Night Nav

OK Bone question. I'm on the Junior Leaders course with cadets and need to be able to operate in a tactical environment at night.
For night navigation, is a blue filter on your torch suitable or does it have to be green?

 

Coloured light is a gimmick; whatever colour you use you'll still be visible, and have you ever tried dealing with a casualty in anything other than white light? Just stick some black tape over the end of your torch, with a pin-prick or two in it to allow a bit of light through. Pre-set your compass to the bearings you'll need, and make a mental note of major features in the area so you don't need to look at the map so often.

And make sure you know where all your kit is, so you don't need a torch to sort yourself out.

 

Red will do less damage to your night vision, but you will be unable to make out contour lines on your map. Best option is to tape your torch down to a pin prick as BZ says and remember to close one eye.

 

Red light is no gimmic. It travels less distance than most other colours in the visible band of the EMS and is therefore a wiser tactical choice. Beware of red light as it does not reflect shades of red on the map, including contour lines. IIRC, green actually travels furthest (hence the reason why many night vision devices tend to use green imagery filters).

EMS - Electro Magnetic Spectrum.

 

A word from the wise, and a voice of experience:

I once used blue light for navigation in South Armagh, for those familiar with "Bandit Country" you will know where I am going with this one. Water features are marked in blue on your maps and South Armagh is notoriously boggy, let’s just say, the blokes in my team were less than happy with me by the end of the patrol.

All coloured light has its disadvantages for night navigation, as mentioned red light hides contour lines; blue hides water features, green hides forestry blocks etc.

Best advice, study the map in detail before setting out, rely more on your route card (providing it has a lot of detail on it) and trust your compass, always pace out the distance between legs and confirm this with a check pacer.

T_M

 

Cheers Guys. I've experimented with putting sniper tape over my MagLite and it let's minimal white light through without the need for a pin prick.
It should cause the problem.
Failing that I'll use Red Filter