AAR Ottawa IL-5/23-25 Three Day

[Garand69]

Providence?

Sometimes you really have to wonder and to be honest I have seen it too many times in Appleseed to consider these things coincidence anymore.

It all all started with a PM titled "BIG RED FLAG - Ottawa" , well that can't be good I thought as I clicked on it, and I was right, bad news. TreadCarefully, one of our dedicated Senior Instructor's, had an obligation that he had to meet and he would not be able to Shoot Boss the Ottawa Shoot.......ohhh boy.

Then Illinois' favorite pain in the @#* (that's code speak for Master Instructor), The Guy, pulls one of our scheduled IIT's on the Ottawa Schedule (Hooters Billy from IN) and ships him to Ohio for a shoot that needed some help 

At his point I began mumbling to myself more than usual.

Then we get this feller Alex, who was scheduled for the Chillicothe Shoot, to step up and volunteer to be Shoot Boss. Alex? who the heck is Alex? I ask around our Instructor Pool, no one seems to know, I see he only has four posts, that doesn't help, then I get the PM from Alex...... "Do you have any QD-AQT's? I think I have enough of the other stuff but I'm short on QD-AQT's........" ohhhhh boy 

Panic is slowly setting in. Already mumbling to myself more than usual, now I'm thinking Alex must be with Ben1775 and they must have split up the Shoot box for Chillicothe to "Make it work", ohhhhhhhh boy

So we do some scrambling and find enough supplies to cover the shoot, just in case. Ok, this should be fine, we are a little short handed, and I don't know the SB but we have enough supplies and we should be good.... a little less mumbling.

Then I get a PM from this feller Wade. Seems he is in town for the weekend, and he was wondering if we needed a bit of help. I knew Wade only from his posts. And he seemed like a fine Appleseeder who built Washington States first D.A.R..

Ok, We have a SB, we have supplies, we have more help, now I'm back down to the regular amount of mumbling that a disgruntled Redi-Mix Truck Driver would typically do. Then I find out who Alex is. He isn't from Missouri he is from Iowa, and I have already worked with him before, though he was using a different screen name "Back in the day" 

A potential Appleseed disaster averted, by a young feller from Iowa and an old feller from WA who just happened to be in the area, and a splash of supplies from Sheepdog, we are good to go.

The Instructor Team and Wetfoot stayed at Pappy's place (Thanks for putting up with us Mrs. Pappy! ), and a very good time was had by all.

The attendance was good with a ton of first time Appleseeder's. No rain but a tad on the hot side. After explaining to the Shooters "That's not the Sun beating on your heads, it's the Founding Father's smiling upon you" they trudged on, by staying hydrated and focusing on the task at hand, improving their Marksmanship!

The day went smooth with Alex running the show and Wade and Alex doing the First Strike and Pappy covering Dangerous Old Men, and across the board, the groups were night and Day difference between the first and last Redcoat for the day!

That night we had some finely prepared vittles waiting for us when we returned to the J.Papineau residence and all kinds a Appleseed talk flew about the dining room table.

Sunday the weather was a bit more forgiving with some clouds to mellow out the sun and we had 100% return attendance from the previous day. The day went by with the first Rifleman of the shoot and many others drasticly improved. Wade and Alex belted out the Second and Third Strike and Pappy finished off Dangerous Old Men, Excellent work fellas!!

Sometime after lunch, a wire came loose in Wade......He claims it was something in Pappy's Coffee...we may never know. But Wade's Concern about the Flesh Eating-Mutant-Zombie-Paratrooper-Monkeys kept the line focused on hitting their targets (afterall, who would want to be overrun by Flesh Eating-Mutant-Zombie-Paratrooper-Monkeys). This of course led to the line of the weekend being spoke after dinner by Pappy......

"Wetfoot.....if the Monkey's could fly.....they wouldn't need the parachutes"

MONDAY! MONDAY!! MONDAY!!!

6 shooters were able to take advantage of the third day. Caleb, a young Shooter who had earned his Rifleman Patch at a prior Appleseed called the line for a while, excellent job Caleb, we have an Orange Hat waiting for you when your ready!

Of course no Appleseed at Ottawa would be complete without rain, and rain it did for a bit mixed with a stiff breeze, it even got a bit chilly. Once the rain stopped it was about lunch time. Saturday and Sunday we were able to buy hot food at the range. A husband and wife team have a portable grilling operation and all of the proceeds help cover the costs of their Greyhound rescue. They were supposed to be there on Monday as well, but they didn't show.........here comes that Providence thing again. Fellow Team Illinois member EEL shows up with a grill, hot dogs, brats and italian sausage and then he fed us all! A huge Thanks EEL 

I'm proud to say that our second Rifleman of the shoot also occured on Monday. My oldest, Wetfoot, had scored a 208 on Sunday and if the .30cal rule was used he would have scored a Rifleman score, but he said he wanted to do it without using the .30 cal rule. Well this worked out to our advantage. Every Instructor who has ever worked with Wetfoot knows how much of a pain in the butt he is, so this one is for you!!!!!

Sunday night, Pappy tuned up his rifle a bit and he ran out of the ammo he had been using and switched to some 40+ year old match ammo.....

His score on Monday......a clean 210 . As soon as Alex told him his score, Wetfoot took off running, and a pursuit insued. We soon decided that this was the wrong approach, and it was decided we would bait him instead. That Rifleman patch and several promises that we would not throw him in the pond, lured him in close for a group picture. I asked one of our shooters, Dale, to take two pictures for us, and told Alex, Pappy and Wade to get him on the second picture, and get him they did. Pappy with ice cold water out of the cooler and they others with bottled water. For those of you who think this was cruel to do to a 13 year old, tradition is tradition and Wetfoot really is a pain in the.....

Wetfoot did some line calling on Monday after his Rifleman score.

Shooters.....Thanks for coming out. You were a great bunch

Rifleman.....Congrats!!!! Now grab a bucket

Dana, Thankyou for your continued efforts For those who haven't met Dana, he is the man responsible for your shade and protection from the weather! Even Though he can't always break loose to attend an Appleseed, he has made the time to set up canopy's for our Ottawa shoots

Alex, Wade, Pappy and of course Mrs. Pappy Thanks for helping with another Succesful Illinois Appleseed 


Pictures to follow

[Tjava777]

To the Crew at Ottawa,

From Caleb and I, thank you for your patience , humor < and letting Caleb call the line.  (thanks a lot ...he is talking about an Orange hat )
ooooh boy...

See you all at the next shoot,

Tjava777

[Garand69]

Whatever you do, don't tell Fred about the Humor Tjava777 Great to see you and Caleb at an Appleseed again. We have confidence in Caleb's ability to relay his knowledge on becoming a Rifleman, all he has to do is say the word. 

[Pappy]

Hello Group; A fine group of folks were with us in Ottawa this past weekend ALL showed HUGE improvement from the first red coat to the last AQT.   And  Two new Riflemen!!  <

I would like to say I am very happy and proud to have seen Marshal AKA Wetfoot make his Riflemans score. Wetfoot you have come a long way since we first met, you will make a fine instructor one day soon. Do orange hats come water proof??     Again WELL DONE YOUNG MAN  !!!!

Caleb like G69 said you did a great job calling the line for your first time, hope to see you again soon wearing a Orange hat. 

For those of you that were on the brink of making a Riflemans score, remember dryfire by the numbers daily and come see us at the next Appleseed near you. your scores will improve. Bring your friends they will thank you. Pappy

[M.E.]

Congratulations Wetfoot!
Big congratulations to Wetfoot...I remember you when.......   I knew you had it in you and you TOTALLY have a great attitude.  Way to persevere and want to achieve without the 30cal rule!  You are a true Rifleman!!

M.E.

[Greg in MO]

Congrats to Wetfoot (and his proud pappa)!

That boy is the epitome of persistence.  Good job young man.  I look forward to seeing you on the line soon.

Sounds like another great shoot...

Greg

[Bill 3]

Still kick him around for me.......   maybe not this time.

Congratulations Wetfoot!!!

[TreadCarefully]

Congrats Wetfoot! See you on the trail soon!

[oldbolts]

Congrats to ya' wetfoot! No .30 rule either. We need more like you.

[TreadCarefully]

We need more like you.

I'm not sure I'd go THAT far.....

[Garand69]

We need more like you.

I'm not sure I'd go THAT far.....

Yes that would be way beyond limits 

[oldbolts]

Now, all I really want to know is , was he using his hands or feet?

[Garand69]

Hands this time oldbolts, but next time he has to use his feet 

Here are some pics....


Saturday Morning




Wade going over IMC


Taking out some Redcoats


Left


Right


Alex keeping an eye on Pappy, keeping an eye on a shooter


Wade on History


Pappy on Dangerous Old Men


Our first Rifleman


Not sure, but it looks real important


Standing To Sitting


It's Ottawa, it has to rain Alex


More Rain


Sunday's Saviour, EEL drops in with plenty of chow!

I'll have more pics as soon as I finish burning up the roll of film.

[Pappy]

Great Pic`s Grand, I wonder if Wade has made it home yet???              Pappy

[Wade]

Hey
Made it home 2:30 am this morning,
That was a great shoot and thank you for putting up with me at your place ,great crew in Ill.
Had a great time there.


Wade

[Garand69]

Well it is about time Wade, we were starting to get worried that a particular species of monkey may have snatched you up before making it back Washintonia  Your welcome in Illinois anytime