Principal stopped his stopwatch, twisted open his military flask and passed it to Ye Jian. “My intensive training is different from normal intensive training. You will also have to memorize all the places in every province, every area in every country, and their respective latitude and longitudes. I will also test you on the model of guns and ammunition, their differences, and their effective range.”
Included within the intensive training was not just physical endurance; it also included memory strengthening!
Ye Jian climbed up from the shrubs after resting for two minutes, her jet black pupils shined brightly like obsidian, “I will obey your every arrangement. I am done resting; we can continue to the next stage.”
“Let’s talk about the different categories of maps. Since Major Xia hoped that you could command troops, you must master maps.” Principal Chen opened up a military light-weight aluminum foldable table that was 50 cm long and less than 30 cm wide. Spreading a military map on top of it, his gruff voice said in a strict manner: “Maps are differentiated into normal maps and thematic maps and based on their usage, they are separated into instructional maps, political maps, military maps, flight maps and so on.”
“From now on, I’m going to talk about military maps. Among them, there are more specialized maps such as nautical charts and aeronautical charts. Maps are crucial in every military operation, as they are used to reflect information such as the terrain and other features in the legend.”
“Maps are the eyes of the military; they are the voiceless guides, you must be able to understand them no matter the circumstance, and must be capable of drawing them on the spot! You need to possess a certain amount of knowledge in identifying maps and using maps. After possessing the six basic elements, you must be capable of making your own military terrain map.”
Principal Chen was knowledgeable, and his teachings were very in-depth. His gruff tone also made Ye Jian able to listen to him with her full attention and quickly digested all the professional knowledge given to her.
“The rectangular coordinates on the military map are different from the Cartesian coordinates system you learned in math. The Meridian is the coordinate system’s X-axis, while the Equator is the Y-axis, now take a look here…” The pencil gently scratched itself on the military map, motioning Ye Jian to take a clearer look, “This is the horizontal X-axis, while this here is the vertical Y-axis.”
Ye Jian had always digested these in-depth and challenging to understand professional knowledge quickly. After Principal Chen explained once and made one example, she knew it well in her heart.
“… the magnetic azimuth is widely used when marching troops, artillery soldiers, and travelling by air and sea. This is a must-know when making military maps, and you must be able to indicate it clearly. For example, like this…”
Pulling out a piece of paper, Principal Chen quickly sketched with his pencil. Before long had passed, a simple troop-marching military map appeared on the blank paper.
“After learning how to make a military map, you also need to know how to investigate the area through the map. According to the characteristics of different soldier types, their assigned mission and enemy intel, combining that with the weather and season, you will carry out a comprehensive analysis, research and judgment, after knowing everything and grasping everything, only then can you decide on the operation’s deployment.”
These things are must known knowledge for a commanding officer. It was also an ability that a Special Forces soldier must possess.
Ye Jian listened extremely attentively, and was really fascinated!
Submerged in everything, she very quickly understood the importance of drawing a military map, of researching, analyzing, and arranging tactical operations through a map.
She also understood how the large effects of terrain analysis was to military operations. You must know how many railroads and highways the whole military operation must go through. If there were armored vehicles deployed… the commanding officer must grasp the length, the width, and the bearable load of all the bridges they were going to use!
Only by knowing, understanding, and grasping this information can they analyze and determine the route for different soldier types, the possibility for offroad opportunities, and military logistics to the frontline. Only then would they be able to fight successful wars!
