This past weekend (22-24 SEP 23), TNVC Training completed another iteration of Nightfighter 201 in Alliance, OH. It was another busy week for the team this week as we executed a concurrent Nightfighter 101 in Alliance as well. We also had two members of the teaching team at Gunstock, so this was a full court press for us.
We absolutely enjoy coming to Alliance--the "Hawaii of the Midwest" as Pat Rogers called it. Joe Weyer is a good friend of the company and close personal friend and mentor to me. It is like coming home for us, and we enjoy being there. Plus, it is an amazing facility to train at, and we are always able to do some neat things there that other venues cannot do.
We had a full class; the student break down was split right down the middle between law enforcement and civilian students. It’s great to see graduates of Nightfighter 101 come back to Nightfighter 201 and it is particularly gratifying to see switched on average earth people out here exercising their rights, investing their time and energy in expanding their knowledge. All but 2 students were NF101 graduates, and we had 2 that came back for another dose of NF201.
The weather was excellent with minimal moisture--some drizzle on night 3 with highs in the mid-70s and lows in the mid-50s. Solid illumination at about 35% that allowed goggles to work well, but not overly bright.
Equipment across the class was a broad spectrum of binoculars and monocular goggles, lasers and lights. We did not experience any gear related failures, however, this course drives home the point of single spectrum/constant on/high candela lights. Additionally, captured buffer or piston recoil systems are not UTM friendly. They may be great with live ammo, but do not perform with low power UTM recoil. We did have 2 stoppages that I saw with UTM--a double feed and a failure to extract. Otherwise, no major issues at all.
This course builds on previous instruction (either ours or courses like it, lots of great instructors out there), and uses a facilitation model vice a “do this, shoot this in this way” model. Students are expected to be advanced shooters, the gas pedal is all the way down for this three-day package, from live fire to UTM on target. We use a “layer cake” of teaching points to avoid the fire hose of information, but it is a lot in a compressed timeline. Come ready to rock…students are encouraged to explore possibilities and solve problems as they see fit.
While TNVC does not have a range that we own, we consider an Alliance our home range. We will be back there several times next year. Our 2024 schedule will go live next month, and we are excited about what we will offer and how many classes we have on the schedule.
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.
Ops-Core
Unity Tactical
Defense Mechanisms
Thyrm
Otte Gear
Phokus Research Group
Blue Force Gear
Cloud Defensive
Nods-Pods
Act in Black
Sub Rev-tech
Koffinwurks