US Army Special Forces

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 Operations community.

The Land Navigation course for SFAS also known as the Star Course in Hoffman, NC outside of Camp Mackall is the toughest individual land navigation course you will find in the U.S. military. You’ll be traveling several kilometers between points and the terrain is filled with thickets, swamps and low-level terrain where a hilltop on the map may look more like an anthill on the ground.

That’s why it is imperative for all of the candidates to learn the basics of land navigation to the point where you could teach a class on any of it, keep a cool head and prepare. As we’ve said here many times, land navigation requires as much prep and practice as any other perishable skill.

But also remember, that you’ll be only asked to pass the same course that thousands of other candidates have passed before you. Although difficult, it is far from impossible. Don’t let the countless stories, usually perpetuated by those who failed the course, fill your heads with needless worry. Ignore the noise. Especially from those who didn’t get selected. Prepare to succeed, and you will.

So, today we’ll tackle a common issue for many candidates that find themselves on the land navigation course. This is the way of finding your exact location if you are unsure of your exact map placement.

The military definition of Resection for finding your exact location on a map by determining the grid azimuth to at two or more well-defined locations that can be pinpointed on the map. For greater accuracy, the desired method of resection would be to use three or more well-defined locations.

In layman’s terms, if you aren’t sure exactly where you are at and need to pinpoint your location and can see two or more distant points that are recognizable on your map sheet, you can shoot an azimuth to them and determine the back azimuth from those points to pinpoint your location.

For the purposes of doing it correctly you’ll need at least two known points but obviously, three or more is ideal. There are three methods of using resection, using the map and compass method, the straightedge method and the modified method. In a perfect world, the map and compass method is the way to go. But in reality, you’ll often in the real world use the modified Resection method, as often times, you may not have the luxury of having multiple points visible.

Map and Compass Method

Orient the map using your compass and terrain association
Identify two or three known distant locations on the ground and mark them on the map accordingly.
Measure the magnetic azimuth to the first of the known positions from your location using a compass.
Convert the magnetic azimuth to a grid azimuth using the declination diagram.
Convert the grid azimuth to a back azimuth. If the magnetic azimuth is less than 180 degrees add 180. If the azimuth is more than 180 degrees subtract 180.
Using a protractor, draw a line for the back azimuth on the map from the known position back toward your unknown position.
Repeat the same steps for a second position and a third position, if practical.

Where all of the lines intersect on your map is your location. Next, using your protractor, determine the grid coordinates to the desired accuracy, an eight-digit grid being the preferred accuracy for our purposes. You’ve found your location. Easy, peasy…right?

Straightedge Method:

This method is a little bit differently but can still accurately find your position. To do so the successful navigator must follow these steps:

Orient his map using his compass and/or terrain association
Locate at least two known distant locations or prominent features on the ground and mark them on the map accordingly.
Lay a straightedge on the map, in this case using the edge of the compass and a known position as a pivot point.
Rotate the straightedge until the known position on the map is aligned with the known position on the ground.
Draw a line along the straightedge away from the known position on the ground toward your position.
Repeat the same process using a second known position that you can see from your location.

This one sounds more difficult than what it truly is. However, where the intersection of the lines meet on the map is your location. Determine the grid coordinates to the desired accuracy. You then should be able to get an eight-digit grid coordinate and find your way to your point.

Modified Resection Method:

The modified method is the least preferred and the least accurate method but is useful in certain situations. If you’re not certain of your exact location but are located on a linear terrain feature such as a road, creek or along a similar body of water, this can pinpoint your position.

Orient the map using a compass and/or by terrain association.
Locate a point in the distance that can be easily identified on the ground and on the map.
Determine the magnetic azimuth from your location to the distant known point.
Convert the magnetic azimuth to a grid azimuth.
Convert the grid azimuth to a back azimuth, using the add or subtract 180 accordingly depending on the degrees.
Using a protractor, draw a line for the back azimuth on the map from the known position back toward your unknown position.

Your location is where the line on the map crosses the linear feature. Determine the grid coordinates to the desired accuracy, for our purposes an eight-digit grid coordinate. In a practical application, if you have to cross a thick draw or swampy area and are closing in on your point but aren’t sure of where you are after negotiating the thicket, do the steps outlined above. After identifying a far point, this will closely put you to where you are and then you can finalize your attack point and find your way.

You’ll find this little exercise a very helpful method anytime you are navigating your way in the field and aren’t entirely sure of where you are. Remember, any of these exercises that you aren’t entirely sure of conducting properly can be done with any map, compass, and protractor. Practice makes perfect. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

Photos courtesy of Army Study Guide, author, DOD

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 3, Day 4

Shoulder work in the gym is the order of the day along with some speed work. The sprints will help with your overall cardio fitness, build explosion in your legs and will serve you well with your endurance. It is also a functional part of your job in Special Operations.

There will be plenty of times where you’ll have to sprint short distances with your gear on. It will test you in a different manner than a distance run. This is a system that some NFL teams use to increase their speed.

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 Shoulder Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

40-Meter Sprint, walk back to the starting point

50-Meter Sprint, walk back to the starting point

60-Meter Sprint, walk back to the starting point

70-Meter Sprint, walk back to the starting point

80-Meter Sprint, walk back to the starting point

90-Meter Sprint, walk back to the starting point

100-Meter Sprint, walk back to the starting point

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 3, Day 3

Continue to prep for the UBRR. Leg Day at the gym, our favorite with squats, the sled push, and some lunges. We’ll follow that with a three-mile run at a good pace, faster than the standard. Remember to stretch well before and after the run and to hydrate.

UBRR Training:

3 x Pullups 10 reps

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

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

3 x 10 Deadlifts

3 x 10 Sled push or Fireman’s Carry

3 x 10 reps Dumbbell Lunges

3 x 20 Sit-ups

3 x 25 Crunches

3-mile run (24 minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

How OSS Operatives Were Assessed and Selected

Back in World War II, the United States was woefully prepared to enter the war, especially in the field of intelligence operations where they didn’t have a national, professional intelligence service. But that would change very quickly.

After President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed General William “Wild Bill” Donovan to head up the fledgling Office of Strategic Services (OSS), he quickly used his British contacts with getting the Americans the training and experience they would need in the coming months.

After OSS grew from their original COI (Coordinator of Information) roots, the U.S. copied the British program of psychological/psychiatric assessment similar to that in the English War Office Selection Boards (WOSBs).

OSS was searching for what personal makeup would be for assessing the perfect applicant for paramilitary operations (Guerrilla warfare, sabotage, assassination), intelligence operations (espionage), propaganda operations and select skills such as radio operators. They were starting from scratch. No one really knew what would make a perfect candidate for any of those.

So Donovan and his staff assembled a team of psychologists headed up by Dr. Henry Murray, a Harvard-trained psychologist who was a pioneer in personality assessment. He would head up the Assessment and Selection committee. They would screen nearly 5400 candidates to weed out the unfit for the dangerous job of being involved in the U.S.’ first foray into the intelligence and Special Operations business.

The candidates, military and civilian, men and women would be brought to Station S. (Schools and Training) at the prior Willard Estate in Fairfax, Virginia. The initial problem that arose was that there were no job descriptions for the candidates and therefore the psychologists had a difficult time in assessing candidates because they didn’t know what they were actually assessing for.

But what the Training School cadre of doctors came up with is a basic tool that is still used today, not only in Selection and Assessment for Special Operations Forces but in the civilian world in assessing managers.

Candidates would be required to build and maintain as completely as possible a cover
story for himself, claiming to have been born somewhere he wasn’t, to have gone to to school and educated in an institution other than those he had attended, to have been engaged in work or profession different to his own, and to live now in a place that was not his true residence. The cover story was to be maintained with staff and students alike at all times except under when speaking to cadre members for the purposes of assessment. The candidates could reveal anything about themselves except their names and true identities.

During the assessment cycle, this was the first test of what would become the real world test of living undercover abroad in a foreign country that may be under enemy control. The candidates were rated on several key factors which included:
Motivation, Practical Intelligence, Emotional, Stability, Social Relations, Leadership, Physical Ability, Observation and Reporting, Propaganda Skills, and Maintaining Cover.

Each factor was rated on a six-point scale: Very Inferior, Inferior, Low Average, High Average, Superior, Very Superior.

In addition, candidat were assessed in other factors as well:

Motivation: energy, effort, initiative, morale,
Practical Intelligence: speed and accuracy of judgment, resourcefulness in solving problems
Emotional Stability: emotional control and maturity, the absence of neurotic symptoms
Social Relations: social awareness, goodwill, teamwork, tact, the absence of annoying traits
Leadership: social initiative, organizing ability, ability to evoke cooperation
Physical Ability: agility, daring, ruggedness, stamina
Observation and Reporting: ability to search, question, observe and recall,
Infer, report
Propaganda Skills: the ability to affect others through acts, words, or displays
Maintaining Cover: caution, ability to remain inconspicuous, bluff, mislead, keep a secret

One of the more intriguing tasks given to the candidates was the Map Memory Test. in this test, the candidate had to assume that he is an operative in the field and that he has just made a secret face-to-face meeting with a courier who has a map of the territory that the agent will be operating in.

After a few minutes the courier must leave with the map and since it would be dangerous for the agent to have it, he must memorize it. After eight minutes to examine the map, it is taken away and the candidate answers a set of multiple-choice statements about the terrain shown on the map.

Back when I was a cadre in Selection, we came across this and several of the cadre members as well as candidates took the test in one of our first Selection courses in SFAS.

Other tests given to OSS candidates included:

The Brook Situation: This is similar to many of the tasks that SFAS candidates face in today’s course during what is now termed “Team Week”. This leaderless situation is now more apt to current Selection tasks than when the courses first began in the 1980s.

There a group of candidates were asked to cross a 15 foot wide stream, that the candidates were told to be a canyon. The are given a log which is said to be a delicate piece of equipment that they must carry over the canyon and return with a rock. The rock was to be considered to be explosives. The must carry log across, return with rock and all members of the group.

They were not permitted to jump but were asked to solve the problem as a group. They were given 10 minutes to generate a plan. No one was named the leader so there was the opportunity to take leadership and interact as a member of a team.

The candidates were assessed on the following criteria:

number of different suggestions offered
working as a member of a team
volunteering for unpleasant tasks
insight into the problems
evaluation of proposed suggestions
tact in responding to suggestions by other team members
sense of humor
guiding of others to a solution
organizing the workers into a team
combining ideas from others

The Wall Situation:

This was another leaderless evaluation candidates were led to a wall 10′ high,15′ long. Behind the wall which the candidates could see was another wall of the same height
and length, parallel to it, the two walls being 8′ apart. On the candidates’ side of the wall
there were a heavy log, an old board a few inches longer than the log, and a couple of
two-by-fours, two feet and three feet in length.

The candidates were told this wall was a barrier they could not go around or see around. Furthermore, behind this wall was a canyon and on the other side was another wall. The situation is that they were trying to escape from Japanese soldiers and must figure out how to get the entire team to the other side, carrying their bazooka which was an oversized log.. Any item or person that fell between the walls was lost. Solving the problem required getting quickly to the top of the wall to assess the situation and determining a way to measure the gap with the tools that were available in order to decide what could be used to cross it.

Smart leaders quickly realized the best wall climbers had to go first and last to assist the other team members up and across the wall and any apparatus built. The Wall was assessed the same as the Brook.

The Construction Situation: This was a test of emotional stability as well as a test of working with others, outside of the team. In this scenario, a candidate was given the task of constructing a basic wooden structure within ten minutes. The candidate was to serve as the leader and given two “helpers” who were anything but. This was also known as the “Behind the Barn” test.

One was lazy and wanted to do as little as possible the other was more aggressive and criticized everything the leader did. The task was to measure how a candidate handled stress and working with less than ideal “others” who were assigned. The candidate had to explain the task and give specific instructions to each of the “helpers” while maintaining a cool composure and keeping the helpers on task, without resorting to doing it himself.

The Stress Interview: This assessment was one of the most important of all of their tests. OSS operatives faced the danger of being arrested and interrogated by members of the Gestapo in occupied Europe. This small, short test was designed to see who could possibly withstand the emotional and intellectual strain of being interrogated.

Candidates were given 12 minutes to develop a cover story for why the candidate was found going through secret papers in a government office building. They would have no identification papers and could not pretend to be an employee. They were not permitted to answer either”I don’t know” or “I am not permitted to disclose” and had to answer every question. They had to avoid revealing prior personal occupations, residence, etc.

The stress interview lasted only 10 minutes and had the candidate sitting in a hard, uncomfortable chair in a dark room with a light shining in his eyes. The candidate would be subjected to multiple interrogators shouting rapid fire questions at him

At the end of this specific assessment, the cadre would whisper among themselves that the candidate failed the test to watch for any telltale signs. He or she would then be led out of the room and a cadre member would in a relaxed tone try to pry any more information out of him.

The cadre performed other assessments as well and then asked candidates to run an obstacle course at the end of the 2nd day to test their physical attributes. The cadre were looking for an ideal candidate who was a “PHd. who can win a bar fight.” Before they could sharpen the assessment program, the war ended and OSS was disbanded.

However, the same people who founded CIA and the US Army Special Forces dusted off their assessment programs for OSS and used many of the same assessment programs that continue to this day in different forms but essentially still looking for the ideal candidates to continue the mission of the unit and weed out the unsuitable.

So, how would you fare in the Selection and Assessment of OSS back in World War II?

Photos: US Archives

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 3, Day 2

This Monday we’ll focus on some speed work with the sprints rather than a longer duration.

It will build up some explosion in your legs and improve your overall running. We’ll hit the exercises heavy this morning and build up some endurance. Focus on correct form and then worry about the speed. Especially with the pushups.

By now after the training program has been in effect for a while, your feet shouldn’t be bothering you too badly after the ruck march from Sunday.

UBRR Training:

More preparation for the UBRR

2 x 1-minute Pushups

2 x 1-minute Sit-ups

2 x 1-minute, Crunches

2 x 1-minute, V-ups

2 x Dips as many as possible to muscle failure… go thru the entire circuit before repeating. Then move on to the running portion of the workout.

10 x 40-meter sprints (walk back to the start and begin again)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 3, Day 1

A little warm-up and a good long Sunday morning rucksack march. Go as fast as you can without running. Go over varied terrain and learn to use the downslope of the hills to make time. As always be sure to stay hydrated during the march. It should be a habit that will carry over to Selection and training afterward.

Becoming dehydrated during a long training event such as a ruck march or long-range movement is a guarantee for bigger problems and failure, keep drinking water during the course.

UBRR Training:

Warm up

20 Pushups

20 Sit-ups

6-mile rucksack march over varied terrain. Try to keep your pace better than the standard, (90 minutes maximum). And mark your times in your workout log book.

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 2, Day 7

Back in the gym this morning before heading out for a 3-mile run in 24 minutes or less. We’ll break up the routine next week with some speed interval running, that will help to build up your short area quickness and speed. But for today it is back, shoulders and a run.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Seated Rows

3 x 12 Lat Pulldowns, front

3 x 10 Seated Rows

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

3-mile run (24 minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Planning and Plotting Your Route During Land Navigation in Selection

This week, we’ve hit on a variety of subjects in regards to the basics of Land Navigation, what we call the 101 level of topics. It is the absolute best place to start. Practice the basics and become so well versed in it until you can teach the class in them. It is always preferable to start at square 1 and work up.

And, it is good practice for even those much more experienced troops when getting ready for Selection into Special Operations Forces to brush up on the basics. Considering that Land Navigation is one of the biggest obstacles to candidate’s paths to selection, it is never a bad idea to be supremely prepared.

In previous pieces this week, we took a look at basic Map reading, setting your pace count, orienting the map and plotting your starting location. Now we’ll get into the plotting and planning of your route. While it sounds very easy on paper, having a proper route planned is much more detailed than just drawing a straight line.

Plotting Your Target Point: In our post from yesterday, we’ve plotted and then double-checked our location so that you know exactly where you are starting from. Now you plot your first point 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 the point that you are navigating to. Remember, four-digit grids get you to within 1000 meters, six-digit grids to within 100 meters and an eight-digit grid gets us to within 10 meters. Now, double check your plot and ensure you’ve got it right. Are you certain to your plot? Good, that is the first step.

Now measure the distance between the two points. Remember this is straight line distance and not walking distance. Your actual traveling distance will vary quite a bit from Point A to Point B depending upon your route selection and the terrain that you’ll encounter along the way

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 Selection, one may prove to be a much better option. Don’t worry about what the other guys are doing. This is an individual evaluation and you are in this part alone.

Dead Reckoning – Dead Reckoning is a system that is done in two steps. The first 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 the grid azimuth to a magnetic one using the declination diagram and use your compass and your pace count and apply what you’ve already learned and walked to your point by staying as close as you can to your azimuth.

This system is best used on shorter distances such as a compass course and not for distances covering many clicks (kilometers).

Your position can be checked from time to time using both resection or intersection when there are terrain features 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 in a desert type of environment where the navigator can pick out a landmark or terrain feature far in the distance and the navigator can easily negotiate around small obstacles.

The Dead Reckoning system is at a distinct disadvantage when you’re facing the terrain that is covered with thick vegetation, intermittent streams, draws, and swampy areas. The Star Course in Hoffman that SFAS candidates use make Dead Reckoning a dicey proposition. However, it can and does work. I know several SF guys who plowed thru the Land Navigation course using this exact method. I wouldn’t recommend this but it can be done at times and will work. But perhaps the second method is the better way to go.

Terrain Association – Terrain Association Is more difficult to plan but is much less forgiving of mistakes and generally a 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 thickets and swampy areas.

The advantages of terrain association are obvious. If you veer off course in Dead Reckoning, you are in trouble. Because you could have drifted left or right. But using terrain association, your position is easily checked and adjustments made on the fly. Especially where terrain features are more prominent.

Selection and identification of terrain features is key here. Plan your route using handrails as a guide and ensure to plot checkpoints along the way. Someone emailed me and asked me, “wouldn’t that add distance to what you’ll be walking?” and the answer is yes. However, while you may be walking farther, you’ll be moving much more economical once you see how thick some of those swamps and thickets are.

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. If you’re operating in an area with distinct rolling hills and ridgelines, this kind of navigation is a snap.

You can use the roads both the improved and the unimproved as a guide but the best advice is don’t be a roadrunner. The cadre will catch you and that won’t bode well for you. You are allowed to parallel the roads but not too closely. Make sure that you plot a backstop on your route that you can identify as having gone too far.

A word of caution about the roads on military bases especially in Hoffman. There a lot of them out there, and most are not on the map. While there are exceptions…You’ll become familiar with “Five Points” but for the most part, those are at times difficult to judge. Just be careful.

In almost every case, most especially in SFAS that once you come upon a paved road. Stop. In SFAS you will never be crossing any of those. Let me repeat that… you will never cross a hard, paved road in the course. While a few of the points may be near them, you’ll never cross over a paved road to get to them but you can use those as a handrail at times.

As I type this, I’m already smiling because in your class, as certain as I am about the hair on my head, someone in your class will cross the road. It happens in every class and despite the cadre making it a point not to do it, someone will. Bet on it. Don’t be “Ned the Navigator.”

Plot checkpoints along the way to ensure that you are on track and on target. Any mapped feature you can readily identify along the way is a checkpoint that you are where you think you are..Choose an attack point that will put you no farther than 200-300 meters from your point. What is an attack point? An attack point is a point no more than 200-300 meters from your target that you can use as a base to try to find the point.

As you encounter ways around the draws and thickets, 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…if you have to.

Once you identify your attack point, use dead reckoning and plot an azimuth to your point. Once you get to where you believe you are at the point is, if you are not seeing it, stop and make small circles of about 25 meters to find it. If that doesn’t work, go out another 25 meters until finding it. In SFAS, the points will be easier to find, once you get close as a cadre member will be there and if it is at night will probably have a small fire going.

These short articles on revisiting the basics are good practice. And that is exactly what you should be doing. If you live on a military base, they may have a land navigation course set out that you may get to practice on. If not, check out the civilian orienteering clubs in your area.

In our next land nav, piece, we’ll touch on some of the other skills you may need to brush up on. Until then, 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. Either privately or in a post such as this (without naming names).

Photo courtesy of DOD

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 2, Day 6

Continue to prep for the UBRR. Friday is a Leg Day and we’ll work them out good today in the gym. We are going to break up the 3-mile run into one-mile segments. Take only a minute’s rest in between runs and then do the best you can.

Make note of your times in the run and your workouts in your workout log book. Remember to stretch well before and after your workout and hydrate.

Training:

3 x 10 Pullups

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

3 x 10 Barbell Squats

3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press

3 x 10 Deadlifts

3 x 10 Lunges (medium dumbbell)

30 x “V” ups

3 x 1 mile run with 8 minutes maximum for each, 1-minute rest in between. Run those as fast as you can

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 2, Day 5

Continue to prep for the UBRR and focus on some speed work today with the runs. Speed work will help with your endurance and explosion. Work on using perfect form when doing your exercises.

The cadre at Selection are meticulous at grading form. The time to get it right is now. Then the graded test in the course will be much easier. Remember, everyone gets graded the same.

Training:

5 x 1-mile run Go as quickly as you can with a minimum of 5-minute rest between runs. Record your average mile time.

5 x 30 seconds of Pushups.

5 x 30 seconds of Sit-ups

1 x 20 Knees-to-Elbow hanging from the pull-up bar, or until muscle failure

2 x 10 pull-ups or until muscle failure

Stretch well after completion