The compass no one knows how to use

Before commenting please watch the video. As repeatedly stated in the video, this is NOT a cammenga.

I don't know why this was recommended, but I'm glad it was.

Funny what pops up on YouTube. This takes me back 40 years. In preparing to go into the military, way back when, an elderly family friend (a former WW2 infantry office who retired as a Maj-Gen taught me map reading, celestial navigation, triangulation, and lots of other basic skills that I have now forgotten with the passage of time. I also remember doing orienteering over vast expanses of eastern Australia, down in the national parks on the South Coast of NSW. It was so long ago and I was so young. Where did all those decades go?

I have used a copy of the M1950 since 1973 and I was using it wrong until your video. I pulled it out of the draw and followed along with you. Boy, I learned a lot. Thank you.

I have an original M1938 I got from my Grandfather long ago. He fought in WWI with the Red Arrows out of Wisconsin or Minnesota. I don't remember which. I do remember he used to tell me about fighting along side the British solders in the trenches of France. I imagine he got it from an Army surplus after WWII. Above the Company name it reads: 8-45 CORPS OF ENGINEERS U. S. ARMY Below the Company name there's markings that read: MANUFACTURED BY SUPERIOR MAGNETO CORP L.I. CITY N.Y.. U.S.A. All the letters are upper case. Mine has the Yellow line reaching from the edge of the dial to the center hub that rotates with the glass. It also has a black line and three yellow dots that don't rotate. If I line up the N arrow with the black line, these dots are at 90 deg and 180 deg and 270 deg. My Grandfather did teach me how to use it, but I was very young and have forgotten. So, thank you for teaching me again!

I have an old M1938 looking model. I learned to use a compass in ROTC in high school (1976). Spent a week at Army Ranger camp one summer and a group of us was dropped into the woods with instructions to find our way back to camp using nothing but a compass. We were given a bearing and a time limit. Yeah, we made it back in time (before pitch black dark). I keep a compass folded in my truck console and keep my cell phone’s compass app turned on with my phone mounted in a dashboard holder to keep my mind fresh and up to date re: bearings.

I just wanted to say thank you. Not just for the lesson and how to use that particular style of compass. It’s just your demeanor. You’re very pleasant. You clearly put your heart into this. It was just an utter joy to watch. I hope you are in the educational field. You are the instructor professor everyone wishes they had.

I have my father’s M1938. He was in the 5th Ranger Battalion 13:42 . It went through D-Day, and many other battles with him. I’m glad I have a better understanding of how it works now.

During my military service in Switzerland, I was taught that the short yellow line - or it's equivalent on the Recta Swiss Army issue matchbox - was used to circumnavigate larger obstacles in your path - i.e a pond. Before reaching the obstacle, you would set your bearing from the long line to the short line. Then, you would walk the new bearing, counting your steps, until you were on the side of the obstacle. Then you would reset the bearing by 90 degrees and walk the number of counted steps. Then after walking this trisngle sround the obstacle, you woul reset your original bearing on the long yellow line.

Having been in the Army (late 70s to mid 80s), and especially being an Artillery Fire Directions Specialist (13E) , knowledge and proficiency in use of the compass was SOP (even more so for Artillery Forward Observer's). It is perhaps one of the best bits of training we received that has proven invaluable in civilian life and something I use to this day. Nicely done video! Thank you!

What a cool video. It’s been 30 years since I used a lensatic compass for navigation. Primary Leadership Development Course.

Yeah people go to youtube and forget there are other resources! My 1970's era Boy Scout handbook had a chapter on that style of compass. Oh and yes my dad taught me how with an M1938 compass he was issued in the USMC around 1950. Thanks for posting this, brings back some memories of my childhood! Well done!

One of the most useful, entertaining and educational channels on the internet. Hats off from Germany. And thank you for the good work. Dirk

I used a M1938 for decades. I never got lost. I got bewildered a time or two. Ridges and creeks not clear on my USGS Maps, when I got new ones they were there. I made it home with out spending a night in the woods both times. I grew up in the hills of SW Virginia, and everyone, Uncles, Grandparents made sure i knew enough to survive for days if I got lost. I spent a week with friends on a Primitive Hunt, we lived of the land harvested rabbits, squirrel and fish from çreeks, We hàd well timed flintlocks rifles and knew how to use them. To light fires primitive means, Bow drill, strike a light and filling the pan of a flintlock. To navigate we used the circle on the ground and a stick after 15 minutes I placed another stick on the point of the shadow and figured out North

I was a Boy Scout in the 1960s and we used compasses that were basically the same as the M1950. Though, admittedly, it has been over 50 years since I used one and I find that I did need a refresher on it. Thank you.

I admire people who can read maps. The only map reading I do these days is I orient my GPS so that north is at the top of the screen rather than the map constantly changing depending on direction.

Interesting and educational video. As a cartographer and recent former serviceman, I bemoan the fact that this new generation don't even know how to use a map and/or compass.

These are so cool! Nowadays people say "why do I need this? I have Google maps on my phone", but nobody actually uses Google maps where I live. Whenever someone comes to meet me, they call me and annoy me asking for manual turn-by-turn navigation to my location. There was this one time I was the one going to meet another person, and I asked him to share his GPS position. He said "Nevermind, I am going to pick you up." 😭 I wish there were more people who know their way around maps.

Used it in the US Army in the ‘80’s, but no one explained the yellow lines. Funny enough, I just used the long one as you suggested, I could never figure out why they had a 45 degree offset. I kind of thought maybe it was for going around obstacles or something, but never worried about it.

I've had one with two glow in the dark lines instead of your white lines since the 70's. I bought it in a military surplus store here in Iowa. My father was a watch maker in the early 60's and took in a very old compass as trade on a new watch. The old compass is mounted on an old leather pocket watch fob and has a silver case just like an old pocket watch. It opens by pressing the stem like a pocket watch. The cover when snapped shut locks the needle from spinning to protect it. On the front cover are two large letters"US" indicating it was probably an old military compass of some branch. I have not seen another one like it so we never figured out the history behind it.