Fort Bliss, TX –
On August 26-27, the Fort Bliss, Texas Noncommissioned Officer Academy (NCOA) conducted map reading training in a classroom environment that concluded with a hands-on practical night and day land navigation course at training site, Forward Operating Base Freedom. Since the Basic Leader Course (BLC) reintroduced land navigation back into the program of instruction (POI), BLC class 009-24 was the first to complete the traditional course without the use of electronic Global Positioning System (GPS) devices.
Land navigation skills fall under the category of Army Warrior Tasks that should be trained annually for Active Component and every other year for the Army Reserve Component. However, Soldiers still face difficulties when they are asked to use a map and compass to move from one location to another. “Some of the common mistakes that we see during this POI are students not knowing the skills to plot points while others have forgotten the skills they previously learned,” says Staff Sgt. Alicia Espinoza, a Small Group Leader (SGL) at the NCOA.
The goal of reinstating this training back into the BLC is to further develop and train warfighting skills that ultimately enable the Army to fight and win our Nation’s wars. This navigation skill set will better prepare Soldiers for real world situations they are likely to face. Sgt. 1st Class Cristian Hidalgo, Chief of Training at the NCOA stated, “key competencies emphasized include map reading, terrain association, compass use, pace count, and the ability to plot and follow a course accurately.” As an additional safety measure, students were grouped into teams while on the land navigation course. This not only helps them develop team building skills but also mirrors real world conditions, as movement on the battlefield often occurs in small team sized element.
Staff Sgt. Kristops Shvans, another SGL at the NCOA said “Soldiers constantly tell me that they can just use a DAGR (Defense Advanced GPS Receiver) or pull GPS out on their Garmin watch.” Moving into a large-scale combat operations environment, electronic positioning devices are likely to lose their reliability due to enemy interference and technical issues. Soldiers will need to know the traditional methods using a map and compass to continue their mission without electronic aids.
When Soldiers of class 009-24 were told that they would complete both night and day land navigation course some were apprehensive. “I have never really been good at it from the start, so I did not really have a fundamental understanding,” said Spc. Alexandrea Payne, a Network Communication System Specialist assigned to the 86th Expeditionary Signal Battalion. After completing the classroom and hands on portions she began to feel more confident about her skill set going on to say, “at the end of the day we are all on the battlefield, so we all need to have an understanding and be able to do it.”
The day of the practical hands-on event brought its own challenges. First, it was an early morning with night land navigation scheduled to begin at 3 a.m. Then, while on the course the biggest challenge the Soldiers faced was rain. Spc. Christopher Rigby, an Infantryman assigned to 1-6 Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team said, “it was really tough to plot our points on the map, they kept wiping off.” As a result, they had to work together as a team to figure out the best method to plot their points in the rain. Even with the rain he enjoyed the training and how it brought his team together saying, “everyone here has done a really good job at putting this together, it’s great for everyone to experience what the Army is really about.” The class went on to have a 98 percent success rate despite their initial feelings and challenges they faced.