Private Two-Day Appleseed -- Palm Bay, FL May 20-21, 2017

[Guntuckian]

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value."

The value of Thomas Paine's words promised that perseverance was going to be the key to success at this Private Two-Day Appleseed.  You see, Florida has different seasons than elsewhere.  Whereas others have Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, Florida has but the four seasons of Wildfire, Lovebug, Hurricane, and Drought.  This Appleseed was smack dab at the peak of Lovebug season.  Hordes of the little bugs, locked in mortal embrace, flew around our shooter's, clearly attempting to distract them from their marksmanship tasks at hand.  But, no summer soldiers and sunshine patriots were at this Appleseed!  And, when on Sunday, high winds coming off the Atlantic brought band after band of rain, with tropical storm force winds,  yet still our shooters persevered.  And, this Appleseed ultimately proved to be one of the most productive meetings of Patriots ever seen at this venue! A new Rifleman-qualified shooter was found, and numerous Instructors and Applecore volunteers all re-qualified! We also added a new Orange Hat, gained a new Red Hat,  and gained a new Blue Hat, too.  The end result was a clear rejuvenation of everyone's American Spirit.

This Appleseed started most unusually with but 3 returning Appleseed student Ladies of  Liberty signed up, and with one additional walk-on young Lady of Liberty joining us on Saturday morning, for a total of 4 shooters.  But, this was no ordinary Appleseed, either, with nary a Red Hat present, but instead with a plethora of Orange and Blue Hats, and with but one sole Shoot Boss Green Hat.  For our staff of 7, we had two Blue Hats, 4 Orange Hats, and one Green Hat.  Personalized instruction was therefore going to be the order of the weekend, and outstanding marksmanship results would soon spring forth.

On a line that normally holds 25 shooters, at event sell-out after sell-out, we had just absolutely luxurious wide open spaces between just 10 shooting positions at this private Appleseed.   Lots of room for Instructors to drop down beside shooters, and work on helping them with the Six Steps to Firing a Shot and their Steady Hold Factors.  Room too, for Instructors and Applecore staff to get some quality trigger time, too. All too often, this proves difficult at this venue, when there are regularly 25+ shooters on the line, and no empty shooting positions for Instructors to re-qualify.

The Red Coat soon followed, which showed we had two shooters effective at  200 yards and one shooter effective at 300 yards.  One shooter nailed the Morgan's Shingle.  This merely showed that we had plenty of opportunity for all to benefit from the firehose of marksmanship instruction.

We checked shooters for eye dominance, and then jumped immediately into sling usage, with the Hasty-Hasty, Hasty, and Loop sling usages. This was followed by introducing the first 3 steps of the Six Steps to Firing a Shot. The use of the first 3 Steps to establish and verify one's NPOA was then explained and demonstrated. Steady Hold Factors for the prone position followed, and a dry fire exercise followed that, to master the first 3 steps of the Six Steps to firing a shot.  We then went into the last 3 steps of the Six Steps to Firing a Shot, using a ball point pen to demonstrate the concept of trigger reset. The need to avoid Dragging Wood was then presented. We then did a dry fire exercise of the Six Steps to Firing a Shot while in prone, after first learning the trigger reset of each loaner rifle. How many EEEEEEE's are there in Trigger Squeeeeeeeze?  A bunch!

The first 5 sighter shots were then fired at the center target square, and the concept of Talking Targets was presented. The concept of learning to listen to our Talking Targets was then repeated  and driven home with 5 more sighter shots on the top left sighter square.

Our next course of fire was LUNCH, where Sheppsan regaled us with the First Strike presented in a Midlands accent by an immigrant Red Coat now turned American. A very stirring presentation, too, I might add, that was told from the heart, as it captured us all, spellbound.

Our first mission of the day accomplished, in getting from Boston to Lexington, we resumed our adventure in marksmanship instruction with a couple more sighter groups, and the groups tightened noticeably, very quickly.  One shooter had a Marlin rifle with factory sights, and the concept of boxing one's sights and using a stack of 3 sheets of paper thicknesses to make an adjustment of 3 MOA in windage was taught and shown to work most effectively.  The concept of Inches, Minutes, and Clicks was obviously the next step, and SheppSan presented the methods of learning the simple mechanical adjustment necessary to move these tight groups of shots into the black target square.  Our students' journey to becoming Rifleman-qualified was proceeding nicely!

The GreenCoat targets went up next, and the movement of one's NPOA under live fire for Stage 2, with 10 rounds loaded into but one magazine, was then done. We then repeated the exercise, but with two magazines loaded with 2 and 8 rounds, to add the step of switching magazines and switching one's NPOA.  Next came the Standing to Prone Transition instruction, followed by live fire with 2 magazines, to add just one additional step. Stopping for a water break, Sieggie then took us from Lexington to Concord, with the telling of the Second Strike.

With the events of the North Bridge behind us, we resumed our marksmanship instruction with the Sitting Position. We also learned the standing to sitting transition, and practiced it with another live fire exercise.

The traditional American shooting position, Standing, came next, and we finished the GreenCoat target. Confirming that everyone was returning on Sunday, we pushed out the Third Strike to Sunday morning, and proceeded to shoot an AQT.  This was followed by re-shooting the morning's Red Coat targets.

With a day of drinking from the fire-hose of marksmanship instruction, the afternoon's Red Coats showed marked improvement. Two shooters were now proficient at 200 yards, and two more shooters were now proficient at 400 yards. Two shooters made the Morgan's Shingle Shot.   And, one shooter CLEARED THE REDCOAT. We definitely now had shooters who knew what they were about. No new Rifleman-qualified shooters were found on Saturday, but Stephanie was obviously getting very close.
 
On Sunday, we started with a Safety Briefing followed by quizzing the shooters relative to the Four Questions  asked on Saturday, followed by a repeat of the BIG QUESTION of "What is the American Revolution", so necessary for framing our planned journey for this two-day Appleseed.  Being we had not yet done the Third Strike, the shooters did very well despite not having heard all 3 Strikes.

A total of 10 rifles then appeared on the line, as Instructors in Training and Applecore staff alike would be getting some serious trigger time on Sunday amidst very personalized individual instruction.

The Red Coat soon followed, and today we had 8 shooters on the line shooting, including the same 4 shooters from Saturday and with 4 of the Appleseed staff at a time now also shooting, leaving but a Line Boss and two RSOs that were not shooting at any given time.  This way, we could maximize quality trigger-time for all.  We had one shooter effective at 100 yards, 1 effective at 200 yards, 1 effective at 300 yards, and 4 effective at 400 yards.  A total of 4 shooters nailed Morgan's Shingle, and 1 shooter cleared the Red Coat.  This merely showed that we had plenty of opportunity for soon making the simple mechanical adjustment to move tight groups into the center of the sighter square.

We then then jumped immediately into a short review of sling usage, with the Hasty-Hasty, Hasty, and Loop sling usages. This was followed by reviewing the Six Steps to Firing a Shot. A more in-depth presentation of NPOA than on Saturday was presented, and each of the 4 student shooters then had an opportunity to get behind one of the 2 laser rifles and experience for themselves the very small amount of movement necessary to shift  their NPOA.  We then reviewed the Steady Hold Factors for the prone position, and proceeded to go to a live fire exercise to engage the center sighter square.  Stephanie then had a group that looked like a 30 caliber rifle had magically appeared on the line and fired but one shot, with all 5 of her sighter shots impacting in but one hole, with no clover-leaf shaping whatsoever.  The one-hole group was just 1 MOA to the left of being in the dead center of the sighter square. 

Sieggie presented a quick review of IMC, and shooters wrote down their windage and elevation adjustments that needed to be made.

SheppSan then took us from Lexington back to the Boston area with Third Strike.  Making IMC adjustments, and then firing another sighter group, we then made our final sight adjustments.  A quick review of the seated and  standing positions followed, and a review of the transitions came next. 

Our next course of fire was LUNCH, over which we heard oral history stories of Nancy Morgan Hart, Hezekiah Wyman, David Lamson and Mother Ruth Batherick, Samuel Whittemore, Elizabeth Zane, Deborah Sampson (Robert Shirtlieff), and Sybil Luddington. 

We then heard about the feats of marksmanship demonstrated by riflemen on the march to Boston, after the call for Riflemen from the frontier went out.  And, using a scaled target of the feat witnessed and reported in early newspapers, a ball and dummy exercise came next, amidst a driving rainstorm.  A Bluehat, Jean, was the sole shooter to duplicate the feat that was witnessed and reported in newspapers, by those watching Riflemen from the frontier demonstrating feats of marksmanship while marching to Boston.  (See the photo, below.)

We then commenced to shoot the AQTs.  During a water break,  Guntuckian presented a 10 minute Known Distance presentation, that included the secrets of target detection, ranging, Battle Sight Zero, come-up adjustments, and windage adjustments.  Guntuckian also told the story of The Shot Not Taken involving Capt. Patrick Ferguson, and the story of the Battle of Saratoga involving Sgt. Timothy Murphy.  One person can make a difference.  We then resumed shooting AQTs.  All together, we did 5 AQTs over the two days.  The results of these AQTs were outstanding.  Stephanie (PeachPatriot on the forum) kept improving, shooting consecutive AQT scores of 215, 218, and 228 on Sunday.  Sandy, Lisa, and Jasmine all shot very well, improving greatly.  Jasmine nearly doubled her score on Sunday from her Saturday's AQT.  Sandy and Lisa, you will undoubtedly both soon be shooting a Rifleman score, too.  Sandy, once you get your factory sight issue fixed, you will undoubtedly be shooting a score over 210.

And, our Appleseed staff showed they could shoot, too.  Our Blue Hat, Jean, scored 212, 214, 216, and 220.  Sieggie scored a 196 and a 204, while just getting warmed up, before taking over Line Boss duties, when Guntuckian and Gatorbait  started grading AQTs that were stacking up, instead of working the line as RSO and LB, respectively. Yankee Davey shot a high score of 234.  This was followed by the re-shooting of the morning's Red Coat targets.  Unfortunately, the Shoot Boss did not get these results, while grading/checking all of the Rifleman-qualified scores.  When there is only one Instructor at an Appleseed, that Instructor has to recheck all AQT scores that are above 196.  And, we had a bunch of these!  Huzzaah!

A final quiz was presented, of the 4 Questions, and the students successfully answered the questions, receiving an Appleseed insulated soda can cushie.  A Benediction was presented, and we then started reviewing all the graded AQTs.  And, there were a bunch!

Having attended 2 Appleseeds, and having now shot a Rifleman-qualified score 3 times, Stephanie (PeachPatriot), with AQT scores of 215, 218, and 228, accepted an Orange Hat.  Huzzaah, Stephanie!

Gatorbait successfully passed her Applecore/RSO progress check.  Huzzaah, Pam!

SheppSan, successfully passed his final RH Progress Check and took a Red Hat as a full Instructor.  HUZZAAH, Dale!

And, just before this event began, on Saturday, Jean took a Blue Hat, having attended numerous Appleseeds previously.  Her snazzy Appleseed forum name will be forthcoming shortly, I am sure. 
This was a most productive Appleseed, despite the clouds of lovebugs, the high winds, and the pouring rains.  Thomas Paine's words regarding no sunshine patriots echoed in our minds.

For all the shooters who didn't quite make Rifleman, you now have the fundamentals in place to practice at home with dry fire practice, while also practicing doing it within the 55 seconds of Stage 2 and 65 seconds of Stage 3 on the AQT.  Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.  Just breathe a little faster for your Rifleman' Cadence, and getting the shots all off will come quickly.

An auspicious second meeting of two organizations occurred at this Private Appleseed. Undoubtedly, there will be more such events to follow. Lady Liberty was definitely present at this event. HUZZAH!

(Pictures to follow. I know many other pictures were taken, so post 'em if you have 'em.)

[Guntuckian]

Pictures!