Bedford, IN 20-21 April, 2013 Bedford Contingent Patriot's Day

[SPQR]

  The boot landed on the packed gravel with a ringing crunch.  It was obvious to all that the Shoot Boss had arrived.  Brisk wind passed a chiseled jaw as it filled the nostrils and a massive flag popped in the sharp current.  He adjusted his hat ad surveyed his domain.  250 ton of gravel, thousands of dollars of dirt work, grass seed, culvert, new backers and the toil of many had been exerted to fulfill this reality. 
  He was known by many names.  Some simply called him Huff, some called him SPQR.  To others he was Mr. Awesome, The Face, The Epic One, the Beast, or You Arrogant $@# of a &!+@#.  They were all right, of course, and yet they were, for this moment, wrong.  He was Shoot Boss, and he was on time for once.
  Underlings began moving with brisk rapidity, determined to look busy when his gaze fell upon them.  He stepped confidently across the lot to the table under the flag, feeling the eyes and awe of the onlookers.  Filling a cup with coffee, he brought it to his lips.  The coffee maker feared for its life.  He reached a hand into the box of donuts and selected one, the others relieved at the respite but solemnly knowing that they would be next.  Lieutenants came forward with quickly worded reports but he shooed them away with gestures.  "All will be ready," he said, "All the arrangements have been made."  He looked deeply downrange.  The heavy ring of distant hammering barely reached his ears in the din of preparations.
  Chilidog stepped up, his stout frame filling the pasture with warmth and confidence.  Crossing his arms over his girth, chilidog announced, "It has been built.  they will come."  Suddenly, a bolt of lightening arrowed from the sky, striking the field at 300 yards.  Its crack echoed a distant refrain of sorted out Riflemen, their souls imbuing the land with renewed purpose.  Considered a good omen, and feeling the approval of his forebears rest upon him.  The Shoot Boss gave the briefest of nods.  The Line Boss bellowed,

Shooters, CIRCLE UP 

And so it was that 27 searching Americans braved the April chill and the biting wind to test themselves against the anvil of the AQT and lay their souls up against the example of our forefathers.  What a good time was had.  Riflemen were made.  Ribs were demolished.  Stories were told of ancient times and the sacrifices of a generation.  Did we not learn?  Did we not change?  Do we not now know more of what we are about? 

Thank you to all who attended.  Thank you to all who gave of their time to make this event possible.  Thank you to all who gave of their wealth and knowledge to make this range a bigger, better place.

You continue to make this event the easiest event a Shoot boss could possible hope for.  Bless you.

Pictures to come!

[HQ]

While I did not quite make the entire weekend - it was great to see the hard work and dedication up and down the entire line!  And the hard work paid off!  When I returned Sunday afternoon - it was great to hear the plink of steel all the way to 300 yards!

Huzzah!!!

[techres]

Will put up my commentary later, but wanted to get up pics just as soon as I had them!

These are all from Saturday:

It was a chilly dark morning when I arrived to setup.




There was smoke on the water, it was so cold.




Soon the blue hats were getting the line up and going.




Out to 300 yards, complete with flags.






Then came the students and it was time to get rolling!










Lickety split it was coming up on lunch and time for some grillin on the line!





Then it was time for a full belly and some great history:




Then we went back into instruction and shooting:










End of day brought us to the last of our history and the 7th step:

[Syd]

Had an awesome weekend! And the new range is great! Thanks to all the awesome people who made the weekend happen! 

[techres]

Sunday started under the lead of Barbie who did instruction and HQ who ran the line while a new blue hat gave a hand:










Soon enough students were back on target and learning while having fun:

[techres]

Lunch came up on us soon and it was time for that BBQ to do it's magic - all while we listened to some great history from Barbie, SPQR and Slow2Speak!







The only problem is that the Bedford crew just kept piling in more and more BBQ and before you knew it we were so drunk on BBQ sauce that we could not tell the difference between ribs and chamber flags. 







After lunch it was time to clean up and get down to the serious stuff - the AQT's:
















Soon we had two riflemen!






Then came KD and steel!



Everyone who wanted go the chance to get their 100 yard comeup for 22 (or centerfire).




RUN RUN RUN back to the line!




The steel never saw it coming...






After more fun with AQT's, steel, tracers, and a great time - it was time to wrap it up with final words on history, Garands, and the future that we all need to work for together.






Troy, our amazing LBOTG (local boots on the ground), surprised the shoot staff with custom made Appleseed plate for our cars!  It was a super kind and sweet gift that we appreciated and even got us together for a picture:




All in all it was a superb weekend full of fun people, achievements (both marksmanship and personal), and new friends & memories.

[AimSmall MissSmall]

Well, it was another great weekend at Bedford. Although I did not participate in the shooting my heart was filled with pride and joy as I watched my daughter strive to improve her skills with Tech-Sights, my son who stepped up to help others by taking on a Blue Hat, and my brother instruct and tell history with heart. Love this range, its people and Appleseed Project! Can't wait until June! 

[techres]

Oh, I forgot the youth pictures.

There is them as a group:



And a great smile that I spent all day trying to capture.

[brianheeter]

Hey!  Who's that angry old man in the middle of the youth picture?  GET HIM OUTTA THERE!!!!

[techres]

Hey!  Who's that angry old man in the middle of the youth picture?  GET HIM OUTTA THERE!!!!

Some dork yelling "WOLVERINES!".   

[beautiful_dust]

Great job to our new Riflemen!! 

In my humble opinions there is NO OTHER WAY to spend Patriot Weekend than at an Appleseed 

Thanks to all for the hardwork on the range keeping Bedford the BEST!

[SPQR]

Great pics.  I want to see some stuff in black and white.

[Loctite]

Congratulations to the new RIFLEMEN !! The young people at this shoot are absolutely first class, they shot some good scores as well. Keep up the good work!!

Childers farm has been a work in progress from the beginning, Shannon has been ever mindful of the needs of the shooters. He has worked really hard to keep things simple and effective. The new changes to the range are awesome!!! I know he will tell you "I didn't do it all by myself"  but someone has to take charge. We are a fortunate group to have him as a leader.

Thanks Shannon

[techres]

One last pic!  A panorama shot:

[brianheeter]

Hey, Tech, are we sure that line is safe?  It looks more like an arc!

WE'VE GOT THOSE REDCOATS SURROUNDED!!!!

[Orangedotfever]

Hey, Tech, are we sure that line is safe?

When you see who's doing the line bossing at that time, I'm not sure if it's safe or not. 

Another great weekend at Bedford. I had a very rough Saturday morning with a sinus infection and being on antibiotics but Sunday was fantastic. Although my line bossing skills need work, it was wonderful working with the family from Jackson county in the picture below. I'm sorry but I'm so terrible with names. The whole family was great and I was humbled by the 2 daughters, Parker and Kaly (?) who hugged and thanked me at the end of Sunday. Made my poor start just melt away.

Thanks everyone.

[Rayne]

~

[Chilidog]

I hope Mrs R will take you to another one too Timothy. Glad you came.....Im glad everybody was there. Can you believe its Thursday already? What a great weekend! What a great buch of folks to have over for a weekend. Thanks to all who helped especially Patriots Heir, this was his first as a blue hat and he did a great job. This was a community effort and we have a great community of shooters! Hope to see you soon on the line again!
Chilidog

[Rayne]

~

[Brown]

This AAR is proof positive why we want Rayne to join the Instructor ranks.Come on Rayne. It's time

Finally wrote my AAR...it's another long rambling one, Sorry!

Having shot rifleman a few times already I decided to challenge myself by shooting a single shot Savage bolt action rifle that was my Papa's.  It's a pretty little ol' thing, slender and has a really good peep sight on it. 

I had been contemplating how to make an ammo holder for it when a thread about the worse rifle ever to be used to shoot rifleman was brought up.  In that thread there was a picture of Techres shooting his cricket and he had an ammo holder on it.  He helped me make one to fasten to the stock of my rifle too.  I knew going in, that this was not going to be an easy rifle to shoot during the tight timed stages but I was going to give it a try.  It was a truly humbling experience. 

If you think of yourself as a true rifleman you need to try and shoot a single shot rifle and see if you really have it all sorted out.  You have to get your NPOA (natural point of aim) the first time, there is no time for shifting unless it's between targets and then you have to shift while reloading and trust you did it correctly.  If you take any time at all to check your NPOA you will not have enough time to get more than a couple shots down range.  Even with all that, this rifle was so much fun to shoot.  I figured I would get frustrated with it, being I tend to push myself a bit.  I'm not sure if it was the heritage of shooting my PaPa's rifle or the fact that my attention was on Timothy, the young man who attended the Appleseed with me, but I never gave up hope that I would improve. 

I learned some pretty significant things at this Appleseed.  First, I would do talking targets with Timothy every time we'd go down range to check our targets.  In try to help him I realized that I was actually helping myself too.  Diagnosing his targets and relating that back to his shooting stance I realized what I was doing wrong also.  It was very obvious on my targets when I had time to verify my NPOA that my groups were tighter and the ones I was muscling were all over the place.  It actually was almost embarrassing how bad some of my groups were. 

Secondly, I realized how much focus is needed or at least for me and anyone who watched Timothy knows he was really focused on his shooting also.  Thinking back, when I did shoot my rifleman scores I was really in my own little world, not worried about the other shooters around me and focused completely on the task at hand.  This weekend I wasn't focused on myself.  I was focused on Timothy and making sure he was safe and having fun.  I also knew that when Timothy got up from shooting the fourth stage of the AQT, I had 2 to 2 ½ minutes left to finish that stage.  That just proves I knew what was going on around me instead of being in my own bubble. 

Third, Comes back a little bit to focus too.  I had my PaPa's Savage with me and a new to me Marlin magazine fed bolt action rifle.  The Marlin had brand new sights on it and I hadn't had any time to shoot with them.  It would have been better to just focus on one rifle and not have two on the mat with me.  Both rifles have sights that don't have any type of click value, so my adjustments were more of guesses than actually knowing that if I turned the set screw half a turn my sight would more X MOA's (minutes of angle).  This is the same lesson I learned but didn't heed at the distance shoot back in March.  Know your equipment. 

I didn't think I could ever walk away from an Appleseed without shooting a rifleman's score and not be purely disappointed in myself.  I am very pleased to say that this weekend it was more fun focusing on Timothy and what he could do instead of what I could accomplish.  I also was partnered up with the prettiest freckled faced young lady, for the ball and dummy drill.  This young lady had enthusiasm oozing out of her and she never stopped smiling all weekend.  Timothy on the other hand hardly ever smiled and was real laid back, until we got in the van to come home.  He has a double personality.  His cool demeanor in public and his excited talkative personality he doesn't show strangers.  What surprised me the most was when Timothy shot his 195 AQT and didn't want to try another AQT for a rifleman's score.  He wanted to shoot at the 100 yard steel.  This young man at the age of 12 knows what he's about.  He didn't care about the score or the patch.  Oh he was excited and proud of his improvement over his last seed, but he wanted to take the knowledge that he learned and put it to use.  He wanted to stretch out and ping the steel.  I watched this young man all weekend grow in confidence in his abilities.  I helped him once, showing him how to adjust his scope and then let him make his own adjustments the rest of the time.  My proudest moment was when we were walking to the car to get lunch and he said.  "Mrs. R.  I'm doing much better this time because I'm slowing down and taking my time."  YellowHouseJake would be so proud too.   

Those of you that are wondering if I will bring him to another Appleseed, rest assure he will be back.  So will I with Papa's rifle.  This rifle will only make me a better rifleman and I'm not going to give up on it or myself.

[techres]

Rayne,

I want to point out three things you just said:

In try to help him I realized that I was actually helping myself too. Diagnosing his targets and relating that back to his shooting stance I realized what I was doing wrong also.

This weekend I wasn't focused on myself. I was focused on Timothy and making sure he was safe and having fun. I also knew that when Timothy got up from shooting the fourth stage of the AQT, I had 2 to 2 ½ minutes left to finish that stage. That just proves I knew what was going on around me instead of being in my own bubble.

I watched this young man all weekend grow in confidence in his abilities. I helped him once, showing him how to adjust his scope and then let him make his own adjustments the rest of the time. My proudest moment was when we were walking to the car to get lunch and he said. "Mrs. R. I'm doing much better this time because I'm slowing down and taking my time." YellowHouseJake would be so proud too.

You know what you sound like?

An instructor.

You know how I know?  Because those are all the reasons I have spent six years lying in the mud with students learning more about my shooting, watching their growth, and being a midwife of marksmanship with another person.

The moment you create your own bubble is magic.  The moment you get to spend time in another person's bubble is even greater.

It's what calls all of us in hat back weekend after weekend despite the weather, family strain, financial hardships, and physical drain. 

There's simply nothing like it.

[Rayne]

~

[ATM]

This AAR is proof positive why we want Rayne to join the Instructor ranks.Come on Rayne. It's time

You know what you sound like?

An instructor.
...
There's simply nothing like it.

Aye.

The ayes have it - motion passes. Welcome, Rayne! 

[SPQR]

Stapler is in the target barn at the BC

[Rayne]

~ 

[Barbie]

  Thanks for the info...not sure when I'll get back to Bedford, but I guess this a good excuse to have too.  Unless anyone is going to be at the range before the Nashville May shoot and can bring it along.

I say we hold her stapler hostage til she takes an orange hat!   

[Orangedotfever]

  Thanks for the info...not sure when I'll get back to Bedford, but I guess this a good excuse to have too.  Unless anyone is going to be at the range before the Nashville May shoot and can bring it along.

I say we hold her stapler hostage til she takes an orange hat!   

I 2nd the motion to hold the stapler hostage.

[Hickory Stick]

Hey, Tech, are we sure that line is safe?

When you see who's doing the line bossing at that time, I'm not sure if it's safe or not. 

Another great weekend at Bedford. I had a very rough Saturday morning with a sinus infection and being on antibiotics but Sunday was fantastic. Although my line bossing skills need work, it was wonderful working with the family from Jackson county in the picture below. I'm sorry but I'm so terrible with names. The whole family was great and I was humbled by the 2 daughters, Parker and Kaly (?) who hugged and thanked me at the end of Sunday. Made my poor start just melt away.

Thanks everyone.

   Thankyou very much for all of the kind words. The girls ,Parker and Kacy, had a great time as did Kerry and I, thanks to you Mitch , Barbie, and the rest of the instructors.Yes... even the shoot boss impressed me! I love the mission behind this organization. You all are a breath of fresh air in an unrelenting world. Your crew is top notch in my book and I appreciate you very much! Take care and have a good un. Zac Zoller

[imadentist]

You guys/gals are AWESOME!  I am going to work very hard to make our shoots in So. IL much more like yours.  Thanks for the inspiration and ideas.

[Orangedotfever]

   Thankyou very much for all of the kind words. The girls ,Parker and Kacy, had a great time as did Kerry and I, thanks to you Mitch , Barbie, and the rest of the instructors.Yes... even the shoot boss impressed me! I love the mission behind this organization. You all are a breath of fresh air in an unrelenting world. Your crew is top notch in my book and I appreciate you very much! Take care and have a good un. Zac Zoller

Thanks so much Zac. Once again, I'm sorry for being so bad with names. I owe Kacy some special instruction for getting her name wrong. You and Kerry are doing a great job with your family. Hurry up and get the other 2 youngsters out so we can get them up to speed. I see a whole family of riflemen in your future. It was a joy to work with you all. See you on the trail soon.

Mitch