Fieldcraft Course Review: Roscoe P. Coltrane

The following is a review submitted from a student to the first Fieldcraft Course. For more information on the course follow this link.

Finally got around to aggregating all the notes and thoughts I collected as a participant of class #1! First off….WHAT A BLAST!! Overall, I couldn’t be happier with my experience. The level of instruction was top-shelf and the course plan was very comprehensive, yet flexible enough to allow individual instruction where needed. B.R. – I think you did an excellent job tailoring the course materials with an intentional progression of skills. That is to say, only in retrospect did I realize that you were setting the stage for further development of similar skillsets within the timeline of the course. It is obvious that you have spent a considerable amount of time in preparation for the class, not only in physical setup, but also in thought about what you’d like to impart to your students. One would never have known we were your first “real” class if we hadn’t known it going in. I think that speaks to your time spent in preparation and an obvious passion for what you are doing here.

Some particulars from my journaling:
– Shooting positions – very good refresher for seasoned shooters, and a solid introduction for the less seasoned. Definitely picked up a few new tricks here.
– Target ID in natural terrain, ranging and range cards – wicked fun trying to pick those pesky guys out of the landscape…..OH, and that landscape….I always take it for granted being in my backyard. Just an awesome backdrop.
– Pace counts – Eye opening learning for me here, great stuff
– Shelter building – New knots, new methods, more good tools for me. Who knew a mattress made of tall grass could be so comfy?
– AAR courses – Tons of learning here for me. I gained a lot of faith in my ability to navigate with a compass over these courses. Mega-valuable.
– Map reading, grid coordinate system, TOPOS, course plotting and azimuth setting – I think this could have easily been a course by itself!! For me as an inexperienced user anyway. I learned a ton of stuff that was completely new to me at the time and I am really eager to go out and practice it all. For me, this was really high-value stuff and I could have spent all weekend doing it 🙂
– Camp to Camp nav – My thoughts here are that one must stick with the course plot and only consider terrain navigation as a secondary means. Basing our decisions off of what we saw (or thought we did) vs what was mathematically correct was a mistake. That said, our safety protocols and backstops worked as intended. I often say in my “work life” that you don’t really learn anything until something goes wrong and you’re forced to come up with a solution. Adding waypoints to that portion of the class might reduce the potential for another group to repeat our error in judgement. As for me… I will stick to my course plot from now on…shortcuts be damned!!!
– Water sourcing/purification – Never intentionally drank from a stock pond before….. I have to say I was genuinely impressed with how potable the water was after trying out all three methods and combinations of them. I picked up a lot here that was all new to me.
– Fire material sourcing – I picked up a few different things in this portion that weren’t on my radar.
– Single waypoint Nav – Great way to practice the system and get comfortable with the tools. Really highlighted the importance of “reading” the map, not just trying to shoot an azimuth.
– Shelter building V2 – Our improved version with windbreak was just awesome. All around camp, the group was putting together some really cool combos.
– Fire building – Definitely a keeper. I had moderate confidence in these skills prior to the course, but much higher now.
– Nightime Nav – Ooooooo….that was fun. Just like everything else, when you limit one or more of your sensory inputs, the others seem to (or do) get a little sharper. Definitely true of this exercise. Not being able to see a decent distance really increases the focus on the course plot, pace count and azimuth setting. We were absolutely stoked when we walked right up to our first marker. Dead on both Azimuth and pace. We were stunned to say the least. This really added to my confidence in skills application.
– Team and Squad instruction – We only got to scratch the surface here, but it was really good stuff also. I think the general consensus was that we all would love to explore this in much more detail, possibly as a next level course.

My synopsis is that I entered this course possessing just a few of the skills necessary to sustain myself for an extended period in a non-permissive environment, and while I’m certainly no professional now, I have a high degree of confidence that I could do so if needed. That confidence can’t be bought my friend, only learned…and taught. So, for that I say thank you. Thank you for sharing what you’ve learned and for contributing to the hardening of a good group of uncommon men. The kind of which are becoming more and more uncommon. Cheers Friend.