The Greensboro Division of the Sea Cadets braved hot, humid temps during the day, and sky opening rains at night to soak in American History and develop marksmanship skills. The cadets were up every morning at 6:00 doing PT before the instruction began, and standing night watches every night - all without complaint. There
is hope for the future.
The cadets did awesome on the line:
- One cadet who had never held a rifle before was shooting in the 180's before we left
- We had two new riflemen (both with repeat performances), and one re-qualification
- Shooting on the KD range, one cadet was banging the 500 yard steel
- Cadets all engaged steel at various ranges, including universally hitting steel at 200 yards with .22s
All of the instructors who volunteered their week for this event were amazing:
- Henry Foxall pulled out all of the stops by developing new stories (some focusing on the early US Navy), conducted a 10/22 - AR cleaning class, and did the tour of flags. Mother Batherick acted as our medical officer, preventing a couple cases of heat exhaustion from getting worse. Henry Foxall and Mother Batherick generously gave encouragement and support to everyone at the event. I've said it before, but it bears repeating - Henry Foxall and Mother Batherick are the heart of Appleseed.
- Rimbo gave extra individual instruction to several cadet, turning their shooting around. Rimbo was wholly responsible for one of the riflemen.
- Jzody gave encouragement and wise counsel to all (cadets and instructors)
- Little Zody, Bad Eye, and Laertes to helped out in innumerable ways - quickly and happily taking on all tasks
- Pelon (Powder) put on outstanding detection/identification and range estimation classes and exercises. He really brought the KD concepts to life for the cadets (and instructors as well). Pelon was ever present, running the KD line, taking charge of the 25m line, and fixing things on the range. There is no way this event would have been nearly as successful without Pelon.
The cadets finished out the week with graduation and a demonstration of what they learned for their parents. This was definitely an event to remember.
I am a member of a lot of Navy Chief Petty Officer and Retired Chief Petty Officer forums. I have seen a lot of disparagement from "old hands" about the quality of the newer sailors we are acquiring, their lack of respect for tradition, lack of leadership, lack of (fill in the blank).
After serving with these wonderful young men and women over the week, I have to question the focus of those "comments." What I saw in these ladies and gents has rekindled the belief I hold in the future of our Navy - I would be PROUD to serve at sea with each and every one of them!
Our Navy has problems - all services do. I pray that what I saw in these young people last week can become endemic within our armed services - we will be WELL served!
Bravo-Zulu to them all!
Ron Buchanan
GMC(SW) USN (Ret.)
"Henry Foxall"
Posted some pics on my FB page.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10214943011943311&id=1068756048&anchor_composer=false
Giant Thank you to all involved in this. The selflessness is truly humbling.