Fort Knox, Ky. – Cadets assigned to Charlie and Delta Company, 1st Regiment, Advanced Camp, arrived early to Cadet Summer Training’s land navigation course for a test of confidence and competence, June 14, 2025.

Day land navigation tests Cadets self-confidence, tasking them with finding four out of over 100 plot points across thick, lush vegetation. To complete this training, Cadets are only given a map, compass and three hours.

Master Sgt. Brian Walker, senior science military instructor, University of Florida, was out on the course supporting Cadets.

“I want to be here to watch these guys knock it out of the park,” said Walker. “They’re developing the resiliency they need for leading Soldiers.”

Walker described each event in CST as a ‘small win’, so that by the end of camp Cadets are confident in themselves and their training. He addressed failures as well, acknowledging their inevitability in every walk of life, but it’s the response to those failures that teach us.

“No one can be 100% successful, you’re going to fail at some point,” said Walker. “It’s just going to happen, you have to be able to bounce back.”

Cadet Landen Scott, Colorado Christian University, Charlie Company, is an embodiment of what it means to bounce back. In his last land navigation exercise which took place at night, Scott was assigned only three points. With two and a half hours to find them, he returned with zero.

Which doesn’t make it surprising Scott’s arrival to land navigation this morning was accompanied with nerves. He credited the support of Walker’s words of encouragement for his calm, relaxed demeanor upon starting the task.

“Our company motto is ‘can do’, he kept saying ‘can do, can do, stick to the fundamentals’,” said Scott. “So, that’s what I did.”

Despite challenges caused by the dense forests and muddy trails of Kentucky’s terrain, unlike Scott’s familiar Colorado mountains, he was successful. Scott returned to the start point with an hour to spare and all four of his assigned plot points.

Though some Cadets, like Scott, can perform well their first time on the course, others don’t always succeed.

Cadet Kody Gums, Prairie View A&M University, has a background in engineering and attributed his struggles with land navigation to the need for intuition.

“I love engineering because I have a formula,” said Gums. “I know exactly what to do, and when to do it. But here you’ll think you’re right, you’ll go, and you may not be right.”

While he has practiced with land navigation before, Gums comes from a smaller ROTC program and has never seen deep woods like Fort Knox. Despite his strong performance in physical training and shooting, Gums refers to land navigation as his Achilles’ heel.

“For new Cadets I would highly recommend that if you have the resources, use them,” said Gums. “If you have people that are willing to teach you, use them.”

Gums finished the land navigation course with only one out of four points. Nonetheless he’s already planning to bounce back during his night land navigation.

Land navigation isn’t his strength but Gums believes it’s the strengths and weaknesses of each squad member that keeps them close. Having skilled Cadets in different aspects of Cadet Summer Training supports the team, helping pick up slack along the way.