As a testimony to the harsh March conditions, more than one vehicle had to be unearthed via wrecker after sinking in the unforgiving slop. Though several units participated in the 72 Troop Command. s Field Training Exercise, only the aviators forwent heated tents in favor of their issued shelter halves.

The idea was to get in touch with the inner "hooah" nature of each soldier and motivate him or her to higher degrees of excellence while promoting teamwork, said Maj. Dave Flemming, Company A commander.

One aspect of the exercise training was establishing six common task-training sites spread throughout the wilderness. Soldiers in two-man teams practiced land navigation as they were given grid coordinates and sent searching for each of the six sites. Thus, the soldiers trained even as they went to training.

First Sgt. Sergeant Dale Thomas, the unit. s non-commissioned officer in charge, said his troops were at the "crawl" stage of his "crawl-walk-run" strategy for bringing the unit to total proficiency in land navigation. He said Company A has a diverse mix of experience . some new soldiers just learned these skills in basic training, while older soldiers, like himself, needed to brush-up on shooting an azimuth and pacing the distance.

The unit, composed of helicopter pilots, navigators, maintenance crews and supporting troops usually operate the aviation assets for the Delaware National Guard, but like all soldiers, they have to practice the basics sometimes too.