Land Navigation (with sub-categories)

@Brokor, that is good stuff to know.

The most important real world test of compass navigation is at night. While still at The Basic School (at 35) I chose not to do an offset around water that I could not detect the size of by throwing things in all directions. The beaver was surprised to find me fording his pond, but the water was only chest deep and I didn't get off course.
It was a little colder and whiter in Norway, but when we got lost on our midnight skiing trips we could always break out a compass and find our way home.

 

While you're thinking of navigation, don't forget that your magnetic compass and GPS widget won't agree on which way is north unless you dial in compensation.

 

It truly is excellent. What we need is someone to turn all of these into one (1) large PDF for download. Unfortunately, I cannot do that so... I guess I will make a large WORD document instead.

 

Thanks, Brokor! I.O.U.

 

I'm not sure if anybody mentioned this "but" you forgot the declination diagram in the bottom right hand corner. Showing you the difference between magnetic north and true north.

 

Usually true, however, magnetic north moves and will continue, so the date of the map printing becomes interesting. Land navigation is seldom precise enough to warrant correcting all data for time.

 

This is a nifty way of configuring military maps for ease of tactical storage and access.



Also the post resurrects a thread that hasn't been contributed to for a few years.

 

That set of info took me all the way back to Ft Benning in 1987.

 

Using a button compass and a protractor to navigate with. If a button compass is what one has, a square protractor will be a useful augmentation.

https://youtube.com/shorts/UEWxbXZ3w0w?si=IZyqV9xZLHa8zHrH

A good example of navigational improvisation and adaptability...one may not have a lensatic compass when 'needs must'.

 

Usually, people don't think of using a compass till after they are officially lost, and even then, the only thing they think to ask is which way north is, having no idea where they came from.
If you don't orient your self going in, your already last.
I have a compass on me at all times especially if I'm going some where I've never been before, in the country or in the city. A compass can also indicate if an electrical circuit is live or if your alternator is working., or finding nails in a wall.