Mounted Landnav

Dismounted (a.k.a. on-foot) land navigation is interesting, but realistically a Psyop soldier will not spend much time walking from place-to-place. We will drive in vehicles (generally as part of a small convoy). We learned how to navigate through unfamiliar terrain using maps, compass and GPS. We were not given moving-map type GPS units (though they may be available while deployed). Instead we used a large-but-reliable unit known as a PLUGGER.

We were given a list of "grid coordinates" to find for each of several missions. A grid coordinate is the military way of specifying a specific position on the surface of the earth. It is similar to specifying latitude and longitude, but uses a different numbering system.

We had a great time taking turns driving the HMMWV, navigating, and communicating (the person in the communication slot worked the radio to report mission progress to the TOC - Tactical Operations Center).

The experience we gained in the past few days will be invaluable for the FTX at the end of the course. The FTX is the final Field Training eXercise. Most of the FTX missions involve first locating and driving to the objective.