I would have loved to have stayed at the Piru-Three oh Nine IBC for the duration :) but, because I Appleseeded the last 3 weekends in a row, Mrs.Cal didn't want want me being gone all weekend, AGAIN! &) But I did manage to get away to the IBC for an overnight campout with my fellow riflemen. I had a great time even with the rain and wind. It was suggested to bring an old 55 gal drum cut in 1/2 for a fire pit and we had all the attendee's help us put a few sidearm rounds (of various calibers) into the barrel for better ventilation once the fire was put into it. :~ :~ :~ Last weekend Hollywood Marine had the great idea to campout @ the range instead of doing the motel thing. So most of the attendee's did just that. We had a pot luck with pork ribs :P burgers, chicken, chili, sausage, salad and yours truly elected to bring the dessert. (Hey, you can teach a cook how to be a rifleman, but he still knows how to cook. ;)(Or bake as the case may be)) Brother Kool-Aide did most of the galley slave work, (my compliments to the chef!) O0 Bob 210 cooked up some breakfast for for the gang while Lava Tech fired up some little smokies sausages. I left this A.M. as everyone was heading over to the adajacent range's classroom for some relief from the inclimate weather. Poor Hollywood was left to work all by himself on range improvement :'( ::) I'm sure I left alot of stuff out cause I wasn't there the whole time, so feel free to chime in folks.
IBC's. Sigh....
This one had several distinct components.
There was the actual IBC it self.
JB makes it look easy. Easy? Not so much.
Then we had the visiting hoards of red hats who moved structrual steel, stacked target stands, and made life as easy as possible for the front loader could begin range improvements ( anybody with pictures will be posting soon I'm sure).
RockCucker and MisterBill, Hollywood Marine, and Cal. 762. We all tried to NOT get in the way of the LARGE yellow monster.....
PhonePron, Lt.Dang, Fstop minerva, .... sorry if I forgot anyone else.......
SS and myself wrangling a trailer full of Jersey cotton shirts.....
It did my soul a world of good to be amongst all the 'hats. From above, the class looked like a sea of red and orange.
Nice to make contact with and the aqaintence of the IIT's I hadn't met with yet.
Really fun see all my old droogs as well.
Anyway......
Many hands make short work.
Thanks as ever, Bob, for all you do.
Thanks Laylopro for being great adult supervision.
Arc- thanks for allowing us to boss you around.
Socal- you were missed and spoken of with fondness......
All I can say is, this is a great way to get our instructor corps up to snuff for 4-19 and beyond.
KA
JB, that's quite a grip you have on that fork. Did someone "offer" to take it away from you - then snap the pic?
You California guys: Even as I type this, the 'good vibes' have spilled out of my computer screen, dripped down on the floor, and dampened my pants legs... ::)
:)
Heh!!
Was that "Brother in Chief", or "Brotha' in Chef"? ;D Heard he did a great job on the Bar B Q again.....and once again provided some entertaining photo ops of Brotha' Kool being.....Brotha' Kool.......
This was indeed a fun one, as the new gathered with the old......Fred, JB, & Nickle are all correct when they say that anyone who has been here a year already will certainly feel like an "old hand" at it all.....it was fun being here & recalling the 9-08 (good grief!!, a short 6 months past!!) IBC here, where some of these questions were -soooooo- hard, and now it's hard not to just blast out the answer 'cuz everyone is taking so long to get the answer formulated in their minds.....
And then remembering how hard it was for us as well.....
in just 6 months..... :o
There was a certain weather effect going on.....almost like the Mid-West....("Oh, if you don't like the weather, just wait 15 minutes....it'll do something different....") We had warm t shirt weather, followed by some very breezy chilly weather, followed by some rain, then followed by some more chilly breezy, then some nice sunshine, then some more chilly....you get the idea..... ::)
As instructors, we were able to confound our newest folks with some serious tests of their skills of knowledge & observation, for the simple purpose of here & now @ an IBC, is far & away better than at a shoot later.....there were some good "Gotcha's!!", but all learned from them.....
JB's "come up ? from Hell" actually had some correct answers......I did not see who came up with the correct ones, but I know JB was a bit surprised by it..... O0
Why?? Because we rock out here...... ;)
John C. Bobcat was also there Saturday, but not to study.....he worked with his tractor to cut in a new road leading to the top, so we can get some steel up on Mt AS for a bit of KD while at our 25m line......lot of hard work, & some serious dirt being moved.....more on that as it transpires...... <:)
Thanks to all the folks who came from pretty long distances to participate & improve.....your dedication is duly noted, and appreciated!!
Let's see, ARC, ASMinuteman, BaldDragon, DD, Juliette, DesertDog, Lavatech, GoL, Liz & Justin, Jacques, CamlJr, V, Cal7.62, HollywoodMarine, JA, SS, KoolAid, Bob210, and last, but by no means the least (and also the long distance winner!!) Jr. Birdman. You folks all rock!! O0 O0 O0
As always, we have pix for your viewing pleasure......
Enjoy!
LLP
Forgot to mention that the fire hose was on hard enough, and steadily enough, we did not finish until oh-dark-thirty on Sunday, and as such, had to fore go our traditional take over of a certain Bar B Q establishment.......I'm bummed.....
More pix.....
LLP
And the final stuff.....
Last note....almost every AS event I have been to has the same effect on me at the end......I get kind of sad because.....it's over.....and I have to wait until the next one to get back together with this awesome group of folks......
Anybody else feel that way about it? :)
Last pix...
LLP
Wow, I look quite perplexed in that "observe and wonder" photo. ??? I was probably trying to figure out how no one had asked Kenny Rogers . . .uh, I mean Laylopro for his autograph yet. ^-^
In all seriousness, it was a great weekend and thanks to all who came out- JB of course for coming all that way and for the redhats that helped and the rest of the IITs out there. It was great to see old friends again, and it was outstanding to get to meet folks for the first time and put faces to names. There sure is an odd trend of meeting fantastic people every time I find myself amongst Appleseeders. O0
I want to say congrats and thanks to the brand new IITs who all did a fantastic job despite being so new to Appleseed. DD, Justin, Liz, and Juliette - thanks for joining us on such short notice! O0
BD, other thank JB of course, I think you traveled the farthest to get here. Thanks for making it down- it was great to meet you. Thanks for all you're doing up north - we're gonna have this whole state covered pretty soon!
See you all on the Appleseed trail!
GoL
Here's a couple "Kum Ba Yah" pics for Fred.
Thank You JB for again opening up that firehose for the California crew. We have a lot of new up and coming IT's that were the benefactors of your vast knowledge.
Thank all of you new IIt's that could make it out to Piru to take it all in and begin your journey on the Instructor trail. We appreciate you. It is significant to the program that you are willing to travel and learn so you will be a better Instructor when you go to an event.
doubled and Romeoshero, Justin and Liz, baldDragn, brand new to the program and already hitting the trail. Then there are the "seasoned" IIT's who came out and took a drink from the wide open HUGE firehose. DesertDog, GoL, Camljr (who has his red hat and is no longer an IIT but I'm sure he learned a thing or two), Arc and Cal7.62 as repeat attendees, hanging out giving support. Congratulations to all of you for getting the answer to the aforementioned come up from hell question. ^5
Great to see all of the red hats too. The ones who came to pick up their t-shirts and the ones that came to help out on the mock appleseed line. Great food, and that cake!! Wow.
I brought my grandson out with me on Sunday to help with range clean up duties. He did a nice job, with very few complaints. He was rewarded with being allowed to put some rounds down range on the upper range. He enjoyed that more than "picking up the cow-poo".
Thanks all for being there.
~SS
I have to hand it to the whole group, this was the most intense experience I've had in years.
JB sets a great pace for instruction, keeping things moving so even the shortest attention span never has time to drift. For work purposes I have to take several classes every year and rarely have I received training of this high quality!
Bob210 was everywhere! If there was work to be done he was in the middle of it. How many IIT's have the privilege of having their state coordinator make their morning coffee for them?
For someone as quiet as V is, all of us had to pay close attention to him. I think he took great pleasure in taunting us during the mock Appleseed with constant firing line errors, I'm sure they were all examples from personal experience.
LayLowPro was no slouch either in coming up with ingenious examples of Murphys Law in action, managing at one point to catch two RSOs at the overlap position with a flag behind a chambered case. Between him, V, and Bob210 the students received a workout. Fellow student RomeosHero didn't hesitate to add to the lesson also.
All the Red Hats were great, sharing their experience with us and helping us to move forward.
I'm also impressed with my fellow students. It's obvious that they are all highly motivated.
I'm most impressed at the determination showed by everyone there, without exception. With constantly changing conditions that ranged from t-shirt weather to mitten and parka cold and rain in less that 30 minutes and would stall the average person or send them running for cover, this whole group moved on with whatever task was at hand, hardly taking the time to make note it.
The idea that "Riflemen Persevere" was proven at every turn.
Sorry Bob210...
Most notable quote heard during PIRU THREE OH NINE!...
"HAS EVERYBODY DONE A #2 ON BOB?"
Runner up, during a sudden pause in the rain and wind,
JB to Bob210 "I think we're in the eye"
"HAS EVERYBODY DONE A #2 ON BOB?"
Heh!! **) **) :))
He was in prone position right then, wasn't he? **) **) **)
I'm also impressed with my fellow students. It's obvious that they are all highly motivated.
Funny thing about this, on a couple of levels.......1st, when you fight as hard as some of these folks did just to get a patch, then take on the added responsibility of the "orange hat of Destiny", you tend to be a lot less inclined to want to be perceived as a "goof".....or a "Doof".....
2nd, in most organizations, you usually find that the "proteges" tend to only be about half as "good" as the "Mentors"......I do not find this to be true here.......in the case of AS, I find many of our new folks to surpass me in many areas, both shooting, as well as speaking skill sets......or just plain instructing......
I may go on too long about one particular point, when I can see that they will be able to put it "Simply & Precisely", leaving me wondering what all I was yammering on about....... :o :( :-[ :-X
I find this very cheering...... O0 :))
I was probably trying to figure out how no one had asked Kenny Rogers . . .uh, I mean Laylopro for his autograph yet.
They've probably heard me try to "sing".......that is not a good thing....... **) @@) $$-0
There sure is an odd trend of meeting fantastic people every time I find myself amongst Appleseeders.
Yeah....I noticed that too.....(Anybody else notice this?)
I think I read somewhere that talked about this program being sort of "self-selecting" about who actually makes it off the couch, and down to the trail, where they can be woken up....and the ones who pursue it further, just keep getting to be better & better Americans as they continue waking up...... O0 <:) O0
And yes, V is pretty stealthy..... **) :~ **)
Again, thanks to all who showed up to teach, and to learn.....even the "teachers" continue to learn something every time from the students.....which is as it should be...... ;)
LLP
I've been looking in the normal AAR forum for this.
Great weekend with great people. I like JB's quote, "It's alway's better in the company of Riflemen." Got to hang out with a lot of the guys I've been working with, Hollywood, V, Bob, Camljr and got to meet some new friends, Johnny Appleseed, Grandson of Liberty and of course JB. Big kudos to DoubleD and Julliet for being there 1 week after shooting Rifleman!
I have a whole new perspective on the history presentations and the "Simple and Precise" methods of teaching. Thanks again to JB for the Advanced Rifleman teaching, very informative. Interesting that I was in a combat MOS in the Army and the only part of it I had heard before was target detection.....mmm....
I can't wait for April 18 & 19!! See you all on the trail!
DD