Winter Quarter Land Navigation Exercise, Fort Lewis

I was very nervous for my first set of real maneuvers with the Army. We had an old school bus that took us the hour-and-a-half (or so) south on I-5 to the largest west-coast Army fort (built in 1917). I had been there before to visit the fine museum a few years before with my family. But this time we went in a back gate in the woods, rather than through a main gate.

We kept our rucksacks at our little camp in an open place. It was a little drizzly, so we covered them with our camo ponchos as we set off on our exercises. We were supposed to find markers in the forest by using coordinates on maps, angles and rulers. It was imperative to count every step to know how far you'd gone... and I was terrible with keeping count for that long. Good thing I was paired with others at first. MS-4 (senior cadet) Giaquinto helped Meyer, Manibusan and I on the first mission. We only got 2 out of 4 points... ran out of time. It's difficult, because if we turned from the angle on the compass needle a bit to go around a tree, we'd get off; if the angle isn't followed exactly, especially at first... you get the idea... way far off point.

Manibusan and I went out again after we'd returned and found 2 out of 4 again on a different assignment. I remember forgetting count a few times. But I know we also found one after getting off track... and that was exhilarating!

After this second evolution we returned and took a break to eat our MRE's and change our socks at the base camp. The final exercise was a night mission. Funny, our little group of three newbie females were to also escort the photographer/reporter from the Daily, the campus newspaper, doing a story on women in Army ROTC program. I thought that was ridiculous... there's no light for pictures at night... or for plotting the points on the map! We only found 1 out of 3 points, and the only reason we found it was because Manibusan and I had found it on the previous run.

I was exhausted on the ride home; maybe even a little grumpy, damp and cold. And it didn't help when Lindley started talking about why she joined for the money for college and that how they'll probably have to go kill people in Iraq... well I didn't feel so much like joining then. But this was only the beginning of the experience... there was a lot more time for thought about that.

When we got back to Clark Hall on campus they made us stand around for a half hour while mom was waiting for me in the car nearby... and I had no idea why. Lots of fun.