TNVC recently completed first Nightfighter 101 class of the year at The Sawmill in Laurens, SC. This was another sold out class and culminated a great training year for us. The class had a healthy mix of military (active and veteran) and civilians in the class; this class immediately followed a sold out Try Before You Buy event the preceding night.
The Sawmill Training Complex is a great place to train. The facilities are amazing and you can literally eat off the grass on the range. We really enjoy coming to this location, and it remains a staple venue for us for the foreseeable future. They offer a lot of different classes there and it is worth checking out for sure.
Our weather for this class was pretty good—high 70s during the day and high 50s at night. We had pretty low illumination for the weekend, but it did not affect the class nor the students. We did not get wet for the first class of the year which is hopefully a promising start to the teaching year!
We saw a wide spread of night vision devices and student experience in class. The varying experience was fun to work with—from novice to very experienced users I think that everyone got something out of the class. We did not experience any goggle or any other night vision related gear failure in the class.
This class really had minimal gear/weapon impacts on training. Most students were comfortable with their existing setups; this doesn’t mean that changes are planned, just their gear worked for what they were doing that weekend. Probably the most talked about piece of gear were holsters, and the value associated with a quality, level 2 retention holster.
We continue to recommend that the best pre-class purchases are:
A high mount for your optic
Red dot for your handgun (with appropriate level 2 duty holster)
A good 2-point sling
After that, we will help you get the most out of your existing setup. From there, you can make better informed decisions about the gear you want and need to make yourself more effective at night.
We cannot say enough about the hosts. Super friendly, eager to make sure that training was going right, and opened their amazing facility to us and our students. The Sawmill hosts a lot of great training and events—if you are local to the area, we encourage you to get on their website and check out what they have going on out there.
Additionally, several companies stepped up to offer students swag and door prizes for their attendance. We really appreciate their generosity and are proud to have them associated with our classes.
Ops-Core
Unity Tactical
Thyrm
Geissele Automatics
Otte Gear
Phokus Research Group
Blue Force Gear
Cloud Defensive
Defense Mechanisms
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