Step-by-Step Guide to Learning Manual Pace Counting
Pace Count
What is a Pace?
A pace refers to one natural step, approximately 30 inches for most adults. However, various field conditions can affect pace. Conditions such as terrain and vegetation can influence your pace length. It’s important to determine your personal pace count under different conditions.
Why 100 Meters?
Because each person's pace is different, a 100-meter provides a standardized and easier to reproduce as way to measure over pace alone. Therefore, knowing your personal pace count over 100 meters is essential for accurately determining the distance traveled using the pace count method.
Pace Count Beads
Pace count beads, ranger or pacer beads, are a manual tool mainly used in a method of land navigation called Dead Reckoning. It's often used in poor visibility, featureless terrain, and at night. They assist in tracking ground distance while navigating on foot.
How to Determine Your Pace Count
To accurately use pace count beads, you must first calculate how many paces it takes to cover 100 meters. This is done by measuring out a 100-meter course and walking it at a natural, consistent pace. A pace is typically defined as two steps. In the military, we begin with the left foot. Every time the left foot touches the ground, that counts as one pace. Repeat this process several times and take the average to determine your true pace count. For greater accuracy, try this on different types of terrain that mimic the environment you’ll be navigating.
Conditions Affect Pacecount
Different conditions affect the pace count. Terrain, surface type (sand, mud, snow), and limited visibility are just a few examples.
- Clothing- Excess and footwear with poor traction will affect pace
- Elements- Rain, falling snow, and ice will shorten the pace.
- Length- Pace lengthens on a downslope and shortens on an uphill.
- Surfaces- Sand, mud, gravel, and snow tend to shorten the pace.
- Visibility- Such as fog, rain, and darkness, will shorten the pace.
- Winds- A headwind will shorten pace, and a tailwind will increase pace
A pace count bead set has 13 beads: 4 beads in the top section and 9 beads in the bottom section. Start with all beads pushed to the top of their respective sections.
Each time you pace 100 meters, pull down one bead from the bottom section. Continue pulling down one bead for every additional 100 meters walked.
Once you have pulled down all 9 bottom beads (representing 900 meters), on your next 100-meter segment (making 1000 meters total), do the following:
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Pull down one bead from the top section.
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Reset all 9 bottom beads back to the top position.
This process allows you to manually track distances up to 5000 meters using the beads.
