The South African Reconnaissance Regiments are one of the lesser-known or understood groups of soldiers in the world today. They have been through many phases and missions under the command of very different governments, especially in the last quarter-century. Today’s ‘Recce’ is often attached to missions of the United Nations for peacekeeping missions in various More »
Land Navigation
Searching For the Perfect Rucking Boot? Look No Further
Recommending gear is always a difficult proposition. Why? Because everyone is different, has different tastes, is built differently and certain gear that may work perfectly for one guy, won’t work a bit for someone else. Caveat aside, one thing that we’ve harped on is having comfortable, tough, versatile boots on your feet. In Special Forces, More »
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, More »
Getting Back to the A-B-Cs of Land Navigation – Resection
For the benefit of some of the aspiring members of the Special Operations community, we’ve been going back to the basics of passing Land Navigation. This was after a recent article that stated the Army has noticed a lack of expertise at junior NCOs with a map and compass. Waiting until one gets to Selection More »
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 More »
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 More »
Too Many Junior Army Leaders Can’t Navigate, A Bad Sign
A recent piece in MilitaryTimes stated that many of the young sergeants in most infantry and close-combat units don’t know how to maneuver their squads or do basic land navigation. For “soft skill” MOS’ that isn’t necessarily a show stopper, but for the infantry and combat arms types, that is a very bad sign that More »
Land Navigation Tips: Do’s and Don’ts For Passing Selection
We’ve been going hard at Land Navigation for the past week or so with a refresher 101-type, of course, to get everyone on the same level playing field. We started we a basic map reading piece and moved on to the necessary basic skills every candidate should be familiar with before arriving. The key to More »
Night Land Navigation During Selection: “Hello Darkness My Old Friend”
Land Navigation in Selection is a very big obstacle to overcome. To help prepare the candidates for our Special Operations Forces we’ve gotten back to the basics and gone over the various skills that start at square one and gone from there. Now that we’re all on the same sheet of music, so to speak, More »
Finding Your Location by Resection, Land Nav 101
Our previous articles in the last week or so have centered upon getting back to the basics of land navigation. It is imperative that all of these skills and they are the basics of finding your way in the field, become second nature to all of the candidates who aspire to be in the Special More »