Alabama had its first IBC at the beautiful Shelby County Sheriff's Office in Columbiana. Many thanks to Tracey L. and the Sheriff's Dept. for the use of this lovely and quite complete facility. We had sixteen attendees, including five non instructors (who were most welcome and whom we hope won't remain non-instructors indefinitely). The syllabus was the venerated one developed by Junior Birdman and passed down through PHenry, modified only very slightly to reflect recent changes in Appleseed procedures. Heavy emphasis was placed on Simplicity and Precision, brevity and clarity. Our attendees mastered the material with gratifying speed and we were able to share a working lunch together Saturday, and later a wonderful supper largely furnished by the organizer of the event, Rusty, and two of our honored course instructors up from Florida to help with the event, Ken and Lori. Tracey not only provided every consideration for us at the event, but proved himself a fine barbecue chef in the grilling of the meal Saturday evening.
The IBC crackled with energy and excitement Sunday as Ken led off in reviewing the material from the previous day, plus proper procedures for handling all sorts of ammunition malfunctions seen on the line, common and not so common. Rusty did his usual excellent job presenting instruction on the firing line, and after a few more modules, we had a live fire mock Appleseed event. Many thanks to Don and Jeb, who came over from Atlanta not only to monitor the event, but lend a hand as "students and onlookers" for the mock Appleseed. We finished with a final exam including extra credit questions, all of which were answered satisfactorily.
Eddie, you are a fine and most enthusiastic instructor and may I be the first to congratulate you on your upcoming IIT3 promotion. Rusty, you continue to get better and better and Alabama is fortunate to have such a fine instructor and energetic State Coordinator. Jacob, it was such a pleasure to meet you and get to know you. You have your father's dry sense of humor and unflappable steadiness and will make a fine instructor. Jim, I enjoyed your enthusiasm and the wonderful way you picked up the material so quickly. Sidney, you amazed me how quickly you could catch on and follow along, in spite of the fact you have not been to a regular Appleseed before. Care to come to a few regular events and perhaps change your hat color? Tracey, your generosity and kindness were overwhelming. I hope to get a chance to get to know you better. Heather, your professionalism blows me away. And your wry sense of humor and enthusiasm. Dane, you are one very determined person. IMC will be a snap in a while, and your students are lucky to get an instructor with so much patience and empathy. Danny and Dennis, my appreciation for coming all that way to join us and for how you were able to learn so much new material so quickly. Tom, although we didn't get to shoot, you have been exposed to all the fundamentals of how it is done. I so hope you accept our warm wishes to see you again and join us at a regular Appleseed event. Ben, may I be among the first to congratulate you on your upcoming promotion to Red Hat and my sincerest appreciation for driving all the way down from Nashville to join us. Andy, Huntsville is going to get a very fine Red Hat very soon, and your being so close, I hope I get the chance to see you and work with you again soon. Jeb, I am so glad you were able to get away at the last moment and join us. We would have been hard pressed to have had the live fire mock Appleseed without your help. Don, I really enjoyed our drive together back and forth and getting a chance to get to know you better. You gave me some great ideas that I hope to incorporate into my future Appleseed events. Lori, had it not been for your ably and graciously taking over the admin table, and helping with the food, I would have been tearing my hair out going fifteen different directions at once. Thank you.
My sincere and deep appreciation to everyone who participated. It was indeed a group effort and I consider it an honor to have been able to meet so many fine people, people whom I consider to be the true "movers and shakers" of this country. I enjoyed getting together with all of you and hope our paths cross again soon.
DrJohn, it was a pleasure attending the IBC and working with other folks outside of my immediate area. O0 O0 A bonus thanks to all the volunteers who brought all the wonderful food for dinner Saturday and Sunday lunch! :bow: :bow: I'm looking forward to applying all of the new things I learned at this IBC in my next shoot!
I may be a Red hat and have lent a hand in the mock AS, but my reason for attending the event was purely selfish. I need this in the worst way. I learned many new things thanks to our wonderful teachers. Thanks to Dr. John for running the event. Rusty and Ken gave much appreciated sage advice. I look forward to one day sitting in on an IBC that they run themselves. All around a great experience.