E-Mail 'Guest Article: Considerations for Night Operations- Part 2, by Max Alexander' To A Friend

5 Comments

1. Great summary, Max! Thanks. Liked the part about over-reliance on the tech stuff.

   Morale–training-aggression.

2. I’ve always had an issue with the use of white lights on a firearm, both for field use and CQB. Admittedly, some of that is the result of my ancient infantry training (1985).

   The second you turn on that white light you loose your night vision. At this point you will need to keep that white light on or end up almost blind. Yes, you can keep one eye closed but under stress that will be exactly the opposite of what your body wants (screams) to do. Fighting a natural adrenaline response is possible with a lot of training, but it’s always better to work with it.

3. I looked up parachute flares for sale, and found one that is red. You might one of these in the event of night time/movement/ ambush/ encounter to save a bit on night vision. And as always, launch any parachute flare from a covered and concealed position, if possible. If not, fire one and move away from that position as quickly as possible, and don’t fire one with the radio man next to you. Ask me how I know.

4. An old VN trick we used was to throw ground flares towards the enemy when engaging them at night. Less of a give-away of your own position, and ruins their night vision as well as making the enemy somewhat confused. Watch out for them trees, lest it comes right back at you.

5. In the days when a used CRT screen for an X-ray machine cost as much as a new Cadillac, radiologists did stomach X-ray exams with a fluorescent screen using their natural night vision. They preserved this between exams by wearing goggles similar to welding goggles.
   Welding goggles are in the $10 range and allow some preconditioning to night vision before stepping out without night vision equipment.

Comments are closed.