Land Nav, Hooah!

Wake-up at 0330 for 0430 formation, and then load up the LMTVs (troop carriers) for a nice little jaunt to Rabbit Hill, where the land navigation course is located.  Once on the ground, we formed up and received our map points.  The land navigation course is in an area that is a couple of miles east to west and maybe a mile north to south.  Not huge, but the terrain can get pretty hairy in some places.  We were required to find 3 out of 4 points on the course today for our practical exercise, but will be required to hit 5 out of 8 on Monday when we conduct our actual test.  This is made infinitely more difficult due to the fact that we begin at 0415 on Monday, so the first two hours of navigation will be in the dark. 

We received briefings on Convoy Operations as well as CIED (Counter Improvised Explosive Devices) class this afternoon.  Gotta know the proper countermeasures when we come across those damned things!  Tough to stay awake after the early wake-up, and even tougher to complete our homework assignment this evening, which consists of putting together a convoy ops plan to present tomorrow during our VBS2 (virtual convoy program) class.  We get to be the convoy commander in a computer simulated program.  Think Call of Duty meets Nascar 2011 on the Playstation 3.  Should be fun. 

Sorry this blog entry is so scatterbrained, but I am running on fumes.  Just wanted to keep my followers happy, since I know you guys are on the edge of your seats awaiting my pearls!

Paulson Out....