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Military flat compass and protractor4/2/2024 ![]() Whilst this has now been adjusted by a day or two, 360 became the basis of a circle and was the obvious choice for early compass makers who needed a certain amount of degrees in a circle and that's pretty much how it stayed up until the 1960's. Way back in the depths of time, the Babylonians charted the sun movement across the sky concluding that there were 360 cycles or circles in a year. Protractors can still be used of course, and still are, in navigation at sea when plotting a course, and artillerymen still resort to them when their electronics fail, but in the great outdoors the silva type compass reigns supreme. The trade name for Tillander's compass became Silva, a name that is now synonomous with all baseplate compasses, even if they are not made by Silva. When Swedish orienteer and instrument maker Gunnar Tillander combined a protractor with a simple compass back in 1928 to create what we now call a baseplate compass, he literally consigned the protractor to the history books as far as outdoor folk were concerned. Protractors can be, and still are, used in various other areas such as engineering, technical drawing, surveying and plotting charts, so we thought it best to point out that these ones are/were for map reading. PROTRACTOR (noun) an instrument for measuring, or drawing angles on paper, usually a flat semi circular transparent plastic sheet graduated in degrees. Trust your instruments gentlemen, trust your instruments.Two semi circular clear plastic Mils protractors.Ģ3(l) x 14(w) cms and 15(l) x 9.5(w) cms Number Of Objects When I asked what they were doing so far from their objective, they would always give the same answer, “We’re backtracking.” I swear, most of my time in the field was dedicated to finding these lost lambs who were often miles from where they were supposed to be. They would inevitably charge off into the bush, disregarding proper technique, only to end up hopelessly lost. Having grown up hunting and exploring in the woods, they scoffed at using a compass or following the proper map reading procedure. The Country Boys, on the other hand, were the exact opposite. The group that presented the fewest problems were the City Dwellers, they knew nothing about forests and clung devotedly to their instruments. After a week or two in the woods, two groups would emerge among my students, the City Dwellers, and the Country Boys. Teaching these digital natives is no picnic. They also learn the colors and symbols used to identify bodies of water or man-made structures like railways or roads. The father apart the lines are indicates a flat, sloping terrain. The closer the contour lines are to one another, the steeper the terrain. Terrain features are displayed using contour lines that identify hills, ridges, valleys, saddles (two small hills sitting side-by-side), and depressions. Locations within this square are referred to as grid coordinates. A grid square is a division of the earth represented on a map on a scale of 1:50,000 (each centimeter is equal to 500 meters on the ground). Students begin by understanding how to identify a grid square and to locate a point within it. Every infantry leader must be able to identify their position and navigate to various objectives without any electronic assistance. military continues to teach map reading in this elemental way to prospective infantry leaders. Why not just use GPS and not rely on human calculations at all? My response was always, “What happens when the enemy knocks out the satellites?" Today’s young troops, so accustomed to digital technology to solve problems, often find using these unsophisticated methods a bore. Ava Alegria, a recruit participates in a land navigation course using the “old fashioned” compass, protractor, and a pencil method. An essential part of the curriculum is the science of map reading and land navigation that every student must master to pass. ![]() In a previous life, I had the honor to serve as a Primary Leadership Development Instructor, short for the Army’s NCO academy, and my job was to train the next generation of combat leaders.
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