SFAS Land Navigation Tips

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! Basics
Terminology (Understand them well enough to explain them to a 5 year old)
* Terrain Features (Be able to identify all of these on a map and freehand draw their contour lines):
** Hill, Valley, Ridge, Spur, Saddle
** Draw, Spur, Cliff
** Know U- and V-shaped contour lines for these
* Colors: Blue, Red-brown, Brown, Black, Green, White
* Back Azimuth
* Panic Azimuth
* Handrail, Backstop
* Bench Mark (the ones that have actual survey markers)
Orienting Map
* Magnetic North
* Grid North
* G-M angle
* (True North)
Know and practice with the Coordinate Scale
* Right Then Up (!)
* Grid lines
* Understand 4/6/8/10-digit grids
* Always make sure it's not flipped upside down.
* Plot and re-check everything, like the carpenters' "Measure Twice, Cut Once".
Compass
* Degrees are in red, on the inner ring. Ignore the mils (in black) on the outside.
** Besides, you can use common sense. If you are shooting an azimuth towards the South and it says "32", then you are looking at 3200 mils, not 32 degrees.
* 3 degrees per bezel ring click
* Get good at "Compass Quickdraw". There are different ways to do it, but make sure your compass is accessible and that you practice drawing/replacing it quickly to encourage frequent checks.
Pace Count
* Use beads
* Understand how fatigue, terrain, load, etc., add steps to your 100m count.
Map Reading
* Contour lines
** Be able to "see" the 3D meaning behind the lines.
** Index, Intermediate, Supplementary (and know the interval)
** Think of each line as a trace of a beach for a hypothetical water level. If the area flooded, those lines are the border between water and land.
** Greater distance between lines means gentler slope.
** Even subtle changes can be observed while in the field. Just noticing the direction the forest floor slopes is useful.
* Vegetation vs. clearings. Yes, they change over time, but they are surprisingly useful.

! Moving up
Route Planning!
* Have several checkpoints per klick (1000m) to make sure you're on track.
* Draws. The Hoffman course is all about those overgrown draws.
** Don't bust 'em, if you can avoid it---especially at night.
** Close contour lines mean steep ground which means less water pooling which means less vegetation which means a better place to bust draws.
** Find the weak spots by handrailing them on your way around. Worst-case: you walk all the way around, Best case: you find a good crossing.
* For practice, try writing everything down, and review it with a buddy. By the time you get to the real thing, you should be comfortable enough with Route Planning that you can just do it in your head every time.
* Try to use the gentler sloped terrain (contour lines are further apart)
* Basically, you'll be bouncing between intersections of roads, draws, clearings, etc., as you head in the general direction of your point.
Plan an Attack Point
* As close to the objective as possible, hopefully well under 300m.
* Should be a solid terrain feature or landmark so that if you can't find your point on the final approach you can just backtrack to the Attack Point and re-shoot.
* From the Attack Point to Objective is the only time you'll really use Dead Reckoning (travelling a specific distance and direction.) Otherwise it's all estimates and hitting landmarks.
* SLLS (Stop, Look, Listen, Smell) for your points. The point-sitters are crafty foxen.
* Smart search patterns. If you intentionally "aim off" right you only have to search to the left.
* A terrain feature beyond your objective that signals when you've gone too far.
Use Corridors and Handrails--like Backstops but to the sides.
* If you hit one you've veered to far, time to bounce back the other direction.
Handrail the roads
* Not too close, you don't want to violate the rules.
* This is really a kind of Corridor.
Make up time by moving out when you're on nonrestrictive terrain.
* You have to get aggressive, stay aggressive, and refuse to cut yourself a moments' slack.
* Don't forget to think. They say, "Land nav. is a thinking man's game. If you're not thinking about something, you're wrong." So don't get so distracted by the idea of moving quickly that you move in error.
Rule the Night.
* A majority of your time is during the dark hours.
* Don't get discouraged or think it's good strategy to wait until day--the chemlights actually make finding some night time points easier.
* You're going to get a little beat up and discouraged. Just push through.
Cross Draws intelligently
* Look for the narrowness around the contour lines surrounding the draw. They indicate higher ground (and less water pooling, thus less vegetation).
* Find places where other candidates have gone through. They exist, you just have to be patient enough to find them. Worst case you go all the way around the draw, but you probably can spot a good crossing before that.
* If you bust a draw at night you're either more awesome or more stupid than me.
Check your compass frequently when going through a draw. Like every 20 steps. It is possible to fight for an hour to end up where you started
Landmarks!
* Before exam day, you should at least know where these are:
** The TOC
** 3-wire Road
** 4-wire Road
** Puppy Palace
** Bowling Alley (plus the road that leads out of it to the North)
** Six Corners
** Five Corners (on the East)
** Lake Bagget (and its authorized crossing)
** Scuba Road (and its dry crossing)
** Lookout tower to the West
** "Dagobah", a.k.a., "The Great Lost North"
** Jurassic Park--the draw to the East
* Note all Happy Stakes. They are engineer stakes with a dogtag with a grid coordinate.
** If you observe them during the practice you can remember the spots later on
** They are better than GPS. There is no load time and they don't lose track of their satellites.
* Possibly useful, but you should know anyway: Intersection, Resection

! General Advice
Maximize the training time.
* Numerous practical exercises
* Numerous classes
* Unlimited time sitting around with maps and buddies. Find the motivated candidates that want to talk about Route Planning or their experiences with specific draws and landmarks.
Judiciously Mark the Map
* Don't overmark--you'll cover good information.
* Don't undermark--you might be surprised how well you remember a specific moment from before if you leave the right notes.
Tie your map/compass/everything down.
Don't get Injured
Battle Fatigue and Doubt
* Don't make stupid mistakes.
* Don't give in.
* You will make stupid mistakes--how will you react? Don't give in.

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SFAS Land Navigation Tips