Riding to Do My Army Job

Part of my Army job is taking pictures of Army training, Army living and sometimes Army relaxing.  To get to these various places I ride my bike when I can.  Today I was shooting photos at the extreme ends of the ten-mile long Fort Indiantown Gap training area.  In the course of riding to and from both events I put 31 miles on my single-speed mountain bike.  Since the terrain here is hilly, it was a good ride on rolling hills.

In the middle of the day I took pictures and videos of teams of soldiers on the Leadership Reaction Course.  This is a team obstacle course.  Later I rode to the other end of the base to take pictures of a field kitchen.

I don't have those pictures downloaded yet, but I have a few from Land Navigation the day before:

Land Navigation Training

Below are photos of a Cadet and a Specialist reporting to their company commander after successfully completing a land navigation course in the dense woods on the north end of Fort Indiantown Gap.  They were the first to finish, completing the course in 2 hours.  

While we were waiting for them to finish, I found out that the Warrior Leadership Course no longer includes land navigation and no longer makes the PT Test part of the grade for the course.

The change is recent.  I think it is stupid.  This course is supposed to train enlisted men and junior NCOs to be leaders.  Land Nav combines fitness with calculation and concentration.  The fitness test is an Army standard.  Even if Land Nav is no longer a skill in common use, it surely shows a lot abut the abilities of those who master it.  And the fitness test, leaders should be at the front, not be lagging.

OK  Done bitching like and old guy.