The End of Training Individual Test - Navigations

We have reached the final stretch. As I write this post I only have one more week of training left, which is actually hard to believe after being in training for the past year and 5 months, but after our last week I know that this upcoming week is going to be a doozy.

DISCLAIMER: This post is long, to quite long.

The last few weeks of training are meant to be a test of everything we have learned until this point. The tests are set up essentially in the same manner as the training itself. We start on the individual soldier level, then team, and finally work our way up to the entire company. This past week we had our individual test (I am sure there is a better translation, but it literally translates as "The Individual Summarization"). The week consisted of three navigations, krav maga, and a shooting test. I'll try my best to explain what transpired over the course of the week, but no matter what I say it won't really be able to do it justice - it was just that hard!

We were all given our routes and maps to study the weekend before the first navigation, which should probably have triggered some warning that this was not going to be just another navigation. After plotting out our route I soon learned why. Along the path to collecting our various points everyone was going to have to scale not one, but two extremely steep mountains (Mount Kamoon and Mount Chazon, for those who may be familiar). In addition to the challenge of navigating alone we were also going to be walking with all of the gear we would need for the week, plus a little extra. Normally, I would try to guesstimate for you how much I had to carry in my bag over the course of the week, but as it turns out I don't have to guess. After we had packed all of our food, water, clothes, radio, rain gear, shovel, more water, and various other gear we were all weighed. According to the scale my bag weighed 40 kilos (or 90 pounds for those of you, who like myself two years ago, have no idea how the metric system works.  You can see a good picture of the bag above).

Sunday night we waited for the sun to go down, and set out on our navigations around 8:30 PM. It was on this first navigation of the week that I learned two important lessons that I would use when planning routes for the rest of the week. First, whenever possible find paths. Second, if it means you have to walk an extra 4 or 5 miles - find paths! Our first navigation was between 25 and 30 kilometers (15 - 18 miles). Most of the time this would mean we would finish after about 7 hours, a pace of about 4 kilometers per hour. I think that even with the added weight it would have been possible to finish the navigation in a 3 or 4 kilometer per hour pace. The true problem, however, proved to be the extremely dense undergrowth (and over- and midgrowth for that matter). Making my way up and down mountains proved grueling. I actually had an internal debate (there is a lot of time for internal dialogue when navigating for hours alone) as to whether it was harder going up the mountain or down. At first glance it would seem obvious that going up a mountain would be more difficult, however, when there is no clear path between trees and boulders going down the mountain with an additional 90 pounds on your back can also prove to be rather challenging. The truth is, even the slightest miss-footing with a giant bag on your back usually means you are gonna take a tumble. Fortunately for me, most of the time I was able to lean back and fall on my bag. There were one or two occasions, however, in which my foot found a hole and I fell forward. All I can say is that in these particular occasions I was thankful there wasn't someone with a camera around. I would find myself in the awkward "turtle-like" position in which all of your weight is on your back and you simply can't move. I would spend a good 5 minutes rocking back and forth trying to right myself (although in retrospect I guess I could have just taken the bag off, but in my defense that was also a 5 to 10 minute ordeal).

Throughout the course of the navigation there are various points which everyone must cross, so that the commanders have an idea of where everyone was and at what time. One of these points just so happened to be at the top of a mountain. After climbing this mountain for about two hours, I finally reached the top. The disappointing part of getting to the top was that I had to say hello to my commander and then go right back down. After collecting all of my points, I started to make the hike to the ending point around 8 AM. Another 3 and half hours later, 15 hours after I started and in the sweltering heat I staggered to the end point. There I was greeted by my commander who handed me an envelope with the points for my next days navigation. When I arrived at 11:30 I assumed I was one of the last people to arrive (my radio actually didn't work, so I couldn't hear everyone who had been getting lost all night begging for help). As it turns out, there was someone on my team who didn't finish the first navigation until 5:30 PM, 21 hours after starting!!! After finishing I was told to divide my time between food, sleep, and study. I actually wasn't that hungry but I tried to eat a little so that I could cut down on the weight I was carrying, even if it was only a can of corn (I figured better not to carry it around all week).

At 10 PM we set out on our second navigation of the week. After the first night I had planned the majority of my second navigation on paths or next to roads. Don't ask me why, but for some reason I let one of my friends talk me into cutting through the woods down the mountain (I forgot to mention, but the end point of each navigation was the starting point for the next days navigation) for my first kilometer. I had originally planned on walking an extra 3 kilometers on a path (rule #2), but he gave me an "Aaah, its just a little foliage" and like an idiot I listened to him. Needless to say this was not a good idea. I spent the better part of an hour pushing my way through thorn bushes, until I came to what I can only describe as a 10-15 foot cliff. Of course I tried to go around, but as it turns there was no way around. I found one place where I could jump down, but I literally had to take my bag off and throw it over the cliff. I had to do this one or two more times, but I finally made it to the road. The rest of the first half of the navigation went pretty well, I just wish I could say the same about the second half.

Right when I was about to leave for my navigation the commander of our whole company came over and looked out my route. He was then kind enough to inform me that there was an army base that does not show up on the map but that I had planned to walk right through it, which of course would not be possible. As a result, I had to change my route at the last minute, which I am sure I don't have to tell you is never a good idea when you are navigating with only a compass and your memory. As I am sure you can imagine, the part of my navigation that I changed at the last minute just so happened to be the part where I got lost. I spent three hours at the top of a mountain stumbling over rocks and wishing I had a machete, while looking for one of my points. I eventually assumed I was not in the right place and started to make my way down the mountain. I eventually was able to figure out where I was (4 kilometers from my next point, 4 kilometers in the wrong direction. Meaning I would have to walk there and back, making it 8 kilometers). I was fully prepared to accept my fate and begin the march that would add an extra 2 hours to my navigation, but my commander informed me (I called him because my radio didn't work) he preferred I get to the end on time. It was about 6 kilometers away and I had a little more than an hour. It was definitely doable, but to steal a term from American army slang, I would have to "double-time" it. I finished this navigation at 8:30 AM and about 3 minutes before my time expired, once again in the heat of the day but the third person from the company to finish.

My third navigation was less eventful. I stuck to the roads and it paid off. It may have lengthened my navigation a bit, but in the end it definitely proved faster. There was one point that I didn't find (what I discovered later was that in my exhaustion I had misread the coordinates and placed the point on the wrong place on the map). I started this navigation at 7:30 PM and finished at 3:00 AM. What the navigation was lacking in adversities, it certainly made up for it at the end.

At 5 AM everyone who had reached the last point was woken up and we were told to put our gear back on. We were told that we would be climbing the mountain that we were sleeping next to. At first glance this may have come as a surprise because the mountain next to us looked more like a cliff face then a mountain that we could possibly climb. However, I new before we started the night that it would end like this. After the week we had just had there was no way our final point would be at the base of a mountain and not at the peak.

It just so happens that the mountain is somewhat famous in Israel. It is called Mount Arbel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Arbel). I found a particularly interesting quote on Wikipedia:

 "On the south side, there is a gradual prolonged climb through agricultural and pasture land while on the other, there is a very steep 400 meters drop. At the top of the steeper Northern side, there are metal handholds driven into the rock because the climb is so steep."

 I think it goes without saying that we went up the North side. I don't know if it was the lack of thorn bushes and other thickets, but it actually wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, the path was so steep that people had to take breaks every few minutes to sit down and catch their breath, but after about an hour and a half I had reached the top. I wish I could say that I had also finished the week, but it was just the end of the navigations - there was still krav maga.

(For those who made it this far, other than my mom, I'll spare you some reading and save the krav maga for the next post).

The Advance Team

Two weeks ago everyone broke into different groups to learn different specialties. There was a group that was sent to learn more in depth about building camouflage stands, a group that went to learn more about navigating, a group that was chosen to be the advanced team, and everyone who was leftover stayed to guard the base.

I guess I might have ruined the surprise with the title of this post, but I was sent to be a part of the advanced team. I had actually thought, and others also assumed, I would be a part of the navigating group after my results from the last week of navigation. It was later explained to me that it is extremely rare for someone to be both a navigator and in the advanced team (and the advanced team takes priority). It is actually somewhat logical, if I am going to be carrying the light machine gun and all of the ammunition it would make it rather difficult to concentrate on navigating.

In each advanced team there is a commander, his radio man, a light machine gunner, and a sharpshooter. Because it is a relatively small group of people there was almost one instructor for each person. Due to the nature in which these instructors like to teach it made for a rather intense week. There was very little downtime.

The main idea of the week was to build chemistry among the advanced team, which will be crucial in future missions. The first two days we focused on open field warfare. We practiced storming hills and basic formations. The next day we spent working on urban warfare. This consisted of a review of searching buildings and a quick crash course on arresting suspected terrorists in their homes. All-in-all it was a very productive week. We also advanced significantly in our hand-to-hand combat skills. We were taught how to disarm an attacker who is using a handgun or melee weapon. Granted it was explained to us that disarming someone with a handgun would only actually be helpful in the instance of a mugging because if the handgun were in the hands of a terrorist they would just shoot rather than point the gun at you and start asking you questions.

Post Navigation Fun

One of the things that our commanders try to instill in us during training is the need to be ready for the unexpected. During a mission you may receive orders that require you to adapt your plans. The preferred way to train for this (at least among our commanders) is when you are the most tired. Therefore, usually once a week we have something that is what they call an "unplanned act." Meaning that at the end of the week, after you have finished whatever your training may be for the week you are asked to do one more thing when you are at the height of exhaustion.
However, at this point in our training the "unplanned acts" are rather predictable. All you have to do is look around, pick the tallest mountain in the area and know that at the end of the week you will be climbing that mountain while carrying one or two stretchers.
After finishing our week of navigation we were asked to climb Mount Tavor. We spent the entire week navigating all night and barely sleeping. When we got on the bus Thursday morning we all new that we would be getting off rather quickly. As expected, we got off the bus 10 minutes later and were told to open up a stretcher.
We then spent the next hour and a half walking vertically up the mountain. In the pictures above you can see what we did. The first picture is of Mount Tavor taken from the end of our navigation (I had a feeling we might be getting a closer look at it).
I was pretty surprised out how well the team did. Aside from being exhausted from lack of sleep, this was our first navigation carrying added weight, so everyone's shoulders and backs were pretty sore as well. It turns out though that our team was able to scale the mountain the quickest. Our commander later explained that by the time we had reached the top and walked back down the mountain the other teams were only just arriving to the top.
I know that these "unplanned acts" are pretty annoying at the time, but they definitely give you the confidence that is crucial if you were suddenly asked to carry an injured soldier miles up and down mountains. I feel certain that if a situation ever arrived where we were asked to do that very thing we would be just fine.

Navigating in the North

We recently had another week of navigating in the North.  There are actually several differences between navigating in the North and the South.  For instance, in the North there are forests, dense foliage, and a lot more populated areas, whereas the South is mainly desert.  As a result, navigating in the North is generally considered more difficult because it is harder to distinguish between channels and rivers due to the foliage, but some prefer the North because it is more interesting (I say some because I do not include myself in this group.  Personally, I prefer the easier navigations so that I can finish earlier and sleep more).  In the end the most substantial difference between the two is the seemingly endless number of fences, mostly barbed wire, that one finds in the North.  Along with all the dense foliage and populated areas comes the fields, which tend to be fenced.  I can say with experience that there is nothing more annoying than spending ten minutes trying to climb over or under a barbed wire fence with all of your gear only to find another ten feet from the first, or as often is the case as many as 4 or 5 in succession.  

Venting aside, it actually was a pretty good week for me.  We had 4 navigations throughout the week.  During each navigation you are given 3 points that you must reach along the way.  These points are then checked by what codes you find written at there.  At the end of the week I was rewarded by getting to go home a day early because I was the only person in our entire company who found all 12 of my points.  

Although I was successful in my navigations I can't say the same for my partners.  In each pair the navigation is divided into halves and each person knows only one half.  The reason for this is safety.  It is safer to navigate in pairs in case someone gets hurt.  Therefore, each navigation is essentially individual, but you have a partner who is along for the ride and in the dark.  Depending on your partners navigating aptitude it can often turn into the blind leading the blind.  This was the case in one of my navigations.  We set out at 10:00 PM on our navigation.  I navigated the first half and we arrived at the halfway point at midnight.  My partner then proceeded to lead us aimlessly in the search for his points.  I'll spare you some of the details, but in the end we spent 6 hours walking through the woods until we came upon a road.  We let our commanders know we were lost (we were supposed to have finished our navigation 3 or four hours earlier) and that we had come to an intersection.  They checked the map and informed us somehow we were a mere 2 miles away.  They then proceeded to give us 20 minutes to run to there location with all of our gear.

While getting lost is somewhat unpleasant, it in no way compared to what happened on my last navigation.  My partner navigated first and of course - got lost.  We had no idea where we were but had a general idea of which direction to walk.  We literally lucked our way into finding the halfway point, with a little help from another pair we saw along the way.  To my dismay we somehow managed to get there relatively early.  This meant we were sent back to look for the points my partner didn't find (although he didn't really look for them when he realized he had no idea where he was).  None of this really bothered me, the problematic part came next.  My partner's point was in a ravine, and when we got a half a mile away we realized that to get there we would have to traverse what amounted to a forest of shoulder-high weeds.  Now normally this would not be a problem, but at about 5 in the morning the weeds were covered with dew.  It only took about 2 minutes for all of my pants to get soaking wet, and for those of you who haven't seen 5 AM recently it is pitch black and cold, so when you are soaking wet you are really freezing.  This made for a miserable second half to the navigation.  The only upside was that it took my partner so long to navigate that the sun started rising by the time I started my half.