Badlands Fieldcraft: Azimuth Course AAR

Originally published on Badlands Fieldcraft. He’s got an excellent course coming up as well– training is how we win. -NCS
I just got back this afternoon from spending the day running a couple buddies through an azimuth course I built awhile back. It was a nice, albeit windy, February day and it was good to get out and train.
An “Azimuth Course” is what I call a type of land nav course you do without a map. It’s completely compass based and designed to build skill with the compass and also working as a team. The following are observations I took as I watched my buddies develop this skill. Come to a class and I’ll get you squared away too!
– When shooting azimuths in thick brush it helps to use a partner and “leap frog” him out in front and line him up with the azimuth.
– Pick two landmarks, one far, and one half as far when shooting azimuths. This will give you an idea of where you’ll eventually end up but also something closer should you start going through trees and bushes and lose sight of your farther away landmark.
– Compare compasses when working in a team, note any differences in sensitivity.
– Two heads are better than one. Shoot the azimuth with two people, then leap frog one person out from there. Before moving from the starting point shoot a back azimuth with the leap frogger to double check.
– Orange reflective tape on the compass lid helps when using another person to leap frog. The leap frogger points the orange tape back towards the azimuth shooter to help him see and line the frogger onto the azimuth. This is especially helpful when everyone is camouflaged and moving in thick brush.
– Take lots of notes
– Have note taking gear easily accessible. When you start getting tired you’ll start getting lazy, and digging note taking gear in and out will become a chore you’re likely to not do as often as you should. (Be disciplined!)
– Pace counts are a great idea, but also be able to estimate distance and take notes that way as well. “30 meters” is better than “6 paces, a trip and a slide” in your notes.
– The fifth principle of patrolling, common sense, always applies. If something doesn’t make sense, don’t do it. There’s no such thing as cheating, any way you can devise to get the job done is good as long as it works.

Spread the love
                

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

6 Comments

  1. Insurance_Agent February 27, 2021 at 08:41

    Working with my sons Boy Scout Troop a couple weekends back, we used out compasses to estimate no the vertical and horizontal distances.
    Our terrain looked a lot flatter than those in the article here.
    When working with the team, did you the course have you try any of those techniques?

    • Badlands Rifleman February 28, 2021 at 20:46

      We did not, we only used our pace counts or a range estimation.

  2. KOBK February 27, 2021 at 09:19

    good little article.
    Was recently teaching my nephew how to nav. with a map but without a compass. I look forward to adding the compass but no map approach.
    Some excellent bullet points listed here to make it easier. Thank you

    • Badlands Rifleman February 28, 2021 at 20:47

      You’re welcome, I’m glad it was helpful, take care!

  3. Saratoga February 27, 2021 at 11:20

    Great article and it got me thinking about an idea for the next phase of training we do. Combine this Azimuth Course with radio training. We have a lot of new people with limited experience with both of these skills. We’ll have a Base Camp set up and then send a scouting party (or two or three) out using compass-only along with their radios. The Team Leader can be rotated so all get a chance on the radio, all the while the team practices their compass skills.

    • Badlands Rifleman February 28, 2021 at 20:49

      Thank you. I think you’re on the right track of mixing skills during training. Take care!

Comments are closed.

GUNS N GEAR

Categories

Archives

Spread the love