Review: Night Operations Class by ‘Green Tip’

This past weekend I completed the night vision class at Max Velocity Tactical. The class starts each day around 5 pm on the flat range. We did some individual and group drills to knock the rust off and make sure we are all on the same page. We check the zero on the IR lasers. We had discussions on the use of IR lasers, IR lights and white lights.

We moved on to the tactical ranges and competed a raid and ambush. If you have attended HEAT 1 and 2 then you have completed these. You must complete those classes before you can take the night vision class. This is because it’s dark and things are very different. You will see a reference to it being dark several times.

The big things I learned are you move a lot slower at night. I did a beautiful fall while on the jungle walk as a rock won and I lost my footing. You lack a degree of depth perception due to having on NVGs and well it is dark. You must look at the person to your left and right. This is more important than the daylight classes as your peripheral vison is cutdown due to it being dark. I learned my suppressor after a few magazines’ glows under NVGs like a light saber. I learned it is a lot harder to reload in the dark and I must work on this.

The class was super safe. We each had an IR marker on our helmets. We each had to wear a ballistic helmet and rifle plates. Max and First Sergeant were always close and could offer some quick suggestions if a student needed correction and correct anything potentially unsafe. I counted and I have been to 14 classes and MVT and have never seen anything unsafe. So, nothing changed this past weekend.

One thing I love about MVT is the constructive criticism you receive after a drill. I have been to several other schools, and this simply does not happen. The instructors are like cheerleaders and gloss over errors or minimize them if they even address them. This simply is a disservice to a student if you really want to learn the correct way to do small unit tactics. MVT is very structured and small details matter, and they are always addressed and drilled into students.

In conclusion this class was very good. It is a continuation of the day classes, and it all meshes seamlessly with the other MVT classes. I cannot recommend this class enough. If you honestly want to learn and have a solid foundation in small unit tactical then MVT is for you.

GreenTip