What a wonderful Patriots Day celebration! :F
Seventeen patriotic Americans gathered at Red Brush Rifle Range to learn marksmanship, have fun, and most importantly recount the events of April 19, 1775, the day when marksmanship met history and the heritage began.
On the marksmanship front, the participants were very attentive to the instruction and it showed in scores. As a few examples between earlier and later AQTs we saw 179 go to 208, 118 go to 198, 134 go to 210. This last one resulted in a bridge water bath for Basil. :) And some of the biggest moves came from our youngest Appleseeders; Lucien, Sawyer, Bob, and Titus. In fact, Bob and Titus just missed earning their rifleman patches with 208s! We are confident they will earn them the next time around. This holds true for Dennis and Justin who also were knocking on the door. Congrats to our new riflemen Michael and Basil and our requalifying riflemen Aaron, Adam, jayshoneybunny, and cheriesgeek!
As inspiring as the marksmanship was, the history discussions were well beyond. It was a full round robin with instructors each giving parts. Papa_Smith really amped it up with a rousing 1st strike, followed by a powerful 2nd strike by Big John, and finishing with IIT WilderMars presenting third strike for the first time. This moved her one step further towards her Red Hat when she reaches the age requirement. Papa_Smith also also launched Dangerous Old Men with a great tie in to the new shirts. He added in some additional details like Samuel Whittemore being officially declared the official hero of the State of Massachusetts. This was followed by engaging presentations by cheriesgeek on Hezikiah Wyman and jayshoneybunny on Prudence Cummings Wright, the Women of Peperell, and Elizabeth Zane. As a patriot day special history, at the beginning of the day each participant randomly drew a patriot from the patriot deck of cards and presented that person's story at lunch. We were all encouraged to tell these stories we learned to others. We also participated in the Memorial Volley, opting for the combined target. In addition to honoring the fallen, it really demonstrates the power of their teamwork on that day.
We also had a bit of local modern history to celebrate at Red Brush Rifle Range. Darkfoot as the official Appleseed representative for the range along with range President Joe Lutz received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Appleseed Project. This will be framed and hung in the range's soon-to-open indoor education center. Our first Appleseed Shoot was April 2006 so this event marked the start of our 18th continuous year at Red Brush. This newspaper article reprint commemorates the first year:
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Another memorable moment was cheriesgeek taking the orange hat! He has been an amazing blue hat and we are looking forward to continue working with him in this new capacity. We are also looking forward to jayshoneybunny completing the few remaining steps to her receiving her red hat!
Thank you to all the shooters and instructors who made this such a memorable day!
Note: pictures will be forthcoming.
Had a great time. Red brush never disappoints!
Absolutely a fantastic weekend! Learned so much both behind the rifle and the amazing historical stories of true heroes. Thank you to all colors of hats that made such a memorable event. I will be back and bringing my wife!
Quote from: Kargan on April 24, 2023, 10:33:15 PM
Absolutely a fantastic weekend! Learned so much both behind the rifle and the amazing historical stories of true heroes. Thank you to all colors of hats that made such a memorable event. I will be back and bringing my wife!
Awesome! Glad you joined the forum. There is a lot of amazing information here.
I thoroughly enjoyed attending this Appleseed. It was a great learning experience. The stories were very informative and all the instructors worked to make people understand what it was like to have been involved in the historic events at Lexington and Concord. The shooting instruction was top notch and helped me correct a number of errors.
This was a good Patriots' Day shoot. Red Brush has two wind speeds, gale and mosquito, and we had the former on Saturday, and some colder temps on Sunday. We persevered on our bay of the range for the full two day curriculum. Attentive students learned the marksmanship of the Day 1 course of instruction and of the history of Patriots' Day, doubly important on this shoot. Day 1 was pulled together at the end of the instruction for one AQT, a requalifying rifleman, and several shooters very close to it as well.
The second day yielded less wind and less heat. Instruction was reviewed, and the AQTs began. This resulted in three more requalifiers and two new riflemen, one of which received the bridge water as well as his patch. Several other shooters are very close to being Riflemen. After the Patriots' Volley and the final redcoat, the line was struck and another shoot went into history.
Captions for the pictures.
1. The firing line and the instructors Sat morn.
2. Jay's Hunny Bunny (JHB) points out Steady Hold Factor's on Cherie's Geek (and, yes, their handles refer to each other.)
3. The same instructors teach the Six Steps.
4. Titus applies the Six Steps.
5. Papa Smith coaches two students, Mike and Sawyer,
6. Dennis shoots in prone.
7. Talking Targets at the line.
8. Same.
9. Papa Smith tells the First Strike.
10. Attentive audience for the First Strike.
11. After Lunch, IMC from JHB with attention from the shoot boss.
12. Teaching the kneeling variant of the seated position, same pair of instructors.
13. Left side of the line, Dennis, Titus, Sawyer, Michael doing seated position shooting.
14. Lucien putting rounds downrange.
15. Standing stage practice on the line, Dennis in foreground.
16. PapaSmith observes the youths shooting standing.
17. Bob completes the standing practice.
18. The much anticipated AQT is explained.
19. Titus puts that AQT to the test in Stage 1.
20. Darkfoot models prone in early Sunday.
21. Sur+Rifle presents Joe Lutz, representing Red Brush Rifle Range, the certificate of appreciation.
22. Darkfoot (the Appleseed Liaison) and Joe Lutz with the certificate.
23. CheriesGeek stepped up from AppleCore (and he is a very good AppleCore-er) to IIT and completed IIT1.
24. Bob and Titus shot 208. In admiration of their grit pursuing Rifleman, the shoot boss presented the two youths with Appleseed Card Decks.
There will be more pictures from others, including the Riflemen, Youth Award, and others.
More pics.
Quote from: Virch on April 25, 2023, 12:01:35 PM
I thoroughly enjoyed attending this Appleseed. It was a great learning experience. The stories were very informative and all the instructors worked to make people understand what it was like to have been involved in the historic events at Lexington and Concord. The shooting instruction was top notch and helped me correct a number of errors.
Thanks for participating! All the shooters made it a really wonderful shoot. I was wondering what would happen with the 40 mph wind gusts on the first day. But everyone persisted and it made for a great time.
cheriesgeek has provided more pictures and even video shot from a drone via the below google drive. Why? Because we all know...
:pics:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iJpQLYC8aXTmsJHcVFw1rXAFvHryQCde (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iJpQLYC8aXTmsJHcVFw1rXAFvHryQCde)
A few more pics.
(https://libertyassociate.com/appleseed/April2023/IMG_20230423_135453141.jpg)
(https://libertyassociate.com/appleseed/April2023/IMG_20230423_135523501.jpg)
(https://libertyassociate.com/appleseed/April2023/IMG_20230423_135549994.jpg)
(https://libertyassociate.com/appleseed/April2023/IMG_20230423_160419936.jpg)
(https://libertyassociate.com/appleseed/April2023/IMG_20230422_132841039.jpg)
(https://libertyassociate.com/appleseed/April2023/IMG_20230422_132854668.jpg)
(https://libertyassociate.com/appleseed/April2023/IMG_20230423_101858528.jpg)
A great time was had by all. For those reading the details and following the photos, I really did take an orange hat. I will continue my applecore services as I navigate the IIT path to red hat. I thank all of the folks that have been encouraging me along the way.
As always, the size of my extended family grew some more.. Appleseed folks are the best people I know. I look forward to seeing you all on the line at future events.