KIASU in good spirit.

Alex........ you are a great leader. I thank you on behalf of my comrade.

During the breakfast, Arvind Patmarajah whom were not contactable (even after more than 30 trials) and did not make it to the Battle-field this morning arrived at Kanna Curry House.............. and had to performed 20 Grunts infront of everybody.

and Thank You to this women SUANIE (on the left below) whom triggered my craving for Durian to sabotage our Platoon VS Platoon..........

The Durian craving led us straight to the Durian Stall... but it was closed!!!!!!!! We peeped through the tent and saw 2 bangla worker deep asleep. After much convincing, they allow us to have our Durian feast secretly inside the close tent.

and when we ate........... we REALLY EAT!!!!!!!

Having burned 1080 calories at the event today.......... we gained 3000 calories with the Durian!!! thank you Suanie!!

Today was not just about winning!!! but its about teamwork, Charity, food and more food...... Well Done to ALL BOOTCAMP'ERS for more than RM3,000 cash received in Donation!!! you guys are the best!!!

To my KL-Kiasu comrades, KL-Kiasu Committee (that I mentioned above), PJ Platoon, Selva Kumar, Sergeant Simran, Corporal Faizal Ariff, Lans Corporal Elin........... Thank you for making Fitness and Health such an enjoyable moment.

VIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOOOOOOOYAAAAAH!!!!!

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