Student Review: Night Optical Device Firing (NODF) June 28: Wattage

Night Optical Device Firing (NODF)

NODF- This class is INSANE awesome.  First off, I don’t know of another place in the entire country that is teaching this class!  Aaron, Max and Chris all instructed this class and taught us how to properly adjust our Night Vision gear, helmets and use them.   Then we headed to the range to align the bore with the IR lasers on the rifle, which was accomplished really quickly and easily (because they knew how to do it right and quickly!).   We then spent time on the range doing some shooting drills which included movement toward and away from targets and basic night vision skills.   Afterward, we all loaded into Max’s Ranger (Max had on his night vision, so no lights!)  for a night ambush on targets that Max, Chris and Aaron had set up in the woods earlier.   Talk about exciting!!!  If you have night vision or are thinking about investing in night vision, then this is the class for you.  The MVT instructors teach you every step of the way and then put it into action as well.   For four of our group that also took the Patrol Class, they really got a big bang for their buck as they got to use their new found skills in the night recce, which was just badass.

-Wattage

Max: The ideal setup for this class, which applies to the actual use of night vision gear at night, is:

• PVS-14 night vision monocular, head mounted.
• You should mount it on a helmet, bump or ballistic type, or a Crye Precision Nightcap with shroud (awesome lightweight option). The standard skull crusher is not ideal because it does not allow you to flip up the PVS-14 (and it crushes your skull!)
• DBAL style rail mounted IR laser, preferably with a rail switch to turn it on and off (so you can have  a momentary on only option).
• Weapon mounted IR flashlight is also useful, although we will tell you when and when not are good times to use this.

If you are able to rig this gear to your head/weapon in advance, that will save time, rather than getting it out of the box on the night. If you don’t have a clue, we will help as necessary. We will give you the basics, and also show you the utility and limitations of this gear. You can’t pull it off the shelf and suddenly own the night, ninja! Hours under NVG’s are precious training. If it is dark night and you have never used this gear before, you can feel a frustration and claustrophobia that we will help you with. Training time is vital with this gear.

Under safe and controlled conditions, we will zero your IR laser, get you night shooting, do some controlled movement /target engagement on the square range, and take you out on a simple controlled night ambush on the tactical ranges.

Also check out this coming advanced class: Night Fighting (NF).