Night nav in total darkness??
 

Hi,
Is it possible to navigate accurately during a total darkness night?
With no GPS of course.

Thank you.

Welcome Desert Fox.

LOL, a fine question indeed.

The short answer is yes. We’ve been navigating quite well for a number of years devoid of the Global Positioning System. (Even during the hours of “total” darkness.)

The Team Sergeant

Inquiring minds want to know.

Also depends on the terrain.

I have learned the hard way that even with NODs, it can be so dark that it is dangerous to move in certain terrain.

TR

Thank you.

Question: does it would be possible (Does an ODA can call for that) to launch any IR flare, or to use IR lamp. May be an IR flare or lamp would be good in a mission in wich the eny is lacking in technology.
What do you think about that?

I think that there are too many IR detectors on almost any battlefield nowdays to use any high intensity IR source.

NVDs have low powered illumination capability, and IR flashlight type illuminators are available, but when there are less than a dozen of you in the area, facing MANY more enemy, do you really want to call attention to yourself with a flare or high intensity light source?

Just my .02.

TR

"How to navigate in total darkness", or "Why You Want to Have a Tritium Illuminated Compass".

Hi TR,

Obviously the problem with any IR illuminating device is that it is not passive.

Thank you!


PS: excuse me for my imperfect English.

Your English is fine, and is much better than my French.

TR

ok...I submit this for consideration by the QPs. I was dropped off alone at a point in total darkness and given the grid coordinate of my location. I had the grid of the target, so obviously all I had to do was shoot a bearing and go, right?

I ASSUMED (oops) that I was where they told me I was. It was really too dark to do much in the way of terrain association anyway, even with NOD. I shot a bearing and stepped off...after about 500 meters, I stopped to do a map check, and where I was didn't appear to correspond to where I thought I was. I eventually shot a back azimuth and went right back to where I started from, hoping I'd just gotten dicked up somehow. After a couple more forays through the woods in the dark, I decided that either a) I'm too dumb to be out here by myself or b) I must have copied incorrectly, or something. I tried at this point to locate myself using terrain association, but as I noted above I couldn't see shit. Eventually, I decided to park and wait for daylight so I could figure out where the fruck I was.

The short version was that the cadre had screwed up (really, not intentionally) and given me a bad grid for my location. I got back on track once I could see again, and eventually got where I was headed, albeit late.

Here's the question. Did I do the right thing? Once I figured out I was 'mis-oriented', I decided to move a hundred meters or so from the dropoff point (to evade potential OPFOR) and lay up, figuring that I didn't want to add insult to injury by wandering off to totally unfamiliar ground.

TIA,
QS

Was there a prominent linear feature (i.e. road, river, ridgeline) anywhere in your AO? If so, you might have been able to navigate to that, then run it in one direction or another to another easily identifiable feature, use that as your starting grid, then navigate to your first point. Same thing if there was some prominent point feature nearby, such as a hilltop/saddle, body of water, man-made feature, etc. Of course, these are just ideas, and may not apply to your scenario.

I'm with Razor on this, that's how I do it even when I can see. I don't know if they still call them this, but I was taught attack points. I terrain associate on the run to a point close to the target, a point I know I can't miss. The when I get there, I know exactly where I am and I get on a hard bearing until I get my exact point. If I don't find it, I just go back to the attack point (or another one closer) and do it again. I was taught this by a guy that was a Recon Marine in Vietnam, democratic People's Republic of. Its never failed me. Just my way.

QS, if you're going to move off and wait, I would suggest at least small arms range - better to build good habits early.

Razor's answer is probably what I should have done. I was not 'in practice' doing nav when this happened, and so I fell back on the thought that I should just stop before I fucked up worse...lol.

Excellent point on moving out of small arms range. This was a regional sniper comp, and I was doing my quiet as a mouse routine.

Stopping is not a bad plan. Remember the maxim - First thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging.

Nothing wrong with cease and desist while you get it together.

Edit to add - its ok to stop to get it together, just don't take too long.

To answer the question, yes, there was a road within a k or so, but I didn't see that until the morning. It was a deserted country road so there were no traffic noises.