TNVC Night Fighter 101 Course Review

Seeing in the dark changes everything. As any first-time user will tell you, looking into the night sky through night vision is an experience that cannot be adequately described.

Since getting my night vision goggles, I’ve used them for tasks ranging from stargazing and hiking to changing diapers and walking the dog. Everything is new and different when looking through lenses that change how you see the world.

Overcoming this is exactly why training with your gear is so important. That is where the Tactical Night Vision Company Night Fighter 101 course comes in, and let me tell you, it is much more than you think.

So keep reading as I walk you through my experiences at the Night Fighter course and let you in on whether this course is worth your time and money.

What You’ll Need to Bring

As part of the lead-up to the course, you’ll receive an email with details about items you should bring, what you should expect, and more. This list is your roadmap to success and covers almost everything you’ll need.

The only supplement I would make to the list is this: bring an open mind and a stellar attitude. Without these, the course will waste your money and everyone’s time.

Of course, you’ll need some guns. Start with a quality semi-auto carbine (or an AK, as we had one guy running one in the class). You can get some recommendations in our Best AR-15 and Best AK articles.

With this, you’ll need a minimum of 3-5 magazines to ensure you don’t have to reload the same one over and over.

You’ll also want a sling and a flashlight. 

Second, you’ll need a handgun, ideally with a flashlight and some sort of red dot that has night vision compatible settings. This, too, will need 3-5 magazines for the same reasons as above.

I will say that TNVC and the cadre of instructors they use will allow just about any optic, flashlight, and any brand of firearm, though the caveat is this: they need to be reliable.

If your home-built Frankengun keeps malfunctioning, you aren’t learning nearly as much as the other students. Spoiler alert: the class isn’t going to wait for you.

Similarly, if your flashlight is too anemic or can’t stay on, you’ll miss out on parts of the class. Do yourself and the other people attending a service and run something that will last.

There are some admin items you’ll need, as well as some others you’ll want. A chest rig and/or belt are required to hold your rifle and pistol magazines.

In addition, you’ll find a dump pouch helpful for holding spare rounds, empty magazines, and water or snacks.

A handheld light is required for things like checking to ensure your gun is cleared out while in the dark and for one or two demonstrations you work through. 

A helmet is a must, as you will be running night vision. If you don’t own a helmet or night vision, that isn’t an issue; TNVC rents helmets out to students.

You’ll want food and hydration. The class is a working lunch setup, where breaks mean jamming mags while snacking on things and carrying on discussions. There is no formal meal, so you’ll want items you can bring to keep you going throughout the night.

Similarly, you’ll need water and other beverages to stay hydrated during your breaks. That dump pouch can easily hold an energy drink or a Nalgene bottle.

Night Fighter 101 Course Review

Night Fighter 101 is a beginner-level NIGHT FIGHTING course. I cannot emphasize enough that while it is an entry into the world of fighting in the dark, it is intended only for those with a solid foundation in pistol shooting, rifle shooting, gun safety, and weapons manipulation.

TNVC takes its course requirements seriously, vetting all students to ensure they have the basic skillset needed to allow the class to operate smoothly and safely.

To paint the class with broad strokes, it is one part classroom instruction, a few parts range drills, and a dash of functional exercises woven together to create an immersive two-day experience.

Safety

I’m not going to sugarcoat this next part: there are a couple of instances in the Night Fighter 101 class where you will be pointing guns at one another.

Most people will be recoiling as they read that and be getting ready to pound their keyboard about how this violates one of the Four Firearms Safety Rules, and they’d be right. That said, safety is taken more seriously in this class than anywhere I have ever trained.

The TNVC classes’ staff go above and beyond to ensure safety is the primary concern in every activity.

In the drills where guns are pointed at other students, there is no live ammo or other firearms allowed anywhere near the class. People and their possessions are checked, then checked again. Guns are checked multiple times in the classroom and then checked again in the drill line before anyone can start.

Before any drills, chamber flags are inserted into the guns to prove that they have been completely cleared of all ammo and remain in place until drilling is done and all questions answered. Similarly, weapons are completely cleared and inspected at the end of each day, and chamber flags inserted until the following day, when training with live ammo resumes.

Once live ammo is introduced, safety is taken just as seriously.

Instructors are positioned on the range so that more than one is focused on nothing but the students and the way they manipulate their weapons. There was an occasion when another student and I were called out by an instructor for even starting to alter from a shown position, for the possibility of laziness creeping in and resulting in muzzling another student.

No safety violations were committed, but if the staff saw it trending that way, they cut it off before it became an issue.

Whether the drill involves dry practice, live fire, or just practical or theoretical exercises, safety is emphasized as the chief concern. All procedures throughout the class support this idea while allowing students to slowly build up their confidence in the skills they are learning.

When I say safety is serious with this class, it is an understatement that cannot be stressed enough. You will be safe in the class.

Overall Instruction

The start of night one features an introductory class covering some facts about night vision, basic nomenclature, and moving into some gear selection. This portion allows the students and instructors to get to know one another, iron out any questions, and discuss the tempo of the training.

One of the things TNVC’s Director of Training stressed here is that students should ask questions. Not only does it show a sign of maturity, but it also allows a flow of information that is not under the stress of live fire. This is one of the best times for answers to be given to you, and if you have a question, it’s very likely another student wants to know the same thing.

One of the beautiful things about the TNVC class setup, though, is that the answer to any question asked can be answered by any instructor present. If you were to take any three random TNVC instructors and ask them a series of questions, the answers would convey the same core information time and time again.

Each person comes from a different background and has a different set of experiences and skills, but when all of the extras are stripped away, they lead from a set of principles they wholeheartedly believe in. Yes, you might get slightly different viewpoints from one staff member to the next, but the basic points will all be the same.

In my class, we had a former SEAL team medic, a prior SWAT officer out of Chicago, and a prior service Marine. The SWAT officer was a bit more versed and used to dealing with the legal side of things. At the same time, the other two offered insights from the military world. Seeing how their experiences shaped their answers without diverging from a concept was honestly fascinating.

Students are made familiar with their equipment before firing a round. The basic operation of the night vision device is introduced, including how to focus the devices and the appropriate times to adjust.

If you’ve never used night vision, few things are more magical than simply looking up at the night sky. The stars are one of the things used for focusing on night vision; frankly, that view is breathtaking.

Night one also includes some comparisons between using white light and using night vision in a controlled setting, then discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each. Then, it’s on to define something very misunderstood: the positive ID of a target.

Once more, white light and night vision are compared and discussed before the range gets going. There is one major point I need to make here so that it isn’t a surprise to anyone.

Skills

What exactly will you learn in the Night Fighter class, you might ask? Well, the answer to that is going to be different for everyone.

The topics covered ranged from setting up and using night vision for the first time to the differences and use of laser aiming devices to target identification at range with white light and everything in between. Depending on the experience of the student and the skillset they possess, each person will build upon techniques at a different pace.

“Now do it again in the dark” is a phrase I’ve heard repeatedly in training I’ve taken, and this class is an extension of that philosophy.

Everything you do in a gunfight is the same whether the lights are on or not. Ponder that for a moment.

Loading your primary and secondary guns, transitioning from one to the other, emergency reloads, movement, and every other action you take while shooting at targets must be done with EXTREMELY limited visibility. This could be due to the 40-degree field of view from your night vision or simply because no light is used while you read something.

I can tell you without any hint of embarrassment that the first few times I tried something as simple as reloading my rifle, I felt like a baby trying to take its first steps.

One of the things that stands out about this class is the environment created to foster learning.

We had students who had never used night vision, shot in low-light conditions, and were limited only to flat-range shooting during the day. Never once was a student made to feel like they were holding up the class, slowing the pace down, or uncomfortable for not knowing something.

At any time, students could ask to see a demo again, ask for extra reps on a drill to ensure they had it, and were never chastised for any of the above. This is important because the ceiling for competency is raised, and the learning has to occur under more stressful conditions. Managing all that without anyone feeling inferior is a feat unto itself.

Why You Should Go

If it hasn’t been made apparent yet, I’m a huge proponent of good training, and the TNVC Night Fighter 101 class is an opportunity to unlock things within yourself as a shooter. Through quality teaching, a passion for what this class stands for, and a company standing behind it to encourage more learning, the Night Fighter 101 class will make you a better shooter.

Doing things in hard mode makes the easy repetitions seem that much easier.

Once you’ve had to conduct an emergency reload on your pistol and your carbine in the dark, doing one with the aid of your eyes is a walk in the park. Think making 50-yard pistol shots on steel is hard? Now, try doing it under night vision to see what you think. 

Your skill set will be refined and made much stronger by adding the additional “stress” of removing your eyes from the equation. Anything that you do, you should be able to do in the dark right?

This isn’t it, though; you’ll also get different perspectives. These will come from not only the staff, with their diverse backgrounds, but other students.

Everyone in the class will have their gear set up slightly differently and have different bells and whistles, and you’ll get real-time exposure to what works and what might not.

Final Thoughts

I found my time at the Night Fighter 101 course to be some of the most valuable training I’ve had in my years of shooting guns, not only because it was all new to me but because it impacted every facet of firearms for me.

Can it do the same for you? If you’re willing to give the class a shot, keep your mind open, and show up prepared to be humbled, it just might.

You’ll only get out of a training class what you put into it, and that holds true of the Night Fighter 101 class. The difference here is that most people have never shot in the dark, with night vision, or even under low-light conditions.

Dare to be different and go after a skill set that will set you apart from the average shooter, and aside from your bank account, you won’t regret it.

Want us to do more course reviews? Drop us a comment below and let us know! In the meantime, check out our articles on the Best Night Vision Goggles and Night Vision Optics.