AAR Bakersfield, CA. Dec. 10-11, 2011

[Cal 7.62]

This turned out to be another great weekend at the 5 Dogs Range!   While the weather was a bit on the cool side, it did warm up enough to take off the sweatshirt for a while.
On Sat. 11 fellow Americans joined us for some marksmanship instruction and stories of our great American heritage . We had a mix of returning Appleseeders and new attendees.
As for newcomers, we had Mary and son Zeke, also David and his son Micha.
Randy a co-worker of one of our instructors,  joined us for the weekend's fun as well. 
Out of 5 Boy Scouts who were supposed to show up, Christopher and his grandpa Gene were the only ones who weren't lured away to the public range to make smoke & noise! Boy did the the rest of em miss out! 
As for AS alumni, there were Robert and Bob, also Noah, all 3 from our last seed in Bako. Lastly, Paul (thanks for the paracord instuctors bracelets!) who's first seed was back in Nov 2010.
Right away there were some equipment issues to deal with, but once those were out of the way we proceeded to the fend off the Redcoats.
AM Redcoat Scores-
400 = 0
300 = 0
200 = 3
100 = 5
H.S. = 1
CLR = 0
OK folks, it's time to turn on the "firehose of instruction" 
Squares,SHF prone, talking targets,6 steps, IMC,NPOA, etc.
I was very impressed with our young shooters,  Micha, Christopher and Zeke they were very respectful and listened to the instruction attentively. If only all young people followed this model behavior.
One of our instuctors, Moose, had to leave before lunch. So Paul stepped up to help clear his side the line. Throw a hat on that guy! 
They say "time flies when you're havin fun" and fly it did. Pretty soon it was time to dimiss for lunch. The range sells some good footlong hot dogs and, I understand the range (and grill) was quite busy that day, so it took a while for all our students to get back from the rangehouse with their food. That gave the shootboss some time to actually eat lunch as opposed trying to gobble down a few bites.
OK, back to work and on to the Three Strikes stories about our founders sacrifices to deepen our appreciation for the freedom we've been blessed with.
With lunch and the heritage lesson over, it's time to get back to markmanship.
Ball and Dummy, SHF sitting, transitions, standing shifting npoa Rifleman's cadence,bubble, etc.
Finally what the students had been building up to; the AQT!
We managed to get 2 AQT's in before we wrapped it up for the day. In the process we requalified a rifleman, Robert, who likes coming to Appleseeds to hone his skills( and collect RM patches). Good job Robert!
PM Redcoat Scores -
400 = 1
300 = 1
200 =3
100 = 2
H.S. = 2

On Sunday, Christopher and his grandpa didn't make it back. But we were joined by walk ons Josh and Johnathan. (aka "Andrew" who showed up before lunch)

AM Redcoat scores-
400 = 3
300= 1
200 = 2
100 = 2
H.S. = 4
CLR = 1

After the redcoats it was time to review.
During our review of the slings we "persuaded" RM Robert  to "teach". And he did very well for a 1st timer. (I think he wants an orange hat.)
On Sat one of our young shooters had to deal with a rifle stock that was too big for him. On Sun I was able to loan him an LTR with a shortend stock. Once we found out about his left eye dominace we got him onto the paper and into the black. Way to go Micha!   
After the morning review it was on to the AQT grind. And grind we did.    The 1st rifleman out of the grider was Bob, a veteran of 3 previous "seeds"
Shortly it was time for lunch and some inspiring stories of individuals who made a difference on one of the most important days in history!
When lunch was over, it was back to the grind. Next RM out of the grinder was Josh. It was a long time coming but his persistance paid off. ( His buddy Tom's gonna be sooo jealous!) 
Well the grind started to get to folks so we threw in a star target to liven things up. That did the trick and we were blessed with another RM. This time it was Johnathan with a bolt action CZ! 
The time and the grind finally started taking it's toll on folks and someone ended up shooting somebody elses target,  thereby lowering their score. I believe Mary would've gotten a RM score if it wasn't for that.

Final Redcoat tally
400 = 1
300 = 5
200 = 1
100 = 1
H.S. = 6
CLR = 2

For those who didn't make rifleman this time, remember,
A RIFLEMAN PERSISTS! Those with a riflemans heart will! (ask me how I know)
For those who did, Congratulations, to men who know what they are about.
Oh, I almost forgot! Paul announced that he wanted to put on the orange hat of destiny.
And a hearty thank you to IIT's Tony Stark (his 1st gig) and Moose for helping make this a sucessful "shoot"
What a great shoot. Can you think of a better way to save the country? 

[Noah_RN]

Congratulations to the new riflemen. Congratulations to Paul for the orange hat.

[Cal 7.62]

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