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longjon · 06-13-2007, 08:20

I do not wish to sound as if I am armchair QBing the cadre there. I also understand that there are guys here who have boots with more land nav time than I do. I also am not judging SGT Sprader in any way. RIP brother.

I know that I don't have all of the facts surrounding what happened. But, as someone that has run plenty of both land nav and terrain association courses, I wonder how this happened.

If this guy couldn't find his points and was, apparently, having a hard time getting himself from point A to point B, what made the OIC/NCOIC think that SGT Sprader would be able to find his way back to the start point? Failsafes and panic azimuths are great but I have personally seen a Ranger incapable of maintaining a 90 degree magnetic to intersect a hardball road and await pickup by my NCOIC during EIB testing. Why? Because he was a heat casualty and his brain housing group was not FMC.

I'm not privy to the cell phone conversation that SGT Sprader had with the OIC but, I can't think of anything he could have told me, two hours after the course had ended and so far away that he couldn't hear the horns blasting, that would have convinced me to allow him to continue the course. I would have to assume that there were very real reasons why the guy was lost and that it was my responsibility to make sure that he gets back safe for a debrief and retraining.

I know I'll run more land nav courses so I am very interested in the sage advice of those here who have more experience than I do. As we await more details, do we chalk this up to the fact that what we do is dangerous? Or, do we learn from it and do whatever we can to make sure that things like this don't happen again?

06-13-2007, 08:20	#3
longjon Asset Join Date: May 2007 Location: Olathe, KS Posts: 22	I do not wish to sound as if I am armchair QBing the cadre there. I also understand that there are guys here who have boots with more land nav time than I do. I also am not judging SGT Sprader in any way. RIP brother. I know that I don't have all of the facts surrounding what happened. But, as someone that has run plenty of both land nav and terrain association courses, I wonder how this happened. If this guy couldn't find his points and was, apparently, having a hard time getting himself from point A to point B, what made the OIC/NCOIC think that SGT Sprader would be able to find his way back to the start point? Failsafes and panic azimuths are great but I have personally seen a Ranger incapable of maintaining a 90 degree magnetic to intersect a hardball road and await pickup by my NCOIC during EIB testing. Why? Because he was a heat casualty and his brain housing group was not FMC. I'm not privy to the cell phone conversation that SGT Sprader had with the OIC but, I can't think of anything he could have told me, two hours after the course had ended and so far away that he couldn't hear the horns blasting, that would have convinced me to allow him to continue the course. I would have to assume that there were very real reasons why the guy was lost and that it was my responsibility to make sure that he gets back safe for a debrief and retraining. I know I'll run more land nav courses so I am very interested in the sage advice of those here who have more experience than I do. As we await more details, do we chalk this up to the fact that what we do is dangerous? Or, do we learn from it and do whatever we can to make sure that things like this don't happen again?
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