The overarching theme of this weekend was undeniably - "Dedication"!!! The Kerrville, TX cadre had the privilege of teaching a very unique group of students this past weekend. While there were only 12 students or so attending this event, they all exhibited a strong sense of Dedication which was truly inspirational.
We began the event by providing a bit of background regarding the ever-increasing divide between the colonists and the British Crown. This perfectly framed the morning Red Coat target and its importance and meaning. Our 10 shooters on the line were able to exhibit a true beginning level of marksmanship by having only 2 shooters prove field effective at 400 yrds. Our students had room for improvement, and this is exactly what was prepared to be delivered shortly!
During the course of the first day we learned we had students who had a high level of resolve and purpose! For example, Josh had flown all the way from Michigan in order to accompany his friend Alex to the event! The both traveled from Houston all the way to Kerrville to be part of an Appleseed event. Thank you Josh and Alex both for your willingness to answer the call of a worthy challenge! Josh had previously proven himself a strong Rifleman in Michigan and was now looking to obtain a personal best score by striving for a Distinguished Rifleman status while using Iron Sights. Alex was a seasoned shooter, but new to the Appleseed methodology and teaching.
Similarly, Steve was new to the Appleseed approach and was so dedicated to his belief the story of our Founding Fathers need to be carried on, he brought along his grandson Zeek to the event. Zeek had NEVER shot a firearm before this weekend!!!! He was only 11 years old, but had the patience and fast learning skills to quickly become an expert shot!!!!
Andrew had previously been to an Appleseed event in 2019 and learned much during his initial event. Andrew mentioned he was close to 300 lbs. when he first attended a class and found his physical fitness a hurdle in furthering his marksmanship skills. Well, guess what - Andrew showed up to this event having lost ~95 lbs. since then and was ready to excel!
Drew, who is a "High Power" event shooter, was dedicated enough to attend an Appleseed event and open his mind in a receptive way regarding our approach to basic marksmanship skills. Not only did Drew bring an open mind, but he also brought all of his "High Power" shooting equipment as well. He came equipped with a shooting jacket, shooting glove and a full cart of support gear. Most advanced shooters may feel Appleseed is beneath their skill level and would not take it nearly as seriously as they should. Not Drew!!!!! He came to learn - and he came to shoot!!!!!!
Toby came to the event with a full center-fire rifle setup to be his one and only rifle! He had a nice BCM rifle outfitted with an EoTech holographic sight and a 3x magnifier to make sure he had a good chance of hitting Captain Daniel Morgan's Shingle! He certainly could have done the event with a simpler, lighter rifle, but he chose to master his dedicated rifle platform! Noble choice sir!!!
Throughout our weekend our Instructors provided the standard course of marksmanship building skills. Pale Rider, A-Lister, Malibu and LachlansTacoStand expertly explained how to improve group size, sighting system adjustment and positional shooting. The use of a kindly donated mock-rifle-stock from Vortex helped demonstrate our positional teaching effectively. Thank you greatly Vortex!!!!! The weather luckily cooperated with us so all our students could absorb the information without much discomfort.
A-Lister provided us with a great First Strike, Malibu did a great job with the Second Strike while Pale Rider concluded our main history story segment by telling the Third Strike of the Match. Thank you all for your amazing story telling ability and commitment to the program.
Our dedicated group of students continued to improve throughout the weekend resulting in two of their number achieving a Rifleman's Score. Drew was able to implement a few of the new teaching methods and put down a very respectable score of 212, despite having a few malfunction issues. Andrew was able to follow shortly thereafter with a score of 222!!! Way to go Drew and Andrew!!!! Josh continued to improve on his personal best score and got oh so close to the Distinguished Rifle score with a impressive 227 using Iron Sights. Keep at it Josh, you will make it - just a few more points!!!
Drew mentioned that our teaching was very much in-line, if not better than the Army Markmanship Unit!!! That is certainly a huge compliment if I have ever heard one!!!! Likewise, Andrew was so ecstatic over his achievement he told his wife (who, by the way, stayed at the event all weekend as support!!!!!) he planned on getting a tattoo of the Rifleman Patch!!!! Very moving!!!!!!
As a group, the skill level improved to the point where we had 4 students showing field proficiency out to 400 yrds. This is a great improvement over the original testing showing only 2 students cable of such feet. Also, 6 were able to prove themselves as one of Captain Morgan's Rifleman!!! Great to see!!!!
I hope all of our students enjoyed the event as much we all did and will come back out to the lovely deer infested town of Kerrville, TX in December for our next event.
Chad Stovell - GenX Minuteman
lol - great weekend and really good AAR. You and Jason write stories - not just an AAR.
Thanks all y'all.
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Thanks for posting this Chad! Such a great coarse and cohort!
I think nearly all the instructors were at my 2019 shoot, but can be forgiven for not recognizing me. I did lose close to 100 lbs since then and making Rifleman was a big part of what motivated me. That and my GP talking about things like toe amputations if I didn't get my type 2 diabetes under control. :)
It involved a lot of things like fasting, giving up bread and ice creme, bike riding, kettlebell workouts and suchwhat, but a big part of my exercise program took the form of making hundreds of 25 yard sprints to change targets on every trip to the range.--- that and running through the transitions on my "Appleseed Yoga Mat."
This shoot was a little colder and quite a bit wetter, but the seed you guys planted in that first one had grown and matured enough to overcome those obstacles. Something A-Lister had taught us about in the first shoot was maybe the germ in the center of the seed. At first I didn't really even comprehend it, but it just kind of sat in the back of my mind and smoldered the whole time.
Quote
"During the whole affair, the rebels attacked us in a very scattered, irregular manner, but with perseverance and resolution, nor did they ever dare to form into a regular body. Indeed they knew too well what was proper, to do so. Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob, will find himself very much mistaken. They have men amongst them who KNOW VERY WELL WHAT THEY ARE ABOUT, having been employed as rangers against the Indians and Canadians, and this country being very much covered with wood, and hilly, is very advantageous for their method of fighting."
- Lieutenant General Hugh Percy, a British Army officer, from his official report describing the battles of Lexington and Concord.
It's archaic, and I hope I'm not putting too much of my unlearned interpretation on it but the phrase might translate into "Do not be deceived by the majority of rudderless halfwits engaged in this pursuit, some of these guys know EXACTLY what they are up to." :slight_smile:
Having been left with no choice, I've had to become the CEO of my own health, and take ultimate responsibility for it. In spite of my heroic efforts to avoid it, I had to find out and KNOW VERY WELL what I am about. Today, that goes well beyond losing weight, overcoming ADHD to the point I no longer require medication, or any of the other victories I achieved on the road to my Rifleman patch. I know very well that I'm about getting and keeping the capacity and resolve to defend myself, my friends and family, my property, my community, and (God forbid it should come THIS far down the alarm list) my country. I want to make each day count in the effort to ensure those things are worth defending. As Ive been told, "Gratitude is an action."
Speaking of; I hope you all have the happiest Thanksgiving ever. I think I will. :)
PS: Cat took the picture of my patch on the Jeeps dashboard that I'm using for my profile picture here. If you squint through the rain on the windshield you can probably ID a couple moistened Appleseeders. :)
Quote from: Jaxxon222 on November 20, 2023, 10:35:49 PMThanks for posting this Chad! Such a great coarse and cohort!
I think nearly all the instructors were at my 2019 shoot, but can be forgiven for not recognizing me. I did lose close to 100 lbs since then and making Rifleman was a big part of what motivated me. That and my GP talking about things like toe amputations if I didn't get my type 2 diabetes under control. :)
It involved a lot of things like fasting, giving up bread and ice creme, bike riding, kettlebell workouts and suchwhat, but a big part of my exercise program took the form of making hundreds of 25 yard sprints to change targets on every trip to the range.--- that and running through the transitions on my "Appleseed Yoga Mat."
This shoot was a little colder and quite a bit wetter, but the seed you guys planted in that first one had grown and matured enough to overcome those obstacles. Something A-Lister had taught us about in the first shoot was maybe the germ in the center of the seed. At first I didn't really even comprehend it, but it just kind of sat in the back of my mind and smoldered the whole time.
Quote"During the whole affair, the rebels attacked us in a very scattered, irregular manner, but with perseverance and resolution, nor did they ever dare to form into a regular body. Indeed they knew too well what was proper, to do so. Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob, will find himself very much mistaken. They have men amongst them who KNOW VERY WELL WHAT THEY ARE ABOUT, having been employed as rangers against the Indians and Canadians, and this country being very much covered with wood, and hilly, is very advantageous for their method of fighting."
- Lieutenant General Hugh Percy, a British Army officer, from his official report describing the battles of Lexington and Concord.
It's archaic, and I hope I'm not putting too much of my unlearned interpretation on it but the phrase might translate into "Do not be deceived by the majority of rudderless halfwits engaged in this pursuit, some of these guys know EXACTLY what they are up to." :slight_smile:
Having been left with no choice, I've had to become the CEO of my own health, and take ultimate responsibility for it. In spite of my heroic efforts to avoid it, I had to find out and KNOW VERY WELL what I am about. Today, that goes well beyond losing weight, overcoming ADHD to the point I no longer require medication, or any of the other victories I achieved on the road to my Rifleman patch. I know very well that I'm about getting and keeping the capacity and resolve to defend myself, my friends and family, my property, my community, and (God forbid it should come THIS far down the alarm list) my country. I want to make each day count in the effort to ensure those things are worth defending. As Ive been told, "Gratitude is an action."
Speaking of; I hope you all have the happiest Thanksgiving ever. I think I will. :)
PS: Cat took the picture of my patch on the Jeeps dashboard that I'm using for my profile picture here. If you squint through the rain on the windshield you can probably ID a couple moistened Appleseeders. :)
Hey Andrew,
It was truly one of the best moments I have yet to experience in Appleseed when handing you your Rifleman patch!!!! Your effort and persistence is legendary sir!!!! We were all inspired by your hard work and how far you were willing to go in order to achieve your goal!!! Congratulations sir!!!!!
We hope to see you back out at future events, maybe a Known Distance shoot - nudge - nudge. Likewise, if so inclined, you might want to become an Instructor in Project Appleseed. You certainly have the skill, understanding and drive to do so!
Congratulations again Andrew! Way to go!!!
Chad Stovell - GenX Minuteman
P.S. - I love the fact you made your forum name coincide with your Rifleman Score!!!!
Just a quick update from the fruits of this event:
Josh and Alex came to the event on Saturday and Sunday and were then planning on going deer hunting shortly there after. Well guess what, Alex was able to bag two nice looking bucks and said the things he learned only days before at the Appleseed event helped him make excellent shots on both! Way to go guys!!! Thank you again for coming out!
Chad Stovell - GenX Minuteman