3rd KL Year End Camp at Tapah

Ah, what a relaxing trip this has been as we journey to the SUFES Campsite in Tapah, Perak for 3rd KL's annual year end camp. I had to miss the first day as I was helping out at my mom's kindergarten concert the night before. But I was glad to make it for the second day. I left KL with Sim around 9am, reaching the site slightly two hours later after grabbing a couple of free McDonald's and stopping at the Rawang rest stop for breakfast.

When we arrived, the Boys were preparing lunch - self-cooked (and apparently it was the only self-cooked meal of the entire camp.. how pampered.. that'll change if I were in charge!). From what I could tell, the campsite used to be a durian, cempedak/nanka estate with its numerous trees around all loaded with durians just waiting to fall for our pickings! We had so many while there, some pretty darn good (1 totally sucked though). After resting up after lunch, we prepared ourselves for river trotting.

SUFES Campsite.. is really a durian plantation..

I one and only time I came to Tapah was in 1998 (or 1999, can't remember) with 3rd KL also. We went river trotting as well, but had to bail halfway through due to the rain, which has a risk of causing strong torrents. This time it was clear skies and a heck load of fun. The stream was pristine clear and was quite clean. It was fun looking at Boys just roughing it out, getting their clothes and shoes get, some even damaged going through the stream. Some were even bitten by leeches, which is really part of the fun. At the end of it, we made it to a beautiful waterfall, where we all took nice dips in the rushing water. Classic fun! I feel sorry for some of them who rather stay dry(er) and missed out.

Ruth and I at one of the streams near SUFES Campsite, Tapah

The "Younger Officers Club" taking a picture at the Tapah, Waterfall. Breathtaking place. 

The rest of my stay was relatively straightforward, just catching up with the other younger officers and just having fellowship. There was a dinner BBQ and a botched campfire (which didn't light up no matter what we tried. Even Sim and I failed to get it going.. so frustrating).

On the last day I had to rush off more than an hour earlier than the rest to make an appointment. But I glad I came for camp and high praise to the committee members for a relatively smooth one. Outdoor camps like this are getting lesser due to simple inconveniences and the effects of a pampered lifestyle. BB needs to attempt to reignite the sense of adventure in its members, otherwise risk being an organisation known for producing soft wussies.

Stedfast Association KL Retreat at Marina Island

I joined the Stedfast Association of Kuala Lumpur for their annual retreat cum family camp this year which was held at Marina Island Best Western Hotel. Very nice modern looking place. Being my first retreat with them, I'd say it was very relaxing.. just 3 hours worth of an intensive meeting, the rest of it was free time.

It was good spending time with some of the SAKL members and getting to know them better. Despite being  a life member, there is still much have I have to learn an understand about this alumni. I believe in their role for our past BB members and hope that we can work together more to promote the BB Object.

KL State Drill Camp

The KL State Council organised its first Drill Camp (since it's formation as a State Council.. it is unknown if the former KL Battalion ever had one before) which was held at the Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur in Sentul. 31 participants from 1st KL, 3rd KL, 6th KL, 10th KL and 12th KL took part in a three day camp starting from November 2nd, 2012.

Mr Sim giving the first lectures of the day

Mr Sim on practical, second day of camp

I've never been to a drill camp before, let alone organise one.. so this was pretty unfamiliar territory for me. Good thing I had Sim and Steven who apparently do this in Kota Kinabalu quite often. This camp was spread-headed by Mr Nicholas Yeap, the captain of 12th KL, who was desperate for his Boys to receive drill training.

It was very straight forward, a couple of meetings, a few email correspondences and we had a drill camp. Sim, Steven and Ka Weng (10th KL) handled the drill matters of the camp while I focused solely on logistics.. my easiest and favourite responsibility (I just think its easy). Though there was one major hiccup that really pissed me off regarding the drill manuals, which I'm still not sure if its my fault or the idiot who called what was really a 2006-2007 version a "2005 version" when it was clearly not, where I mistakenly printed the outdated 2005 version.. 15 copies of it.. which basically wasted us some money.. and for me A LOT of time. You see, to reduce cost, I've only sent the the manuals for photocopy and did the binding myself. There were also coloured pages which I inserted, literally page by page. So getting this wrong really infuriated me. I did manage to rectify the problem before camp ended, but it require me spending more money, running to the office, printing, re-punching, re-binding and basically putting in another 4 hours of manual labour. Apart from logistics and administration, I was also prepared Saturdays morning devotion on and gave a message on "laying the correct foundations" based on the Parable of the Sower and the Seeds - in relation to the drill camp where the correct techniques must be learnt before one can thrive, which also can be applied to every aspect of their lives.. where if they want to do well, they need to be positioned correctly. A special thanks to Xin Wei for leading worship and Brendan Eu for playing guitar.

GOH pratical

Not quite punishment free, is it?

There's not much to say about the camp really as it went pretty smooth. Punishments were not emphasised during the camp, in contrast to what the participants feared, probably expecting endless amounts of push-ups which was almost non-existent (well, there still were.. but very little), as the committee decided that it was pointless to waste energy on physical workouts when it was really a knowledge intensive camp. Though the drill officers knew their stuff, knowledge impartation was rather slow as in certain areas, participants needed to wait their turn before being able to try out something new (eg. Colour Party - limited Colour Pole - just one piece OR measuring alignment - need to use pace stick to measure one by one). I thought of some ways we can make the teaching more efficient, but that's for another time.. that is if we do this again in the future.

For this camp, we allowed only the 14 year old's and above to join. This is due to the fact that we didn't want to waste time teaching even the basics which can be learnt (and should be already learnt) in their own companies. If there is another drill camp in the coming years, we would probably limit this to only NCOs and above who are aspiring to be drill officers one day. But we're still trying to work out how to do this...

On Sunday, we went over, just next door, to Grace Methodist Church for service and received a message presented by Reverend Victor (can't remember his surname) who spoke on the topic of "pain". The church also specially prepared refreshments for our participants, what a treat! Special thanks to 2nd KL's captain, Mr Jacob David for making the arrangements.. though at that point we were stuffed, being just 1.5 hours after breakfast and 2 hours before lunch.

Mr McIntosh and I

We also had a special guest visiting from the United Kingdom in the form of Mr Clive McIntosh from 20th Bristol who was deeply impressed with what he saw. Clive shares that there is lack of emphasis in drill in the UK, limited to just a 10-15 minute session as Boys there find drill extremely dull.. which could lead to resignations if overdone. At the moment, we are still doing alright in Malaysia, but there are signs that this is already happening in Malaysia as well.

Overall, a great camp. Special thanks to officers who helped - Sim Guan Jiann and Steven Voo from 3rd KL, Mr Chan Ka Weng and Miss Tai Xin Wei from 10th KL and Mr Nicholas Yeap who was the camp commandant.

Drill Camp 2012 participants