Given four photos to choose from today for Writing 101, I was to choose one photo that I could write a story, a poem or a post about. I am not ready yet to try and tackle a story, so I will write a post about my (limited) experience with maps!

As many of you know, I had joined the Army just after my 18th birthday and was a naive and shy young woman. I was filled with dread when one of the first things we did was to be rounded up, piled into the back of a 4 tonner and dumped in the middle of nowhere with a map and a compass!

We were then given a few hours to make our way to a designated spot marked out on our maps. Great! I didn’t have a bloody clue. Luckily, though, this was a group exercise and there some people actually knew how to map read, so the rest of us dunces that couldn’t, made it safely to our destination.

A few months later, we had a day when we had various activities to participate in (compulsory of course). One of these was weapons training, (I was surprisingly good at hitting the target), and one of these was orienteering. I was dreading it as this time we were sent off one by one with time delays and various checkpoints to get to. We had to clip a card from each of the checkpoints, which of course, had different markings.

I headed off in the right direction when it was my go, but I kind of dawdled a bit as I thought I might be able to wait for the next person and team up with them (providing of course that they could read a map)! My gamble paid off, and again, I reached my destination in good time!

I did actually learn how to read a map eventually but thank God for Sat Nav, which I think is going to be my best friend when I start my new job!

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