After I returned and the Marine next door asked me about my week, our visit to the Compass Course was the first thing I wanted to describe. With a knowing smile, he said “Ahh, land-nav.”

If you are infantry, either you like walking through the forest or you are in the wrong game.

I know the bus driver enjoys a hike through the woods. I think SFC Freeman likes every aspect of being a soldier.

He had brought us to the south-east corner of the military reservation which is outside of the secure perimeter. He had asked if everyone had their identification so that there would be no difficulty re-entering. In addition to their vests with throat, neck and groin protectors, and the rest of their gear, very soldier on that bus immediately produced his ID.

The one non-soldier could not quite locate his. Robin noted that I had worn a different shirt yesterday when I needed the ID for the cafeteria. So SFC Freeman took the bus to the barracks. I ran up and checked my other shirt. I ran back down and told him I did not find it. He asked if I had a driver’s license and said that would have to be enough.

We brought along MREs (meals, ready-to-eat) but the hope was to return in time for lunch at the cafeteria. So I got us off to a slow start. We passed the perimeter and were rolling down Route 16. I pulled my wallet out of my right front pocket and searched through it for the fourth time. Then, on a hunch, I checked the pocket before I returned the wallet to it.

It turns out that when you are looking for something in your pocket, you should check the whole pocket.

I blame Robin.

So we lined up and paired-off. Each team would get its own starting point.

From there they would find a second point. From there, a third. Then they would find their way back. Because each team had a different route through this rough country, they were dispersed across many acres of dense forest.

So I had beautiful photographic conditions, but I couldn’t find many people to photograph.

In fact, I didn’t see Robin and her partner, SFC Gaughan, the whole time. She would later say that trying to keep up with him as he pushes through the debris and up the hills was “like an orc run”. Since I had not seen Lord of the Rings, I did some research. I found this.

They had inches of snow on the ground just days before our week at Fort McCoy. You can see a small amount lingering below.

It would rain heavily just hours after we would leave. But the weather the whole time we were there was beautiful.

This was the noisiest spot I came across during my hike. I didn’t see any frogs (I didn’t look for them) but the ruckus they made was like being surrounded by idling motorcycles. Real ones, not Hondas.

CPT Niven and SFC Snow ran the show. They sent them off, and then they waited for them to come back.

They came back. And when they came, they came smiling.

I could hear SFC Linares approach from some distance. It seems SGT Helms offered him a cigarette and he was moaning and griping about how he was trying to quit and how could anyone offer to someone trying to quit and how it does smell so good, though.

The SFC always has a smile and his banter somehow makes his smile contagious. At least that is how it works for me.

SFC Freeman came striding in from his monitoring post, but when he heard there were others still out he turned right around and went back out himself. The bus can’t leave without him.

Smiles.

We did make lunch in the cafeteria after all. The 420^th got Compass Course 2 ahead of schedule. We compressed the full days of activities into just a long morning.

We then moved back to Building 905 where MSG Scudder conducted an AAR – an After Action Review.

We were returned to the barracks earlier than planned. Which was okay with me.

It didn’t take long for this group to trade their ACUs for civilian clothes and head out. I planned to stay close to home until the big yellow school bus would take me back to the cafeteria.

Robin and COL Coates had things to do and no time to change. I took a walk through the commemorative area across the street from our barracks.

These soldiers changed, but not for a rest.

I caught this guy rolling past on an antique BMW with a sidecar.

After dinner, Robin wanted to go to McCoy’s, the on-base sports bar. LTC Bowers got a wireless keyboard from somewhere and we played NTN (National Trivia Network) on the big TV against other players elsewhere in McCoy’s. Fritz (whoever he (or they) is (are) gave us a lot of trouble.

159 photos. (Notice that the pictures are displayed only 12 at a time, and only 10 pages at a time. So when the album contains more than 120 photos, there are more than ten pages even though they are not shown. Click on the ellipsis (the three dots) to get to the additional pages.)

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