Except those were all infantry officers. When you're an artillery officer, who knows that a six-gun sheaf of fire will plaster 8 football fields with shrapnel, you stay pretty motivated to know where you are.

Most infantry captains simply turned to me and asked "Art'y, where the hell are we?" We didn't have to concentrate on moving 40 Marines (2d Lieutenant) or 160 (Captain), so I could keep very close tabs on where we actually were, using topographic features from the map, an occasional compass bearing and so forth.

Nowadays I much prefer a map for navigation. If the terrain in flat and heavily forested (NC coastal areas for instance) a compass is nice. If I'm with my wife, a GPS is occasionally nice to play with (since I don't carry one on solo trips). They all have a place.

I'm surprised no one hasw mentioned using the sun for a quick orientation. It's my best quick reference versus a compass.

My concern with GPS is mostly for those who don't have a decent foundation in basic orienteering who rely totally on GPS. I really do feel that those who wander into the backcountry ought to have at least very basic map skills.