Night Vision
A couple of nights ago, my psyop officer and I walked from Brigade Headquarters to the 1-14 Batallion, about 3-4 klicks apart. The sky was clear, and the moon was very bright. Cpt., at first, wanted to bring the Night Vision Goggles, I gave him a hard time about slowing me down. And there is some truth to that.
I have always had great night vision, especially with a bright moon up, seeing was easy. The NVD's that we have are a little old, for those familiar we have the 7's and not the highs speed 14's. Those old 7's cut down your peripheral vision, and kill your depth perception. I have always maintained that if I have to move, I will use my natural eyesight, and save the Night Vision Devices for when I am stationary in a fighting position with a sector to cover.
So, back to the story, there we were, No Shit. We were traveling down a road towards the 1-14 when we heard troop movement in the woods off to one side. Not knowing if they were friendly or not, we took to the bushes by the side of the road, not fully concealed but enough to break up our outlines. A squad of infantry, our guys, came out of the woods on the other side of the road, and began moving along the road in the direction we had come from. As they passed us the took a security halt. The squad all took a knee, opposing sides of the road facing outward, while the squad leader checked his troops, and his map. There was one soldier not eight feet from where the Cpt. and I had taken cover, looking right in our direction, we could even see a small green line about where his eyes would be, and could tell in the moonlight that the entire squad was wearing the newer NVD's. My confidence in camoflauge was really bolstered that night, for even with the light concealment that we had, the Cpt. and I were never spotted. It also server as a reminder to me, that night vision devices have there limitations.
I have always had great night vision, especially with a bright moon up, seeing was easy. The NVD's that we have are a little old, for those familiar we have the 7's and not the highs speed 14's. Those old 7's cut down your peripheral vision, and kill your depth perception. I have always maintained that if I have to move, I will use my natural eyesight, and save the Night Vision Devices for when I am stationary in a fighting position with a sector to cover.
So, back to the story, there we were, No Shit. We were traveling down a road towards the 1-14 when we heard troop movement in the woods off to one side. Not knowing if they were friendly or not, we took to the bushes by the side of the road, not fully concealed but enough to break up our outlines. A squad of infantry, our guys, came out of the woods on the other side of the road, and began moving along the road in the direction we had come from. As they passed us the took a security halt. The squad all took a knee, opposing sides of the road facing outward, while the squad leader checked his troops, and his map. There was one soldier not eight feet from where the Cpt. and I had taken cover, looking right in our direction, we could even see a small green line about where his eyes would be, and could tell in the moonlight that the entire squad was wearing the newer NVD's. My confidence in camoflauge was really bolstered that night, for even with the light concealment that we had, the Cpt. and I were never spotted. It also server as a reminder to me, that night vision devices have there limitations.