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Dallas/Fort Worth, TX - Nov 10-11, 2012

Started by spitstickler, November 12, 2012, 04:32:36 PM

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spitstickler

We finished off our 2012 schedule at Proactive Defense with a sold out event and a great group of shooters.

Saturday morning welcomed us with a lots of wind and grit, blowing anything that wasn't pinned or tacked down rolling off into the distance. Much like any Appleseed, we had a few familiar faces on the line as well as many who were attending their first Appleseed event. After the safety briefing and the opening red coat, many quickly discovered that there was work to be done. Attendees listened intently as Aggie gave all of our fundamental points of instruction throughout the morning. Groups started getting smaller and smaller, and just before lunch we were doing IMC and adjusting sights to move our groups to their intended destination.

Floyd gave a great 1st strike over lunch. We learned about what happened on Lexington Green, and started thinking about the choices that individuals made on this day.  After we broke for lunch, we worked through the seated positions and on to standing, taking a break to hear the 2nd and 3rd strike. We didn't get to an AQT on day one, but the shooters took on the "Parker's Revenge" final red coat of the day, and we saw some great improvement from where we had started in the morning.






The weather for Sunday wasn't looking pretty. As the Instructor corps arrived and were preparing for attendees to show up we were wondering how many we would have given dark clouds overhead and the forecast for rain. Although we lost a few folks, we were pleasantly surprised to have addition walk-ons. You just gotta love Texans.

We started the morning off with the safety brief and awarding our newest Texas instructor, "Aggie" with an Instructor red poncho. It seemed fitting for the day, but we went ahead and gave him the Red Hat too.  O0  Well earned, Bill! Thank you for your dedication to the program.

We had sprinkles and light periods of rain but nothing too horrible. Really just enough to ball mud up on the bottoms of our feet and inevitably end up all over shooting mats and equipment.  Bobby and Ashley gave most of the instruction for the day and both did a fine job as evidenced by the scores showing up on the AQTs in the afternoon.

We had two new Rifleman this weekend. Jason, a repeat Appleseeder crossed the line with a 210 and Wes on the final AQT of the day put up a 213. Congratulations to both of you!!!

As we took our afternoon break we had a volunteer step forward to take an Orange Hat. Please welcome Allen, "Pyrat" to the Instructor corps of Texas!



Allen splits time between here and Florida, so you all will have some good and knowledgable help when he is in that part of the world as well. He literally started things off with a bang, explaining and demonstrating the flintlock mechanism and nomenclature of a blunderbuss!  Black powder and lots of white smoke. So awesome for everyone to get to see first hand.

We saw great improvement by everyone this weekend. If a Rifleman's patch is a goal for you, I encourage you to practice. Dry fire, dry fire, dry fire!!! It will make a world of difference. Remember the fundamentals. Solid and stabile position, NPOA, and the 6-steps.

In closing, I hope everyone took the history to heart and remembers those choices that were made for us -- posterity as you make your choices down the road.  O0  Thanks to everyone who came out this weekend, and thank you to all of the Instructors who sacrificed their personal time in order to make this all happen.

We would love for you all to post pictures and feedback either here or on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/AppleseedTexas


"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."  -Thomas Edison

aggie

Glad to be on the line with all of you. We had some of the most interesting and varied weather I have seen at an Appleseed.

I regret that some equipment problems slowed down some of our other shooters. I am confident you can make 210 for the patch. Just remember - a Rifleman perseveres.

spitstickler

Forgot to add. As we were packing up at the end of the day we found a blue bag that someone had left had the range. There was a cleared Redcoat target and a pretty darn good AQT hanging out of it. I'm thinking it was possibly Laird's. We left it with the front office at the range.
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."  -Thomas Edison

TimBeatty

Here are a few pictures that I took. I hope to see all of you at future events, and bring a friend with you.  :~
Tim Beatty

TimBeatty

A few more  :)
Tim Beatty

bchaney

Thanks to all the instructors - you guys were great.  Jonathan and I are gonna try to convince the ladies to camp out with us in Davilla next year.

NJGirl1961

Great event!  See you in Davilla in December!

DubG

I had an absolute blast and cannot believe how much information I received and even retained.  I'm fairly dense so I'm going to give the credit to the instructors, especially Ash and Floyd.  They had endless patience, at least on the outside ;).  It was a fantastic combination of training and history and I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't attend every chance I had.

brownies

I had an awesome time! I've been to 2 other Appleseeds (the one before this was 2 1/2 years ago) but always went with my husband. I was a little apprehensive about going alone at first, but I was quickly welcomed by all the shooters and instructors.

The weather was interesting, and I think I enjoyed the mud a little too much.

It was a great experience and I can't wait to go back and score Rifleman. Till then, I'll practice the 6 steps, NPOA, and dry fire whenever I get the chance.

Thanks for an amazing weekend everyone, especially the instructors who really took the time to work with me and were so patient, even after I made the same mistakes over and over and over....

I want a decal! And I didn't think about it till I got home...how can I get one?

spitstickler

Glad to have you back out, Brownies! After a long hiatus you came back pretty strong in my opinion. You've got a goal to get that patch and a plan to get there. I know you will surely get it done. It's really amazing what we can accomplish if we set our minds to it.

Appleseed schwag can be purchased online here: http://store.rwvaappleseed.com/index.html

Looking forward to seeing you back out on the firing line!
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."  -Thomas Edison