Army Coorespondence courses...

[ChaoticVirtuoso]

Are any Army Coorespondence courses recommended before selection attendance?

[18C4V]

Not really.
From your profile, I say brush up on your land nav considering you've probably been deployed. There is some land nav correspondance which will help out in plotting and just getting back into it.

[ChaoticVirtuoso]

Thanks, ill look into it.

I keep seeing a repeditive issue come up in almost all that research about SFAS. Land Nav seems to always work its way in. I have no clue obviously, but from one I gather, Land Nav is one of the most important areas in SFAS and could be the quickest way to not get selected. Am I wrong or could this be one of the most overlooked areas?

-CV

[NousDefionsDoc]

I didn't think it was that hard, I mean its not that easy either and you can't BS around. But, I never did figure out why so many people failed it.

Some of the guys in my class acted like they had never been alone on the woods before. Hell, some of them acted like they had never been in the woods at all.

[NousDefionsDoc]

LOL - it just occurred to me, land nav only consists of 3 steps.

1. Figure out where you are
2. Figure out where you want to be
3. Go to number 2 as fast as you can.

:munchin

[mcd72085]

"Some of the guys in my class acted like they had never been alone on the woods before"

The other night a few of my friends from the city came to visit me. I don't exactly live out in wilderness land....but there are some decent forests to go hiking or camping in. I decided to take the two of them for a walk around 2300 to show them how peaceful the outdoors can be compared to the city. Less than a minute in, after hearing (what was a squirrel) run by, they were both walking back to back thinking they were going to not come out alive...

Funny shit seeing some people's first reactions to the woods..

[Valhal]

When I went to basic at Fort Knox in '86 a kid from New York City made the mistake of putting his fingers in his ears when the Drill Sergeant was screaming at him. Can you imagine what happened next? Four raging bulls smoking his ass non-stop. He was out by weeks end. He told us that night that he thought he joined the city army, not the country army.

[ChaoticVirtuoso]

NousDefionsDoc, good point, I never thought of it that way.


mcd72085, funny you mention that. Every fall I manage to get out with my Father and some of his "Old buddies" (50's) for a nice backpacking trip in the Shennendoah Valley of Virginia or the Addironacks of upstate New York. We never go any great deal of distance (6-miles max on a 4-day trip) as they tend to go for the scenery in their ripe age =P. Anyways, I always bring one or more friends along with me so I have someone around my age to chat with (the old guys tend to rag on you with stories of the 'old days'). In years past I have brought less than nature-loving comrades that either complained about the distance (6-miles, lmao) or sleeping out in the open (I rearly bring a tent, not because I'm Hooah, I just don't like the added weight). Last year I decided to bring along someone I thought to be a true trooper all the way; someone who looked and talked like he was harcore and good to go. We went up to Puffer Pond in the Addirondacks and I am not lying when I said he literally started freaking out not more than 2-miles into the trip. We got in late and had to start hiking at sunset. When the sun went down, he completely freaked out. I was horribly embarrased and had to take him back to basecamp. I will never live this down. Needless to say my Father and his friends got a good laugh out of it and I hear about it all the time. Just goes to show you I suppose, there are more people out there with no affinity to the outdoors than we all realize. For now... Ill just head up for the trips alone =P

-CV

[18C4V]

Lots of guys will be sucking in land nav. Especially with lots of guys coming from combat deployments in CENTOM. Most conventional guys I saw downrange were using Pluggers and GPS. Compass and maps were not feasible since maps were not available.

[froglegz]

just a thought on the original question..... the reserve component used to have an entire sf course of correspondence. it was a pain in the ass but it was designed to be done in a 3 year period. lots of the courses were bs but there were also loads of information to be had. some of the best uw information i ever got came from them. it did not in any way take the place of the course but it did give those who did it a background of information to build on. while going through the course i was constantly running across stuff i had read either in correspondence or other books available.

as for land nav.... i have to agree with ndd. it was not all that big a deal. but i grew up in the woods trying to keep track of my traps and freezing my ass off. as a primer for nav get a good map and terrain associate for a day or so in the nw of nc and if you get out you will have everything you need.

[ChaoticVirtuoso]

Thankyou all for the replies. I have never had too much trouble with land nav myself, just wanted to make sure I am fully aware of what to expect. For now I will stick to my archive of USGS topographic maps and my old Boy Scout compass.