Week 5 - Land Navigation

A little bit of a mix-up this post, there's plenty to cover.

To get it out of the way, PT on Monday and Friday was Fight Gone Bad and Murph, respectively.  No pt between those days, but since you'll be walking 30+ miles by the end of the week, you'll be getting your exercise in.

Land navigation training for IBOLC occurs at the India training site - give me a couple of days and I will have a copy of the map posted, so you can see what the area looks like for yourself.  Brace yourself - you will be hearing quite a few horror stories about this place, and while they are not unfounded, I am here to tell you that is is not as bad as people will make it out to be.  Yes, the woods are thick and I highly recommend not dead reckoning through them, but the vast majority of points can be found right off of a road - remember, the guys 

who set up this course didn't want to trudge through all that crap any more than you did.  

The standard for a GO is five out of seven points, in five hours.  You will start at about 0600, and end around 11.  Plenty of time to find points, and if you are poor at night land nav, there will be enough daylight to find points.  before you get to the actual test on Thursday, you will do three iterations with a parter (two day, one night), and before that, a cadre walk-through with your squad.   Make no mistake, you will have plenty of practice beforehand.  As far as results, we only had a handful (<10) people fail and have to go to the retake on Saturday, and off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone that didn't make it through the retest.

So what's the course like?  Well, it's big; there will be plenty of walking, as I've already mentioned.  The woods are thick, as it is a new course, but by the time I went through, trails were well on their way to being worn in to the points.  The map you will be given is quite accurate, the only major discrepancy being that Christopher Road is shown as crossing the railroad tracks in the southeastern corner - this is, in fact, not true. The road will skirt the tracks, and if you're not paying attention, you may end up running into an RI.  Not the most rewarding of experiences, as an LT.  Another point worth mentioning - there's a few intermittent streams listed on the map - I'm here to tell you that when the map says 'intermittent stream,' it really means 'eight-to-ten foot ravine filled with mud, and surrounded by nearly impenetrable thicket.'  No joke, I spent two hours travelling a kilometer through the woods, because of two of those streams.

So, some tips/tactics/techniques to keep in mind for this week?  Well first, let's talk about land nav in general.  No matter how much the cadre are breathing down your neck and yelling to get moving, take the time before you step off to plot all your points, and come up with a detailed plan on how you're going to get to your points.  Include distances to each major land feature along the way, what directions trails go down, and what terrain features we should see, both when we arrive at the point, and when we've gone too far.  Now, let's talk about night land nav - under absolutely no circumstances should you dead reckon during the night.  You will get lost or waste time trying to fight your way through thickets.  If night land nav is not a strong point for you, take heart.  There will be several LTs looking for your point as well, so just look for the converging red lights and you search for your point.  Some LTs, having arrived at their point, will take the time to knock the mud out of their canteen cup, or try and scare away any hazardous wildlife in the area with aforementioned cup.  A completely unintentional side effect of this is that the cup makes a rather loud clanging sound against the metal post the kite is affixed to.  I must also surmise that there is some sort of potent flora growing right next to these kites, because many of my fellow LTs seems to some under great coughing spells whenever their in the vicinity of said points.  If all else fails, find the point furthest away from you, and start walking.  By the time you arrive, the sun will have risen enough that you can find that point, and then work backwards from there.  Many guys do this when they can't find a point in the dark, and they come back to it during the day and find it no problem.

For day land navigation, there's noting to it.  As I said, most points are 100 meters or less from a trail or road, and the map is quite accurate.  I would suggest bringing a large knife with you just for this week, despite the IBOLC smartbook saying that you cannot carry a knife other than a multitool.  You may very well need it to get through some of the terrain, if you decide to dead reckon during the day.  Dead reckoning in daylight is not nearyl as perilous as during the night, but it will still be a slow trip.  Trust your pace count, have a plan before you step off, keep your eyes open, and don't panic.

Relax - this week is long, and if it's raining, it may very well be miserable, but it is far from hard.