SpecOps

Getting Back to Land Nav Basics – Plotting and Planning Your Routes

So, last week we touched on a subject that is in the news about how junior NCOs (E-4 – E-6) aren’t doing well overall with navigation with a map, protractor, and compass. As we mentioned prior, Land Navigation is a critical skill that every Special Operator must possess and if you are an aspiring member of the Special Forces Regiment

If you are an 18X enlistee, new to the Army or are a junior NCO who isn’t a natural at Land Navigation then you should really pay attention because the course for SFAS and SFQC students located in Hoffman, NC is no joke.

You’ll hear horror stories about many of the Special Operations courses and the specific gates or events that are legendary…and hard. Some are not-so-bad while others are legitimately very difficult to pass. The “Star Course” is one of the latter.

However, it is far from impossible, thousands of SF troops have passed it before you and thousands more will pass in the future. It just requires a mastery of the basics, a cool head at planning and conducting your routes and attention to detail.

Ready? Let’s jump back in this with both feet.

Plotting Your First Point:

In our last post, we went over and we’ve checked and then double-checked our location so that you know exactly where you are starting from. Now you plot your first point (which is where you are going) in the exact same way.

Read to the right and up and using the 1/50,000 map scale, carefully plot your eight-digit grid coordinate to where you are going. Remember, four-digit grids will get you to within 1000 meters, six-digit grids to within 100 meters and an eight-digit grid will get you to within 10 meters. Double check your plot and ensure you’ve got it right.

Now measure the distance between the two points. Remember this is straight line distance and not walking distance. Your actual traveling distance will vary widely from point to point depending upon your route selection and the terrain that you’ll encounter.

Planning the Route:

There are two basic ways you can get to where you’re going. Either will get you to where you’re going but for your purposes in SFAS, one may prove to be a better option. A word to the wise here, use some common sense here. Don’t go with what everyone else is doing, always do what is right for you and what you feel most comfortable with.

Dead Reckoning – Is arguably the easiest system to use, if the terrain and distance allow it. Dead reckoning is done in two steps. The first step is getting an azimuth from your starting point using your map and protractor and determine the distance to where your point is located at.

The next step is to convert your grid azimuth to a magnetic and use your compass and your pace count and apply what you’ve already learned. You then walk to your point by staying as close as you can to your azimuth.

Your position can be checked from time to time using both resection or intersection when the terrain features are available. Dead Reckoning has some advantages; it is easy to teach the neophyte navigator and in open terrain, especially in grassy areas or desert type regions, it is easier to stay on the azimuth. It works well also when the distances to be covered are short.

In open terrain and if you can pick out a spot on your azimuth, far in the distance, it makes for an easier walk as the navigator can then put his compass away and move quickly to that point.

A distinct disadvantage of this method is when you’re facing the terrain you’ll be subjected to in the Hoffman area. Thick vegetation, intermittent streams, draws and swampy areas make Dead Reckoning a rather difficult method. Some of the thickets and thick vegetation of Hoffman can really slow you down.

However, it can and does work. I know several SF guys who plowed thru the Land Nav course using this exact method. I wouldn’t recommend this but it can be done, albeit like a bull in a china shop. But perhaps the second method is the better way to go.

Terrain Association – Is a more difficult way to plan but is much less forgiving of mistakes and as a rule a helluva lot less time consuming than Dead Reckoning. It requires a more detailed map study of where you’re going and how you plan to get there but the time spent planning your movement is better served than trying to plow your way thru the draws and thickets.

The advantages of terrain association are obvious. If you veer off course in Dead Reckoning, you can be in trouble. But by using terrain association, your position is easily checked and adjustments made on the fly and most importantly while moving..

Selection and identification of terrain features are the keys here to successful planning. Plan your route using handrails as a guide and ensure to plot checkpoints along the way. Ensure your map is oriented and use the available terrain as a guide. You won’t be following a specific azimuth per se, but more of a cardinal direction to your checkpoints using your map to guide you.

You can use the roads both the improved and the unimproved as a guide but the best advice is to remember the rules. If the cadre members tell you not to use them…don’t. Parallel the roads but not too closely. Make sure that plot a backstop on your route that you can identify as having gone too far.

A word of caution about the roads in Hoffman. There a lot of them out there, and many are not on the map. And as you become more familiar with it during your practice navigation exercises, many will become easier to spot. You’ll become familiar with “Five Points” and some others but for the most part, those are at times difficult to judge. Just be careful.

Always remember and the instructors will drill it into your head, that if you come upon a hardball road. Stop. You won’t be crossing any of those in the course but a few of the points may be near them so you can use those as a handrail at times.

But just as surely as the national deficit is going to rise, someone in your class is going to cross a hardball road. It used to happen in every class and don’t be surprised to hear about it from the other students. Just don’t be that guy, Ned the Navigator.

Ensure that you plot checkpoints along the way to ensure that you are on track and on target. Choose an attack point that will put you no farther than 200-300 meters from your point. When you arrive there, double check your location and then that is the time to use dead reckoning and plot an azimuth to your point.

We’re almost ready to head out and practice some hands-on training. Remember everything you have learned and the best advice is to practice, practice and practice some more. The more comfortable you are using your map, compass, and skills at terrain association now, the easier the course will be for you.

I’ve said this before but it bears mentioning again. Before you head to SFAS, if you’re not entirely comfortable with navigating 5-6 clicks and finding a green engineer stake on the ground, then check out a local orienteering club. They can be a great learning resource and provide outstanding practice and practical application.

In our next piece, we’ll explore some of the tools to help you double check your way.

Photo courtesy of DOD

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 9, Day 5

Chest and Triceps workout at the gym today before a 5-mile run. Shoot for a time below the standard of 40 minutes. Therefore remember to stretch well before and after and to stay hydrated. And be sure to mark your progress down in your workout log book.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Bench Press

3 x 10 Dumbbell Flies

3 x 10 Dumbbell Incline press

3 x 20 Pushups (alternate sets with wide, narrow and shoulder width)

3 x 10 Kip Ups

3 x 20 Sit-ups

3 x 20 Cable Push Downs (rope)

3 x 20 Dips or until muscle failure

5-mile run (40-minute maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Operation Mincemeat, the Death of a Homeless Man Safeguards the Sicily Invasion

One of the more bizarre and successful military deception operations took place on April 30, 1943, during World War II by the British. Operation Mincemeat took place off the Spanish coast and convinced the Germans that the upcoming Allied invasion of Sicily was headed instead for Greece and Sardinia. This caused the Germans to funnel large amounts of men, material, and aircraft to the wrong location. Thereby saving possibly thousands of lives in the process.

And how the British sold the Germans that they were indeed heading for Greece? By jettisoning a dead body from a submarine off the coast of Spain. This “Man Who Never Was” had been dressed in a military uniform and ostensibly died in a plane crash. He was supposed to have died in a plane crash while acting as a courier carrying secret invasion plans chained to his body. He was, however, a homeless alcoholic who committed suicide by ingesting rat poison.

Overview:

Deception in wartime has been ongoing since our earliest recorded history. The famous “Trojan Horse” is one of the most famous. But the British had been considering using this tactic since the earliest days of the war. In 1939, the head of British Naval Intelligence, Rear Admiral John Henry Godfrey disseminated thru the Intelligence community the “Trout Memo”, a series of actions designed to deceive the enemy in wartime, which was equated to fly-fishing.

While the memo bore the signature of Godfrey, most of the intelligence community knew the memo had the earmarks of Godfrey’s assistant all over it. That man was Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming who would go on to pen the novels of the most famous of British spies, James Bond in several novels.

Item number 28 of the 51 actions in the memo was “A Suggestion (not a very nice one)”; it was the idea to plant misleading papers on a corpse that would be found by the enemy.

Fleming later based M, the fictional head of MI6 and James Bond’s superior, on Godfrey which Godfrey complained that Fleming “turned me into that unsavory character, M”.

Operation Mincemeat was a part of the overall intelligence plan, Operation Barclay which was the overall plan to delude German intelligence on the Allied plan to invade Sicily was codenamed, “Husky”.

After the Allies pushed the Germans and Italians out of North Africa, their plans were to continue to invade Italy thru Sicily, the large island off the toe of Italy’s boot. The plan which was to attack “the soft underbelly of the Axis” according to Mr. Churchill was a large undertaking. While many German commanders believed Sicily was the next logical target, Hitler disagreed.

Hitler was worried about an invasion thru the Balkans, which the Germans had taken many of the raw materials there for their war industry. And a successful invasion of the Balkans could drive northward and create a wedge where the German army would be trapped between the Allies and the Soviets.

Operation Barclay was the plan to convince Hitler and the Germans that the invasion would go thru the Balkans. Operation Mincemeat was the brainchild of British Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ewen Montagu and Flight Lieutenant Charles Cholmondeley.

The British would utilize Memo #28 and fake a plane crash where a body would wash up on the Spanish shore where the Spanish authorities, who had clearly been cooperating with German intelligence, the Abwehr would find it. Spanish officials would certainly turn the material over to the Germans.

Finding the Right “Volunteer”:

The British had a plan but now they needed a corpse. They found one in the person of the Welsh homeless and jobless man Glyndwr Michael, who committed suicide by ingesting rat poison in a London warehouse in late January 1943.

Montagu and Cholmondeley set about creating a fake identity for the dead man. He was renamed William Martin, an acting Major of the Royal Marine Commandos. They gave him a fake fiancee, named Pam with a picture of a British girl, Jean Leslie, who worked in MI5 headquarters. They had to find another officer who resembled “Martin” enough to take a photograph and produced identity papers that had the Major working at MI5.

They meticulously placed what is known in intelligence circles as pocket litter (receipts, ticket stubs, matches, etc) on the Major’s body. In his briefcase that was chained around his waist to keep it from floating away was the plans for the invasion of the Balkans, a letter from Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Nye, vice chief of the Imperial General Staff to General Sir Harold Alexander, commander of the Anglo-American 18th Army Group in Algeria and Tunisia that contained a poorly worded joke about sardines that would give the Germans the idea that Sardinia was also a target and his personal effects.

Submarine Mission:

The body of “Major Martin” was placed in an airtight canister and driven to Scotland where it was placed on the submarine HMS Seraph commanded by Lt. Bill Jewell. The crew was told that the canister was to be delivered off the coast of Spain and contained a top-secret meteorological device to be deployed off the coast.

On the 30th of April at 0415, the Seraph surfaced off the coast of Spain. The crew brought the canister on deck. Jewell ordered the crew below, only the officers were aware of the true mission. They opened the canister and pushed Major Martin’s body over the side. Jewell then read Psalm 39 and ordered the engines full astern so that the propeller wash would push the body toward shore.

False identity papers for “Major Martin”

Spanish fishermen found the body at 0930 on April 30 and it was brought to the port city of Huelva where the Germans had an active and experienced Abwehr agent. The British government sent several cables to their Vice Consul in Huelva in a code they knew the Germans had broken to retrieve the briefcase because its contents were important.

The Spanish then buried ”Major Martin” with full military honors on May 2. The Germans, however, were interested in the contents of the briefcase and they were able to surreptitiously copy the documents and return them to their envelopes, apparently still sealed. The briefcase was returned to the British but unknown to the Germans, their code-breakers had cracked the German Enigma machines.

Hitler ordered the crack 1st Panzer Division from France to Salonika, then ordered two divisions from the Eastern Front which was involved in the Battle of Kursk to bolster the forces in the Balkans.

The resultant German shift of 90,000 men and resources away from Sicily greatly reduced the Allied casualties while taking the island. The Sicily campaign gave way to the Italian people deposing dictator Benito Mussolini and got Italy out of the war.

Montagu as he learned of the German actions, fired off a telegram to Prime Minister Churchill: “Mincemeat swallowed rod, line, and sinker.”

The success of Operation Mincemeat can directly be attributed to the homeless man, Glyndwr Michael who became Major Martin. Not much was ever learned about this until 1954 when Montagu wrote his book, “The Man Who Never Was.”

Photos: British Archives

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 9, Day 4

Time to head over to the gym for some shoulder and back work. As we mentioned in another post, these shoulder workouts help in rucking, especially once in Selection. Be sure to log the progress down in your workout log book.

And because Wednesday is one of our rucking days, strap on a 45-pound minimum weight ruck and conduct a 6-miler over varied terrain. Wear your second pair of boots to ensure that they’re well broken-in for the course as well. And be wary of the mud on the trail today, yesterday I was slippin’ and slidin’ all over the place. Strive to better the time that is the standard (90-minutes) and remember to hydrate throughout the march.

UBRR Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Lat Pulldowns, behind the neck (go as heavy as possible)

3 x 12 Lat Pulldowns, front

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Front Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Arnold Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

6-mile Rucksack march (45-pound minimum, 90-minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

“Saving Private Ryan” Re-released for the 75th Anniversary of D-Day

One of the biggest blockbuster war films is being re-released for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Normandy invasion of France. Steven Spielberg’s classic “Saving Private Ryan” is being brought back in 600 theaters nationwide for just two days, June 2 and June 5 at 3 and 7 p.m. on those days to commemorate the Normandy landings.

It is hard to believe that Spielberg’s masterpiece is turning 21 this year. Released in 1998, the film had an absolutely stellar cast including Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, Edward Burns, Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, and Adam Goldberg. The gritty and graphic filming, especially during the opening minutes showed the ugliness and realism of the awfulness of real combat.

The film begins with the Rangers of the 2nd Battalion coming ashore at Normandy. They were in the worst possible position in any of the beaches, code-named Omaha. The Germans held the high ground on the beaches and had plenty of prepared positions manned by a seasoned, well-trained and led division.

“Ryan’s” opening beach sequence which takes about 28 minutes was brilliantly filmed where the absolute chaos of combat meets up with coherence of the troops trying to complete their assigned missions. This was no sanitized Hollywood version of the invasion. Spielberg spared no details as bodies and body parts were flung in the air from mortar rounds, machine guns ripped bodies to shreds and entrails were strewn about from the German guns.

Spielberg takes the audience out of their seats as just bystanders and puts their asses right in the surf of the Channel. They are instantly transported to 1944 and put right in the action with the infantry. So intense was the filming of this sequence, that many World War II veterans who had been to Normandy for the actual invasion, got symptoms of PTSD from watching the film and triggering memories of their own experiences.

That opening sequence was filmed in Curracloe, Ireland over 15 days and cost over $12 million dollars to film.

Spielberg’s story begins after the Rangers led Hanks and Sizemore survive the opening day of the invasion and get tasked to venture far inland to find a paratrooper (Damon) of the 101st Airborne, who lost all of his brothers in combat and to be sent home. As Hanks’ men die one by one while attempting to find and then rescue Ryan, they’re left wondering if all of that sacrifice for the purpose of saving one man’s life is worth it.

Saving Private Ryan was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and ended up winning five, for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. It made $481 million dollars in 1998. In today’s dollars, it would equate to earning nearly $750 million. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

For more information about the re-release and to find out the times and locations for “Saving Private Ryan” is playing on the 2nd and 5th of June, visit the Fathom Events website.

Our only wish is that the re-release would be extended to cover Memorial Day as well.

Photo: Paramount Studio Still

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 9, Day 3

Tuesday is Leg Day at the gym, and a perfect way to shake off those rainy day doldrums. Begin with pull-ups and towel pull-ups for those who don’t have access to climbing ropes. Then squats with lighter weights with more reps, lunges and the sled followed by a three-mile run

Training:

Continue to prep for the UBRR

3 x Pull-ups 10 reps

3 x Towel pull-ups 10 reps

3 x Front Squat 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)

3 x 10 Deadlifts

4 x Sled push heavier weight

3 x 10 reps Dumbbell Lunges

3 x 20 Side planks

3-Mile run (24 minutes or less)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 9, Day 2

We’ll kick off our Monday and work week and crush those weekend cobwebs with a mini-UBRR test. Start off with the basics of pushups, sit-ups, and crunches, then to the bar for V-ups, pull-ups, and dips before a 5-mile run. The standard says 40-minutes but shoot for something better than that.

Remember to stay hydrated and mark your progress in your workout log book.

UBRR Training:

More preparation for the UBRR

1 x 1-minute Pushups

1 x 1-minute Sit-ups

1 x 1-minute, Crunches

1 x 1-minute, V-ups

1 x Dips as many as possible to muscle failure (no time limit)

1 x Pullups as many as possible or to muscle failure (no time limit)

5-mile run (40-minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 9, Day 1

It is time for our Sunday morning Rucksack march. Do a quick warmup of pushups and sit-ups before heading out for an 8-mile rucksack march. Head out over varied terrain and try to go as fast as you can without running. The standard is 120 minutes. Aim to lower that

Stretch well both before and after the event. Remember to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated out there. Might be a little soggy one this morning…especially if you live on the East Coast.

UBRR Training:

Warm up

2 x 20 Pushups

2 x 20 Sit-ups

8-mile Rucksack march over varied terrain with a 45-pound minimum in 120 minutes (2 hours) or less. And mark your times in your workout log book.

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 8, Day 7

Saturday morning in the gym for shoulders and back work. Towel pull-ups are for those with no access to ropes. The only way to get better at pull-ups and climbing ropes….is to practice doing them until they are a strength. Followed by a four-mile run in 32 minutes or less.

Log your numbers down in the workout notebook and remember to stretch well both before and after the workout.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 10 Lat Pulldowns, rear

3 x 10 Barbell Dead Lift

3 x 10 Wide Grip Pull-ups

3 x 10 Towel Pull-ups

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Seated Bent-Over Delt Raise

3 x 10 Dumbbell Shoulder Press

3 x 10 Arnold Dumbbell Press

4-mile run (32 minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 8, Day 6

Friday means another Leg Day at the gym. Begin with some Squats – front, dumbbell goblet, and barbell to build up strength for carrying a rucksack. We’re going with a lighter weight and more reps here.

Then some lunges and after the weighted sled push/Fireman’s Carry, finish the workout off by breaking things up a bit with some sprints for cardio.

UBRR Training:

Continue to prep for the UBRR.

3 x Front Squat 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)

3 x Goblet Dumbbell Squats 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)

3 x 10 Barbell Squats

3 x 10 Deadlifts

3 x 10 Dumbbell Lunges

3 x 10 Romanian Lunges

3 x Weighted sled push (heavier weight) or Fireman’s Carry

10 x 50-meter sprints

Stretch well after completion