Land Nav

Red orbs shine like hungry eyes through the trees as the night sky above, lit only by stars and the moon begins to brighten, the first sign of the approaching dawn. This was just one of the many scenes from our recent 2 days and 1 night in the field of land nav.

We arrived at our base camp at about 1030, and our platoon was scheduled to step off at 1230. We spent the time in between double checking our coordinate points and distance measurements, split into four man teams (me, Behey, Burks and Brandsasse), and got our pace counts.

Once told to set off, we had 4 hours to return and six points to find, needing 4/6 to receive a GO. Our group trudged back in weak, weary and filthy about 3 hours after starting, with all six points found and correct, receiving a score of 6/6. Yours truly saved the day twice after we took wrong turns and am glad to know his skills hadn't diminished much.

After all teams returned, we ate dinner and bedded down for a few hours. At 0215 we wake and packed our gear and at 0330 my new group (Triplett, Behey, Frank and myself) set off on our night land nav course. Unfortunately, as much as I saved the day earlier, I got us this time around due to hasty plotting on my part. Oops! We were given 6 points but only had to use 4, and of those needed only 3 to pass, and had 3 hours to return. We found 3 points in a hour and then spend an hour and a half searching for the fourth to no avail. Not a single team found it. At about 0550 we realized we were over a mile out and had to be back by 0630, so we got a fast pace back and made it by 0620 and received a 3/4 for a go.

After a hour nap and some breakfast, we found out that we would be doing the course AGAIN, Let's just say we were less than enthused. Teams were the same as the exercised and we actually moved fast, finding all six points in 2 hours for another go.

We packed up and headed back here for dinner and sleep. Since we have a PT test in the morning. Everyone is expecting failure. Our legs are exhausted and our feet blistered. Running 2 miles will suck.

After PT test it's back out for more land nav, once again a 2 day 1 night exercise. This time, it will be 2 man teams and individual exercises. Depending on overall performance, we may do up to 4 more runs through the course.

For those wondering, this is not a typical land nav course. It covers 3 grid squares, with points being anywhere from 300-1900m apart. I've walked about 10 miles on 3 runs so far. There points can also be about 200m into the woods.

DS King joined us today, bringing our platoon to the standard 3 drill sergeants.

You know you're in the Army when:

You clean a whiteboard with a washcloth and hand sanitizer.
Your weapons pack is know as "the bar" with its own designated bartender.