Night Ops Loadouts

[Rabbit]

Just looking to start myself up a night ops load out.

Anyone have anything they can post up picture wise?

All I seem to find is night ops action figures

Nothing special for "Night Ops" same clothing as day time.. just add NODs

[FOX_111]

Same as your day ops kit.
Just put black camo face paint around your eye if you use NVGs. Camo the rest of your skin in dark colors.

Put a special attention to any noisy peice of gear you have. Have a small flashlight with blue filter for navigation. It has to be as dim as possible.

Put a teader on things you might need out of a pouch, like compas, flashlight, radio, gps. If you drop it, you won't have to use a flashlight to find it.

All this from personal experiance in pitch black land ops with absolute white light disipline required.

Oh and at night, you fog a lot. Humidity condense on the ground and on you...

A lot of that stuff, ie making sure gear isn't making noise, dummy cording kit, etc applies to day time as well.


Red is also a good color for night, red and blue lights both have pros and cons(ie contour lines and water features when looking at a map)

[FOX_111]

I had both colors. I prefered blue for navigating the ground. Red was better for my mostly green topo map. Blue rendered some of it's feature unreadable.

[ShelledPants]

Green ops loads work very well for nighttime. DPM, especially.

DO NOT WEAR BLACK. It causes a negative presence when viewed at night and makes it very easy to track a person wearing black.

Simplify your rig for night. If you can't navigate your rig with your eyes closed... in the bathroom, with the lights off. You won't be able to do it at night under fire.

-----
Lights
-----

Invest in a weapon light, a pocket light, and a personal light.

The weapon light stays on your gun, is high lumen (200+), and it either pressure switched, or momentary switched; this will rarely stay on unless in an active engagement, when your position is compromised, and speed is required.

The pocket light is a high lumen light (125+) and fits in your pocket, use this for navigation out of play, or spotting an area when your weapon is not needed, it is not required, but handy to have.

The personal light is a LOW lumen light (5 - 10) and is used in a situatation of COMPLETE darkness to navigate dense bush, swamp, dangerous hills. It is also used to navigate backpacks where there is no light and specific items need to be found. Personally, I like the "under the peak, ballcap lights" which attach as their name implies. Make sure to turn them off when talking to people as lighting the eyes is very rude, and annoying.

RULE ONE OF NIGHT FIGHTING. Don't use lights unless you need to.

RULE TWO OF NIGHT FIGHTING. Don't ever ever ever ever ever point a light at a TEAM MATES FACE.

RULE THREE OF NIGHT FIGHTING. Announce when you turn on a high power light near your team mates. Such a warning is by saying, "Watch your eyes." "Turning a light on." etc... This allows your team mates a) to look away from you to preserve their natural night vision, and b) stop you from turning a light on in a dangerous situation. Lights are to be used sparingly. Something to keep in mind; If you team leader isn't using a light, don't turn on your light unless he tells you to.

----
Noise
----
At night, noise will get you killed. All radios should have headsets. All loose metal (the front sling point on a AR15 platform should be removed when using a single point sling, or at least for airsoft, electrical taped to the barrel to prevent rattle.)

If you need to carry BB's on you for the op, carry them in a backpack, and wrap them in a piece of clothing, BB rattle will get you killed at night.

Communication should be done over radios, or whispered to the people next to you, huddle your team if you have to get something together and don't have radios.

SOUND TRAVELS FURTHER ON A COOL NIGHT THAN DURING A COOL DAY. Keep this in mind.


CONCLUSION

This has turned into a page of rambling. I am not a professional. I have played a -lot- of night games over the last 3 years. With and without good equipment. You don't need to spend ANY money to be effective at night, just think about what you bring and make it efficient for the night.

Happy hunting.

[lonesniper]

Honestly, you should just where the same thing you use in day ops. Leaves, dirt, and grass don't turn black at night, so why should your camo? Like S.P. said, just think about what you have jingling around and making noise.

[m102404]

Buy real gear (rigs/BDUs) that are non IR reflective. Repo and clone stuff glows in the dark like you're wearing a glowstick jumpsuit. Clone gear on real BDUs looks like you're wearing a reflective safety vest.

[Brian McIlmoyle]

Originally Posted by Remylebeau

Just looking to start myself up a night ops load out.

Anyone have anything they can post up picture wise?

All I seem to find is night ops action figures

Pack and extra bag of patience.. Everything takes longer at night.. except getting lost

[FOX_111]

Originally Posted by Brian McIlmoyle

Pack and extra bag of patience.. Everything takes longer at night.. except getting lost

Hell yeah!

Took us 3h to walk 1.5km.
Watching our trace on the GPS after the ops, we walked in zigzag a lot and crossed the same S stream 3 time when we could have made it over just once.

And for the trip back to our exfil erea, we would never have made it without the GPS. Tanx to a no moon, no starts night with the clouds at ground level.

[Rabbit]

I've read that Navy Blue is better at night than any black BDU, but black is better for situations where someone shines a light on you or close to you while you are laying on the ground (ive read to do this while in close proximity of a shining flashlight)

What about the vest tho? would OD be any better than black? colours are limited but I would like to be able to carry some m4 mags and other small items while not being bulky. I would like to remain light as possible

This vest was going to be a purchase for my night ops games
http://www.airsoftpost.com/product_i...ducts_id=29969

Again if im missing something smaller that has room for m4 mags and other small objects, feel free to point me in the right direction

Great replies tho! I really appreciate the wealth of knowledge! Maybe someone could help me with these few questions i had

[Brian McIlmoyle]

Motion and sound... and the shine of your goggles will give you up well before a black vest will.

Black is not an ideal colour for wear at night.. but it is way better than white .. or tan.

everything is shades of grey at night,

IMO unless you are in an urban area, ditch the weapon light. Also not a fan or pressure switches on vert grips, way to easy to accidently set it off.

The lights that work for me when I'm out an out are a petzl headlamp with the red filter on, if I don't have a helmet on, I wear it around my neck. During the day it's either in a pouch in my rig or in my backpack. Also have one of those mini lights on a clip, forget what they're called but you usually see them pinned to the button hole on combat shirts. Also keep that in a pouch in my rig as a backup.

And like Brian said motion and sound will give you away a lot faster and more often that what colour your gear is.

Clothing and gear wise - colour: same rules as daylight; wear stuff that matches your enviroment.

For kit, don't need to have a different rig just for night. Kit should be specific to the mission and the kit you are carrying. Also, if you are going to have two different rigs, make sure you practice your reloads with both, and know where everything is. Don't want to get f*cked up at night because you have a new rig on and you can't find something now.


Also, kind of a unrelated note, see this a lot with some people. If you buy a big rig, ie a RAV, CIRAS, etc don't give in to the impulse to have a pouch covering every single inch of MOLLE, only have the pouches that you really need to carry what you actually need. And unless you are wearing plates you don't need that kind of vest. I'm a huge fan of webbing type set ups for patrolling. Good weight distribution, carries what you need and good ventalation.

[Brian McIlmoyle]

Originally Posted by -Skeletor-

Also, kind of a unrelated note, see this a lot with some people. If you buy a big rig, ie a RAV, CIRAS, etc don't give in to the impulse to have a pouch covering every single inch of MOLLE, only have the pouches that you really need to carry what you actually need. And unless you are wearing plates you don't need that kind of vest. I'm a huge fan of webbing type set ups for patrolling. Good weight distribution, carries what you need and good ventalation.

you are *such* a freaking killjoy

Big + 1 on the belt rig for patrolling... leave the armour in the hooch.. save it for the assault.. ( or in the case of AS save it for the after action photo op )

[FOX_111]

OD work well at night. It's the best solid color IMO.

But like said before, use the same kit that you use for daylight. If you get lite up by someone flashlight, if you are wearing a daylight camo, you will still be somewhat camoflaged.

And Black vest or BDU is only good for intimidation purpose in a SWAT scenario. It's not for camoflage. In the field, wearing black highlight you as a noob and a big black hole for BBs.