Infantry Schools Bolster Land Navigation Training

[Rocky C]

By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jul 5, 2010 10:21:44 EDT

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Marine Corps officials are expanding land navigation training after finding that too many young Marines, not long out of boot camp or Officer Candidates School, are forgetting land navigation skills.

Beginning Oct. 1, both Schools of Infantry will now redouble efforts to ensure Marines maintain those skills. The change affects new East Coast and West Coast Marines in all military occupational specialties.

Those headed to Marine Combat Training Battalion will see the biggest jump. There, all non-infantry Marines will see the four-hour land nav course increase to almost 13 hours.

For Marines in 03 series MOSs who are trained at Infantry Training Battalion after boot camp, land nav training hours will jump from 3½ hours to 9½ hours.

The problem was identified during discussions at a course certification review board held in February, said Col. Timothy Mundy, commanding officer of SOI-East.

Marine recruits, he said, will continue to receive three hours of lecture on land nav and a one-hour practical application exercise during boot camp because the orientation is a critical part of their development.

“We are mindful that in boot camp there are things recruits want to experience that mark them as being Marines, so they still want to do a few tasks. It’s an important part of their transition,” said Mundy, who has been in command at SOI-East for a year.

He called Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., “a pool table” where the land nav experience is limited by relatively flat terrain. At Camp Lejeune, new Marines will be challenged by the extra hours and variety of landscapes used at SOI’s training ranges. Mundy pointed out that Camp Pendleton, Calif., just north of MCRD San Diego, is endowed with ample land nav training areas as well.

The planned increase in land nav training, he said, is not necessarily a response to lessons learned downrange, but more of a bid to ensure that Marines learn and focus on core skills they’ve not used much during the recent wars.

It’s the same reason instructors at Infantry Training Battalions teach their Marines to dig fighting holes, even though that skills hasn’t been needed much in either Afghanistan or Iraq, Mundy said.

“Sooner or later,” he said, “the environment could be there and this is the school where they need to be learning that.”

While both schools have flexed to meet the needs of the Corps’ newest Marines during the past nine years of war, they are now in a position to look at scenarios that may lie ahead, Mundy said.

[SlingerDun]

Thats awesome, still not enough though, but just enough to get the boys and girls *****ing about how much land nav sucks.

Rocky i don't think i ever saw a compass or map in boot camp ITS

[Komenko]

Thats awesome, still not enough though, but just enough to get the boys and girls *****ing about how much land nav sucks.

Rocky i don't think i ever saw a compass or map in boot camp ITS

Same here. I never saw a map or compass till i was at MCT in 97'. What i do remember from that land Nav course was looking for another Marine's rifle when he put it next to him to take a nap up against a tree. the base was back open 5 hours later from what i heard lol. the best LandNav training I had was at NTA Okinawa. thats some crazy stuff. Night LandNav was even crazier there.