Eleanor, WV 12/10 - 12/11 2011

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Just in from what was a small, but great Appleseed.   Saturday, at 8:30AM, one student was on site.  At 9AM, I told that student that if one other person showed, we'd have an Appleseed, otherwise we'd reschedule.  Two minutes later, student number two showed up.  So Appleseed it was! 

One thing I learned is that when you have two attentive students, the time-monkey is a non issue.  We were FLYING through the POI.  By 1PM, we had all of the three strikes done, and the students had a pretty good familiarity with all of the instruction.  By 2:30PM, we were already shooting AQTs, and we were fine-tuning the various points of rifle marksmanship.  Scores were in the 190s.  Temps in the morning were in the low 20s, and frozen mud puddles did not thaw all day.  I declared it, "Winterseed!"

Due to the cold temps, we started Sunday (intentionally) an hour late, to let the sun climb above a hill that shades the range.  Temps were in the high teens.  Another West Virgina Winterseed it was.  Agony (an IIT) showed up, mainly wanting to shoot for his Morgan's Crew patch.  About 9:30 he took his shot at it.  Alas, next time.  We wandered back to the rimfire range to continue the AS after the cold-bore centerfire shot. 

We ran some drills on NPOA, Ball and Dummy, as I was seeing these issues on stage 4 with both our new shooters, and both of them were still having a little trouble with the timing on rapid fire.  We also ran a drill on rifleman's cadence.   I had them prep 15 rounds on squares.  I gave them one minute to shoot fifteen rounds into three different squares.  That allowed 3 seconds per shot plus fifteen seconds total for three NPOA shifts. The idea was to put them under tighter time constraints than the two RF stages on the AQT.  Based on the groups, it looked to me like they responded well to the constraints, and quickly found a balance between "perfection" and "good enough" on their NPOA shifts.

After a discussion about "perfect being the enemy of good enough" on those rapid fire stages following the drill, both of them got their timing down.  They were both shooting in the high 40s on stages 2 and 3.  After some minor tuning, they both started to put stage 4 together, and it just became a matter of doing it all on the same AQT, which they did, both earning the title Rifleman and the associated cool Winterseed patches.  Congratulations to both of you!

All the while, Agony's over on the end of the line shooting in the high 230s.  For fun, I watched him shoot stage 4 sitting.  He threw one round out of the scoring area.  I don't know if he  sneezed or what, because the other 9 were in the 5 ring or the V ring!  Sitting.  I told him he's stealing my "sitting mojo" as that's my favorite position.

At the benediction, both of our new riflemen asked how one becomes an Appleseed instructor.  Music to my ears.  Both now sport hi-vis neon orange hats with the RWVA logo on them.    Coolest hat in town, no?

So congrats to our new riflemen and IITs (they'll be joining the forum shortly) for making this a small, but great Appleseed!  And thanks to Agony for showing up (it's a longish drive for him) and helping out!