Student Review: Land Navigation August: Vector40
Prior to the weekend of 8/22 to 8/23, my knowledge of Land Navigation was non existent, except for a few articles that I had read on the subject.
Leaving the Max Velocity Tactical campus on Sunday afternoon, I felt that the time and monetary investment in the weekend’s learning was well worth it. Max did a fine job. Saturday started with theory and Max was thorough in his approach. He started out teaching the basics such as scale, terrain features, map tools and compass types and expanded to grid references and azimuths or bearings.
After lunch on Saturday, a practical exercise was in order and the class was divided into buddy pairs. Each pair received a map with points that had to be located.
Sunday morning afforded attendees to either work individually or in buddy pairs and four locations had to be located within a three hour period. Given the fact that Max has 100 acres at his disposal as well as some challenging terrain, not only was knowledge tested but the colorful geography of his facility added a certain physical element to the task.
After lunch, another three hours was set aside for practical work. Unlike the intensive CTT class which I attended in June, Land Nav is a little more relaxed and so Max allowed those students who had long commutes back home to leave early. Most stayed and either pursued two or four of the grid points.
Is was refreshing meeting like-minded individuals and the knowledge gained is priceless. I think that many of us focus on the shooting side of things while neglecting basics such as navigation. Although I will need to practice the skills learned, it feels great to have my head above water in the swim toward self reliance.
Max is a solid, honest individual and he has an ability to adapt to various personalities encountered in the classroom setting. I will be back in September for either another CTT class or the CQB class.
I trust that everyone I met on the weekend will stay safe and I hope that our paths cross again.
vektor40