Revisiting Land Nav

I had someone send me a message regarding some of the things I wrote about my land navigation post - I had to go back and read what I wrote, as it had been a while, but his words got me to thinking.

First, about the dead reckoning.  I believe my words were that you should 'never dead reckon at night,' which I would posit are true - for the course.  But I was guilty of not thinking beyond the course itself; after all the purpose of land nav training is not to pass a course, it's to be able to move on the battlefield, and know where you are at any given point.  So, on the land nav course that advice might be well and good, but in the real world, if you have to march through nasty, hellish thicket, then you have to do it.  And if you have to do it, you better know what the hell you're doing.  So yes, you should practice dead reckoning at night, through crappy terrain, and if my advice for the course steered you away from doing that in your future, my apologies.  On that note, there is a book by John Poole called The Last Hundred Yards, which talks extensively about route planning and land navigation, and talk about the perils of dead reckoning, and how to mitigate them.  I would recommend reading up on it, and trying out some of the techniques to see if they work for you.

The other thing mentioned was the, for lack of a better word, cheating.  Which it was - you can mince it any way you choose, I suppose, but at the end of the day, you have to be able to do the course without assistance.  It's an easy endeavor, and I would posit that all the LTs out there are proficient enough that they need no assistance, despite the horror stories you will inevitably hear - so why do people bother at all, then?  I think it stems from a goodhearted, if not flawed, desire to help each other out - nobody wants their fellow man to fail, even if he doesn't really need the help all that much.  The second question that arises is, why mention that it occurs at all?  Well, because it does occur.  And because it does occur, I think it needs mentioning.  After all, what someone reading this journal wants is an accurate, or at least honest, description of what to expect.  I will, however, say that I tried to make light of it, instead of bluntly stating what it was - cheating.  Passive, perhaps, but cheating nonetheless.  So, in closing, I will say that while it occurs, if you feel that you need to rely on it, well-intentioned though it may be, then you should be spending your free time in the woods practicing, and becoming proficient.  After all, there will be no coughing fits and clanging cups in Afghanistan when your GPS dies on you.