Escondido Ca Sept 24/25 2011 AAR

[4Posterity]

Here is a start to the thread for the September 2011 Appleseed Event held at the Escondido Fish and Game Association Range in Northern San Diego County.  Details and photos (hopefully) to follow shortly.

Mark
4Posterity

[ChadC]

Thanks for running another great event Mark! As always, Bella and I had a wonderful time!

[mom2three]

Thanks for a great weekend of training.  I don't feel like a stranger to my rifle anymore.  Here are some of the photos (if anyone would like higher resolution, feel free to email me).







































Thanks again.

~ Heather

[Darrin1]

My son and I had a wonderful time. We both learned a lot and made some great new friends. It was also great to see Mark (4Posterity) again as I worked with him until he retired a year or two ago. The staff was excellent as well as the other participants. I will definitely go to more Appleseed events and bring some friends.

The marksmanship training was awesome. I know that I still have a lot to learn but I got a heck of a jump-start this past weekend. A lot more of the mechanics of NPOA and MOA make sense to me now. Before they were just theories that I read about; today they have three-dimensional relevance. In the past I tried to blame my equipment (It's a poor carpenter that blames his tools). Now that I know what I need to do, I just need to work more on repetition of the techniques. A few more Appleseed events with more of that excellent coaching and instruction will get me there.

The history lessons were very well told and the instructors made the stories come alive. I especially appreciate how the analogies were made to how we would feel and respond if our local military did something similar in our neighborhoods today. These lessons are crucial to our future as a nation. If we don't learn from history we are doomed to repeat it.

[4Posterity]

Another excellent Appleseed Event at the Escondido Fish and Game Association range in Northern San Diego County!

This weekend we had a full compliment of students with 31 attending each day.  The world was well represented with students from the US, England, South Africa, Mexico, Asia and Southeast Asia, and probably a few other regions that I've missed.  We had moms with sons, dads with daughters, dads with sons, husbands and wives, boyfriends with Girlfriends, couples with best friends, good friends attending together plus some hearty individuals.  We also had a number of Former and Retired Military folks and one active-duty US Marine attending (Thanks to all of you for your service. Without you Appleseed would just not be possible!)

This was a very fun group of folks, willing to have fun, but also to be serious about their marksmanship and heritage.  It is really nice to instruct for a group of people who are willing to crowd around and concentrate on the subject at hand.  Also very rewarding to give the history presentations to such an attentive audience.  And even better (and more promising) to have some school-aged students who already knew the history of the events at Lexington and Concord, and the lead-up to the Revolutionary War.  Kinda makes it all worthwhile.

Saturday morning's Redcoat revealed that we had some good shooters, and some folks who would definitely benefit from the weekend's instruction.  We had 18 of our 31 students put 3 rounds on at least one of the Redcoats, and one headshot.  (Sunday afternoon we had about twice that number scoring, plus 9 with head-shots, but more on that later!).

The morning's instruction went well, with good improvement down the firing line.  We resolved some equipment issues, installed quite a few slings, and got everyone settled in.

Noon, and time for the Heritage presentation, but we had a couple of students who didn't get the memo about bringing lunch.  Within moments (literally) they had sandwiches, drinks and other food provided by other students who brought food to share.  Thanks so much for those who took care of this, I didn't catch who provided you were so quick! 

We crowded everyone into the shade under 3 or 4 easy ups for the Three Strikes presentation.  This really was a very friendly group who got along very well with one and another.  During the presentation one of our youth shooters sat in front and clearly demonstrated his knowledge of April 19th 1775, Lexington and Concord, the Intolerable Acts, the Powder Alarms,  the Committees of Observation and the heroics of the American Militiamen involved.  It seems that some AP History Teachers take their job seriously, and some students do so as well.  And..........the older folks in the crowd were just as involved with the stories with questions asked, questions answered, and even a few teary eyes at several points, even among a few of our own Dangerous Old Men.

In the afternoon we finished the formal instruction and squeezed in an AQT and the afternoon Redcoat.  We were in a time-jam due to range issues, and everyone really came through hustling and getting prepped and on the line in a very efficient fashion. And then............the fastest take-down of a 40-student shooting line in history, again thanks to the attendees who showed the true rifleman's spirit with the all-hands effort to clear the range for the next group scheduled for the night trap shoot.  Oh, and the Redcoat scoring went up from 18 putting at least 3 rounds on one of the Redcoats in the morning to 23 scoring three hits in the afternoon. 

We had several folks come oh-so-close to the magic 210 score, but no new rifleman were honored this day.  We recognized our youth shooters with the Luther Blanchard presentation, then called it a day.

I arrived at the range Sunday morning to find several students waiting to help set things up.  They brought boxes of Donuts, and some excellent Chocolate Chip Banana Bread as well.  Set-up was a breeze with so many hands, but even more rewarding, all of the two-day students who attended Saturday were back on Sunday for more, even our die-hard Chargers fan who kept us up to date on the scores throughout the day!

The morning Redcoat yielded 25 students with at least three hits on a Redcoat target, an overnight improvement!  Practicing in your sleep? 

Sunday's instruction went well, and the initial AQTs good improvement from Saturday morning.  We had our first new Rifleman qualify, Al with a respectable 210 score. 

Lunch and the stories of the Dangerous Old Men and Involved Women of the day followed, with a nice discussion amongst the students and instructors following.

The Afternoon AQTs rolled along with many folks pushing up close to the 195/200 mark.  UpChuck's son Grant was just determined to crest the 210 mark, and brought forward several targets that he was just certain would make the grade.  He wavered around the 205-207 area for a number of AQTs, then finally settled down and shot a whopping 237 for the best score of the day.  Congratulations Grant!  We won't talk about your dad's best score will we?

Aaron, an IIT who came in incognito and brought out a couple of friends as walk-ons Sunday, helped them with some personal instruction then dropped down to shoot a nice 217 score of his own.  He then volunteered to put on his orange hat and to assist with running the line and one-on-one instruction.  Thanks Aaron!

Cody brought his dad Kurt to the event, really intent on earning his Rifleman's patch.  On the last AQT of the day Cody scored a 218, although we didn't tell him until the Benediction and the presentation of patches.

The final Redcoat of the weekend confirmed our steady improvement with 27 students placing at least three on one of the Redcoats, and 9 head-shots!.

We had a nice talk to finish off the day, and saw a lot of folks head home a little worn and tired, but with big smiles and lots of promises to return with 7th-stepped friends and family.

Since Sunday Afternoon I've heard from Cody, who is volunteering to step up and take the Orange Hat and join our California Instructor Corp!  The true Rifleman's Heart comes to light!  Welcome Cody, our newest Appleseed Instructor!

A sincere thanks to all the students who made this weekend so special for the instructors.  We are all volunteers, and having a group like this one just makes the effort all worthwhile.

Now, some of you took some photos/images, so post them up for all to share!

[jshoebot]

As Mark said, we had a great group of shooters and a great group of instructors! Thanks to everyone for coming out. You helped me become a better instructor! That's what I love about the Appleseed Project, it's challenging for shooter and instructor alike! I was able to snap a couple of pictures of the line, the group, and the Luther Blanchard awards. Here they are:

[mom2three]

Trying the photos again . . .







































~ HCA

[Johnnyappleseed]

Good shoot Escondido--great report 4posterity.
Congratulations to the new Riflemen and welcome aboard .

See you all on the trail

[Michele]

I want to say thanks to Bella and Chad for including me in their group and making the weekend fun.   

Great Presentation Mark and staff! I've ordered Paul Revere's ride from the library.

I will have to try again soon to get my AQT and drag my husband and daughter. 

[UpChuck]

Thanks for a great weekend.  Heather the pictures are beautiful!
Great crowd,
Chuck

[hairtumor]

thanks for incredible weekend. I learned more than I thought possible. I will definitely be back for another, this time with a scope.

[Punex]

Welcome to the instructor corp Cody! 
Glad I could help out and congrats to the new riflemen.   
Great seeing some familiar faces on Sunday and I hope to see you guys again on the Appleseed trail.

[Farmerted]

This was our first, but definitely not our last, Appleseed, and we loved it. All the instructors were super helpful, and I would like to thank Jeff for all the assistance on day one, and Chad for the help and ammo on day two. Mark's presentation of the battles of Concord and Lexington went well beyond what I was expecting. I actually got a little choked up. I am already trying to figure out which of my friends that I will bring the next time we attend. Thanks again to all you volunteers, you're awesome.