Day 55
While our Recruit is doing his Table 2 shooting this week, I will go over some of the stuff he will be doing the last few weeks after he gets back. When he moves back down to MCRD he will have a lot to accomplish and not a lot of time to get it done. Things will be hectic right up to graduation. One of the classes he will be going through is an incredibly important one; Map Orientation. This is an incredibly important skill that every Marine needs to be able to perform. Knowing where you are and where you are going is key to effective mission completion. If you don't know where you are how are you going to be able to call in artillery or air support or worse yet, medivac. Also if one is going to be able to effectively assault and enemy position at a certain time, if you don't know how to find it you are screwed and the entire operation is in jeopardy. Mistakes like these lead to unnecessary lost lives and injuries. Not only will he learn how to read a map, he will learn how to use the latest GPS systems available and he will also learn how to use the compass. Our Recruit will also learn to mark off distances by pace counting and judge distance horizontally. As simple as this seems it isn't. In fact I myself still have trouble doing it. Our Recruit will learn how to break the map down into grids and how to read an 8 digit grid number. This is key because this is the number needed in order to call in air and artillery support. An 8 digit grid is approximately 3 feet square in area and yes both of those supports can hit it as long as it is right spot. Failure to be able to break it down correctly can lead to destroying the wrong target and cause innocents to become injured as well as not destroy the enemy. Welcome to the Marine Corps.