Armory Sponsor
Posted: 9/9/2025 12:03:01 PM EDT
 TNVC just completed Fall 2025 season kick off with Night Fighter 101 class Great Falls Montana. The Great Falls PD and Cascade County Sherrif’s department host us, and they provide awesome support and training environments. We love coming up here and training in the great wide open. This class had a great mix of LE, former/retired MIL and LE and average earth people, running the gamut of a ton of experience to first time NVG training. This led to a superb student experience, with great interaction and dialogue. We had students from as far away as southern California and one stalwart drove up from Texas for the class. Weather was about perfect for the Fall in Montana, with highs in the mid-80s, lows in the high 40s and little to no “smoke in the air” from summer fires in Canada. We experienced differing light conditions between training days one and two, with overcast skies on night one and an almost cloudless sky with a full moon on night two. This helped drive home to all players that differing light conditions will affect how your technology performs. This class had a healthy mix of goggles from across the spectrum of manufacturers (TNVC, Steele, L3/Harris) with a wide assortment of housings (fixed and articulating binoculars as well as a healthy dose of monocular systems). This mix drove good discussions on the set up and use of our goggles…with many “AHA” moments when we drove the goggles forward on the mount arm and used a slight upward tilt…the world literally opens up around your goggles when this happens. Lights and lasers are a key component of the application of technology, and all students took away that they are complementary and not contradictory. If I can see good with goggles, and “gooder” with an IR illuminator…why wouldn’t I want to see “goodest” with an application of white light? When positive identification has to be made in a restrictive environment, sometimes the application of white light and observation through our goggles is perfectly acceptable. We had a couple project and parts guns have issues during class. We stress this in our welcome letter, but it bears mentioning here. Coming to a low/no-light class with a project gun can limit your ability to get good reps in on technology while you fight with malfunctions. Bring a good, proven rifle that will run for the duration of the class so we can focus on the application of technology. While we say we are not teaching shooting, the bulk of our technology is on the end of a gun, so we have to have one that runs. Switchology is a lesson learned, and students said that was a huge takeaway…we have to work towards efficiently using our switches to apply energy when we want to. Final note, we did not experience any lube related weapon malfunctions…we got close with some guns sounding like a pile of dry leaves, but everyone got them soaking wet at the breaks and we dodged that bullet. Finally, our goal is to help all comers get competent, confident and capable with their application of technology, this great group of students came away saying they felt they were getting there…well done fellas. Additionally, several companies generously 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 Blue Force Gear Thyrm Otte Gear Unity Tactical Defense Mechanisms Subrevtech Cloud Defensive Koffinwurks Retention Ring SLIP2000 |
TNVC Training Programs
https://tnvc.com/shop/category/training-classes/
[email protected]
(909) 796-7000, ext 251
https://tnvc.com/shop/category/training-classes/
[email protected]
(909) 796-7000, ext 251
|
Thanks to all of the instructors for the training, I was glad to make it and learned a lot. If anybody reads this that is contemplating taking this class - DO IT! And don’t bring a POS nylon holster for your pistol (with light) like I did, because it sucked constantly. |
|
Absolutely fantastic class! The instructors bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the class and make everyone feel welcome. Thank you also to all the other students for the great conversation and support throughout the nights. Every question asked, and every mistake made, only helped me learn more. My take aways were how much one can really use white light along with NV as well as how equipment/switching setup can seriously enhance or degrade your abilities in the dark. Nothing can replace practical experience and practice - thank you to Joe, Ian, and Matt for helping me/us develop a solid foundation to build off of. Doing my best to plan to attend 201! |
Armory Sponsor