TNVC completed our last open enrollment Nightfighter 101 of the spring 2023 season at Alliance, OH, from 15-16 April. We had a mix of law enforcement and civilians in the class. It was a great group of students with a wide variety of night vision experience. The NF101 class followed a Try Before Buy Event and Nightfighter 201 went on concurrently. Plus, we had Steve Fisher from Sentinel Concepts teaching at the range too. It was a full, fun weekend!
The Alliance Police Range is unmatched in capabilities, facilities and staff. We simply cannot say enough good things about training here, and we enjoy coming here, every time. Joe Weyer is a true gem in the training industry—if you can get to Alliance for any class, take the opportunity to do so.
Weather was, well, Alliance weather. We started with highs in the low 80s and lots of sun. Finished the course with cold wet rain that bordered on snow. On Sunday, we saw a 30 degree drop in temperatures in about 6 hours. The students were awesome—they brought good gear and did extremely well in some challenging weather.
We saw a wide spread of night vision devices and student experience in class. We did have one laser go down in the class—a DBAL D2 that we could not get one of the laser gimbals to adjust properly. We were able to replace it with one from our rental fleet and keep the student on the range.
Weapons reliability was above average for this class. There were a couple of malfunctions, but nothing serious that kept a student from missing any drills.
This group was “johnny on the spot” for breaks and timing. As a result of them taking good breaks and bring back on time, we were able to complete our objectives, and more, in a shorter amount of time. Pre-loading magazines, bringing the right amount and types of food helps make for more efficient breaks and helps the class take advantage of the available time.
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
Otte Gear
Phokus Research Group
Blue Force Gear
Cloud Defensive
Defense Mechanisms
NodPods
Koffinwurks
Subrevtech