[Basenshukai]

Initial Training and Land Navigation

The first week of training centered on physical fitness and classes on basic infantry tactics at the small unit level. We went on small forays into the immediate Camp Mackall area. Chris, as the most experienced man in the group took to the task of supervising our training. Our CTS allowed us to formulate our own training plan within his guidance. We worked on basic movement techniques. We worked on formations and immediate action drills. We worked on crossing danger areas: large, small, open and linear. All the while, we subconsciously worked at knowing each other a little better. As time passed, our hand and arm signals became less and less necessary. Sure, we ran into protracted arguments as to which methods were more appropriate at certain times. The way the team was forming, we all allowed for an equal say in such matters. We rarely, if ever, used rank; first names were the norm. For the most part, the number one determining factor in influence was the person's level of real-world experience and knowledge of Army doctrine. Naturally, Chris was the one to end the arguments. While this was occurring, preparations were being made for the upcoming land navigation week.

Land navigation week took place on the second week of training. During this week, the Phase II students would go out to the Southern Pines area and re-live the SFAS land navigation experience. Four short-range land navigation practical exercises would take place in three days followed by the dreaded "Star" exercise, for those whom did not fare well during the practical exercises. We would all begin our land navigation from the same central spot and fan-out from there.

I began my exercise along with Miguel. As it turned-out, the cadre wanted to ensure that we gave a helping hand to the foreign students in areas that they may not be familiar with. Miguel was not good at moving out with a rucksack on his back. While our packing list was minimal, the movement itself would pose a problem to Miguel. I had to balance teaching and coaching him with doing some of the work for him. Being a competitive soldier, I didn't want to do badly during the exercises. More than that, I was not looking forward to repeating the "Star" if we didn't do well during these days. Initially, I watched him work out the land navigation coordinates on the MGRS map we were each issued. After watching most of the other American students move out with a purpose, I decided on a more proactive approach and did some of the map plotting for him. I handed him a small green water-resistant paper with the azimuths and distances and he looked back at me confounded. I couldn't believe that he didn't understand this basic soldier task. But, then again, his country may use a different system. I doubted this, however, as his country nearly parallels Colombian military doctrine. We set off to our first objective. The exercise started in the late evening, but with enough illumination left for visual "dead-reckoning". Our points would not be manned. Instead, we were looking for a rusted green steel picket at about shoulder level. From this picket we would find a 4 x 4 inch Plexiglas with the next set of coordinates burned onto its surface. Hanging next to that would be a new green chemical light glow stick that we were instructed to break so that subsequent students could find it in the darkness that was to follow. I moved out onto the wooded terrain with the same sense of purpose I was taught to maintain by the SF instructors. Miguel was not as purposeful in his movement. He tired easily and we paused often to relieve the pressure that a mere 65 lb was exerting on his small shoulders. The biggest time-waster was not the rests, but the fact that he would undo his rucksack straps each time and walk away from his rucksack to do I-don't-know-what. I tried to be as diplomatic and unselfish as possible, at first. Later, my admonitions became much more stern. I told him about making time in this exercise, about mission accomplishment, etc. It all fell on deaf ears.

To top it all off, our first and last points had no chemical lights broken. The first one, we found after a ten minute search when, frustrated with the search, I used the corner of an intersection and walked methodically step-by-step the prescribed distance to our plotted point. Miraculously as I took the last step of the last leg for that movement, my boot bumped the rusted steel picket with a satisfying metallic "clang". Generally, plotted points are accurate within ten meters. By some miracle, I was accurate to the inch. The last point was nearly impossible to find. But, by the time we found it, it was too late. Incredibly, this one had no chemical light on it as well. It's one thing to find a hidden enemy camp in the woods, or a SAM missile launcher. It's another, all together, to find a green and brown rusted picket with a cross-section of three by four inches in the middle of kilometers of forest whose trees and saplings stand straight and vertically as well. I was livid when we returned to our starting point to turn-in our point cards.

I didn't show it, for I was trying to remain "diplomatic", but I was utterly pissed. Even without the chemical lights, we should have been able to find our final point. We just needed more time, which Miguel consumed every three hundred meters of movement. The following days were consumed with more land navigation. Finally, having not found all points for all the land navigation exercises, I was tasked with performing another "Star" exercise. I did well, found all my points with about an hour to spare. Miguel, had to perform the "Star" as well, but my understanding is that upon not finding his first point, he went deep in the woods where the instructors would not find him and slept until it was time for the exercise to end. Amazingly, he openly admitted this to me with some pride. "I'm not going to break my back", he said, "We don't do this in my country." I would come to hear this phrase from him often in the coming months.

I will add that his attitude was not the norm with most international students in the course. All of the international students that enter the course are handpicked by their nations to represent their particular special operations community. Since many of them come from areas of heavy conflict, they have a lot of experience in counter-insurgency and combat, in general. In fact, there were two that stand out in my mind whom I would not mind going to combat with today. One was another South American who was part of a counter-narcotics unit. He was as competitive and determined as any American in the course. The other was a member of a Special Forces unit in the Asian continent and had been extensively trained by the British Army to include the SAS. These two, were in fact, the only two international students to successfully complete "The Star" exercise within the same standards, by which the American students held. Their tactics were sound and battle-tested. I feel privileged to have met them during the course.

(To Be Continued)