7th Special Forces Group

The M224 60mm Mortar – Every Light Infantryman’s Friend

The M224 60mm lightweight mortar is a man-portable, smoothbore, muzzle-loading, high-angle-of-fire weapon used for close-in support of ground troops, airborne and special operations forces. It is currently in use with both the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps. It was used extensively along with the M252 81mm mortar in the War in Afghanistan.

Better in Every Way

The M224 LWCMS (Lightweight Company Mortar System) was first adopted in 1978. It replaced the older (WWII-era) 60mm M2 Mortar and the inaccurate M19 Mortar.

While the M2s and M19s had an effective range of only 2,000 meters, the M224’s new primary rounds gave it a range of effective indirect fire of 3,489 meters. Meanwhile, it could still fire all types of older ammunition.

In 2011, an improved M224A1 version came into service. Thanks to its new lighter components the weight of the weapon system decreased from 46.8 to 37.5 pounds.

M224 Components

The M224 mortar is composed of these parts:

M225 Cannon: 14.4 lbs
M170 Bipod: 15.2 lbs
M7A1 Baseplate for use in conventional mode: 9.6 lbs
M8 baseplate for use in handheld mode: 3.6 lbs
M64A1 Sight Unit (The M67 Sight Unit is now widely used for the system): 2.5 lbs

The mount consists of a bipod and a base plate, which is provided with screw-type elevating and traversing mechanisms to elevate/traverse the mortar. The M64A1/M67 sight unit is attached to the bipod mount. The mortar can be fired in the conventional gravity fire mode or the handheld mode by using a manual spring-loaded trigger.

The 60mm mortar is typically fielded at the infantry company level. A small mortar section with two mortars is organic to Army rifle companies (light, airborne, air assault) and Ranger companies. Marine rifle companies have a section with three 60mm mortars in the company weapons platoon.

The mortar can fire a sustained 20 rounds-per-minute with 30 rounds-per-minute in certain circumstances and for short durations. The ranges for the M224 extend from 70 meters to 1,340 meters for hand-held firing and 3,490 meters for the conventional firing mode. A crew of three can operate the mortar extremely efficiently.

60mm mortar Afghanistan — 60mm mortar being fired in Afghanistan using the smaller baseplate and the hand-held trigger. (DoD photo)

The 60mm Mortar’s Ammunition

The M224 Mortar can fire the following principal classifications of training and service ammunition:

High explosive (HE): These are used against personnel and light materiel targets.
M1061: Improved HE with insensitive munitions performance-enhancing fragmentation warhead.
Smoke Cartridge (White Phosphorous): Designation M722. Used as a screening, signaling, or marking munition.
Illumination (ILLUM): Used in night missions requiring illumination for assistance in observation.
Red Phosphorus: Can be seen with or without a Night Vision Optic.
Full Range Practice Cartridges (FRPC): Designation M769. This round is used for practice or clearing misfires.
M1061 MAPAM: SAAB Technologies produced a Multi-Purpose Anti-Personnel Anti-Material round.

While mortars are indirect fire weapons, in mountainous terrain if the mortar crew is located on the high ground where the target is visible, they can be pinpointed right on the target. An example and amusing story of how this can play out happened while an A-Team from the 7th Special Forces Group deployed to Honduras back in the day.

Hey, you gotta have an anecdote with these stories, after all, right?

The M224 60mm Mortar in Action in Honduras

Our A-Team was moving farther up in the mountains to work on pack animal configurations (see Wilson, Charlie) with the 6th Infantry Battalion (Centaurs) at Ojo de Agua, which we regularly called “Ojo de Nada.”

The Centaurs were located in the mountains and had a large base for the Contras. The Centaurs had enough U.S.-made GP Medium tents where a battalion could refit and rest. They also had a large shooting range built on several of the base’s rolling hills.

When we had first arrived the weather had been cold, raw, and rainy. But about a week later, it had dried out and was hot and sticky. A stiff wind had dried everything out to where it was like tinder.

We were high up on a hill with our Honduran counterparts shooting at targets located about 300-400 meters away. We were using M-60 and M249 (SAW) machine guns as well as their Russian 82mm mortars and our M224s. The Honduran kids, not used to having this much ammo, were having a ball, blazing away at the silhouettes with reckless abandon. Those short controlled bursts we had discussed in training were quickly forgotten.

One of the tracer rounds from the SAW started a range fire on top of the hill. Our Hondo allies had a pickup truck, an old beat-up piece of junk that looked like it would fall apart at any minute. It came loaded with soldiers who raced down there and quickly put the fire out. Kind of like a Keystone Kops fire brigade.

After lunch, we had a second group, their mortar section, who were beginning to get the U.S. 60mm mortars. We did some crew training with them and their crew drills were pretty good. They had a few old Soviet 82mm mortars, from God knows where. They looked like antiques. So firing them seemed like an iffy proposition. They used the U.S. 81mm mortar rounds, which we didn’t have any.

The M224 60mm mortar firing in Afghanistan using the conventional firing mode. (U.S. Army)

I had never fired a U.S. round through that Soviet system (I had started as a heavy weapons guy), but one of our other guys had. He said that a weird sound was made when dropping the round. Instead of that metallic sliding, sucking sound, it was a click, clickety-click, sound as the slightly smaller American round would ever so slightly bounce down the tube. Although you could fire those, Luis, our heavy weapons guy, said, they weren’t the most accurate… no kidding.

So, after doing some crew drill on the 60mm M224 mortar, the mortar guys got their turn on the machine guns. After a few moments, one tracer round hit in front of one target, bounced backward about 10-20 meters, and started a small fire in the grass. The fire was burning in a small neat circle.

Danny, our Team leader, was reaching for the radio to tell the Hondos in the beat-up truck to put out the fire when Bruce, one of the other guys, spoke up. “I can put that range fire out, sir,” Bruce said. Bruce was a huge guy who was loaned to us from the 2nd Ranger Battalion for this deployment. He was also the weapons platoon sergeant in the Battalion.

The Hondurans were in awe of his size. He was easily double their diminutive height, so, they were scared shitless of him. Bruce had a very typical Ranger haircut buzzed on the sides. In the Honduran army, they only did that to the criminals, “Los Castigados” in their terminology.

He grabbed the smaller M8 baseplate for the 60mm mortar and put a round in the tube while lining up his range estimation. Giving himself a bit of windage, he pulled the trigger and we all waited a few seconds for the round to go downrange. Bruce grabbed another round and was preparing to fire again when the mortar landed with that flat-sounding explosion. It landed squarely on the fire, which was no more than three-four meters wide at that point.

Special Forces Honduran Airmen — A Special Forces soldier (left) observes Honduran airmen firing their pistols. (DoD)

The results were electric. We whooped, “Good shot bro,” while the Honduran mortar section sat there dumbstruck with their mouths literally wide open. It was a shot in a million. And to put things in perspective, they were used to firing 81mm mortar rounds through a Russian 82mm antique mortar. “Holy shit,” Bruce said to Danny. “I’ve never hit one on the first shot before.”

“Look at them,” Danny said, motioning to the Honduran mortar section. “They are going to kneel and ask you to bring back the sun any minute.” We all cracked up. The Hondos sat there mesmerized for a few more seconds. “Hijo de puta! Their lieutenant yelled. He turned with a big grin and began to bark at his troops. We all cracked up. Bruce, who at that time had a very limited Spanish vocabulary, asked Danny what they said.

“Basically, he is telling them that until they can learn to shoot like that, he’s going to shave all their heads.”

Bruce again tried to tell us that he’d never hit anything like that on the first shot. Danny told him to act as if he did it all the time. Bruce played along, set down the tube, and told the Hondos, “Eso fue fácil” (that was easy).

After that, every time Bruce walked through the compound, the Honduran kids would salute him like he was a field grade officer. Not long after we returned from that deployment, the Special Forces had ruined Bruce with the Ranger Battalion.

He reported to the sergeant major (SGM) with his hands in his pockets, put his feet up on the SGM’s desk, and said, “Hey SGM, I’m back.” His SGM at the time was also a long-time SF NCO. He laughed and said, “Report to RIP in the morning.” Not long after that, Bruce joined SF and went through the Special Forces Qualification Course as an 18E. He later became an officer… and a very good one.

DOL

US Military’s working dogs are the worst nightmare for the enemy

Cry havoc…

Since the time of Greece and the Roman Empire, the dog has been a valued and trusted member of the military. The Romans used a breed of Mastiff that is now extinct. Then, they covered their canines in armor with spiked collars and used them to wreak havoc on their enemies.

The use of military dogs by the United States was largely an unknown to the general population until a Belgian Malinois named “Cairo” was thrust into the spotlight after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by US Navy SEALs.

But the use of military dogs goes far back from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The first well-known military dog was SGT Stubby who was a stray Bull Terrier that was adopted by the 102^nd Infantry Regiment of the 26^th Infantry Division (The Yankee Division).

SGT Stubby with uniform coat and decorations in WWI.

Stubby was smuggled on the troop ship to France but quickly proved his worth. He could warn the troops of impending poison gas attacks, could hear artillery shells coming before human ears could detect them, he could find American wounded in no man’s land and even caught a German prisoner, grabbing the enemy by the seat of his pants and holding him until the soldiers made him a prisoner.

Stubby met three US Presidents, marched in numerous parades and even received a half-page obituary in the New York Times when he died in his sleep in 1926. But dogs have been used in every conflict since the Revolutionary War, but only officially used since World War II.

Today the training and use of military dogs are extensive and there are a few thousand serving in the armed forces. Many of them are in harm’s way in the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, among other hotspots and they’ve proved invaluable.

America’s military dogs can find illicit drugs, sniff out bombs and IEDs (improvised explosive devices), search out and find enemy combatants. They’re almost all trained at the Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland as part of the Department of Defense Military Working Dog Program (MWD). The military has been training their canines there since 1958.

German shepherds and retrievers are commonly used, but the Belgian Malinois (i.e.Cairo) has proven to be one of the most outstanding working dogs used in military service. The vast majority of military working dogs are purchased in Germany or the Netherlands, where they have been breeding dogs for military purposes for hundreds of years. But because of the uptick in operational tempo as well as the demand, the breeding programs in the United States are flourishing.

The dogs must exhibit focused, aggressive behavior, with a heightened sense of smell and a strong desire to work for reward before they are assigned to operators worldwide.

Typically, pups begin their training very early. When they’re very young, (6-8 weeks of age), they’re sent to homes for socialization skills in a stable, home setting. They’ll come back to the school between 7-9 months where they’ll be observed for consideration as a working dog. The puppies must exhibit a strong drive, are adaptable to a host of different environments and respond to reward-for-work motivation before they can begin the pre-training program.

The training is long and difficult and only 50 percent of the dogs pass thru their dog school “Selection.” After the dogs are a year-old and pass their advanced training, they’ll have two primary roles. Either as an operator in search for explosives or narcotics detection or as patrol member for apprehension and search for the enemy.

Malinois’ are favored because of their agility, speed, focused aggressive behavior and the fact that their sense of smell is 40 times that of their human handlers. Military dogs frequently are used in airborne operations, rappelling, and helo-casting.

Dogs that work with Special Operations units are specifically trained in just a handful of locations. CBS’ Lara Logan did a story on former Navy SEAL Mike Ritland who trains dogs for the dangerous world of Special Operations as well as for the FBI and SWAT teams.

In the same story, Logan did a story on Chris Corbin from the 7^th Special Forces Group and his dog Ax. They both almost lost their lives on the same day in Afghanistan on their final mission. Ax had already found one bomb and the two were moving toward an area that had already been cleared.

Corbin missed Ax’s signal, thinking he was just smelling another dog in the cleared area when the bomb went off. Ax was shaken but ok, Corbin lost both of his lower legs. But a few months later he was back on active duty…with Ax and the two grew inseparable.

Corbin told Logan that the bond was there when his teammates brought Ax to see him at Walter Reed Army Hospital. “They brought him up for a visit. And I heard him, getting him out of the back of the truck. And opening his kennel, and he just being a stir-crazy dog, just, ‘Hey, let me out of here. Let’s do a look around.’ I just said something simple. Hey, where’s my boy at? and he stopped. He froze. He looked around. And he went into a panic until he found me and he jumped on my legs. Painful. Just– I was just happy to see him. I didn’t care how much it hurt.”

Some dogs, like their human counterparts, can suffer from the throes of PTSD. Many of the dogs are treated for such and return to have successful completions to their military careers. When one of these canine operators is wounded, they’re transported via medevac just like a wounded soldier would.

Sadly 42 dogs have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country and their handlers. But a good indicator of their worth is how the enemy feels about them. The Taliban and ISIS hate the military working dogs and have a healthy respect for them. The Taliban soldiers have orders to shoot the dogs first and American soldiers second.

The unfortunate footnote to this story is that prior to November 2000, military working dogs were euthanized upon the finish of their career. Now, most are adopted by their handlers. A few each year go to civilians who apply for adoption rights. The waiting list for an adoptable military working dog is about a year.

Our military forces continue to keep us safe, at home and abroad. And their four-legged counterparts are doing their share as well. And SGT Stubby? He’s being immortalized in an upcoming animated feature film that is being released in 2018.

Photos Courtesy DOD

Prepping For Selection, the Right Way is the Only Way

This is the time of year when the Selection courses are in full swing and the guys…and gals who want to be part of Special Operations units are deciding to get ready and give it their best shot at becoming members in the best fraternity in the world.

The US military has embraced Special Operations Forces after many decades of hating on “elite units” and the services have a unified command structure to ensure they all work well with each other as well as conventional units. The services have plenty of specialized units with varying missions and each has their own specialties carved out thru years of intense training. Whether it be the Army, Navy, Air Force, or the Marines, each service has their own Special Operations Forces. And all of them are excellent.

For our purposes, we’re going to deal with the US Army Special Forces, popularly known as the “Green Berets.” Having been in Special Forces units for more than a decade in the military, it is easy to say, there’s no place better to be. But the rest of what you’ll read here will serve you well regardless of your choice of unit.

Some of you’ve may have already decided that Special Forces is for you and you’re getting ready to prep for SFAS and a chance to attend the Special Forces Qualification Course or “Q” course. Good. That’s the easy part.

First and most importantly, Is your head screwed on straight? Are you wanting to be SF to be a part of the best and willing to put everything into your choice? If so, then you’re definitely on the right track.

Now to dispel some myths. We’ve all heard the wives’ tales and myths of the Special Forces soldier, right? “You have to be 10-feet tall and bulletproof.” LOL, don’t laugh. “SF guys have to have the athletic ability and look like NFL players.” Having gone thru the Warrant Officer Candidate School at Ft. Rucker with a former defensive lineman for the NY Giants (but in a different MOS), I can tell you with 100 percent certainty, we looked nothing alike.

There isn’t any big secret about passing selection, in fact to those of us who worked out there the saying used to be, “the answer is so simple that it is hard.” It is all about you the individual. Selection is 70 percent mental and 30 percent physical. And not the reverse. You don’t have to look like an NFL linebacker to pass the course as I mentioned above. I certainly didn’t and the vast majority of guys I finished with didn’t either.

In fact, most of the guys who looked like that passed by the wayside, it becomes simply a matter of mind over matter. You will have to want it and won’t let anything stop you from reaching that ultimate goal. That may sound a little simplistic but that is it in a nutshell. So, after getting several emails about Selection and the tips of the trade to be selected…here they are…(Cue the Dating Game music and spin the board around. OK, I dated myself there.)

#1 – Don’t Ever Quit: There will be times when you are exhausted beyond belief, between either selection or the Q-course and that is when the SF guys get separated from the other guys who thought they wanted to be there.

Selection is a test of will, nothing more. Don’t let your mind play tricks on you and focus only on what you’re doing today. Get thru the day and don’t worry about what comes tomorrow. That doesn’t exist. Sometimes and during some training events, you can’t even look past the next few hours or smoke sessions. Be standing there when it is over, that may be your goal. Survive until lunch, if you get it. Be there at sundown when guys are dropping like flies all around you.

You’ll get no feedback from the cadre other than the stock “do the best you can”, and I for one think that’s the best way. Special Forces doesn’t want or need guys who must have constant reassurance. They want soldiers who will go the extra mile and keep on going. If the cadre members don’t tell you anything, then you’re good to go. When you think you’ve reached Hell…keep going. It WILL get hotter.

#2 – Prepare, Prepare, Prepare: Don’t come to Selection fresh from being a couch potato. There are plenty of guides on how to properly prepare for the rigors of the course and they all will get you into the arena. You don’t have to be the fastest runner, but it certainly won’t hurt. But the biggest obstacle in your path is your rucksack. Soldiers who can strap the big pain pill on and continue to drive on are what the cadre are looking for.

Soldiers who came from a light infantry or a Ranger battalion will have already mastered that art. For soldiers coming from a different background, that is where they are sailing into uncharted waters. And that is where the will to continue comes in. Even the most hardened troops get worn out and tired, that is what the course is designed to do.

If you want a good PT program, there are plenty of great ones on the internet. I am no professional physical trainer, but I did work at Selection so I believe I know what works. And this being our site, I will recommend our PT Training Program here:

I recall the adage that fatigue makes cowards of us all is quite telling but not entirely true. The Special Forces soldier won’t give in to his fatigue and keep on going. If you allow doubt to creep into your mind, you are already defeated. So tip #1 ties into tip #2. In my post-SF life, I’ve had the privilege of covering the NFL and one of the most intriguing people I’ve met is Bill Belichick the coach of the New England Patriots. He has stated that if a player is thinking about retiring, then he’s already retired. It is the same thing. If you allow doubt to creep into your mind, that little voice will screw you every time.

#3 – Don’t Worry About What the Instructors: As soldiers, we’ve been weaned on immediate feedback. As basic trainees or boots, everything you did was wrong. Forget all that. It’s over. Time to use your head, that is that lump three feet above your ass. Give it your all and when the event is over, forget it, it is in the past. Focus on the next one and try to do even better.

Too many times I saw candidates withdraw because of the lack of feedback from the instructors they took as a sign that the instructors want them to fail. Nothing could be further from the truth.

They’ve been where you are and experienced all the same things. They want to see you succeed. But only if you meet the standards. Then they’ll be happy to be standing next to you in the Regiment. You may not think so today, but you will see soon enough.

#4 The Gray Man: My views on this run counter what you’ll read everywhere else but here it is. And this is one of those subjects I feel strongly about so my take on this is a bit biased. So, you can take it for what it is, ignore it, or tell me to GFY.

You’ll hear many people tell you to be the “Gray Man” in SFAS, and if that means to you, just keeping a low profile while doing the best that you can, then that is fine. But to others it means trying to purposely fly under the radar, to hide behind the masses. You know who those types are, and you’ll find some in your class. Whenever as a Selection Cadre member, I’d see someone trying to ghost during team events and do just enough to get by while some guy was in the spotlight in being assessed in a leadership position, I’d evaluate that guy very poorly.

Everybody’s different. Certain guys (Many SF guys) are Type-A personalities and are demonstrative, take charge guys. Others are more quiet, low-key and lead by example types. Be yourself. The cadre will know by then which type you are. If you are a guy who by his nature is one of those personalities who motivates people by being a stud or by making people laugh (which we’ll get to), then do it. That is WHO you are. Every team needs those kinds of people and you won’t be judged harshly if that is who you truly are.

You came to Special Operations to be part of the top 1 percent in the military. That doesn’t mean to go beating your chest every time you accomplish anything. That will put a bullseye on your back quickly. And if you’re looking to slide under the radar in training, then you’ll do it on a team. As a cadre member, I didn’t evaluate too kindly on those trying that either. Screw the gray man, be yourself.

#5 Laugh Every Day and Find the Humor in Everything: One of the things we preach all the time is and #5 could easily be called “Embrace the Suck”. And that follows along with everything else It is going to be hard, it will suck. You WILL be tested and no doubt, you’ll have your dick (metaphorical, I know we have women now), dragging into the dirt at some point. But it doesn’t mean it can’t be fun or at times even funny.

There should be times every day when you find the humor in the crazy shit that you’ll be asked to do. And it will accomplish a couple of things. One is that it will break the tension that builds up during the course, especially as things progress. And it will surprisingly build your morale up, more than you’d believe…time for an SF anecdote.

Carrying some very heavy shit one day, I believe it was, by the weight of it, a section of a high-rise skyscraper, we slowly heaved it up and placed it on our rucks and immediately shrunk an inch. Yours truly wasn’t having a good day, I was sick with the flu, still had the remnants of dysentery from my last deployment and felt like a horse apple.

One of my buds looked over and said, “Steve, you just made a great face when you lifted that. You missed your calling bro…you should have gone into porn.”

Tension broken, we all laughed our butts off, and the rucks got lighter. The rest of the day was much easier.

Photo: US Army

Special Forces and Entrepreneurship Can Make the Most of Any Bad Situation

“How the hell am I going to fill 1000 sandbags…and how did get myself into this mess?”

Sometimes life throws her curveballs at you and you have to do your best to sit back in the box and hit it the opposite way. And in doing so, you can take a bad situation and definitely make the most out of it.

Back in the day, the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua was a thorn in the side of the United States, especially the White House under President Reagan. And the U.S. was worried that the Sandinistas would be trying to spread their revolution (with outside help) to their neighboring countries.

And it was justified, with on-going bloody civil wars going on in El Salvador and Guatemala, Honduras had a latent insurgency issue and later we learned that the Nicaraguan government was preparing to aid that along.

While U.S. troop strength allowed in El Salvador was severely restricted and very few SOF troops allowed in Guatemala due to political issues, no such issue existed in Honduras at the time. And the U.S. always had a steady stream of conventional and SOF troops there.

Combat engineers were always building and improving roads, there was a slew of medical and dental units there helping the people. The U.S. constructed an airbase (Soto Cano) in Palmerola that is still in use today. And there were always a ton of 7th Special Forces Group troops on the ground. It always seemed like there was at least a company-sized element of six Special Forces A-Teams and a B-Team in the country at any given time. Many SF guys from that era would have half a dozen deployments to “Hondo” alone at that time, never mind deployments elsewhere.

This one deployment our Group decided to run had several teams from 2nd Bn., 7th SFG working with local Honduran units and our commander wanted to run several base station communication sites from the country, instead of back from Ft. Bragg. So, a bunch of SF radio operators (18E) from 1st Bn. were tasked to augment the Group’s Support Bn, and the Signal CO. to work in the base stations during this deployment.

Author and a high-speed, low drag supply vehicle in Honduras back in the day

We were starting one such base station in La Ceiba at the Honduran air base where they based their fighter aircraft (obsolescent Super Mystere) and then moving it after a few weeks up into the mountains, closer to the Nicaraguan border. So, during the time in La Ceiba, these SF radio operators would fall under the command of the Support Bn Staff. It was not a marriage made in heaven.

The sergeant major was… to put it simply a “Rick” with a silent P. He had a “do as I say and not as I do” attitude and was used to bullying the younger support guys…and girls. They had a gazillion rules that the A-Team guys never had to deal with in past deployments and it was soon apparent that heads were going to bump.

He instituted a “pass” system and a curfew with going downtown for everyone, except himself and his cronies. That didn’t fly with the SF guys. “Hey, that doesn’t apply to us, right?” LOL.

Well, after sampling some of the local nightlife in downtown La Ceiba and hanging out with a number of British schoolteachers from Belize, we arrived back at the base well after the established curfew. One of his little cronies made sure to rat us out…the little cockroach. However, we did beat the SGM back. Imagine that.

The next morning, he was going to make a big deal out of it and called us all in and said, we could be restricted to the base from our remainder of the time there (just a few more days thankfully) or fill sandbags for the Honduran base defenses. Most guys said screw it, they’d remain on base. Another guy and I opted for sandbag detail. Anything to get the hell away from those people.

So, we got a driver, a deuce and a half and 1000 sandbags. We told the driver to pack as many shovels as he had, which got a strange look but he grabbed about a dozen. The driver drove us to the far side of the base where there was a pit of clay that was as hard-packed as granite. “This is where our guys have been filling them,” he said. We laughed and told him we weren’t going to spend one minute there. Directing him out the back gate, we headed back down the highway in the opposite direction of town. After passing by some pineapple fields, we told him to take a dirt road to the right. After passing thru more fields and over a tiny bridge, we ended up on this tiny beach with the best bar you’d ever seen there.

On an earlier trip, one of the scuba team guys had shown this place. It had a fantastic place to dive and the bar was open on three sides that emptied right out on the sand. The driver couldn’t believe it. Nursing hangovers we ordered the hair of the dog from the young girl behind the bar while my partner spoke to her quietly in the corner. Then pulling a hammock out of my ruck, I strung it up between two poles on the open part of the bar and reclined with an ice cold Port Royal while my bud nursed a Salva Vida.

“What are you guys doing,” the driver asked? “Well, we’re going to chill out, catch about a 20-minute power nap and wait for the cavalry to arrive,” we said. About the time that the first beer was gone, the cavalry arrived.

Kids from the nearby village came flocking in, thinking the gringos were going scuba diving again and offering the use of their small boats and their services for whatever we needed.

We explained what we wanted to do, and they quickly agreed, we’d give them each two (2) MREs that we weren’t going to eat anyway. The two oldest kids were going to be foremen and oversee the entire operation. We gave them a five-minute class on how to properly fill sandbags. And just like in Selection, on how full they had to be. The two “foremen” would get five bucks each.

After watching this slew of kids quickly filling up the sandbags for a few quick iterations, my bud and I retired back to the cool shadow of the bar and the hammocks. “Yes, I’ll have another beer, thank you very much.”

In less than an hour, we had 250 sandbags filled. They were loaded on the deuce-and-a-half and we sent the driver back with strict orders to use the rear gate and bring back more cases of MREs. And most importantly, not to breathe a word of this to anyone.

Around noon the kids wanted to take a break for lunch. They planned on eating their MREs. We can do better, we said. The girl at the bar had already been forewarned and we arranged chicken sandwiches and a few burgers for all of them. We sat in the shade of the bar and got those kids sodas. Afterward, it time for a dip in the ocean. Punishment details are hell.

By 2 to 2:30 all of our sandbags were full, in truth, we didn’t have 1000, because they’d thought we wouldn’t be able to fill a 1/10th of those. Our driver asked if we should head back. “Hell no,” we answered. It was time for some MTT. He asked what that meant. “Max Tanning Time”, we answered. So until about four, we laid out in the sun, swam a bit more and bought the kids a coke. There were about half again as many MREs as promised and we said the heck with it. We told them to spread those out evenly as well. It was money well spent. We thought about scrawling on the side of the truck, “7th SFG Sand and Gravel”, but thought better or it. We used UW principles to beat the Pogues at their own game.

We headed back with the final load of sandbags, arriving back at the base where we unloaded the last of the sandbags into the huge pile that the guys had made. Our “pal” the sergeant-major strolled up and gave us a sneer like, “I guess I showed you!” and then glanced at the pile and knew something was up. We jumped down from the truck and smiled a “fuck you very much” look and headed for the showers, ice cold water that could wake the dead.

That weekend our C-130 came in to get us thankfully out of there. And not a moment too soon, but not entirely home free. We moved our base station gear to a B-Team that was famously known as “The Plantation”…ask any of the oldtimers what that was all about.

Little did we know that this was just the beginning. But that is a story for another time.

Photo of Golosón International Airport, La Ceiba (1987): Wikipedia

Rucking for the SOF Candidate, “Wear it Until You Love it”

Recently we have revisited some of the basics of Land Navigation, one of the trio of the biggest obstacles that Special Operations candidates will face in their individual Selection courses. And now we’ll move on to the next one, and one we always get a lot of questions about. Rucking.

I look upon rucking just like any perishable skill in SOF. And a lot like shooting, it is one skill that requires a lot of practice and constant repetition to master. And it begins with a proper mindset. When wearing a rucksack, I think back to the film, “The Man in the Iron Mask” when King Louis XIV finds out he has a twin and places him in a prison wearing an iron mask so no one will realize there are two heirs to the throne. “Wear it until you love it,” Louis says… Sage advice

When it comes to rucking you will hear 100 different things from 100 different people. We all have our own tips of the trade and the vast majority of them are good. But I’ll share this; you have to find what works best for you. All that we’re doing here is just giving you the benefits of our own experiences and hopefully, these will be of value to you. But as a caveat, I’d be remiss in saying that what works for one man won’t necessarily work for everyone… So, with that in mind, let’s go.

Packing Your Ruck:

First up on the agenda is how your rucksack is packed. Sounds like a no-brainer…right? Not so fast. Like everything else, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. A common mistake that many young guys make is to put the heavy stuff on the bottom of your ruck and then put the lighter stuff on top of that. Don’t do it.

Now in preparation training for Selection, your ruck doesn’t have to have a packing list with all of your tactical needs. The weight, the correct weight is the important factor here. And a really, really, really good rule of thumb is to err on the side of caution.

If the cadre members tell you to have a 45-pound ruck without food and water, that’s exactly what that means and when I say err on the side of caution, the sword cuts both ways. 44 pounds and 15 ounces won’t cut it and that will be really frowned upon… Yes, that means, it could be a show-stopper. We always would add about 2-3 pounds extra just to be safe.

But just as being smart about adding a couple of extra pounds to be in the safe zone, there is such a phenomenon as “too much of a good thing.” If the cadre says “45-lbs”, while 50 is okay, going out there with 75-80 is not. Trust me, you won’t get Brownie points or extra credit for it. So, don’t go overboard with it. As always, be smart.

Your weight should be packed up high between the shoulder blades. If your ruck has radio pouch up high, that is where the sandbag or weight plates belongs. I prefer sandbags because it will mold to your pack and back and doesn’t have any sharp edges that can rub you on a ruck.

The guys over at GoRUCK sell these nice molded plates that will do the trick and they take all the guesswork out of it. I’ve used weighted plates in the past. And when the gym starts running short of 45-pound plates, someone will complain. But as I mentioned previously, I like to use sandbags.

We’ve talked boots in several different pieces before, in Selection, you will have to wear what the cadre allows, so the high-speed boots may have to take a backseat until you reach an operational unit. In the Army, that means boots that are compliant with AR-670-1. However, I recently acquired a new pair of boots and we’ll post a review of those ASAP.

Water and hydration are always very important even on days like the last couple where it is cloudy and cool and threatening rain. So, stay hydrated and force yourself to keep sipping while on the trail. Keep your hydration up in pre-training and it will be easier to keep going once you are in the course.

The trail we’ve been using in a power line cut so it was up-down without much flat terrain involved. When rucking it is best to lean forward and getting the arm swing going from side to side rather than a typical running type swing back and forth.

This spring, it seems the tick population has exploded. One can scarcely take a step without several of the buggers attaching themselves to you. Last night I took my dog on a quick jaunt down the trail. After only about 300 yards, she was covered. I pulled 10 off of her forelegs and cut things short. So, check yourself frequently.

But I digress, let’s talk about getting some speed going. When it comes to increasing speed, I don’t recommend that you run with a rucksack on your back while in training. They’ll be times in your selection course or the qualification course that you’ll have to make up time or want to pick your pace, especially on the downhill slopes. At those times, you’re going to have to do what you must, but for our training purposes don’t do it. Learn to increase your speed without running. Running with a ruck will hurt your knees and back…take it from the guy with two arthritic knees.

I like to lengthen my stride on the downhill slopes, some guys will tell you the exact opposite. Again, find out what works for you and stick to it. But the bottom line is don’t resort to running to increase your speed. You’re going to have to learn to ruck quickly without running sooner or later, and there’s no time like the present.

The standard is a 15-minute mile pace to pass the courses, you should be aiming to go lower than that. We were keeping a 14:30 pace on one of our practical exercise videos, which means we’ll have to step it up as well. Back in the day, I used to maintain around a 13-minute per mile pace which would bring myself in with around 20-25 minutes to spare on a 12-miler. And I could keep that pace for a 20-miler.

On one certification 20-miler at Ft. Bragg, our team maintained a 13-minute mile pace for the entire length of the course and that was with two 7-8 minute breaks built in to change socks and catch a breather. Of course, since the movement wasn’t considered tactical and was mapped out along a road, our communications supervisor (18E) strapped a boom box atop his rucksack and we rocked to AC-DC and Metallica. Much better than the sound of boots scuffling for 20 miles. We ended up with the best time in the battalion that night…the staff when learning of the music…were not amused. Always look for an edge, right? And sometimes it is better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission.

If anyone ever has any questions, feel free to send them along to [email protected] and I’ll be glad to answer them and we may use it in our next article or video.

Photo courtesy of US Army

Land Navigation Refresher – Helpful Tips When Navigating

“…We are what we repeatedly do, Excellence then is not an act but a habit”

Aristotle

One of the first questions we always get here at SpecialOperations.com or over at NEWSREP (our parent site), from any aspiring SOF candidates is, “What do I have to do to get Selected?” While it is a legitimate question, it is a bit simplistic. There is no one specific thing that a candidate has to do to pass but many.

Selection and Assessment for Special Forces haven’t changed all that much since the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in World War II when General William “Wild Bill” Donovan and his band of glorious amateurs were looking for “PHDs who can win a bar fight.”

While SOF doesn’t require doctoral degrees or any degree for that matter, they are constantly looking for candidates who are smart, trainable and have a good overall balance of knowledge.

As we’ve mentioned many times before, in Selection there are three big discriminators that every candidate must check the block on early in the process if they are going to get selected. Those are being properly prepared for Physical Fitness, Rucking, and Land Navigation.

That’s why we’ve been going back to the basics and hitting on and revisiting all of the topics that generally give candidates the most issues, lately in Land Navigation.

Again, the biggest failure is the failure to prepare. If you are properly prepared, there is no reason you can’t do what thousands of Special Operations Forces troops before you have accomplished. It is more of a mental block than anything else.

So….we’ve gone over some of the A-B-Cs, the basics of Land Navigation and now comes the time to put all of those lessons into practice. I’ve compiled some nice to know notes from back in the day, that are really helpful, especially if you’ve never done Land Nav before.

Invest in a Good Map Case – A good one should be waterproof, seal up tight so that you won’t lose pencils, grease pencils, your protractor …etc. I should also have a neck lanyard or least one that will allow you to attach it to your body, via a snap link. Losing your map in Hoffman is bad, bad, bad news.

Some guys opt for ziplock bag but those can fall out of a shirt or pants pocket and then you’re right back to square one. Some have extra pockets to store other materials as well. Next…

Fold the Map – This sounds so simple but yet you want to fold the map to keep only the area you are traversing in sight. It saves tons of time when checking your map during movement.

Have you ever seen a film where they’re trying to portray a lost person (Ned the Navigator) who has no clue where he is and how he can find his way? If you fold the map down so that only the part of your map that you are using shows, it simplifies things immeasurably. Every time you consult your map, only where you are and where you are going next is visible. It saves a lot of time. And when you’re on the course, a minute here or there can be very valuable. If you’ve ever been around orienteers walking or running on a navigation course with only a small folded map in their hands, The are surveying only the part that matters to them at the moment. Having the route which you are traveling showing with a bit of leeway on either side is a good rule of thumb to follow, speaking of which…

Thumbing – This helps to always know exactly where you are without searching around on the map. However, in Camp Mackall, this may prove difficult at times. And no it isn’t hitching a ride to your next point.

Here’s how thumbing works. When navigating, especially in the Hoffman area, you’ll want …and need to make frequent map checks. Trying to find your location on the map every time you stop can be time-consuming. So the easiest way to keep track is to hold your thumb at the spot on the map where you are. Then as you progress through the course, you can slide your thumb along the route. Using this method consistently eliminates the time it would take to orient the map and then find your way.

Good Ways to Check Your Progress While on the Move:

Plan Checkpoints Along the Route – Checkpoints help to keep you on target. They are also a great way to check your route planning and pace count. If you get to a checkpoint and the going is much tougher than anticipated. You have a place where you can plot and then plan an alternate route.

This is also great reassurance if you happen to be new at this and are unsure of yourself. Trust me, in Hoffman, you will be…

If your route planning takes you by an improved crossroad or the edge of a large body of water, those are easy checkpoints to use as a way to check your route and pace count.

You can use any map feature that is readily identifiable along the way. This is the reassurance that you really do know where you are. This will aid you in finding your Attack Point.

Attack Points – Finding a good attack point before your actual point is essential.

Someone in one Selection class got hung up on what constitutes an attack point. And the fact is, we all have used them countless times. An attack point is nothing more than an identifiable landmark to guide you to your target.

“When you come down Main St. you’ll pass a Dunkin’ Donuts on the right. Right after that take your second left and the house is the fourth on the right.” Sound familiar?

In this case, the Dunkin’ Donuts was the attack point – an unmistakable feature that tells you you’re getting close. Then, you know, that from there, it’s a very short distance to your destination. Sometimes if your attack point is a crossroad or along a linear spot like a road, we use deliberate offset, which means that you purposely aim to the right or left of a spot so that if you don’t hit the attack point exactly, you know, you must move either right or left correspondingly.

Draws and Thickets – As you encounter the draws and thickets of which there are a plentiful amount in Hoffman, you’ll no doubt see where others have tread before you and those well-worn paths are a good indicator that this is the best spot to cross a draw. So, if you must cross a draw in the “Dagobah System”, take advantage of some of the other candidates’ trailblazing and save yourself some time.

In SFAS an instructor will be present at each of your points but you’ll no doubt come across green engineer stakes with a dog tag on them. If you do, do yourself a favor and stop and check them out. These are put in by GPS for the SFQC and are an eight-digit grid coordinate that are exactly where they say they are. There’s no better way to check your location.

Photo courtesy of DOD

What Happens Next at the Special Warfare Center at Ft. Bragg?

Opinion: The Special Warfare Center, specifically the JFKSWC at Ft. Bragg, NC, which trains the Green Berets, Psyops and Civil Affairs soldiers has been in a state of flux for the past two years. And the news that broke late last week won’t lessen it at all in the coming months.

Breitbart News’ Kristina Wong broke the story that the JFKSWC’s commander Major General Kurt Sonntag is being forced to retire after reports of his conduct being investigated by the Pentagon for ruining the careers of several Special Forces officers and NCOs for speaking out against the softening and lowering of standards. Wong wrote last week:

They alleged Sonntag wrongfully retaliated against instructors who expressed concern over his lowering of standards for the Special Forces Qualification Course, punished instructors seen as too tough on students, and is a toxic leader who created a climate of fear at SWCS.

Where the story, the center, and schoolhouse for Green Berets go from here is unclear. But there will be no easy answers and/or solutions for the school, the training cadre or the incoming commander.

Wong was originally the one who broke the story that Sonntag was being investigated after several current and former Green Beret instructors voiced their concerns over Sonntag’s policies were levied.

Sonntag completed a two-year tour at SWC and asked for a one-year extension. That was denied and he was given no further General Officer assignment, which ostensibly means that the general is being forced to retire.

When Sonntag took over the SWC in 2017, he faced many problems, not the least of which the school wasn’t graduating enough Green Berets to fully field the force. The toll of unending wars and an unsustainable OPTEMPO has left Special Forces without enough soldiers across the board.

Sonntag immediately began to formulate plans to streamline and shorten the pipeline for Special Forces Green Berets to be trained. He finished it up in the fall of 2018. Copies of the slides he used were leaked to us and we contacted the School and although we didn’t speak with the General himself, the PAO Officer answered our questions.

We wrote about the changes that Sonntag had spelled out here: They answered our questions to the shortening of the course as follows.

“1st Special Forces Command outlined the individual tasks required for each MOS to meet their operational needs. Instead of adding collective tasks into MOS, this concept focuses solely on individual tasks and incorporates application through historical vignettes (lessons-learned). The practical application at a team level will come in tactical skills. Currently, the course orientation and history phase is six weeks. This concept incorporates the introductory individual tasks into MOS training and the collective tasks into tactical skills. History modules and other tasks now taught in course orientation will be taught throughout all phases of the course. This concept found efficiencies in training by reorganizing where we teach certain tasks, which provides opportunities to combine complimentary tasks in a logical manner.”

Sonntag’s policies were met by charges by the training cadre of the school that the standards were being lowered. Now, it should be mentioned, that those charges are nothing new to the SF school. Every generation has heard that and we have to deal with it. I heard it when I went thru the SFQC, and I heard it several years later when assigned to SWC at SFAS.

However, what transpired next was anything but usual with the resultant “night letter” and the search for the authors of such. Which brings us to where we are today. Sonntag is being forced to retire and a new commander is coming in. Maj. Gen. Patrick B. Roberson is slated to be the next SWC commander. Roberson is coming from Special Operations Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and is slated to change command this summer.

In Wong’s report, she credited a source who told her that Roberson was the second choice for the new SWC commander. Her source told her that MG Miguel A. Correa was first chosen to take over for Sonntag, but Correa supposedly turned down the SWC assignment because he “didn’t want to take on the s**t show that Sonntag created.”

Roberson has to still face the same daunting tasks that Sonntag did but now has to do so with a training cadre that will view him (whether the allegations of Sonntag are all true or not), with a level of distrust. And hanging over Roberson’s head, unfairly or not is the fate of the two SF NCOs who were singled out for punishment by Sonntag and are scheduled for termination of service. Green Berets Sergeant First Class Micah Robertson, 33, and Sergeant First Class Michael Squires, 31, are both looking at the end of their careers by the end of the month. Their fates will be decided long before Roberson takes command.

However, the Army could do the school and Roberson a tremendous service by keeping both of those NCOs on active duty until the investigation they’re conducting is complete. There are also several other cases of careers being ruined that should be looked at before those NCOs and Officers are lost to the service. It would go a long way in re-establishing trust between the command and the incoming commander. Then let the chips fall where they may. Will this happen? It is doubtful at this point.

Which takes us back to square one, what happens with the courses, SFAS (Special Forces Assessment and Selection), and the SFQC (Special Forces Qualification Course)? One of Special Operations core “Truths” from 1988 is #3 “Special Operations Forces can’t be mass produced.”

The incoming commander MG Roberson certainly understands it. The training cadre in charge of producing the next group of Green Berets for the Regiment certainly understands it better than most. They know when their tour at SWC is up, they’ll return to the Regiment. And the troops that they assess, train, and graduate this year will be the teammates of the same cadre when they return to the Regiment.

That responsibility isn’t lost on them and they take it seriously. One hopes that the next commander MG Roberson and his entire school staff find a way to work together to produce the best Special Forces operators that have ever come thru the pipeline.

All eyes will be watching what transpires the schoolhouse for the foreseeable future. No one wants that. But it is what it is…

“May you live in interesting times.”

Photo of then BG Kurt Sonntag: USASOC

Back to the Basics, Land Navigation, and Pace Count

We’ve been getting back to the A-B-Cs of basic skills and in particular, Land Navigation in recent days. There was an article recently on the web that stated that junior NCOs were struggling with a map and compass.

And if that is an issue with the regular Army, or in the case of this particular article, with the Infantry soldiers, then the trickle-down effect will probably be seen in the Selection courses in the Army, most especially with SFAS (Special Forces Selection and Assessment).

So with this in mind, we’re going back to the basics and hitting on and revisiting all of the topics that generally give candidates the most issues in helping them prepare for SFAS. Three of the biggest issues that stop candidates from being selected are Physical Fitness preparation, Rucking, and Land Navigation. We’ve begun to delve back into the different facets of Land Nav. As a refresher to those who have a good grasp of it already and as a teaching point for those candidates who do not.

SFAS will combine all three of those issues in the very early days of the course, as candidates will be running for time, rucking and then join the three into the Land Navigation course, known as the Star Course in Hoffman, right outside of Camp Mackall. It is the toughest Land Nav course in the military.

The key to passing Land Navigation and the course, in general, is easy. It is to properly prepare yourself. And failure to properly prepare is preparing to fail.

But as we’ve stated, the biggest failure is the failure to prepare. If you are properly prepared, there is no reason you can’t do what thousands of Special Operations Forces troops before you have accomplished. It is more of a mental block than anything else.

Everyone has heard the horror stories of the Star course. Yes, the course is tough, it is the toughest individual land navigation course you’ll find in the US military. But it isn’t anything a cool head and a prepared candidate can’t pass. Thousands passed before you will attempt it and thousands more will in the future.

So, without further ado, we are on to one of the most basic of skills in moving during navigation, and that is your pace count.

Having an Accurate Pace Count is Very Important:

To be successful during the land navigation course requires, plotting the points accurately, planning a good route (which we touched on yesterday) and having an accurate pace count. Accurate being the definitive word here. In certain geographical areas, with very distinct terrain features, your pace count isn’t as important because you can pinpoint your location by identifying the surrounding terrain. But in places like Hoffman where terrain features are very indistinct, knowing your pace is very important because the distances you have traveled will have to be accounted for constantly.

The first thing you must do is to set up a 100-meter course on flat terrain. Walk it three times and every time your left foot hits the ground, count it. Take the total number of steps you’ve walked and divide by three. That is your baseline pace count. If you are near a track or a lined football field, you can use that and then just take a spool of 550 cord and mark out 100 meters and put some knots in it or tape it to keep the correct distance You’ll thank me later.

Now wait until the hours after dark and walk the flat course again, three times. Your pace count will probably increase in the dark, mark it down in your notebook that should always be in your pocket. Notate what your pace count is for daylight on flat terrain and your night pace count.

Now take your 550 cord out into the woods and try to find some rougher, hilly terrain. Lay out the 550 cord and walk the course again three times in the day and three times in the dark. Did your pace count increase with the difference in terrain? It should have.

Now complete this exercise again for a third time in the woods but with a rucksack on and repeat the steps in rough hilly terrain, day and night. Your pace count should increase dramatically with a heavy rucksack on especially once you start hitting hills and thicker vegetation.

Remember, if you plan to use your Ranger beads to measure the distance every time you travel 100 meters, then prepare the string accordingly. Slide the lowest bead to the bottom. Most of them come with nine beads on the cord. After you slide nine of the beads down, the next 100 meters brings you to a klick (1000 meters), and you can push them all back up to the top. I highly recommend using them or making your own out of 550 cord, it is a valuable tool and comes in handy so that you don’t have to remember exactly how far you have to go and how far you’ve gone.

Remember this…your pace count is just a piece of the puzzle. You have to plot your points correctly and get an azimuth to where you are going. Your pace count should give you a very good reference point as well as using terrain association off of your map.

A couple of things to consider, when the weather turns on you, and it will, the rain, snow or sleet will cause you to take shorter steps and increase your pace count, especially at night. Exhaustion will do the same thing. As you get tired during the course or during a field training exercise, your level of exhaustion will increase your pace count even if moving during daylight hours in open terrain.

In time, you’ll become a seasoned pro at this and will know just by the conditions that you are dealing with what your pace count will be. And it will change over time. My pace with just web gear on flat terrain was 62 back in the days of Phase 1 at Camp Mackall.

But with a rucksack and a heavy load, it went up to 73. But I noticed after I had been in an SF Group for a while and your rucksack becomes a part of your body, my pace counted lessened to between 68-69 depending on conditions. You’ll find that you will have similar results.

Pace Count Tips:

Here’s another tip on pace counts. If you plot your point and you have 4 kilometers (klicks) between points, don’t try to keep a pace for the entire distance. Pick out a terrain feature or road intersection as an attack point. Use deliberate offset (More on that later) to find it. Keep your pace count to that attack point and make a notation with a grease pencil on your map case. If any of your fellow students or training partners have been in either the Ranger Regiment or an Airborne or Light Infantry unit, they’ll probably have some experience doing this.

It is a great way to check your pace and see how close you come to your plotted points. By the time you finish Selection and the subsequent qualification course, you’ll find you pace counts and distances are coming really close to the distances when you plot them on your maps.

But failure to keep a pace count can really hurt you if become disoriented, especially in the dark. It is a valuable tool that every successful SFAS candidate should use while you’re out on the course.

So, when navigating, keeping an accurate pace count is not only a helpful aid but essential. If you find that you’ve drifted on the course, the distance traveled will definitely help get back on track and find your points.

Failure to prepare will result in course failure. And getting lost is the ultimate embarrassment. That will get you a red face when the cadre has to search for you and usually ends up with the candidate doing the long walk to the trucks back to Ft. Bragg. The last thing you want is to do the duffle bag drag back to Bragg.

We’ll get to some more Land Navigation tips and some important Map Reading do’s and don’ts in some of our upcoming articles soon.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me [email protected] or Tweet them to me (@SteveB7SFG) and I’ll be happy to answer them.

Photo courtesy of US Army

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

Lack Land Navigation Skills at the Special Op’s Level? Level 1 Refresher

On yesterday’s post, we talked about the Army’s junior NCO’s (E-4 – E-6) are exhibiting a definitive lack of Land Navigation skills where nearly a third can’t pass a Skill Level 1 map, compass, and protractor exercise at the Ft. Benning, GA NCO Academy.

We’ll go back to the Basics, much of this you’ll have seen before and if you haven’t or are entering the military and have signed up for a Special Operations slot (Ranger, 18X Program), this is just the tip of the iceberg. In the Land Nav environment that is very hard to pass, especially in SFAS. The majority of people who fail, do so right here. It is the hardest Land Navigation course in the Army and in our opinion (yes, we’re biased) the entire military.

One question we’ve gotten here is “why put such a high priority on a task that won’t even be needed since the teams all have GPS?” The answer is GPS is fantastic and by all means, take advantage of it, but what if your satellites go down or in the case of a large conventional conflict, are jammed by an adversary?

The skills that you’ll need at a minimum and terms that you should be very familiar include but won’t be limited to:

Contour Lines– what are they? And you should know the 3 types and how they appear on the different terrain features. Also, know how to find and identify the contour interval on each map sheet
Terrain Features– How many are there? Know how to be able to identify each
Declination diagram– Be able to identify it on the map and know how it works. Be able to immediately know what the declination is for your area. ***It is very important to successfully navigate in SFAS***
Azimuth and Back azimuth– Identify what it is, how it used and how to calculate it using the declination diagram. What are the two ways it can be measured?
Orienting a Map– What is the definition of it. How many methods are there to do it and be able to do it using each way
Intersection- What is it? How is used? and most importantly how is it determined
Resection– What is it? What is it used for? And be able to do it easily
Dead Reckoning– What is the definition? Know the steps that involve using it. (many candidates use this exclusively but not all accurately)
Field Expedient Direction– How many ways are there to determine it? Be able to perform each one
8-digit Grid Coordinate– What does this measure? How close will that take you to a point on the ground?
6-digit Grid Coordinate– What does this measure? How close will that take you to a point on the ground
Colors on the Map– How many are there and what do they denote?
Mils to degrees– How many mils equal one degree? How is each on used?
Circle– How many mils? How many degrees?

Now we’ll move on to the next step in finding your way around on the ground. That begins with orienting your map and then plotting your start point on the course.

Orienting the Map – This makes map reading and using the available terrain features much easier to read. What does it mean to have the map oriented?

The schoolbook answer is: A map is oriented when it is in a horizontal position with its north and south corresponding to the north and south on the ground. In layman’s terms, it means when you’re holding the map in front of you, the terrain matches up exactly as it is shown on the map.

It makes it much harder to try to read your terrain features upside down or sideways. If you are using an Army lensatic compass, remember that a compass measures magnetic North.

So, don’t forget your declination diagram which is located on your marginal information at the bottom of your map. Most military issue maps take the guesswork right out of it and tell you how to convert the declination of azimuths from grid to magnetic and from magnetic to grid next to the declination diagram.

It sounds simple but many people mess this up and start off on the wrong foot. Don’t be Ned the Navigator. Take your time and do it right the first time. And always double check everything. After you are lost isn’t the time to realize you’ve been moving in the wrong direction.

With the map in a horizontal position, take the straightedge on the left side of the compass and place it alongside the north-south grid line with the cover of the compass pointing toward the top of the map. This procedure places the fixed black index line of the compass parallel to north-south grid lines of the map.

Keeping the compass aligned as we said in the last paragraph, rotate the map and compass together until the magnetic arrow is below the fixed black index line on the compass. You’re close but not there yet!

Now rotate the map and compass in the direction of the declination diagram.

If the magnetic north arrow on the map is to the left of the grid north, check the compass reading to see if it equals the G-M angle (if memory serves me well it is 8 degrees for the Hoffman area) given in the declination diagram. Boom! The map is now oriented. Take your time and try to pick out the terrain features as they lay out in front of you. Just be advised, in the Camp Mackall area, the terrain features aren’t as distinct and are just a bit harder to distinguish.

In certain areas, you’ll be able to orient your map using terrain features. And when the terrain allows, it is quicker and easier to navigate using the available terrain. If you’ve ever navigated in the mountains, you’ll find this is much easier and you’ll find that this way is much more preferable than dead reckoning. And it definitely comes in handy when having to call for fire in a jiffy…(that is for another time perhaps)

Creating a Start Point – Now the map is oriented in the direction that you’re going to be walking and the next thing is you must create a starting location. The starting point is exactly where you are standing. Now pull out your handy, dandy Army protractor. But wait.

Without sounding like a broken record, here is another tip, which seems silly…however. Don’t lose your protractor, always keep it secured inside your map case until you need it and ensure it is in there before taking off and hitting your points, especially at night.

Nothing is worse than losing a protractor during land navigation. While you can get by without one, it makes things unnecessarily much harder. So, take the few seconds to check.

Now read the grid lines to the right and up and make sure that you’re using the 1/50,000 scale for the map, which is in the upper right corner of the protractor. That will automatically ensure that the protractor is facing the right way and isn’t flipped over.

Remember a four-digit grid, gets you to within the grid square or 1000 meters. A six-digit grid to within 100 meters and an eight-digit grid gets you within 10 meters. A good rule of thumb to remember is to forget about where the plastic is cut out of the protractor. Always align the 0’s and check it twice. Ensure you plot it twice to get the exact spot.

Now we have someplace to start. Revisit the above tasks and terms if you’re experienced but rusty in Land Navigation and study those if you’re a novice at this. This is just the beginning.

What I’ve told several 18X candidates before they reported for basic, AIT and airborne school is to join an orienteering club prior to shipping out. Most of them will have classes for newcomers and be a great source of knowledge and experience for you. Land Nav like anything else is easier the more you practice it. And as we used to say as cadre members in Selection, “if you can navigate at Camp Mackall, you can navigate just about anywhere.”

Photo courtesy DOD