[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Land Nav (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 12/5/2013 5:19:12 PM EDT
Ok, so I have taken for granted that people know how to navigate themselves when they go somewhere. At an early age my father taught me how to read a map and navigate. I think he did that cause he didn't like how the other parental unit navigated (if you can call it that)  . Then boy scouts re-enforced what my father taught me and added to it. Then the military REALLY opened my eyes to proper navigation techniques. Running the night land navigation course at Ft. Knox in 30deg weather right next to a tank artillery range will make you double and triple check everything that way you don't become a moving target for a 120mm training round!
Today out hunting I ran into a few lost souls. Literally. Luckily they had stumbled their way back to a trail and I was able to point them home, but it got me thinking. Do you know how to navigate on foot in the woods? Can you get around WITHOUT GPS? |
| I usually pretty good with finding my way around but I did get my bearings turned around once while blood trailing a bear in Canada. I got back on the logging trail and started heading back to the truck only to have the truck come down the trail from the other direction. Turns out I was so focused on the trail that I crossed the road a second time and didn't realize it and when I went back to it I was on the opposite side I thought and thus headed the wrong way back to the truck. |
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ETA: Wrong thread. No, I don't know. Any recommendations for a good compass? Hard to beat a good ole military lensatic compas: http://www.allhandsfire.com/Compass-GI-Phosphorescent?gclid=CPXTyOTKmrsCFTJp7AodTxwA1Q |
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It hasn't changed? My pace count varies based on a lot of factors, terrain, temp, ruck load, etc...turns out age is one of them !Quoted:
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I still know my pace count from 8 years ago. It hasn't changed? My pace count varies based on a lot of factors, terrain, temp, ruck load, etc...turns out age is one of them !I know what mine WAS. Walked all over the Western Corridor around MSR 1 in the Korean DMZ. Point, Pace, Medic Automatic Rifleman, APL and PL (at different times). I thought I was pretty good until... ... one night when I was pulling point, our pace-man walked us about 25 meters into North Korea between Lake Collier and Lake Oullette. After that I was fucking outstanding!!
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I can get by, though I'm not great. I haven't done an actual land nav course since 2006.
I can read a map and do a back azimuth and figure out roughly where I am, so that's good enough for me. I'd rather rely on my GPS. The SiRF chipset in my old handheld GPSmap 76Csx will hold 12+ sattelites in dense forest and mountains. It's very good. |
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I can get around using dead reckoning if I have an idea of the area before starting. Just a few minutes with a map or aerial photo and I can get around. In daylight it is rare for me to become disoriented such that I have to ask myself where I am.
Always helps to be able to know what boundaries and landmarks are available, such as highways, railroads, power lines, pipelines, and major water courses or bodies of water. Locally I can go into 6000 acres and always know that I really can't get lost because I know what boundaries I can use and what streams and ridges I can follow to get out if I get disoriented. Map & compass is piece of cake. Never used GPS when travelling on foot but that must be akin to sleep walking simple. |
Is this the point where we all shout "Yay you?"
what a special snowflake you are that you can navigate. Just when I thought I can navigate having made it through a number of army schools that requiree day and night, and after teaching it, I got myself turned around in the appalachain mountains. Never be this confident, OP. This is exactly how you end up missing and eaten by coyotes. |
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I remember being in WLC, and there was a SPC (cook MOS) who was dumber than a bucket of stupid. He could not understand anything during the Land Nav section. He couldn't understand declination, or figure out the protractor to save his life. Yet on the actual Land Nav day, he got to all of his points, and was the second person done with the course. We were beside ourselves, how could this be? So we asked him, and he said "Yeah I got this GPS Watch!". Which got him booted from WLC on an honor code violation. |
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Quoted: Is this the point where we all shout "Yay you?" what a special snowflake you are that you can navigate. Just when I thought I can navigate having made it through a number of army schools that requiree day and night, and after teaching it, I got myself turned around in the appalachain mountains. Never be this confident, OP. This is exactly how you end up missing and eaten by coyotes. |
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Use your hand balled into a fist. It has all the major terrain features on it: http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/moxiepix/b1_1211.gif Quoted:
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What's the difference between a cut and a draw again? Use your hand balled into a fist. It has all the major terrain features on it: http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/moxiepix/b1_1211.gif I've always loved that for some reason. I always teach it to my kid when we're out hiking, and she always responds favorably with rolling eyes. |
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In my area, there are lots of mountains, so you always have a landmark to orient yourself. You'd have to try real hard to get lost. Though I suppose if there was thick fog for days on end it would be possible. In a flat place like the gulf coast where the vegetation only allows you to see a few hundred yards, getting lost and turned around is easy.
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Quoted: Suunto MC-2 Global. Quoted: Quoted: ETA: Wrong thread. No, I don't know. Any recommendations for a good compass? Suunto MC-2 Global. |
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Is this the point where we all shout "Yay you?"
what a special snowflake you are that you can navigate. Just when I thought I can navigate having made it through a number of army schools that requiree day and night, and after teaching it, I got myself turned around in the appalachain mountains. Never be this confident, OP. This is exactly how you end up missing and eaten by coyotes. Wow, who has crabs crawling up their vagina biting them? There's medication for your issues you know. |