CONGRATULATIONS 1 & 2 PLATOONS!!!

A monumental effort by 2 Platoon last night saved the day and won the game! 

The things we do in SOF are truly amazing and we constantly rise above the bar to do things better, faster and stronger than before.

It has been a challenging month, both mentally and physically and I am proud to be a part of a team that puts forth this kind of effort every day.

Platoon Commander Juhasz, you did a fantastic job of keeping 2 Platoon organized and motivated and your enthusiasm for the game is without equal.  Your boss will be pleased to know the game is over. 

We have learned a lot throughout this game and there will unoubtedly be suggestions put forth to improve next year’s Santa Special.

My personal observation is that we have really improved the communication between our troops, particularly 1 Platoon.  It has been great to see e-mail and phone calls from one troop to another and I hope we can continue to become a stronger group throughout 2009.

When I started SOF in July, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into.  After six months, I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions I have made.  We are a dedicated, motivated and, I am sure no one will disagree, somewhat crazy group of individuals and I am proud to be a part of it.

EDMONTON ROCKS!

Brodrick

P.S.  Practice your chin-ups over the holidays.  It sounds like we may need to use them as a ‘secret knock’ to get inside the hall in January.

Imagine my surprise when Ottawa Company Commander Normoyle calls me at 17:10 to say they have defended the Edmonton AM offensives (14 minute time delay + 200 m of walking push ups), conquered and remined Australia, and conquered and remined Antarctica. Oh yeah, and launched 8 minutes worth of time delay at us. Somehow they managed to do more than they did Wednesday PM, a 7 km run more in fact (and launch more attacks). Frankly, I was stunned speechless – so much so I called Normoyle back to confirm. Probably should have called bullshit, but it’s highly unlikley that we could have sorted anything out in the 20 minutes we had before start time. I am truly curious what their actual distances were (interesting that they never launched another naval bombardment once we pointed out it was a 0.9 km tire pull to give the other team a 1 km run defense).

Luckily for us, Reid also seemed incredulous and so gave us the entire 1h 25 min for our daunting task of trying to take 2 territories to win – Antarctica, a 6.5 km run, and Australia (anyone up for some more leopard crawl and fireman carry?). Oh yeah, and defend the 8 minute time delay too.

Truth be told, I have never seen the PM group run better…every one was “givin’ ‘er”. And there are many who have mastered that fireman carry (myself excluded). With 3 minutes to spare we were back at the RV.

Edmonton PM - you guys kick ass. I really can’t say enough about you guys and gals collectively and individually. Edmonton AM - you rock too and it’s your first Wednesday’s efforts of capturing both Antarctica and Australia that set the stage and ultimately gave us the 1 territory win. Brodrick – superb job at company commander; thank you for being so organized and for dealing with the stuff that I really didn’t want to (like extra phone calls to Ottawa to sort out what on earth they were really doing – I am still scratching my head but it’s time to put it to rest).

Thank you thank you thank you everyone for your positive attitudes and great teamwork. Happy Holidays and see you in the New Year

Juhasz

Bring on the firearms!

Juhasz

The morning began with the usual call from Ottawa with the following report:

We have defended your attacks (12 minute delay and 100m of walking-push-ups, per person), de-mined, conquered and re-mined Australia and conquered and mined Canada.

WOW!!!  We really need to go and train with these guys – they are unbelievable!

In any case, I asked them how they were able to take Canada as they are not linked to it and they said they are linked via the Republic of Russia.  I checked this out with Corporal Reid and confirmed that Russia is not linked to Canada and Ottawa’s effort was all for nought.  Lesson:  pay attention in map reading class!

We, of course de-mined, conquered and re-mined Australia because I know that everyone’s favourite idea of a good time is… FIREMAN CARRY!!!  We were also able to send a 14 minute time delay and 200m of walking push-ups, per person to Ottawa 2 Platoon.

With that out of the way and Ottawa’s loss of Canada, the game sits at Edmonton 6, Ottawa 5.

With the delay of defending the attacks, I really don’t see how Ottawa 2 Platoon can possibly take two territories tonight, but, as we know, stranger things have happened down east.  Assuming they take one territory (Australia, anyone?) and are able to launch some attacks, all we need to do tonight is defend the attacks and take back the territory and we are on our way to play with machine guns.

It has been quite the month and I know everyone has worked incredibly hard all the way through and has pushed, pulled, dragged, carried, crawled, lifted and run more than they ever wanted to.  At least we can all eat and drink guilt-free during the holidays as we have certainly earned it.

Thanks to everyone for hanging in there and going along with the plan.  Juhasz and I tried to come up with the best possible strategy and we certainly appreciated all the advice from those of you that have done this before.

1 Platoon, you rock!  We are a strong, solid team and I look forward to seeing you guys in January.  2 Platoon, it has been great getting to know you and I may have to sneak in the occasional evening SOF workout to see if I can keep up.  2 Platoon rocks too!

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!  See you all in January!

Brodrick

What are the chances that Reid makes us do the unconquered territories in January? That on top of the chin ups he was promising.

One final push Friday night - hope to see everyone there! Any suggestions for places to go for beers afterwards?

Juhasz

After discussing with Brodrick, we have decided to turn a blind eye to the fact that they captured #9 unmined because Edmonton PM should have had to capture Western Republic of South America mined on Monday PM and we didn’t. So it’s a wash and I would rather play honest.

Since Reid doesn’t practice the same communication skills he preaches we have also agreed with Ottawa that we will just let each other know what territories are mined and what aren’t.

So where does this leave us? Currently we are still one territory ahead. Ottawa PM is facing what should be at least a 30 minute time delay this evening, likely meaning they will try to retake Australia (the only other territory open is #5 and they failed to complete that the first week without having to defend offensives). So chances are Edmonton PM will have to recpature Australia which should leave us a bunch of time to hopefully sink Ottawa AM with a load of offensives.

If they miraculously take 5, we will have to retake that one. If they don’t take anything we will go for 9 (bring those memorization skills as we don’t have Irving to bail us out on the principles of leadership).

Edmonton PM - at least it’s not the tire pull again

Juhasz

Although Ottawa took the North African Republic away from us, we still have a one territory lead and the plethora (that’s Brodrick’s Big Word of the Day) of attacks (12 minute time delay and 250m of walking push-ups) should slow Ottawa down significantly.

Ottawa was not aware that the North African Republic was mined, but we made the same mistake with the Western Republic of South America on Monday evening so, this is a wash.

Tonight’s plan, although dependant on Ottawa’s success or failure, will be to reclaim the North African Republic and generate a significant offense to slow down Ottawa 1 Platoon on Friday AM.

If the offensive attack generated by Edmonton 1 Platoon this morning is significant enough to prevent Ottawa 2 Platoon from taking a territory, we may just slide into Friday morning with a 2 territory lead.

Tonight and Friday morning will be all about claiming our territory soon enough to launch offensive attacks because we will not be able to launch attacks on Friday as Ottawa will have already made their last move.

Keep in mind that, along with the last move of the game, we have the benefits of a stronger, faster and better team and a guilt-free conscience as we have done everything by the book.  Right now, the odds are in our favour and the game is ours to lose.  Stay focused, push hard and drive us to the win.

Aside from the pride and satisfaction of the win – there will be machine guns to play with!  ☺☺☺

Brodrick

We are in desperate need of everyone to attend Wednesday PM as we only had 10 people Monday PM and we need 9 to do the Western Republic of South America. Plus we are now down one member for Wednesday PM leaving us at the bare minimum.

A big thank you to Soderquist from Edmonton AM for providing hand warmers.

Here’s to hoping we don’t have to do that tire pull AGAIN!

Juhasz

We now sit one territory ahead of Ottawa and, currently, no Nukes are in play.  As Ottawa 1 Platoon is the stronger of the two and they did not choose to acquire a nuke, we think it is highly unlikely that Ottawa 2 Platoon will acquire one.

We believe Ottawa 2 Platoon will make a move for Antarctica again or try to take the North African Republic From us.  The plan for Edmonton 2 Platoon tonight is to first defend one naval bombardment and any attacks launched by Ottawa 2 Platoon, then make a move for Australia, mine it and launch offensive attacks at Ottawa.  If Ottawa 2 Platoon takes Antarctica, we will take it back, mine it and launch offensives – the more the better.

It only takes one more territory than Ottawa to win and we currently have that advantage.  We also have the advantage of last move on Friday night.

If we can maintain our lead (or possibly improve it) and launch significant offensive action, the win should be ours.

Keep up the great work, everyone.  We are functioning as a great team and we are on the home stretch!

Brodrick

We likely didn’t ask for enough back, and frankly I still am baffled how they got 13 (Russia) with what I estimate is a 30 minute time delay at least. Whatever. In the end it’s only a game and I am confident in how strong everyone is that we can still win this thing.

Decisions will be made on the fly tomorrow AM once we know what Ottawa AM has done and what they have launched as offensives.

Let’s use this as motivation to push through the bitter cold tomorrow both AM and PM. We can win this!!

Juhasz