FORT KNOX, Ky. – When reflecting on his own personal experience with the land navigation exercise, Brig. Gen. Steven King, CST commandant, said “it’s a little bit painful.”  He said the experience is something that throws a Cadet out of their comfort zone pretty quickly.

That experience, as described by Lt. Col. Christopher Beckwith, land navigation instructor, is about getting from point A to point B with a military grid and coordinates, equipped with only a compass.

The Cadets assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Regiment, Advanced Camp, were tasked to find specific markers and record their locations using these items, traversing rough and muddy terrain in a large, remote forested area.

Then they report to their graders within a three-hour time limit, and their pass or fail result is determined on their marks.

King himself had to retry the exercise when he was a Cadet. He believes the painful nature of land navigation builds character that Cadets will require when they become leaders.

“I definitely think part of it is the resiliency,” King said. “Understanding that you may not get it the first time, but you’ve learned from your mistakes, and you’ve come back stronger.”

Personifying the general’s words, Cadet Larry Harleston, Prairie View A&M University, knows resilience on the land navigation course quite well.

“I had a little bit of adversity that I had to overcome,” Harleston said.

While plotting his points during the exercise, Harleston found himself further down in elevation than he expected. He became stuck. And after all the rain showers, alone in the woods, he was in a tricky place.

“So, mentally to myself, I said ‘I can do this, right?’ Because this hill was very, very steep,” he said. “It’s very, very slippery out there.”

But Harleston wouldn’t let this stop him.

“What I did is get a full running start and then I just started sprinting up the hill, grabbing branches as I was climbing. Then when I saw daylight, I was very, very happy.”

Harleston then walked out from the woods and onto one of the gravel trails of the land navigation course in a celebratory mood.

“I did it! I made it!”

Harleston studies human sciences at A&M University, and he joined ROTC in the Army’s Green to Gold pathway as an active-duty service member, stationed in Fort Cavazos. Green to Gold provides enlisted soldiers the opportunity to earn a commission while pursuing a baccalaureate or graduate degree.

He said he joined ROTC for the mental battles soldiers go through, and he intends to help them.

“What I aspire to do is be a psychologist in the Army (Medical Corps),” Harleston said. “Be that voice or recognition somebody needs to find one more day, or whatever the case may be.”