How to land Nav Army
How to do land nav in the Army
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I'm out here in the California desert
maybe a little overdressed but from
Latin avocation I figured I needed to
kind of look the part now bear with me
this is a very lengthy video and maybe a
little bit complicated for some people
so try to bear with me and let's get
into land navigation
what's up my friends welcome to a brand
new video in this one we're gonna be
doing some land navigation so I'm all
rocking the tactical kind of gear to
kind of get the the mood going and
everything that but we're gonna be doing
a little bit of basic land nav stuff how
to read a map have the tools you'll need
a lot of those basic stuff but also how
to actually execute it how to actually
do land navigation and I got a map
actually of this area that we're
utilizing to kind of show you how it
sort of works a little bit of how you
might do it in the army like in basic
training or at some of the schools or
anything like that or even just how your
unit but also just in general so if you
want to know how to do it for basic
training for your unit for just
something cool to learn how to do well
then hopefully this video will be able
to help you out now of course if you are
not subscribed to this channel well you
probably should be maybe think about
hitting that subscribe button
even enabling that little bell so you
get notified as soon as new videos go
live to include the live stream so let's
let's learn how to do some land
navigation shall we now we're gonna
start off with some of the basics the
basics of how to kind of get yourself
started how to plot your grids onto a
map how to read a grid how to read a map
all that kind of stuff but not super
in-depth with reading the map part of it
also kind of be aware with land
navigation there are some individuals in
the army that will do this a lot and
there are some individuals in the army
that will maybe only do this once in
basic training and then maybe never
again so kind of keep that in mind there
are some people that are gonna be doing
this all the time but you know you might
be one of those people that may only do
this in basic training than ever again
so kind of keep that in mind but
hopefully you'll have a little bit of a
basic understanding of how to do some
land nav and maybe even learn some cool
little tips and tricks here and there
from my video so I'll start off with
some of the things you're gonna need
obviously first one you need a map
preferably a MGR S or a military grid
reference system style map which is what
this one is here you also need a
protractor so it comes in handy to know
what the scale of the map is so you know
which of these to use which we'll talk
about here in a little bit you need a
compass so you know which way to go and
be able to pull asmath from it so you
need a specifically a compass that also
has the degrees on the inside here of
the compass you need a pencil you could
use a pin I guess but preferably it's
best use a pencil some kind of three by
five card or something to write on or
something that has a straightedge as
well because you're gonna need a
straightedge we also need something to
pry it right with and then you're also
going to need to know your pay scale
which will kind of get to that a little
bit later so one thing to kind of
understand
there are a lot of little symbols and
little things on here that I'm not going
to be going that in-depth with
explaining like what is a valley and
what is a saddle and all this stuff like
that there are a lot of other videos
that probably explain that really well
if you want to check those out but
obviously you can tell what our roads
and probably what our rivers so we're
gonna go with just the basics here we're
looking at a grid zone designator here
of what grade we're gonna be going to
and a little they don't show you how to
start from your grid and how to get that
grid and everything first but let me
kind of show you the basics of how to
use the map so I'm going to use this
grid here to find this point that we're
gonna be going to I have 11 Sierra Lima
Bravo which is just the grid designator
for the area of the map the main part
where you're focusing on is this 8 digit
here this is an eight digit grid that
would reutilizing to be able to plot the
point on so we're gonna start off with
these numbers here we have this 7 0 and
this 3 3 this kind of tells me we're on
the map to look at the top of the map is
going to be this first part this 7 0 so
you would find on the top of the map
where that grid is located at 4 7 0 that
is located right here so that tells me
anything to the right of this line right
here is the 7 0 grid area next is what I
need to find is that 3-3 area so we're
gonna find the 3 3 which would be from
the left side of the map so I'm 3 3 is
over here so that means I need anything
above this is a 33 area so the 7 0 and
the 3 3 they meet right here so that
means this grid square right here is
when you're working with so now I need
my protractor to pay attention to which
particular one to use based on this
scale of the map this map is a 1 in
50,000 map so that means I have to use
this one here and is labeled right there
for 1 and 50 thousands it's probably
better recommended to use a 1 in 25000
scale map because you get this larger
kind of triangle here to be able to just
see the numbers a little bit better but
I'm working with what I got and this is
a 1 in 50,000 scale so I have to use
this guy here so the way I want to
utilize this is I want to be able to
match the numbers up for the grid that
I'm using so I have this 70 in the 33
I'm working in that grid square right
now
so first I'm looking at this line you
can see right here this is the 70 so I
want to match up the 35 that I had
inside of that little number which is
right here if you want to see so have
the 70 and the 35 so I need that 35
so maybe we're trying to get inside the
grid square so I want to line this up do
match up to 35 your scanner that gets me
right about there
next comes the 75 part of this grid
which is in that 33 zone so I need to go
up now to get s 75 so with this line
still lined up on the 35 for here I need
to find 75 on here and that is where I
need to make my dot at and that is
roughly right about there doesn't have a
little point on my map that I'm going to
be utilizing to try to get there now in
order to get to that point I need to
know where I'm at typically when you're
doing land navigation in the Army
they're gonna give you the grid for the
start point so you know where you're
starting from and you just gotta simply
do the rest of the work to figure out
what you're going to so save you the
extra stuff of showing you plotting my
known location as if I was given it like
you would in the Army I'm gonna show you
a little bit of an extra little tip as
far as one way that you can probably
figure out maybe where you're at if you
don't know where you're at so in order
for me to figure out where the heck I'm
at if that was the situation
I need my compass so I'm gonna teach you
a little bit about the compass but
basically it's a compass hopefully you
know how to use a compass but
additionally on this compass it has the
degrees on the inside which I really
need as well you get a little kind of
magnifying glass here with a little line
right there so you can kind of close it
up and kind of be able to to see this is
the style compass you part of you use
light utilize in in the army we're going
to be doing different methods to do it
if sums like the little methods like
this we're holding it down here and kind
of trying to get lined up before the
asmath or for that grid or the degrees
that you're trying to get or another way
is holding up to your cheek and looking
through that little magnifying glass to
kind of line it up that way I actually
like that way because you see a little
bit better but usually personal
preference also a little bit of a tip
they usually recommend if you have a lot
of gear like maybe a weapon and other
metal objects they can kind of interfere
with that compass so it's best to
download that stuff when you're trying
to maybe shoot an asthma they're trying
to you know get your exact location for
where you're going to and all that stuff
otherwise they can kind of throw it off
a little bit but I'm not wear anything
too crazy so I'm everything worried
about that so in this scenario we're
saying that I don't know where my
current grid is that I don't know where
I'm currently located at but I can see
some actual known locations out in my
surroundings that I can find on the map
something like maybe a road or a
mountain something along those lines you
can easily identify
exact location so we use the example of
I can see some roads that intersect in
my area and that's what I'm going to do
is I'm gonna shoot an azmuth to those
roads and azmuth is the degrees inside
the compass so I'm gonna basically be
looking through my compass and I'm going
to try to find that road that intersects
that I can see and see what the degrees
is to that road so I'm gonna take note
of those degrees and write that down
that is my first known location but I
need a second one that I'm gonna need to
utilize so I can see another road that
intersects out there some eschewed
azmuth do that one look inside my
compass see what degrees that road is
from me and write that one down so once
I have those degrees those Asmus written
down on a piece of paper I need to do
what is called a back azmuth to be able
to figure out the triangulation I guess
of where I'm at eclis this is called
resection officially so I'm going to try
to figure out where I'm at based on
where those lines cross so I have my two
degrees I have 30 degrees and 320
degrees for those two different
intersections that I can see from my
location but in order to utilize these
on a map which is grid North I need to
convert these from magnetic north
because these are magnetic north type of
degrees and I needed to convert them
into grid North degrees in order to do
that I needed to look at the declination
diagram on the map that is located right
here on this map
hey so jumping in here as I'm editing
this video I realized I didn't do a very
good job of explaining this next step
and I even made a mistake so I want to
kind of correct that here so you guys
aren't all jacked up with this like I
was when I shot this video so let's talk
about that declination diagram that you
would have on the map so so you locate
it either on the bottom of the map or
maybe even the right side of the map
where it's going to have this little
object here that kind of shows the true
north which is basically which way the
North Star is grid north which is what
the north and south lines on the map are
representing for which way north is and
in magnetic north which is what your
compass would bring up so on this chart
show me the difference between grid
north which is the map to magnetic north
which is the compass is 13 degrees now
if I'm converting from magnetic north to
grid north then I need to add the GM
angle if I'm going to go from grid north
to magnetic north I need to subtract the
GM angle so the best way you can kind of
look at it is kind of as if M is for
major and G
for general so in the military a major
to a general is a promotion so you're
adding but if you were doing a general
to a major that would be a demotion so
you're subtracting that's kind of a good
way to kind of remember it now in the
video I got it all backwards and I ended
up subtracting the GM angle instead but
just kind of bear with me I'm gonna show
you the example but remember that if
you're going from magnetic to grid add
great to magnetic subtract alright so I
make the mistake in here just use it as
demonstration purposes what not to do
but also the general concept of the
adding that subtracting kind of portion
of it it's just that part that I kind of
screwed up of the conversion from the
magnetic north to grid north the other
parts are okay so that means this is
going to become 17 degrees and this is
going to become 307 degrees but I need
to convert those grids now to a back
azmuth now if my number is between 0 and
180 degrees that I need to add 180
degrees but my number is between 180
degrees and 360 degrees that I need to
subtract 180 so that means this one
becomes 197 and this one is going to
become 127 and that is my back asmath so
it may be hard to see on the map from
this angle but just kind of keep this in
mind for demonstration purposes anyways
because it's not gonna be exact this is
really kind of demonstrate the method
anyways so that first intersection is a
back azimuth of 197 so I need to find
that intersection on the map and locate
it inside this little small little dot
that's at the center of my protractor
once I find that intersection I place
the center of that right there and then
I take this straight edge that's where
you need the straight edge to come in
handy and I need to find 197 degrees
also key thing make sure the zero is at
the top of the map for North so I locate
the 197 on the inside here for the
degrees line up the other part of this
card with that circle so I get a
straight line to location I'm just going
to make a little mark right here so I
can be able to draw a straight line so
I'll move the protractor out of the way
make sure that this part is still on
that intersection and we're gonna draw a
straight line to that little line that I
made and that is our first back azimuth
now I need to do the other intersection
so for demonstration purposes let's say
that over here is where that
other intersection is that I need to do
an azmuth of 127 so I find 127 now so
127 is right there I line it up with the
circle in the middle and make a little
mark right here move my protractor out
of the way make sure it's still lined up
with the intersection and the mark that
I made I draw a straight line and if
everything was done completed properly
where those lines intersect is where I
currently am located at again for
demonstration purposes it's probably
really hard to see on camera where those
lines are kind of intersecting and I
also have some extra lines in there too
from earlier but ideally this is the
method you would use is doing those two
lines and where those lines intersect at
is going to be where you are located at
on the map so now that I know where I'm
at like I said when you're doing this
probably the army you're given the axes
active grid to where you're located out
you're just plotting on the map like you
did with that other point that I did
earlier but now that I know where I'm at
now I can try to plot how to get there
okay so we now have our two points we
have our starting location which is over
here and then we have where we need to
go to right there so what I want to do
is I want to draw a straight line from
my starting location to the point that I
want to go to draw that straight line
sometimes it's good to go a little bit
past it because you need a little bit
extra line here to be able to read it on
your protractor to figure out the
degrees that you need to head in placing
your start point on the center of that
protractor making sure the zero is north
you can even make sure to line up the
lines with like the grid lines to make
sure that it's straight and you're
looking at that line that you just drew
and what degrees it goes to so I can see
from that line that it lines up with 280
degrees so that is the degrees I need to
go to but that is true north for the map
I need to convert that still so I'll
take note of the 280° and that GM angle
is 13 so that means I need to add 13 to
my 280 degrees so it gives us a 293 for
azmuth now I need to know how far is it
from my location to the location I need
to go so the first thing that I want to
do is I want to draw a little tick mark
from where I'm starting from to where
I'm going to
so I line up just to edge this piece of
paper and make a little mark on here for
the distance from my location to where
I'm going to and I'm gonna use this to
reference with a diagram that is on the
map to figure out distance so here on a
map is the diagram for the distance it
is going to be in meters so we're gonna
be using the meters part and I line it
up with my piece of paper and I can see
it lines up exactly 21.5 each of these
little marks here is a thousand meters
Watchi this is 500 meters then a
thousand meters then 1500 meters so that
is how this kind of gets read so 1500
meters is the distance that I will need
to travel now this is where you now need
to know your pace count I talked about
this kind of real briefly earlier but
you may need to know now what that pace
count is essentially your pace count is
how many steps it'll take you to get 100
meters to find this out usually your
unit you have something measured out
maybe you have it 50 meters out and
you're walking 50 meters to get your 50
meter pace count you just double it to
get your 100 meter pace count which is
the pace count that you need or maybe
you haven't even measured all the way
out 200 meters and you're walking 100
meters to get your 100 meter pace count
how that does count it is your stepping
off with your left foot so that starts
off with 1 when you take your right step
you don't count that one you count every
left foot touching the ground so you end
up with something like 1 2 3 and so on
and so forth until you could do that
Vickey meter mark or the hundred meter
mark whatever it is you going out to
there are some individuals like do a
running pace count maybe you're in a
hurry to do this line avocation course
so they'll run it to figure out what
their running pace count might be but
train can really mess that up even
trying to really mess up your walking
pace count but it's really up to your
scenario of if you need a running pace
count if you need both walking and
running or just need a walking pace
count so mine is 63 so that means I need
to take 63 steps before I get 100 meters
now for this example here we need to go
1500 meters so that means I need to keep
track of every time I reach 100 meters
so I can kind of you know take away from
that distance to get an idea of how much
farther I still need to go there's a lot
of different methods that people utilize
to keep track of their pace count some
may pick up pebbles or drop pebbles to
you know represent every 100 meters they
go so if you have to go 600 meters maybe
you pick up 6 rocks and then ever
800 meters once you reach that pace
count for this example 63 once I reached
63 steps I dropped one pebble and then
if I have five left that means I still
have to go 500 meters or the opposite
way maybe to pick up pebbles or maybe
they move one pebble from one pocket to
the other pocket whatever you want to do
that's another method that you might
utilize some people like to utilize what
is called the Ranger beads that you have
hanging on your uniform and moving a
beat up or down for every time they get
to the pace count to represent 100
meters
however utilize it writing it down
picking up rocks whatever you got to
keep track of how many meters you've
gone and so you know how many more you
still need to get to so now that I know
how far I need to go now I need to know
which way which direction to head in for
that distance that's where this asmath
comes into play that we did earlier
where we had to convert it from true
north to magnetic north so I have that
azimuth of 293 degrees so I can use
whatever method I want for holding the
compass but I need to find on that
compass 290 degrees once I've found it
I can kind of line it up with this
little line that's here on this compass
or just kind of look straight ahead with
a little notches at the top maybe try to
find something to kind of aim for
something to walk towards that is at
that degrees you can either do it that
way or you can probably sit here and
just hold it at 290 degrees and just
start walking out of direction whichever
prabha you it's probably little bit of a
pain to kind of walk like this so it's
better to kind of find an object that
hopefully it lines up with and just try
to head in a straight line direction
that way another thing to kind of take
note of is you need to kind of be
rechecking your azmuth quite often
because if you're right-handed you may
tend to drift to your right a little bit
if you're left-handed drifted left a
little bit you know that kind of thing
can happen for individuals so it's good
to try to maybe recheck your azmuth
periodically so you're not drifting off
to the left or to the right so once I
have that azmuth set I'm ready to step
off and head towards my point
while I'm moving to that point I'll keep
retracting my pace count so every time
my left foot is the ground
I'm counting one two three keeping track
all the way up until I get to my pace
count which in this example was 63 and I
know that once I get to 63
I've got 100 meters but again
periodically throughout that step I need
to be able to recheck my azmuth to make
sure I'm still headed in the right
direction I haven't drift to the left or
the right now along the way let's say
that we run into an obstacle
maybe I got this hill back behind me
that's actually much larger than
obstacle than it really is here and I
need to navigate around that obstacle
now there might be some times where you
can just simply go through the obstacle
and may throw off your pace down a
little bit here or there some options
where you just have to actually go
through the obstacle and you can't go
around it
so I feel like you'd be doing sfas or
maybe even Ranger training but in this
example let me show you how to navigate
around an obstacle if you need to do
that so maintaining my azmuth I'm going
to be coming all the way up to that
obstacle
once I've reached the obstacle I need to
kind of take note of what my current
pace count was when I stopped at this
point because I now need to navigate
around that obstacle so let's say just
for example for Everest is I left off at
10 at this point so I'm gonna be doing a
left face from that point because that
is the easiest way to get around this
obstacle and I'm going to go left in
this direction this is where it's good
to maybe have a piece of papers I'm
gonna ride on wherever because I need to
take note of 10 being my pace count that
left off on but I also need to take note
of how many steps this way I'm going to
make so I'm gonna start walking this way
until I can clear this obstacle
now let's say that cleared obstacle so I
need to keep track of how many steps
that was will say for this example that
was 100 steps now I'm able to head back
in that direction so what I'm gonna do
is well I have to keep track of that
first off that 10 that I started off
with for my actual pace count also
keeping track of the 100 steps that had
to take to clear the obstacle but
leaving off from that 10 that I had I
can start counting again heading in that
direction so we're gonna start counting
again from 10 so I would step off with
my left foot 11 12 13 and I would
continue that until I have cleared the
obstacle and I can head back 100 steps
to get me back on track so keeping track
of that pace counts still continuing it
if I'm now at maybe let's say 30 now in
my pace counting because now I've
cleared this obstacle then I need to
keep track of that this is still adding
towards that distance that I'm actually
trying to get to to get to my point
but I need to get back on my correct
asmath and in order to do so because I
did 100 steps this way from that
obstacle I need to go back in 100 steps
to reshoot my azmuth so I need to now go
back this way 100 steps 1 2 99 100 so
once I've gotten back 100 steps from
where I needed to be now I can just
reshoot my azmuth to the original Asma
that I had and continue my pace count
from where I left off when I was trying
to clear that obstacle so if I left off
and let's say 50 well we continue from
there 51 52 now eventually once you've
reached your pace count for the amount
of meters you're supposed to be going
whether it's a thousand five hundred six
hundred whatever the meters are you
should be roughly at your location it
may not be exact where your boom the
last step is right there ever you need
to be but you should be in that vicinity
and you should be able to see whatever
it is you're looking for a lot of times
you an army land nav it's a sign it's an
ammo can it's something physical that
you can kind of see in some cases you
might be lucky enough that the back of
the sign actually has the grid so you
can actually check to make sure you're
at the right one and in a lot of other
cases you won't have anything but maybe
a letter designator or a phrase or
something like that then maybe you have
to take note of here's also another
little tip for you if you have to go
from now this point
to another point some individuals may go
ahead and plot that point from where
they're at from that point they first
got to to the next point the problem
with that is if you're not very good at
land nav just yet and that first point
was wrong well all your points from
there on out is gonna be wrong because
you were going to plot it from what you
believe is the correct point and if
you're not at that correct point your
azmuth is not going to match up properly
to where you need to go to and you're
not going to end up getting to the right
location so the right way to do it a
little tedious but if you are not very
you know proficient in land navigation
you need go back to the start point and
plot from the start point that you know
is correct
to your next point so ideally you're
going from start point to your first
point back to your start point plot your
second point go to your second point
come back to the start point to go to
your third point and so on and so forth
if you are experiencing you've gotten
really good at doing land navigation and
you're pretty confident at that point
that you've gotten to is the correct
point then sure go for it you go ahead
and you plot your next point from that
location shoot the azimuth from that
location and move on just be aware if
any of those points are off it's
probably gonna throw you off on getting
to your next point so hopefully this
video isn't too confusing hopefully it's
you know explaining it enough to give
you a general understanding of land nap
maybe even a little bit more than
general understanding I don't really
know you know that I'm trying to my best
to kind of give it in layman's terms and
dumb it down as best as possible and I
may or may not have done that in a good
enough way do you understand it land nap
in general is a complicated thing some
people are really really good at land
nav some people are really really bad at
land f it just kind of depends on a lot
of factors of if you're gonna be one
that is really good at land having
really bad at land have me personally
I'm pretty good at land nav I don't know
if I express that well enough in the
video to be able to help you out explain
it and understand it well enough but you
know hopefully it does give you some
kind of understanding of how to do land
navigation so it's possible maybe I
missed some good little tips or whatever
if you have some tips and you're pretty
good at land Navs and you can leave some
tips down in the comments down below
maybe help out some individuals that are
looking to learn how to do land
navigation for the army or even for the
Marines or whatever so that's it that's
the end of this video hopefully enjoyed
it if you did and found it somewhat
useful then hit that thumbs up for me
check out some recommendations right
over here some of the videos I guess
some links down the description for all
sorts of fun stuff thank you guys so
much for watching I'm Christopher chaos
and I will see you next time
see ya
