Racine, WI - April 18 & 19, 2015

[Laredo]

April 18, 2015.  7am. Lower 50's if I remember.  Very windy. 

With 66 pre-registered, we had our work cut out for us that morning.  Many stepped up to help and we got it done.  All said, we had 16 hats helping. 


We started the event with 58 participants.  >30 were kids.  This forced us to do relays.  Luckily we had planned for it.  Setting up the line, in itself, was a feat.  Many of the hats met Friday night to set it up.  I want to acknowledge the hours of work they put into this event before the first person even stepped on to the range.  Below is a picture of the line before we filled it with holes.


A special acknowledgement goes out to DrRichP for all the planning and hard work he put into this.  I heard he even put his wife to work organizing the handouts and preparing the forms.  I also want to acknowledge TriggerNick for running a great event... as always.  He has a way of making it dang fun. 

Also, I want to mention this:  We had all the kids on the left side of the line.  I stood at the middle of the line for most of the day calling it...  Every time I looked left, there was a sea of orange hats in the dirt with those kids.  ...all day long.  I have done a few kids events and let me tell you, its hard work.  I was so impressed at how hard the orange hats worked with those kids.  It was unreal.  I have a picture below proving this.  See if you can count how many Orange hats and Red hats are in the dirt.  Hint...  there wasn't a single kid wearing orange.. so every bit of orange you see in the picture is one of ours.


The history was told well.  The connection to our heritage was explained.  The importance of being involved citizens was conveyed.  The seeds were planted.  Let's pray for rain.

All told, six people earned the coveted badge!  Sean (214), Mark (218), Rick (211), Jenny (218), Philip (215), and Kim (220).  We had a repeat Rifleman - David.

I also must mention that Mark(Kiwimonster), Bill (Billy) and Jason (Leadlined) stepped up and took an Orange Hats!!  They are welcomed additions to the team.

We also need to congratulate Brightsparc for earning his red hat. Huzzah!!

On a personal note:
Long ago, a very old monk awoke to me and my friends entering the dark stone walled little book store of an abbey in Iowa.  He awoke just long enough to give us a long, foggy look and say; "Count not the passing days.  Make the passing days count."  He then put his head back down and went to sleep. 

April 19th.  240 years of history.  I had three generations on the line.  The biggest event I had been a part of.  Two of my best friends, my wife, her father (a Devil Dog), my two daughters, my brother in law, my nephew...  A great group of dedicated and inspirational hats and lifelong friends...  A lot came together to make this a most memorable weekend.   

These days count.




















I have more pics... but my battery is about to die...  I will get some more up tomorrow.

[Sis]

What an absolutely amazing weekend!  Working with this team of green, red orange and blue hats was so fun, and everyone worked so hard!  Look at the number of shooters!!  We had whole families, extended families, fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, brothers, sisters, friends and neighbors involved.  We had several young people shooting for the first time, and even an adult first timer!  And as an extra bonus we had about 20 young marines!  What amazing and dedicated young people!

With all of the pre-planning the shoot worked so smoothly!  And Laredo, the shoot boss in training, was phenomenal! 

I am so proud to be a member of Appleseed, and grateful that such a large group came out to celebrate our second amendment rights on this special weekend!

[Taylor]

 

[RustyRed]

 

[Kiwimonster]

I had a great weekend!  I feel stoked about shooting rifleman this weekend. I am also very honored to have taken an orange hat. I look forward to a lot of great events. Thanks to all the instructors for their excellent help. It was a great feeling to share this weekend with so many friends.

[Trig]

What a glorious weekend!  Thank you to everyone who took part in making it happen!  The turnout was amazing to see, and the determination and perseverance by the shooters was awesome to watch.  Saturday tested them with almost constant 20-30 mph winds off Lake Michigan, with temps in the 40s for most of the day, I can assure you it was chilly.  Most were prepared for the temperature, but the wind was unexpected by most, and was a bear to deal with for the day with throwing our mats and gear around for most the event.  Sunday graced us with less wind making the day much easier.  I'm confident in saying that fun was had by all, and that everyone left with a greater understanding of the sacrifice that our founding fathers made in order to give us this beautiful country and the rights that we enjoy today.   

A special thanks to Senator Van Wannguaard for seeing what Appleseed is all about and speaking to the participants 
Thank you to Federal/CCI/ATK Distributors for making the Youth Ammo available, and to Racine County Line Rifle Club for the funding of the ammo for all youths on the line!!!      

Thank you all for the most wonderful of Patriots Weekends!

[Tuge]

Although I was only able to help out on Saturday I must say this was an amazing display of coordination and team work.  As an orange hat I worked the end of the line closest to the Young Marines for most of the day and it was cool to see how their confidence started build as the day went on.  I honestly had never worked with young shooters before so this was a new experience for me as well. 

[Laredo]

Tuge, Thanks for being there.  Your help was much appreciated.  Further, it was great to meet you.  I look forward to working with you again.

This reminds me that a couple of the instructors did not make the picture due to one reason or another.  I think one was on gate duty at the time of the picture and Tuge and perhaps one more person was there Saturday only.

In case I missed anyone else in the picture - Thanks so much for making this event a success!!!

[Trig]

Joel/Xsubi was working the gate at the time of the Photo, and it looks like Bill left just prior to it also

[Lephi]

 It was great to spend the weekend shooting and talking with everyone this weekend and I am thoroughly hooked, the passion for the program and level of professionalism from all the instructors and IITs is what makes me so exited for the next event.

Here are some pictures thanks to my wife Rachel

[Crackshot]

What an awesome weekend! I'm proud of everyone who came and stuck it out in spite of the wind. Congratulations to the new riflemen and to "Robbed" (Rachel) for their awesome scores! We had such a huge improvement in marksmanship overall this weekend!

Also, a 21 gun salute to our organizers for making the relays run as smoothly as they did! 

[Laredo]

We had some technical difficulties with this thread.  Scuzzy has it all fixed now.  Thanks Scuzzy!

For those whose pictures were taken off, you can put them back up now.

[Xsubi]

There was at least 17 instructors there... I was manning the range gates during the photos