It was a dark and stormy
night, uhhh, weekend at Haven Farm in Gurley, AL! The forecast was rain, but that didn't deter our fifteen shooters who arrived on Saturday morning despite the threatening skies.
After our welcome speech and First Strike shared by Lyndon, we had our safety brief and engaged the Hits Count target. Many new shooters were excited to get down behind their rifles and sight in on the Redcoats! After that, we jumped into teaching... with Mike and Lyndon leading most of the instruction up until lunch (dinner for Ramblin' Wreck). By lunch, the frequent showers faded and the sun was shining. We all moved out into the sun for a working lunch, while Mike shared the story of the events at Concord and the North Bridge.
After lunch, we continued refining our skills and learning about the seated and standing positions. Before we jumped into a qualification test, we had a bit of business to take care of... AR-Mike and TnEagle received their Red Hats, promoting them to full instructors. Congratulations, Gentlemen!
At the end of the day, the shooters faced their first AQT for practice. Dave, one of our returning Riflemen requalified! :) Lastly, all the shooters knocked out a Redcoat target. When comparing the morning and afternoon targets, it was clear the work our shooters put into the day paid off. We had LOTS of great improvement!
Sunday morning began with yet another great moment - Dave accepted and Orange Hat and joined the ranks of Appleseed Instructors! ..:..
With Dave stepping as line boss, we did some squares and magazine change drills. Then we broke out some vintage Green Coat targets and used them to refine our sitting positions. The practice was good and shooters got to experiment with each of the sitting/kneeling options. Right before lunch we had the challenge of another AQT! During our Sunday working lunch, the instructors shared the stories of Dangerous Old Men and then we jumped into a discussion of Known Distance shooting.
Sadly, our weekend came to an early close. Right after lunch, the skies opened up. Lots of thunder, hard rain, and the radar advised worse was on the way. For safety reasons, we wrapped up early. We have some shooters knocking at the door for their Rifleman patches and I'm confident they'll qualify very soon!
To all the shooters: Thank you for coming out. It's our privilege to serve you this weekend.
We have three events coming up in the immediate tri-state area:
- November 8-9: Calera, AL (http://appleseedinfo.org/search-states-location.php?locationid=556&id_event=3067). This event is near Birmingham and is the final Alabama marksmanship clinic for 2014.
- October 24-25: Rising Fawn, GA (http://appleseedinfo.org/search-states-location.php?locationid=12&id_event=2554). This is the final event at Rising Fawn for the year.
- November 1-2: Manchester, TN (http://appleseedinfo.org/search-states-location.php?locationid=137&id_event=3071). This is the final event at Manchester for the year.
I hope to see you there!
-Rusty
P.S. Comments, suggestions, and pictures are more than welcome!
Sounds like a great weekend. Congratulations to the newly minted Red Hats! THANK YOU to Dave for taking an Oange Hat! Welcome to the team.
Thanks everyone for making it a special weekend for a border raider from Tennessee!
Everyone had a teachable attitude and that made it easy to be a freshly minted Red Hat.
Hope some of y'all border raid up into Tennessee at Manchester sometime.
TNEagle (Lyndon)
Congratulations to all that attended ANOTHER great event in Gurley! I surely wish I could've joined you. A hearty HUZZAH to those accepting the inherent challenges of donning a new Hat.
A bit of housekeeping remains. The clinic in Rising Fawn is scheduled for October 25-26. If you're reading this, you probably figured it out yourself.
For Liberty!!
S3
We had a great weekend with folks who had a teachable attitude. I expect to see them on the line again soon.
Congrats to TNEagle and AR-Mike on the promotion.
HUZZAH!
Wreck
Thanks again to Rusty and Ramblin Wreck as well as the other instructors for putting on another solid Appleseed event.
Looking forward to learning and working as an orange hat in the program!
"Crockett"
Dear Fellow Americans,
As always I had a great time on the line with all of you. It was an extreme honor to see so many Liberty Kids on the line as well. I hope my fellow instructors and I taught all of you something. At least, remember the history of April 19, 1775 and let it inspire you to help us plant more seeds of Liberty.
Remind the kids to read their pocket Constitutions and to learn it.
Attached you will find some pics I took on Sat. Hope to see you all again soon.
In Liberty,
AR-Mike
Here's a few more pics ...
Great pics!