 Its assigned mission was to provide AMS with required geodetic, mapping control and field classification data which are used in the production of various scale topographic maps.The battalion operated in Libya, Iran, Ethiopia (including the Ethiopia – United States Mapping Mission) and Liberia, and in some of the most rugged terrain in the world.Environmental conditions within the areas of operation created physical hazards such as miles of desert, blinding sand storms that imperil health and damage delicate instruments, mountains that range up to 15,000 feet above sea level, and steaming jungles with wild animals, dangerous reptiles and insects.