Land Navigation Day

1-21-09

I was reminded of a word from my old Chemistry classes called an "exo-thermic reaction." Do you remember that term? It stands for a reaction that creates heat. Well, this was significant to me today for two reasons: (1) I enjoyed these little packets you put in your boots and gloves called toes and hand warmers. They fit nicely under your socks or in the palm of your hand, and they give of fheat (for up to 10 hours!). What a wonderful invention. The second exothermic reaction came in the form of our lunches today. We ate what are called "MREs," which stands for Meals Ready to Eat (see picture). And inside the package is a variety of food (see second picture) and a little bag with a chemical in it that reacts to water and heats up. In fact, it gets warm enough to heat your main entree after only a minute in the bag. It was crazy. And they came in many different varieties: I got a grilled chicken breast meal, while others had chili, and fajitas, and pot roast, etc. I'm totally serious. Now, they didn't taste all that fantastic, but it was OK and pretty interesting for my first MRE lunch.

As for the day's events: they dropped us off way out in the woods at 6:30 am in 27 degree temperatures and split us into teams with a map, a compass, and a protractor. We had to plot three points in the woods from the starting point, and then go find them -- using only the compass as a directional guide. I learned a lot in doing this, including that I didn't really like the experience. I don't like being lost in the woods, I guess. And we walked for miles doing it. We then had lunch at mid-day, and then worked on our first aid and some other skills, before another meal (dinner) in the field, and then a return trip to the Night Land Navigation course. In other words, we did the same thing as before, just this time in the dark. We had very few flashlights, and they discouraged us from using them (attracts snipers, we were told). So we fumbled blindly through the woods in the dark. Twice we missed our mark and had to go back and start over. It was very frustrating. We then marched back to the dorms around 9:30 pm. But it's over, and I can say I learned how to do it, and conquered that project.

Tomorrow they test us on much of what we've learned so far, and then teach us to crawl in the sand with live rifle-fire going off over our heads. Should be another long, cold day. And oh, by the way, the hot water has been out in my dorm building for the last three days, so none of us has enjoyed a hot shower for awhile. My wife told me she did not care since I'm sleeping alone!