Land-Nav FTX

This weekend exemplified the reason that I love what I do.

Thursday, at ECP formation, I was selected to be the Company Commander for the upcoming field excercise this weekend. This means I was responsible for the patrolling and land navigation training of the entire ECP company.

On Friday, we assembled in front of the MSD building to load up and head out for Baldwin Forest. Everything ran beautifully. I delegated commands to my 1st Sgt., who passed them down the chain-of-command and made things happen. Everyone was prepped for our FTX, and I was gnawing at the bit to get out there and show them what I could do. I had the Company marched to chow, and then we saddled up for the short ride to Baldwin forest. We were all packed into 12 passenger vans with our rucks and full battle rattle. Then we were on our way.

Immediately upon arrival at the TOC (tactical operations center), we prepared and initiated a tactical road march to the ORP. I was given a quick brief by my trainer and evaluator, Mr. Ruzek, and then I called in my subordinate leaders. I made a sandtable on the dirt road we were about to march down, and briefed my section leaders for the patrol. We had the company line up into two files along the road, and the 1st Sgt. staggered them in road march formation as we moved out. Throughout the march I was walking up and down the column, passing information to my section leaders, and maintaining tactical awareness. If you've ever seen an entire company in a tactical road march formation, you'd know that the column is very long. Suddenly, from somewhere behind the formation a came a whistling sound. "INCOMING!" I shouted. The entire company hit the ground and a cloud of dust rose over the road. "12 O'Clock 50 meters!" The entire company jumped to their feet and sprinted 50 meters and dove back to the ground. I gathered an ACE report (Ammo, Casualties, Equipment) from my Section Leaders and quickly reestablished the column. We headed to the area designated for our ORP and fanned out into 360 degree security. I was in the middle of that circle with all of my troops around me, listening eagerly for my next command. They knew I'd take care of them.

We reassembled for Company Formation shortly after. We all filed past the TOC and received our night land-nav score cards and a map. My night land-nav partner was Viteri, a Ranger buddy of mine whose only problem is a slight drinking incident earlier this quarter. I laid down on the ground and plotted all of the grids, while Viteri held the flashlight. Then, after I filled up my canteens, we got up and headed out onto the course. The night was absolutely gorgeous. I slight mist was rolling off of the lake next to the TOC, and the sky was as clear as could be. It seemed like I could see every star in the universe. As we ran down the road from the TOC and onto the course, we could hear crickets and birds, and a cool breeze was blowing, which is quite a comfort in full BDU's and an LBE. We procceeded through the course, running every chance we had (because I'm just crazy like that) . As we passed a checkpoint on our way back to the TOC, one of the 400s said, "You better hurry, I hear somebody is already on their way back." We trotted the last two klicks back to the TOC. We were the first team in by 45 minutes, and also had the highest score. Apparently I can find my way around with a map, even in the dark.

Later, we all went back to the ORP and set up 360 degree security. We wrote a 33 percent alert schedule and packed it in for a little sleep. Becuase 1 third of the company had to be awake at any given time, we only received about an hour and a half of sleep.

The next morning we awoke, and formed up. Before the sun had risen, we had already taken a timed, written land-nav test. Plotting coordinates and azimuths on a map in the dark and on the ground is somewhat difficult. As the sun was rising we were setting out on the day course. It was not nearly as enjoyable as the night course, mainly because it was about twice as long, twice as hot, and I managed to find myself entangled in briar hell. After I emerged from the forest 5 hours later, smoked (wore out and hurting) and dehydrated I sat down for a little barbecue Major Eaton had coordinated. I receieved a decent score, but am still not quite satisfied.

We saddled up and came back to the school, where we were immediately shuttled off to a kickball game with the rest of the 4th battalion plebes. Kick ball? Please. Why couldn't we play something at least slightly competitive like soccer? Of course we were all irritable because we had only received 1.5 hours of sleep the night before. When we crashed last night, I was elated. They gave us until 1 O'Clock this afternoon to go to church, with the stipulation that we were our Class Delta uniforms (red polo, black pants). Chris, Juice, and I suited up and went to worship the waffle gods at a waffle house about 15 minutes outside of town. We didn't want to get caught eating at a restaraunt. Today was a waste of time, without any significant training being accomplished. Welcome to the cadet corps. I have an ECP formation when study hall is over. A change-of-command is going to take place, and I'll be receiving my formal evaluation.