IBC Lansing, MI January 25-26, 2014

[ITB]

Well, Mother Nature put a crimp in our plans to eclipse our turnout in 2013 of 50 instructors.  Unfortunately, bad weather forced some folks to stay home.  So, our headcount this year was........50.

50 wonderful people giving their weekend to learn how to be better instructors, and bail with bigger buckets.

As requested by many, files attached below. 

Please PM me if you'd like the files in their original format.  I'm happy to share with SCs, SIs, or SBs.  I've broken them down to three emailable chunks.

Below are the files used for the IBC, in pdf form.

IBC main 2014 files - ITB's main presentation
Secondary handouts - the surveys and Superheat's history pages
First aid kit, first aid for the Appleseed events and trauma kit - Wizard's medical files
The rest should be self-explanatory.

Scroll down, or click THIS then scroll slightly up.




Here's the roster:
Shoot Bosses( 8 ): BeeFree, Slim, Superheat, Swamp Thing, SteelThunder, Graywolf, Caliper, D.O.M.
Red Hats(10): Grindstone, Bill Winkle, Goldfish, mac66, Waveman, Hammer Forged, number6, 3.Dogs, Whippet, Oz - 100% attendance!  All MI Red Hats present, and accounted for.  Huzzah!!!
IITs (15):  Scorpion, IRONSIDES, Toobeauku (our gracious host), Koolman68, Bob Winkle, Earthmom, Wizard (and Jalapeno    ), Deadeye, MichiganFlyer, Click, Stankster, Rochelle, Daddy O, devilkitty, Bluesteel
Junior IITs (7): Gibson, Madhatter, ICEMAN, Sam-I-Am, Zazzles*, Fly-Boy*, Ghost Warrior*
Applecore ( 8 ): Rascal21, Pitmaster, LadyE, Tigress, Punk, Handstand, Little Moose,



Friday night was an optional medical class, presented by Wizard.  We covered just about everything that could be expected at an Appleseed.  Take away: "Glove up!"  It was four hours long, but it seemed like less than two.  Lots of great information - thanks, Wizard!!

Saturday started with intros, state of the state, safety briefing, Red Coats and line commands.  Then we dove into breakouts, with a Shoot Boss doing a demo, then the IITs giving it a go:

-prone
-six steps
-IMC
-NPOA
-standing
-seated

Saturday night covered rifle familiarization for the basic 7 rifles (10/22, 597, 795, AR, AK, M1A, M1) by Steel Thunder, and a 10/22 assembly/dis-assembly class by number6

On Sunday the decision was made to cut the class short to allow everyone to drive home in daylight due to bad weather (on the way home, we passed multiple accidents, and at least 10 vehicles in ditches).  So we went into fast-forward mode:

-safety briefing breakout
-remaining POIs
-troubleshooting breakout
-history - focus on emotional connections
-libertyseeds

We were done by 2 PM on Sunday.

Thanks to Toobeauku and the Capital Area Sportsmens League for being such gracious and amenable hosts.

Thanks to Slim and Goldfish for driving up from Ohio to join us.

Thanks to Rascal21 for organizing the food for the weekend.  50 mouths to feed is quite a tall order!

And many thanks to all of the instructors and Applecore that braved the cold and snow to join us.

We added three new junior IITs to the mix - Zazzles, Ghost Warrior and Fly-Boy.  Huzzah!!!!

Reviewing the exit surveys, here are some goods and bads.....

Good:

Turnout - 50 people flocked to Lansing in the middle of snow and extremely cold temperatures.
Wizard's medical class on Friday - exceeded all expectations.  Was just plain awesome.  Everybody loved it. 
The discussion of emotional connections for each of the strikes.
The troubleshooting breakout (first time we tried this) was extremely well-received.  This was created as an alternative to the mock Appleseed.  It will still be refined and improved.
"Tour guides" for the IITs making the rounds on the troubleshooting stations.
Graywolf on the history: "This is our story.  This is who we are."  As always, an absolutely inspiring talk from our best storyteller.  I had a lump in my throat.
Instructors were professional and understanding.
Great team-building opportunity
Tacos!!!


Bad:

Had to cut things short to allow folks to drive home while it was still daylight.  Roads were in pretty bad shape, even the highways.
We talked about the safety briefing on Saturday, but the breakout was Sunday.  I considered it a low priority, compared to the other POIs.  Will be remedied for the next IBC.
Apparently, we were short on serving spoons.  I'll have to talk to Rascal21 about that, to make sure it never happens again.  Heads will roll.   
The Shoot Boss didn't give enough breaks.  At the next one, I'll appoint someone to be the official break caller.
Rifle familiarization could have been more hands on.  Again, that will be remedied.
Rifle familiarization should cover adjusting stock sights.  Steel, you listening?   
Should have given Graywolf more time.  He'll get it next time!   
KD was a victim of having to trim out 3-4 hours.
Gibson should have been utilized like a Red Hat.  My fault.  
Concrete floors are hard.
The loud poker game going on until 0200 in the echoey room.
Metal folding chairs are uncomfortable when used for long periods.  Next time I'll tell folks to bring their own folding chairs.
Snoring (you know who you are)


34 attendees gave it a grade from 1 to 10.  Average was 8.7.  Lost some points due to the weather shortening Sunday's events.

On with some pics......

Group photo (can you find the real Slim and the fake Slim?):


Friday night medical:


Working on Jalapeno on a stick:


Working on the foot - get that sock off!


The patient has a lot of injuries....can anyone find his hand?  It must be around here somewhere....


Getting him on the board:


This is how we deal with miscreant instructors:


ICEMAN getting packaged on the stretcher:


Saturday morning.  Time for game faces:


Listening intently to number6:


Ghost Warrior receiving his Orange Hat.  Huzzah!


Superheat and Grindstone doing the prone demo:


Michigan Flyer doing prone for number6 and Mac66 as Rochelle observes


Deadeye and Sam-I-Am doing prone with Slim


SteelThunder doing Six Steps:


Graywolf and Beefree doing NPOA:


Slim and Goldfish doing standing:


BlueSteel and Madhatter doing standing with Caliper:


Scorpion and Ironsides doing standing with Whippet and Grindstone


Caliper and Whippet doing seated:


Saturday night "extracurricular activities." 


Instructors contributing to the delinquency of minors.  Photo taken ~1:45 AM.  Poker with chamber flags:


Unibomber's in the house:


Graywolf discussing effective storytelling:


Troubleshooting Grindstone:


Mac66 and his M1A (video to follow):


More troubleshooting:


Kind of at a loss for words.....


Libertyseed volunteers


Our sound system, courtesy Swamp Thing and Mid-Michigan Music

[Bob Winkle]

Made it home! Wasn't an enjoyable ride. Lots of accidents, but well worth the trip!! Had a great time!
Here are some pictures of our "Charlie's Angels".

[SteelThunder]

I've just found my new screen saver for work...

[MichiganFlyer]

Made it home as well.
Not a fun drive at all.

Thank you all, wow what a wonderful time.

I really enjoy the positive attitude of my fellow appleseeders.

[Oz]

Here are some pictures of our "Charlie's Angels".

I want a life-sized cut out.  Maybe two, one for the front window and one to carry with me.

The light infantry is violating one of the principal maxims of combat (only slightly less well known than "Never get involved in a land war in Asia" and "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line"): "always concentrate your fire on obvious time travelers with advanced weaponry."

[mac66]

Another exceptionally well organized and conducted IBC  Appleseed Family Reunion is in the books for this year. Having seen the impact the IBC Family Reunion had on instructor performance last year, I expect great things from our IITs and look forward to working with them.  It is always fun to meet our new instructors family members as well as touch base with old colleagues ones.

Did I mention the exceptional job our Apple Core volunteers did with the food and setups?  I think I just did. 

Thanks to all who worked so hard to put this together.   

BTW, the Whippet mobile got us home safe and sound.

[Caliper]

Checking in.  Home safe and car is unprepped...  Hope everyone else is in the same state or at least close to it. 

Bummed we didn't get to spend more time talking about KD and history, but we can't change the weather...  Great call having the drive home in daylight.  Will post more after going through notes and such. 

[Bill Winkle]

Macomb County checking in; all is well with the Winkle household.
It was great seeing everyone and a well-deserved congratulations to our fine leaders for putting on a spectacular IBC. 
Thank you to everyone who took a part this weekend.

[Rascal21]

Checking in here as well.

I also want a life size cut out for my picture window that faces the road

[slim]

GLOVE UP!!!

-:) Home safely and GoldFish is finishing out his trip as I type this. We indexed the Jeep approximately 30-45 degrees on our journey south during the rapid fire stages in just under 65 secon, er, uh, miles per hour.    What a fun winter drive! 

Even though it stinks to leave an outstanding IBC earlier than expected it is nice to be home from an Appleseed by dinner time. I'm not sure that's ever happened to me before.... and we still got everything in! 

Michigan folks have an awesome group of volunteers and I was impressed with what I saw. Thank you so much for inviting us in and making us feel right at home. I want to extend a special thanks to all the IITs and ACs who attended because it's Americans like you who have stepped up and answered the call. You're doing what it takes to save this country. Please take what you've learned this weekend and pass it on to anyone and everyone. And don't be scared to come see me south of the border. We'll put this training to good use. 

A big round of applause to all the folks who put this event on. I know it's no small endeavor to secure the facilities, print out and organize all the materials, produce the visual aids, set up the computer and audio, make all the food, pack all the med kits, open up what must be a huge vault door in order to individually cover almost all the show and tell  , and give up yet another entire long weekend away from family to do what's necessary to save the country. HUZZAH!

Keep up the good work. I'll see you on the trail.

[Earthmom]

Where can you go, feel completely inadequate yet still want to be there.... walk out, leave your kids for the evening, not ever looking back with concern - that would be an Appleseed event.  You guys are an awesome group of people and I really enjoyed spending the weekend with you.  I always leave an Appleseed event feeling inspired.  Thank you.

[D.O.M.]

Checking in from Appleseed northern HQ...
I was so glad to be able to attend, along with Fly-Boy. Each one of you is an encouragement. You left your home, ventured out in the Michigan winter to help save the country. That is meaningful. Very meaningful to me. You left your comfort zone and struggled and grew and learned and forged relationships.
I am impressed with you young people and can see that my kids and our posterity will be in good hands. Thank you for stepping up to the challenge, it's a big one!
Thank you all for once again reminding me that we are not fighting this fight alone, and that it is a fight that we can win!

[D.O.M.]

photo 1 by excitedVulcan, on Flickr



photo 2 by excitedVulcan, on Flickr



photo 3 by excitedVulcan, on Flickr



photo 4 by excitedVulcan, on Flickr

[Whippet]

How many days until the next IBC?

[SteelThunder]

Hmmm

[IRONSIDES]

Made it home about 5. No problems on northbound 75, southbound was a little ugly here and there.
I want to thank the powers that be for another great IBC, and I'll be seeing everybody on the trail.

[Bluesteel]

Fun drive home!  Got to practice my drifting skills. 

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to put together a wonderful IBC.  I'm exhausted but energized as well!  It's unfortunate that we had to cut things short today but it was a good call.

Thanks to all of the Instructors and SB's for the excellent feedback during the breakout sessions, and congratulations to all of the young people who received their orange hats.

Looking forward to working with all of you again soon and maybe meeting up with the Ohio and Indiana folks down the Appleseed trail this summer.

[Superheat]

two words:

GLOVE UP!!
A great weekend with the best people on earth.  Whippet,  I agree.  How many days until we can do this again?

Charlies Angels 

More later. 

[BeeFree]

Best Reunion so far!  I am so glad I actually got to come.  It gives me such hope to see the growing cadre of people willing, ready and able to save this nation.  It motivates me to do my own part.  Remember who you are, how you got here, and what you can do to pass it on... and GLOVE UP!

[Graywolf]

Fantastic weekend and family reunion!  It was exciting to see everyone come out and reaffirm their commitment to saving the nation.  It was a great time of learning and comraderie.  Many thanks to Burbs and Superheat for all the planning that went into this event.  Also many thanks to Rascal who did a great job on keeping us all fed. 

And, as always......... Glove up!!

[Daddy O]

WOW
What an action packed weekend of instruction!!!! Had an awesome time meeting and training with this great bunch of fellow AS instructors.  The first aid and points of instruction were absolutely great!!!! THANKS to all who put forth a great amount of effort to insure the IBC was a success. I can't wait until the IBC 2015 next year!!!!!

Hope to see you all at a future event soon.

Regards,
Daddy O

                 

[devilkitty]

I am not easily impressed. I now must own myself so.

I'd noticed the dedication, the earnest of the instructor corps at the events I attended prior to being offered the orange hat at Fenton. Lansing confirmed my observations and demonstrated without equivocation that I'd made the correct decision in accepting that hat.

If I may wax rhetorical for a moment, because a more direct way isn't coming as I write this:

I have a favorite "D. O. M.", whose story I knew before I knew anything about Appleseed: Hezekiah Wyman. Fifty of his successors -- and I hope I do not go too far in counting myself among that noble posterity -- assembled for a week-end in Lansing; one can read and know of others, but it's difficult to describe what went through my head on encountering the physical reality which demonstrated that I wasn't alone.

What can one man do? I know what Wyman did.
What could fifty Wymans do; what could a nation of Wymans do? That's up to us.

[SureShotSpartan]

Glad to see such an excellent event!!!

[Earthmom]

Wizard, I owe you a special thank you.  My children have come home with many things to keep them busy for quite a while.  One of them said that "his name shouldn't be Wizard, it should be Santa Claus".  Your generosity did not go unnoticed.  Thank you for your kindness.

[SteelThunder]

Can't believe this is the sum total of pictures I took...pathetic...







At least the video is good...entitled "I get by with a little help from my friends"

http://youtu.be/uwHWXEkpzIw

Appleseed instructor at work during a medical crisis...

[Caliper]

Rifle familiarization could have been more hands on.  Again, that will be remedied.

I was thinking the same thing last night.  This could be done as a breakout session.  Get two each 10/22, 597, 795, AR, etc and put one rifle at each station.  IIT's can then shoulder each rifle, sling up, insert and remove mags, make it safe, etc with their own hands.  With a watchful RH/GH present, I think safety will be covered and everyone gets hands-on experience. 

[Pitmaster]

Great presentations by all of the instructors. They do a great job of teaching. ITB does a heck of job organizing things. The flow and succinctness is perfect. Medical training definitely did its job with me to seek more training.

I overslept and didn't make it Sunday, but it was a smart idea to speed things up letting everyone have daylight to get home safely. Rascal did a heck of a great job organizing on her end making sure everyone was fed.

Next up the Indiana state meeting, a LibertySeed, and Patriot's Day in Niles.

[GoldFish]

Made it home safely last night at about 2130 hours.  Leaving early from the IBC was not what I had intended or would have liked, but it did have its perks.  Pretty slick (and very fun!) to Cincy, but from there smooth, but not too smooth, driving the rest of the way.  Been ploughing throw inboxes full of messages all day...  But now to the important stuff.

Thanks to all the MI instructors, for making us feel welcome and giving me a weekend to remember; you guys have something special going on up there.  A 100% turnout rate for RH's should indicate what mindset you all have towards AS and our Country.  All the IIT's demonstrated proficiency in all drills and lessons given showing your motivation as individuals and as a group.  And all you "Jr." IIT's, holy Chicago!  You all are unbelievable; I have never met a group of such dedicated and motivated individuals that are you age.  Keep working; I can't wait to see you all in RH's some day real soon.  AC, you all proved that AS is definitely a better program with you working towards the Mission; thanks for helping out this weekend, especially with the food!   A special thanks to Wizard for putting on a heck of a class Friday night ; many lessons learned and thought being given for future training.
burbs, you rock; keep providing an example for the rest of the country to look at.

Quite a few things that should happen at ever IBC, the most important being to teach Jr.'s how to play poker, and then play until about 0200.  Very educational.


I can't wait to border raid up North again soon.  See ya'll on the Trail...

Number 1 lesson learned this weekend:
Gloves!



Stay the Course,
---GF

Only got 2 pictures that weren't covered from different angles.

[SteelThunder]

Rifle familiarization could have been more hands on.  Again, that will be remedied.

I was thinking the same thing last night.  This could be done as a breakout session.  Get two each 10/22, 597, 795, AR, etc and put one rifle at each station.  IIT's can then shoulder each rifle, sling up, insert and remove mags, make it safe, etc with their own hands.  With a watchful RH/GH present, I think safety will be covered and everyone gets hands-on experience.

Yup, Oz came up with that on the way home and we submitted Sun night as our improvement plan.

[GoldFish]

Rifle familiarization could have been more hands on.  Again, that will be remedied.

I was thinking the same thing last night.  This could be done as a breakout session.  Get two each 10/22, 597, 795, AR, etc and put one rifle at each station.  IIT's can then shoulder each rifle, sling up, insert and remove mags, make it safe, etc with their own hands.  With a watchful RH/GH present, I think safety will be covered and everyone gets hands-on experience.

Yup, Oz came up with that on the way home and we submitted Sun night as our improvement plan.

Rifle familiarization was something that I put on my survey, as it definitely would have been beneficial to add to, specifically adding how to adjust the stock sighting-systems on the rifles discussed.
Not being able to discuss history more in depth would have been great, but everybody not wrecking on the way home was probably the better option.
Couple other points I would have liked to have seen improved upon or changed slightly, but hind-sight is 20/20, and overall, I think that his was pretty much a textbook IBC.