TNVC recently completed another Nightfighter 101 class in Alliance, OH on September 17-18. We preceded this class with our NF101 in Great Falls, so we were pretty busy in the span of a 10 days! This was another sold-out class, and we really enjoyed having that many students. The class had a healthy mix of law enforcement and civilians in the class; with a large number of medical professionals present—easily the most medically prepared class we have taught! We had a super time teaching this class.
We cannot say enough about the training facility at Alliance. Joe Weyer is a personal and professional friend to me and the company, and we will continue to come back to Alliance as we view it as a “home” range for us.
We could not have asked for better weather. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s. And guess what—it did not rain! We had superb visibility on both nights, and even on night two on the rifle range we did not encounter the normal inversion layer challenges we experience.
We saw a wide spread of night vision devices and student experience in class. We did not experience any night vision gear related issues in the class.
This was an interesting class regarding student weapons—we had not one, but two, 7.62 guns in the class; an FAL and a SCAR17. Optics ranged from red dots to ACOGs and LPVOs. Some of the students running the ACOGs and LPVOs had back up red dots, which make those optics work best for both day and night applications. The students that did not have that option saw the challenges associated with the magnified optics and night vision.
We had several students running the nylon pistol holster from a variety of companies. Nowadays, there are much better options for duty-related work and most of them start with S and rhyme with Safariland. Especially for pistols with red dots and lights. Movement at night nearly dictates a higher degree of retention, and although some of the kydex and nylon options might work for traditional range use, once you really get moving at night, we want to ensure that the pistol is retained and readily and easily accessible.
We run a pretty aggressive tempo to our classes for working between the two relays. A lot of this has to do with working on a semi-reverse schedule, and we have a lot of training objectives we want to cover. Jamming mags prior to class, and having readily available food and drinks helps make your breaks more enjoyable, relaxing, and keeps our students alert and receptive to instruction. Small things like that can help you make the most of your breaks.
We will announce our 2022 schedule next month in our training newsletter. We will return to Alliance several times next year—it is a staple in our training venues and we love the location for both what we can do and who we work with.
Additionally, several companies stepped up to offer students swag and such for their attendance. We really appreciate their generosity and are proud to have them associated with our classes.
Rite in the Rain
Ops-Core
Unity Tactical
Thyrm
Geissele Automatics
Otte Gear
Phokus Research Group
Blue Force Gear
Cloud Defensive