It was a chilly 37 degrees Saturday Morning in Midland. We had 48 shooters ready for instruction. With that many, registration took a little longer than I would of liked. Once all the briefings were finished, first rounds went down range around 10 or so. The temperature climbed to around 75 and it was perfect weather for an Appleseed. Things were going a bit slow, but the instruction and demonstrations were really effective. There was a Boy Scout troop there and they were very well behaved and listened to instruction. I was happy to see them camp out at the range and be so interested in the history.
Paul (ashrn03) gave the First strike at lunch, and Mark (alonzo1) followed him with the second strike. Lunch was provided for us and I want to express my gratitude to Bill Martin Jr. and Mrs. Bill for supplying lunch again. After lunch we were back on the line for more of those 1 inch squares. Ball and Dummy was the first drill we did, then it was time for transitions. around 4 we posted 4 of the green practice QAQTs and then we put up the official AQT and got 3 rifleman scores. Congratulations Stuart S.(235) Shawn S.(215, 223 on Sunday) and Kane K.(215) for making it on the first day. By the way Stuart and Shawn are father and son.
Sunday yielded another cool morning, but the temperature quickly made it up to 78 and we were blessed with optimum weather to shoot in. We had a bunch of the Boy Scouts leave after the morning orientation, so I awarded them with the special youth patches that they were eager to get. Red Coats, 1 inch squares, then AQTs . Steve (Sir Not Appearing In This Film) did the third strike in the morning and Dangerous Old Men at lunch. Then the AQT grind. By the end of the day we had 4 more qualifying scores Leesha S.(related to Stuart and Shawn), Frank H.(225&219 backup), Janice Y.(218), Michael Z .(219) What an awesome sight 7 new Riflemen (& women) from Midland. Also Lee and Matt joined our ranks as IITs Welcome guys.
I want to thank all the Instructors for making this shoot go smoothly as it did Mark (alonzo1), Steve (Sir Not Appearing In This Film), Paul (ashrn03), Bill (wcmartin1) John K. (from Midland Shooters Assoc.) Lee (Texas EMT) and Matt. Without their dedication and support the attendees would of not gotten the attention they needed to make this another successful event. Also I want to thank The Midland Shooters Assoc for hosting this and going over and above all we needed.
Thanks also to the shooters for showing up. God Bless and hope to see down the trail
Sleepy Joe
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And thanks to all of the Instructors and IITs who helped us improve.
I plan to go back to another - after a little practice. Then I should be able to break through and get my Rifleman patch.
some more photos ... I put some on the Ramsuer post by mistake
it seems that when I put more than 3 it times out on me and will not let me continue ....... oh well here are a few more
Thanks to Joe, Mark, Steve, Paul, Lee, and John for another succesful event in Midland this weekend.
Congrats to the new Riflemen.
FYI - Midland is tentatively planning on holding two Appleseeds in 2010.
April 17-18th (for the April 19th commemorative event) and sometime in November TBA (probably the 3rd weekend).
These are pending approval from the Midland Shooters Association board, but (realistically) this is merely a formality.
For scheduling purposes plan on using the same EIP we used this year with the corrected dates. Will let you know more when I do.
BTW - Y'all are welcome back to Midland anytime.
As a correction, please note that the initial lunch expense was provided by John. Thanks to the generous donations by the shooters and other club members he was able to recoup the majority of his expenses. My lovely wife did help cook on Saturday, though.
Thanks again - Bill
TO ALL THE INSTRUCTORS AT MIDLAND:
Mollie and I had a GREAT time and we can't wait to do it again soon!!
We both learned a lot and can't wait to get started putting all that new-found knowledge into practice.
Thanks to the Midland Shooters Assn for their great facilities and the wonderful food.
Thanks again
Brett & Mollie Black
Clyde, Texas
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