OK, how many firsts can you try to stuff into one Appleseed? Off the top of my very tired head:
- First simultaneous shoots in CT - Colebrook and Lebanon
- First elected officials at a CT shoot
- First time we had a 1:1 instructor:shooter ratio
- First time I got to put the Red Hat on someone
- First time I saw my daughter work a shoot as an IIT
- First time with an active duty soldier on the line (for me personally)
- First time I got to don the Green Hat. Well, the virtual Green Hat, anyway
I'm sure there were other firsts, but there's no way they'll penetrate the fog of sleep that's wrapping itself around my brain now. I just wanted to kick the thread off and let the other approximately three-dozen or so instructors who were there pitch in. Of course, they really all pitched in to an incredible degree to make my last SBIT gig as easy as they come. And having an outstanding group of enthusiastic shooters out there never hurts, and always gives me that Appleseed afterglow. Alas, even that isn't enough to keep me vertical long enough to compose coherent thoughts, so over to the other Instructors with my hearty thanks...
And remember - pix or it didn't happen.
What is it about Colebrook that makes it so cold? By the numbers Saturday morning should not have felt all that cold, 18 degrees and a little overcast as we were setting up. And I was bundled up exactly in the fashion that had kept me warm at Lebanon a few weeks ago, where it had started out close to zero. Maybe it is all in my head, Colebrook being the typical location of cold, wind and snow.
By 10 a.m. my insulated water bottle had frozen into slush. I spied a few cups of iced coffee too. Many thanks to Freedomwon for bringing coffee and donuts, and to Glock23 for bringing his campstove.
Tip: AR-15s under cover are freakin' loud, made especially so if you put the ear muffs on over a hat. I had foam plugs, my hat and then ear muffs, and still the bark from the centerfire rifles would make me jump. At least until Sunday, when it warmed up to be hatless and I could wear the muffs properly.
I don't know but I found it really funny to look at Glock23 speaking his students down the line, all fog-breath rising into the air. That just brought it home that it was just a little chilly. Not bad, but it is definitely not Florida 'round here.
More to come later once I wake up!
Quote from: fprintf on February 28, 2011, 07:12:20 AM
I don't know but I found it really funny to look at Glock23 speaking his students down the line, all fog-breath rising into the air.
What? Are you saying I'm full of hot air??? Hmmmmm.....
Don't hold back, who is the elected official?
And now, pictures...
JH and WhoMe? setting up the target line.
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/e8739833.jpg)
The Log giving the morning safety briefing.
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/8dfd4a47.jpg)
Intrepid shooters in sub-freezing temperatures.
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/035add59.jpg)
fprintf instructing on prone, expertly modeled by WhoMe?
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/1a6371dc.jpg)
How cold is it? My morning's frozen cup of coffee...
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/86fb88f5.jpg)
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/0e3afe47.jpg)
Tom being a good sport getting doused with water from under the North Bridge after re-qualifying as a Rifleman with a score of 210.
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/e0d4ea79.jpg)
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/0fa35c24.jpg)
Day 2, the Mad Bombers have arrived...
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/c84345da.jpg)
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/adb5058a.jpg)
"Well, you know, I'm not really sure if this qualifies as a Winterseed. We have to keep our standards high...."
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/b59032c1.jpg)
Draw! I think she got me....
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/2e361003.jpg)
The Machine...
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/dc1711ef.jpg)
The Arcade Game...
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/3313372d.jpg)
Billy the Kid, knocking on the door...
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/8452cae7.jpg)
Coke, getting closer and closer...
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/58432100.jpg)
"Put your nose on the charging handle!"
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/d92e4b5b.jpg)
fprintf instructing KD.
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/6add6e60.jpg)
CortJestir moments before....uhhh....ALIENS! Aliens came down from the sky, and caused a ruckus!!! >:D
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/bbab16c7.jpg)
The Log instructing our honored guest Nicole, an active-duty 68-whiskey. She had Appleseed's "Week's worth of training in 2 days" crammed into her head in 4 hours, coming ever so close to clearing a Red Coat with The Log's AR by the end of the day. She's a Shooter and we wish her luck and safety in her upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr239/equality7_2521/Appleseed-2-26-2011/d90955e4.jpg)
Quote from: freedominnumbers on February 28, 2011, 11:54:49 AM
Don't hold back, who is the elected official?
The elected official was Ryan Bingham from the first day (he only stayed till lunch). He's the mayor of Torrington and his friend Gerry is on the city counsel I think.
I'll post some picture soon :)
Quote from: fprintf on February 28, 2011, 07:12:20 AM
but it is definitely not Florida 'round here.
HEY! Not our fault ya'll don't even have the sense of birds- even
they know enough to come on down when the going gets cold...
In all seriousness, sounds like you had a great shoot! Man, 210, at a winterseed?! What luck!
-ItsanSKS
Not being as brave as that new Rifleman (210), I might have held out until the water froze like the coffee cup had. Great JOB! ^:)^
You do realize that great pictures of good times don't get you a by on posting 68W for all those that don't know what the Army MOS means. Hope you thanked her for going, she will do well there, they need her skills. O0
Quote from: Earl on February 28, 2011, 03:50:37 PM
Not being as brave as that new Rifleman (210), I might have held out until the water froze like the coffee cup had. Great JOB! ^:)^
You do realize that great pictures of good times don't get you a by on posting 68W for all those that don't know what the Army MOS means. Hope you thanked her for going, she will do well there, they need her skills. O0
Earl, yes we definitely thanked her for her service. A few of our shooters/instructors pitched in with instruction, an AR-15 rifle and all the ammo she could shoot. The Log thanked her in the benediction. I didn't even know what 68W is, but did learn during the shoot that she was an Army Combat Medic, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/68W (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/68W), heading overseas soon.
Sunday was a complete blast for me. The drive up to the range was a little scary, it had snowed and the roads were icy underneath. A nice club member let me in the gate early so I could start opening things up. I don't know what I lifted the wrong way, but I totally tweaked my back. Ouch. Jay Haich would come to the rescue some time later with one of his two remaining Advil. Thank you!
The instructors arrived early and apart from taking doors off the range we didn't have all that much to get setup since it was still ready to go from the day before. We knew there would not be as many students on Sunday so our Shoot Boss asked if the IITs would like to shoot. Yes! The more senior IITs, who did not have to call the line or do any specific instruction for a PC, would shoot first. We had an option to shoot whatever we wanted, or the instructed course of fire. After the 9 a.m. "rounds downrange" start, we did the instructed course of fire, which was squares for sighting in, a refresher on NPOA, a trigger drill and then finally some AQTs.
It was awesome being a student again. I got to shoot my LTR, a Tech-Sights equipped Marlin 795, that I had previously shot to a high score of 209 (though a friend managed a 228 - this thing shoots just fine). Normally I have difficulty lining everything up for good sight alignment, honestly the rifle doesn't fit me that well with my long arms. So sometimes I just get it approximately right and shoot the fuzz. On my first AQT of the day I shot a 216. My second AQT wasn't any better, and with my back beginning to hurt again I decided I did what I had set out to do, requalify and earn a Winterseed patch in the falling snow, so I gave up my spot on the line to one of the other IITs.
Jay Haich gave me some good tips on getting the rifle to fit better. I will follow them, most notably getting an SKS butt-extension pad (2").
As for the rest of Sunday, it was really good to see our shooters progressing. I hope to see them out on the line soon!
So was it a winterseed?
I have pictures!
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0276.jpg)
Setting up the target line on the first day
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0281.jpg)
JH and fprintf explaining sight aliment
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0287.jpg)
Tom realizing that he will have to get doused if he wants the awesome winterseed patch.
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0290.jpg)
Smiles all around for our first winterseed patch awarded in CT :)
Second day
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0293.jpg)
freedominnumbers hanging out in the throne of beef jerky during lunch. It took two people to carry up his food.
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0299.jpg)
Candis you are my new best friend...
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0305.jpg)
Nicole getting a whole weekend of Appleseed crammed into four hours.
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0309.jpg)
Smile! :)
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0301.jpg)
JH passing on some tips and tricks to our active duty soldier. Thanks for coming Nicole!
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0312.jpg)
This is what happens when we have seven instructors for three shooters...
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0319.jpg)
...Actually it was rather nice having a lot of instructors, everyone got a chance to throw some lead downrange.
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0314.jpg)
fprintf realizes what happens when you actually touch The Pink
(http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16/dpsm64/Colebrook%202011-02-26/IMG_0306.jpg)
A successful Appleseed all around, great job guys!
I can assure you that it was precipitating and below freezing when every Winterseed patch was awarded. The natural precipitation fell on Sunday, but we needed to help things along on Saturday for Tom with a little North Bridge water after his 210. BTW, he later bested his original Rifleman score by requalifying with a 222.
Quote from: The Log on March 01, 2011, 06:12:23 PM
I can assure you that it was precipitating and below freezing when every Winterseed patch was awarded. The natural precipitation fell on Sunday, but we needed to help things along on Saturday for Tom with a little North Bridge water after his 210. BTW, he later bested his original Rifleman score by requalifying with a 222.
So it
was the 1st Winterseed in CT, doh!
1st ever official Winterseed in CT!
Darn - missed another chance to get a new profile pic of me with a Red Snow Cone on! :'(
I've been wondering for a couple days now, then I jsut saw that the IAAR was up for this shoot.
I think the red snow cone I'm wanting to see is one on the head of fprintf.
Who deserves congrats on his new red hat! Huzzah!