A couple days ago I went out on a land navigation course. Didn’t bother to use a compass and just terrain associated. On this course it worked fine, even at night. In deep Georgia woods or flat plains it wouldn’t but in a relatively open area with lots of terrain it does.
On the day course about 30 minutes from the end time a Sergeant (E-5) walked up to me. It is fairly standard for a person (who is maybe a bit lost) to ask if they are where they think they are or if there is a point in the area or if you think the intersection they are standing at is the one they need or whatnot. Technically it isn’t authorized but it has happened on every course I have been on and involved all ranks (E-1 to 0-5).
A little bit of background. This course in particular is self correcting. That means the points all have their exact location written on them. So if you are looking for ET 1234 5678 and you get to where you need to be then see a point you check if it says ET 1234 5678. This makes it a bit easier to navigate successfully but mostly cuts out the ‘is this my point’ sort of questions. You know 100% it is your point because it says so.
In any case the Sergeant asked “if the numbers written on the points were supposed to be the same as on your sheet?” I told him that they were in fact supposed to be the same and he said “shit” then just walked off.
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