DATELINE: August 22-23 2020/Staunton VA - Nine instructors met at Stanton Virginia for the Pistol instructor Boot Camp, otherwise known as a PP/TTT event. I am exceptionally pleased to report that we have five new fully qualified Pistol Instructors ready for recommendation. Everyone else is pending only the pistol qualification, and all remaining shooters are expected to complete this point soon. This was a great class with a lot of energy, teamwork, and command of the material under some memorable conditions.
I'll be back soon with details about the event; I am operating under some adverse conditions upon my return and will complete this later. For now - Stand Easy, and thank you for your patience.
Update: a highly motivated group consisting of Missus Monkey, Brother Pilot, Erervigila, KP, OddsrEvan, Tec 10/22, Misawa, CatGravity, The Wolfhound, and Dangerous Cook all met for the Appleseed Pistol Instructor Boot Camp. The 2 Day course was run by Charter Pistol Instructors Steven K (as SB) and MK1765 (as instructor). BillP-565 and Messr were in attendance too and assisted with the event.
First things first-our host Brother pilot and his family opened their home, garden, and private range for all of us; we were really treated as guests of the home; they prepared a most wonderful dinner on Saturday night and their hospitality continued throughout the weekend. Thank you for that- and thank you for that French press high-quality coffee and cornbread provided all weekend!
Now on to the shooting - we recently received the pistol manual 4.0 and went through the document Word for Word with the group. We had total student participation with the reading and then moved to a blue gun section as the students each taught elements of the course using the blue guns, always treated as if they were actual firearms. The weather turned out to be a immediate factor because sometime around 2 o'clock on Saturday the rain came down with a remarkable intensity; not to worry - these top-notch students, all red hat and green hat (and gray hat) Appleseed instructors were prepared and had brought several canopies. We continued effective instruction with the blue guns under the largest of the canopies until we completed the intended battery of instruction for that day.
On Sunday morning the students took and all passed a written examination. We moved to a live fire section thereafter to complete the manual - all students both fired and took turns running the drills and course of fire outlined verbatim from the manual. Everyone did an excellent job, and some issues came up during instruction that I logged in and will pass along in the IAAR, mostly a typo or two, but one or two items that will the group considered to be useful modifications as this program continues in its introduction to America.
We had five students qualify as Pistoleer™ -the Wolfhound, Brother Pilot, Misawa, Tec 10-22,and Erervigila. Their recommendation to Instructor Scheduling will follow. All are otherwise qualified though pistol qualification scores are pending - arrangements for reporting on that qualification are established.
In closing, I've been with Appleseed for 10 years or more at this point- this is my 49th recorded event; en route home MK1765 (also a longtime Appleseed'er) and I reflected over the various moments of the day, both comic and serious, as we all (ALL) worked to make the event the best it could be; it was a group effort, and we were successful. MK1765 and I were proud of the men and women who turned out and worked so hard to make this event come together as one of the most memorable we have had with Appleseed - the finest organization of its kind.
We are planning more P-IBC in the future; Stay tuned.
Thank you all for the opportunity to continue in service, and
In Liberty,
StevenK,dSB
Charter Pistol Instructor, Project Appleseed.
Here are the only pics I got of the weekend. The first shows the water soaked ground when it was but a stream coming down the hill - it would shortly turn in to a small river. The second is the group shot at the end.
I took a few pictures on Saturday as well. The rainbow was on Sunday (didn't even rain that day) but certainly framed the weekend well.
Class in session
(https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1_S60EQaZqwMvCBVlfUJCKZbMvC_uUSIy)
(https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1F4GIm6-7FuS0rYuIL7n0L-d47yIngGG8)
(https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1VSK7YZFEkYJrq2kkeGGk1Cqq6utT7jFf)
Raining and training
(https://drive.google.com/uc?id=18MTnXKmXbrTvwfYdIIhd2YjX0LdeiC8H)
(https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1jO_hiXBCDy8bfQjRt6TL7hxD7AbrvsNU)
The Promise
(https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1Kgq7D8UMSSjs8HBVpaMj2W1kMYaRDX6J)
Awesome!
Good to see some more Pistol Instructors on the team! Huzzah!!!
[edit]
I had to look three times to see the rainbow in that last picture. A Toyota dealership? What's that about? :)
Jay,
Thanks for putting this together. This will be very helpful for the VA cadre and the Commonwealth, as we open up our course offerings in the near future.
vr/
J
Jay, the Maryland cadre really appreciated the hospitality as well. It was great to work with my friends (existing and new) from the great state of Virginia...and the just ok State of New Jersey (sorry MK1765 and StevenK - you both are amazing though).
While we aren't sure when (and where) we can host a Maryland pistol clinic, you will have qualified border raiders should you need them!
My pleasure. StevenK and MK1765 did the heavy lifting. I had a great time. Looking forward to running a pistol clinic or three.
I'll submit those for promo tomorrow. The writing (aar/iaar) is done. Great pictures, by the way to you all. Jay and Catch thanks for your kind words from both of us.
A great group and great instruction. Getting "patched" (at last) feels good too. Did anyone mention rain? Did anyone see FiremanBob in the area? Does it rain every shoot he works in New Hampshire? Why do we all refer to him as "NOAH"? Enquiring mind want to know......
Congratulations!
Thanks for helping to move this new program forward.
And many thanks to Brother Pilot for opening his home for the training.
I thought we only got rain like that down here in Florida?
tk
"And the Rain came!" (Jack Elliot, 912 green)
I say noahseed? Can I get a witness?
Amen!
Looks like it was a great time, and a big success giving us five more fully qualified instructors.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50283254606_cb3aa542e5_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jBmPKC)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50283409167_d9fb604d8d_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jBnBGt)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50282574308_f37a53154d_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jBikwm)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50283254261_8eeb4c9e54_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jBmPDF)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50283254231_0b6927eea6_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jBmPDa)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50283254221_b0bd2d89cf_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jBmPCZ)
more pics. these came from "Messer"
and some rain... also from Messer