Ranger Beads

I can't take credit for this item since it was first used by legionnaires among the Roman Army more than two thousand years ago but I have at least redesigned it. They are commonly called "Ranger Beads" and were highly used by the special forces during the Vietnam Conflict and are popular among hunters, hikers, campers and of course military personnel today in the Middle East. Used for land navigation they allow you to keep very accurate estimates of your distance traveled and can be configured to either standard measurement or the more common metric measurement used in conjunction with UTM grid based maps such as would be used in the military.

They are configured as follows:
Metric:
4 upper beads each representing a klick or 1000 meters.
9 lower beads each representing 100 meters.
Standard:
6 upper beads each representing a 1/2 mile or 880 yards
7 lower beads each representing a 1/16 mile or 110 yards

I make mine with either acrylic or pewter scull beads and they can be worn as a necklace or attached to your gear with a D-ring using the loop I have placed just above the upper knot as seen in the above photo. As for the number of paces it takes to equal 100 meters, you count every time your left foot hits the ground (every other step) and that is a "pace". The average man walks 66 paces (112 steps) in 100 meters. To give you a reference, I am 6 feet tall and I walk exactly 66 paces in 100 meters. But if you have a heavy pack and lots of gear your gait will shorten so be sure you re-measure your gait with your gear on in this case.