TNVC Night Fighter Armed Professional is a course put on by Tactical Night Vision Company in order to provide vetted civilians and professionals with the tools to fight under varied lighting conditions. Students are expected to already have an understanding of low light and no light operations.

Due to ITAR restrictions, only US citizens can participate in TNVC courses. The armed professional class is primarily geared towards active duty military, security contractors, and law enforcement, but is available to civilians with the proper prerequisites. It is recommended that students come in good physical condition as it can be a strenuous class.

TNVC Night Fighter Armed Professional – Packing List

https://tnvc.com/training/

Below is the packing list requirements provided by TNVC:

Ammunition

• 1,000 rds Rifle
• 300 rds Pistol

Gear

• Serviceable Carbine or Rifle
• Weapon Light
• Red Dot (preferable Night Vision compatible)
• Infrared Laser (can be rented for additional fee)
• Weapon-Mounted IR Illuminator (recommended)
• Sling
• Serviceable Pistol
• Night Sights or MRDS (preferred)
• Weapon Light
• Night Vision Goggle (Gen3 preferred) Rental Gear Available
• Ballistic Helmet with Night Vision Mount
• Level 3 or 4 Rifle Plates and Appropriate Soft Armor
• Pro Mask and 2 New Filters
• Hand Held White Light
• Ballistic Eye Protection
• Ear Protection
• Maintenance/Cleaning Kit for Weapons
• Minimum of Five (5) Serviceable Rifle Magazines
• Minimum of Three (3) Serviceable Pistol Magazines
• Pistol Holster and Magazine Pouches that will retain items during movement
• Must hold two (2) each Rifle and Pistol Magazines on Person
• Sufficient Batteries for all your equipment
• IFAK or BOK on Person
• Clothing suited to strenuous activity as well as being seasonally appropriate
• Rain Gear / Cold Weather Gear (seasonal)
• Any other Agency / Unit-specific tactical gear used on normal operations / call-outs
• Snacks, Energy Drinks, etc.

Alliance PD Range

I attended TNVC Night Fighter AP on March 20-22nd, 2018 in Alliance Ohio at the Alliance PD Training Range. If you have not been to the Alliance range you are not only missing out on great instruction from top instructors but an incredible training environment. There is an 8100 square foot 360 degree live shoot house, 300 meter rifle range, a 100 meter square range, numerous steel targets, 2 classrooms, and other facilities to help bridge the gap between the square range and real world environments.

The weather was cold and it snowed throughout the majority of the course, but the heated classroom at the facility helped significantly. As the course was centered around fighting in darkness, the class was on a reverse schedule running from late afternoon to early morning.

Training Day One

The course began with a discussion on the proper mindset and use of night vision and thermal equipment. Don Edwards and Chip Lasky were the instructors with years of experience brought to the table through their background in special forces and extensive training experience.

Many common questions such as dual tube versus single tube were addressed or white phosphorous versus green, but the clarity of the responses and the experience were continually evident through the answers given. These answers also helped to create a foundation for the information taught during the rest of the course. It is very beneficial to have a firm understanding of your equipment to get the most out of its application. Both how the equipment functions and what tools are best for which purpose were covered well and gave students a well rounded understanding. For those in need of gear or wanting to test out other gear TNVC had rental gear available. The instructors not only brought rental equipment, but also brought some rifle setups to visually demonstrate and give a hands-on opportunity to test new equipment.

Gear Testing

For those looking to get into night vision I highly suggest taking a course and trying some equipment. This will help you make a more informed purchase and TNVC allows course attendees to credit rental costs towards a purchase. A representative from American Defense Manufacturing also attended the course and generously provided students with optic mounts. When using a standard mount it was possible to still get behind my Aimpoint with the NODs if needed, but it was difficult and slow. With a taller mount I not only shoot comfortable with NODs but my speed has increased when shooting day or night.

Zeroing and Drills

Attendees were expected to arrive with optics zeroed. Some attendees borrowed lasers for the course so those were quickly zeroed and other students were able to confirm their zero with their red dot if using a converging zero. To expedite the process lasers that were not zeroed prior to the course were cowitnessed with the optics at 100 meters. No shooting was done past this distance during the course and the zero process worked well. I borrowed a full power DBAL A3 for the course.

Once zeroed all shooters met on the line and various commands were given. This was a familiarization period for those not used to rental gear and for the instructors to ensure the safety and skill level of the shooters.

Training Day Two

Day two started at 1800 and the class was split into two groups. One group went with Don to work on shooting on the move. The other group went with Chip to go over some basics of CQB in the shoot house. This was done during the light to get properly oriented. For the daylight shoot house portion no rounds were fired.

Everyone was then given a partner and the 2 man teams would each go through multiple scenarios after dark in the shoot house. For these scenarios bolts were swapped out and everyone ran a UTM bolt and UTMs for the scenarios.

Training Day Three

Day three was the final scenario. Don and Chip gave a recap based on prior performance and topics covered during the course. After instructors ensured only UTM rounds and bolts were present, we were given a briefing and loaded into a van. Alliance Police Training Center has an agreement with the town to use various buildings in town for training. Our first building was a church that we had to search for a suspect.

We then proceeded to two more houses to clear two houses and finish the scenario. Having large open rooms at the Alliance shoot house helped reduce complexity when fighting under night vision. However, the tight hallways, large multilevel room with numerous church pews, and other factors from the final scenario quickly ramped up the complexity.

Conclusion

The Night Fighter course is properly named as the idea is not to simply teach the user how to best utilize night vision as a tool. Instead the course integrates white light and distinguishes the different uses of IR and visible light to form a seamless integration through user discretion. I highly recommend TNVC Night Fighter Armed professional to those looking for an advanced application course and recommend TNVC Night Fighter for anyone starting in night vision or looking to improve their skills and kit with a future purchase.