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When I was an instructor, I had an opportunity to be an official observer of the an ROTC Ranger Challenge at a nearby RTI. Many of the regional colleges fielded a team for the challenge. Also included was a Marine Corp ROTC team. They were ineligible for any trophy but competed just for the challenge.
I was manning the Land Nav Station. I would give a quick brief, hand out protractors, compasses and maps and start the time. When the Marines came over, I gave the brief, let them plot their points. I was about to give them their compasses when the group leader said "we're Marines Sergeant..we don't need compasses!" and proceeded to head out. The cadre Captain came over to ask how they were doing. I said, "well Sir let me put it this way...Your cadets went that way; the course is that way!", pointing in the opposite direction. The Captain just shook his head, thanked me and walked off.
My intention is to make this fun. Please don't turn this into a flame war.
I was manning the Land Nav Station. I would give a quick brief, hand out protractors, compasses and maps and start the time. When the Marines came over, I gave the brief, let them plot their points. I was about to give them their compasses when the group leader said "we're Marines Sergeant..we don't need compasses!" and proceeded to head out. The cadre Captain came over to ask how they were doing. I said, "well Sir let me put it this way...Your cadets went that way; the course is that way!", pointing in the opposite direction. The Captain just shook his head, thanked me and walked off.
My intention is to make this fun. Please don't turn this into a flame war.
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Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 15
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Lol, I couldn’t land Nav with a compass with a good map, I was just lost. On paper I was 100%, put me in the woods we walked in circles. It’s a skill, at night really forget it, it’s walking into trees, terrified of snakes, the staff lets you wander around tries to catch you cheating.
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Lol, I can see that. Who needs a compass when you have the sun and moon to navigate. Oh damn I forgot you need a sextant to do that. At least he wasn’t leading a platoon in combat and got someone killed. Surely Land Nav was taught, if you don’t know where you are well it’s all down hill from there. That’s as basic as it gets, where in the hell am I.
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I am a native of Kentucky spent a lot of time in the woods growing up. I swear I got a group of Cadets for Land Nav that never saw a tree before. Some were from Chicago, Newyork. I asked what would you do if you didn't have a compass and how would you determine distance an what time it was? They were clueless. I put a stick in the ground marked the shadow and in about 10-15 min marked the shadow again. I asked one cadet; " According to the Shadow about what time is it? I tell you the kid said: "Sergeant I don't know. He was wearing a digital watch." I asked another Cadet According to the shadows which way is North South East and West? Blank Stare.
One Cadet asked; "Sergeant, Why don't we just use GPS?" My response; Cadet, imagine you are taken prisoner of war and by the Grace of the almighty you escape, where are you going to get a GPS?
One Cadet asked; "Sergeant, Why don't we just use GPS?" My response; Cadet, imagine you are taken prisoner of war and by the Grace of the almighty you escape, where are you going to get a GPS?
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So I was doing land nav at one of the landnav spots here on Fort Sill, and been walking around looking for my last point for a hot minute, each of the points are on a sign that’s attached to a metal pole about 5’ tall, well after walking around and seeing points that had fallen down off their poles I’d started to lose faith in this place, and low and behold I found a lone 5’ metal pole. Got a call asking where I was, and I said looking for this sign so I can verify this point, I found the pol, but didn’t find the sign, I looked about 50’ in each direction of this pole for it, needless to say it doesn’t exist. This spot was about 100m off the road. Camp Eagle is definitely not a good landnav spot in my opinion haha, a few others I’ve talked to had the same issues with other points. I do enjoy landnav however
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