death by gps

[plaidpants]

One more thing. Microsoft Street and Trips are being designed with 3 companies in contract with each other. Microsoft, Google Earth, and Garmin.

[Richard]

I was reading an old issue of Canoe and Kayak the other day and it was warning about topo maps. Said that several people had died in Canada because the maps had portages on the wrong side and did not show dangerous falls. So . . . maps, gps etc are valuable tools to be used with caution.

[Jim Krueger]

Plaidpants,

When I was in the Army I too taught land navigation courses, it was one of my favorite subjects to teach. Several of my courses were night courses and I can vouch for the fact that when viewing a topographic map with a flashlight with a tactical 'red' filter, the dang contour lines seem to disappear as they too are red
An even funnier story; one moonlit night when our unit was on field training operation, one of my fellow lieutenants was hopelessly lost with his platoon, but still in radio contact with the battalion HQ. When the old man got on the horn and wanted to know where the dickins he was, the Lt. replies "we're right under the moon". The poor guy should have considered having a bit of radio failure versus handing the Colonel that answer


Best Regards
Jim Moose

[Richard]

handing the Colonel that answer

Been there done that. I was about as low ranking as they come in Viet Nam. I was walking to the barracks area which was over two miles away and I was standing on one corner. A Lt Col was on the other side and a jeep was heading my way. It was my chance to thumb a ride but the Col was starting across. I had to make a split decision. I did. I stuck out my thumb. The Lt Col returned what he thought was going to be a salute. Needless to say, I didn't catch that ride.

[plaidpants]

Night navigation is very difficult. I could get close to where I needed to go by using a Lensatic compass or by using my wrist watch. The problem with both is they had to have a white light shine on them to get them to glow. So I would place them inside my fatigues in the early years or BDU's later on to get them to glow. Then of course you would have to hide them as soon as you were done. We had a CSM come to our unit from the 75th Ranger Bn. He would walk around at night placing glow sticks on people and pronounce them dead. He forgot to cover his watch at night and always wondered how I caught him. When it was time for me DEROS I told him how I caught. He was boiling mad. If you think a red lens messes with a topo try a green one.