Nightfighter Carbine Class After Action September 2025
I recently returned from teaching a Nightfighter Carbine Class at Sig Academy in New Hampshire. The following is in no particular order but I wanted to impress on those of you who follow Viking Tactics the importance of always conducting an AAR (After Action Review) no matter how many times you may have taken a class or taught a class, we can always learn.
Have a light switch on your carbine that can be activated with either hand and can be set to constant on if need be to engage a target with strong or support hand only. I use the pressure switch on the back of the SureFire Turbo, no pig tails just the push button on the back of the light. There are lots of cool switches out there, I simply prefer the tried and true built in switch.
Handling a Carbine with a light is hard work. Several students told me how smoked they were after the first day of training. Moving with the carbine and having to activate a light isn’t easy but is something we can train for. Spend time with your carbine and a VTAC barricade to get more comfortable with the activation of the light, strong and support side, and build the stamina to get it done when the need arises.
Stay closer to vehicles. At night especially when trying to illuminate a target with a high horsepower tactical light, it is better to be close to the vehicle for several reasons. First is the fact that you are less easily flanked by multiple bad guys. Staying tight to the vehicle is human nature, if you have two brain cells occasionally bumping into each other, you will want to avoid getting shot. Stay close for that reason. Secondly, when using the light if you stay close you avoid lighting yourself and degrading your own night vision capability. As we step away from a vehicle we get more light splash in our face which does two things. Degrades our sight and lights us up thus making us an easier target for the evil that lurkers down range.
Keep low, it is common for students to cheat a little with regard to how low they get on the cars. If your head is visible above the vehicle or through a window, when you are shooting down the side of the car, that is another target indicator for the bad guy to engage. Stay low.
When you are using the pistol mounted light, try putting both knees down instead of one knee as you would with the carbine. Both knees down allows a more balanced presentation when leaning around a vehicle to engage a threat. I also allow the pistol to rotate allowing as much use of cover as possible.
Never stop learning. I had two very experienced Sig Academy instructors on the range with me for this class. Dylan Kenneson and Scott Rader. Dylan has been a Sig instructor since he started the first grade. I’m not kidding. Scott is a retired Marine. Both of these gentleman are great instructors and I learned from both at this class.
From Dylan I was reminded of a great position to manipulate your carbine when only having the use of one hand. He easily slide the sling over his support side knee while kneeling. This allowed him to place pressure on the sling and keep the weapon stationary while reloading or clearing malfunctions.
Scott demonstrated how he activates his pistol light. It was really slick. When he presents the pistol his left hand, non dominate hand, activates the light with a rocking motion of the index finger. If you generally reference the bottom of your trigger guard as I do with the support hand it is just a matter of moving that index slightly forward to activate the light. To deactivate the light he uses his thumb on the support hand, simply pressing down. There are other techniques and switches that are easier to activate. But if you are using a SureFire X-300 this will work. He uses extended switches as well.
For my smaller pistol, the P365 Fuse, I carry this pistol daily with a Sig Foxtrot2R. As far as single cell daily carry lights this is my favorite. Very bright for it’s size and has programmable and easily accessible activation switches.
It is also a good idea to have a handheld light that can be used as a decoy or as a backup if your primary light fails, the batteries die, or it falls off your weapon. (This happened to a couple dudes during the class) I have my handheld lights set up with a section of bungee to keep control of the light when shooting or reloading.
The last point I will make from this class. It isn’t always easier to move around the vehicle, but it is necessary if you reload, have a malfunction, or simply are taking cover. Don’t expose yourself in the same spot when it is time to re-engage a threat. Move to another area of the car and surprise those who are trying to do you harm.
If you are confused by the AAR, come take a class. The best way to learn is to be around other experienced shooters and watch as they struggle to find new ways to “skin the cat”.
Once you are finished training conduct an AAR, write down what you need to improve. Train frequently so you can work on deficiencies while they are fresh in your brain housing group.
Stay in the Fight!!
Kyle Lamb
