After the smoke (and dust) cleared....
I have never seen more determined and persistent, patriotic souls as who attended the Whittington Center AS. These individuals of all ages, men, women, and children persevered against gale force winds and chilling temperatures to make the April 18-19th, 2009 AS at the Whittington Center in Raton, NM a complete success. We can include them in a special group of people in our country that has a spirit contiguous with the Founders of our great Republic. Their spirits aligned as their sights were aligned on the miniscule targets down range, wind howling and dust flying. It was a truly glorious example of the American Will and Heart. Not one whimper. Not one complaint as Mother Nature pummeled them with a continuous bombardment of wind and dust straight up the range into their faces. The spectacular vistas inherent to the area of New Mexico where the Whittington Center is located provided a wonderful distraction to the discomfort of the conditions.
On Sunday the clouds raced away on their way southward to reveal a magnificent, sunny day. The elk, deer and antelope languished about in the warmth as the sun crested the mesa. Far from balmy for us human creatures, it was a glimmer of hope that the day would be warmer than the previous one. Although the wind continued to present a challenge the sun managed to chase the frigid air along behind the clouds and the day indeed warmed as we continued to accept the challenges of grasping perfect form and discipline. Bluefeather ably wore the Red Hat of ShootBoss and excelled at directing the largest (to date) AS in the state of New Mexico. Bluefeather and TaosGlock proved that the American traditions of leadership and faithfulness to purpose are indeed alive in this country. I am proud to include them in my circle of Friends. With Staplegund and Redneck assisting to herd our flock of aspiring Riflemen through the appropriate COF (course of fire) and critical lessons the "time monkey" was kept at bay. Sarducci proved to be a most practiced "Vanna" while modeling the contortions for a correct, stable rifleman platform. We were regaled with historically relevant personalities and events and kept enthralled with accounts, which are left unmentioned in our current teaching institutions. This brought the lessons being learned into a more intimate and personal light for us all.
We are Americans who know what we are about.
At every Appleseed that I have attended I've come away with my sense of liberty polished up just a little more brightly. My soul carries away from these gatherings a higher sense of purpose in day to day life. A seed of confidence and focus is planted in my mind and soul and my heart quickens with a realization that there are more people in this country, than appears on the surface, of a like mind. An Appleseed event is a centered and purposeful event for every citizen, no matter what your political vision or religious affiliation or beliefs. This is a program that teaches confidence and self-reliance. The children who attend are taught how to respect the purpose and function of a firearm. They learn how to handled them safely and shoot them accurately. Rather than instill a sense of fear of guns in them we teach them to respect them as tools used for specific tasks and also for physical discipline and mental exercise.
These are life-long, and to some, life-changing lessons. I have seen the sudden spark of an epiphany in a person's eyes as a certain previously unrealized part of the lesson "took". The resulting improvement in group size on the target being the proof that the teachings are true and relevant. These moments are beyond satisfying. They are to be cherished, for they are our "pat on the back" as instructors.
All in all, this being my first AS filling the gap as IIT (instructor in training), I have to say that the amount of preparation, mental and physical, that goes into an event is staggering. God blesses us all for the people who can shoulder this immense responsibility. Anybody who can wear the Red Hat is to be commended with vigorous applaud and many thanks! They are TRULY Americans "who know what they are about"!
twh,
QuoteI have seen the sudden spark of an epiphany in a person's eyes as a certain previously unrealized part of the lesson "took".
Very well said.
Congratulations on your first outing as an IIT! Adding that to your already great work as NM State Coordinator. O0 Congratulations to the NM contingent, and especially Bluefeather for the success of the event. NM is in good hands.
~SS
We had a blast and learned a lot despite flirting with hypothermia. O0
I calculated it out and the ambient temperature according to the thermometer in my truck was right around 32 degrees most of Saturday. Given the 20-30 mph wind speed (Not counting gusts) we had a wind chill around 17-19 degrees. Now you can dress to handle that no problem BUT your face gets mighty cold and the targets mighty blurry as the wind blowing RIGHT in your face dries out your eyes. :'(
But all things considered we persevered. Even the kiddos were hanging in there and not complaining! They just kept on shooting! :~
Thank you to all the volunteers and instructors, you all did an awesome job!
Now if we can find a way to keep other people from shooting other people's targets... &)
Chris L.
I would like to add my Thanks and Appreciation for Blue-Feather & Taosglock for a great event and for being true Americans.
My Brother and I had a great time despite not making qualification. We have made it a goal to get qualified by year end so don't stop having these events please.
I would also like to add a WOW !!! for the Whittington Center. This has to be the best Range in the Country. Not only was the staff helpful and pleasant to deal with, but when you have the kind of facilities like they do there in Raton it truly makes it worth the drive to attend any events there. Major Cudo's to the NRA and the Whittington Center.
Shout out to Joel, Sean, Al, and Rob great to meet you guys and hope to shoot with you again.
Wow!
Way to go NM!
And I thought a little sun burn was a challenge!
Nicely done,
PH
Many thanks to all who came, participated and/or volunteered. It was an honor to serve, especially so at the Whittington Center, which is unparalleled, and unequaled, in my limited humble opinion. My first time, but not the last, God willing. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring event.
Scott
staple,
Not just your opinion sir - that's a fact. I have seen a lot of ranges in my life. Once you see the WC - the rest pale in comparison.
Not a dig on other ranges, many of which are quite excellent - just not apples to apples.
The WC is the "range" (even the word is woefully insufficient) by which all others are compared - the view alone is one of a kind!
PH
Sorry I missed this one. WC is a great range and the people that run it are dedicated to preserving our country! A special Thank you to Bluefeather for stepping up and taking my spot on the line.
Atticus
Quote from: PHenry on April 22, 2009, 11:14:36 AM
<snip> I have seen a lot of ranges in my life. Once you see the WC - the rest pale in comparison.
Not a dig on other ranges, many of which are quite excellent - just not apples to apples.
The WC is the "range" (even the word is woefully insufficient) by which all others are compared - the view alone is one of a kind!
PH
+1, staplegund, PHeny. I haven't seen all that many ranges, but the first time I visited Whittington (for the Fifty Caliber Shooter's Assn world championship) I thought I'd died and gone to heaven (the wind made me think a bit further south >:D, but the pros say that if you can dope the wind at the WC, you can do it anywhere ;) ). The WC is a true "jewel in the crown" for all shooters and I am certain each and every one of your shooters had a fantastic time there.
P.e.r.s.i.s.t.i.n.g,
How many shooters did ya'll have?
Quote from: sarge on April 22, 2009, 10:24:57 PM
How many shooters did ya'll have?
We had 34 shooters. We would of had more but the weather/road closures up north in CO kept many from getting here.
I will get some pics up soon!
TG
Thank you everyone for coming and helping make this an awesome event! We got three new riflemen and 7 new orange hats! Despite challenging weather, spirits ran high and we all parted ways with newfound friends. I am always overwhelmed at the caliber of students we get, and I am honored to work with all of you.
Redneck graduated to IIT4, which means he is one step from becoming a red hat and charging out on his own! TWH731, whose name I can remember now that I know what it means, premiered as an orange hat, and spent lots of time down on the ground helping out. Staplegund did a great job with those DOOMs, dangerous old ornery men (his improved acronym!), didn't he? He also spent a lot of time helping out Hannah and others, so that they all had a rewarding time.
I was overwhelmed with the unison red coat volley we did... the students didn't realize how fantastic it all looked from behind. We got a few teary eyes when we expanded on who the special colonists were in their short lives. I would hope that, on looking down on us, they do not feel it was for naught.
When we had our closing on sunday afternoon, I said that Appleseed can be a life changing event. That has certainly been true for TaosGlock and myself: we feel we are finally doing something worthwhile and that we have found that sense of community we were looking for. Maybe some of that colonial mindset has rubbed off on us!
We thought we would have some time to cruise now, but it seems we are already planning more events this year at Raton! We also have special requests to do other Appleseed events in northern NM and central Colorado, so we will do our best to get those going for you all closer to home.
We are blessed to be directed on this path, and we will do our best to share it with others.
BlueFeather
BF,
"Stole" your most excllent idears for Sunday - spouting off time lines all day. Next year will incorporate even more.'
Many thanks,
PH
PHenry, we were so lucky to have you and Atticus and Ashrn03 as our introduction to Appleseed... nothing like starting out with the best... I recall your impromptu 'quoting competitions.'
I am blown away that you found something to use in my ramblings. This was an amazing weekend and I would like to continue doing some of the special events we all came up with.
When Raton came up as an opportunity, we jumped on it. Of course, now I claim it as MINE, so you'll have to come up with a decent bribe to get your foot back in the door. @) Our final count was 34 people, 20 absent because of the blizzard. A line of 50 would have been a challenge, so if we approach those numbers, we will invite help.
Did I mention the cabin we had onsite? Just up the hill from the range... we woke up to hearing turkeys calling and drank our coffee while watching the deer graze nearby. It was much more pleasant than being in a Motel 6 in Raton.
Thanks for the kudos
BF
BF,
You're killin me! I can near smell the wind carrying the coffee in the air. When Atticus and I were there we stayed at comp housing and watched the moon set one evening whilst smoking a couple of fine cigars on back porch - willn't likely fergit that evening as long as I can recall my own name.
Did the fellow with the pale blue eyes, who photos dragon flies as a hobby come out agin?
How bout the former sloop captain?
Thanks,
PH
Dragon Flies --- that was 'Chu' I believe. I haven't seen him since September. He's from Glenwood Springs up in Colorado. One of us will run into him again, I'm sure. There are more Colorado events brewing.
The Sloop Captain is now Sarducci on the forum. He was our 'Vanna' on sunday reviews. We just tied his arms behind his back and gave him an orange hat. In return he's trying to arrange an Appleseed in Red River, about 75 miles NW of Raton.
Maybe Fred can arrange one of those Master Instructor get togethers in Raton, so everyone can experience the place. After being stuck by the border for several years, its nice to be reminded of how lush NM can be.
I wasn't fast enough, otherwise I would have videoed Val bouncing along the back of the range, driving away Antelope that kept on trying to infiltrate our event... it was hilarious!
BF and PH
Red River is SW of Raton :-[ BLUEFEATHER may not be a professional navigator but she is a great Shoot Boss 8)
Sloops and Schooners are related so there is no fault there. Especially since it comes from one of the A-Team Instructors who introduced me to Appleseed in the first place <:) Thanks, PHENRY O0
As to Whittington Center, only those who have been there can appriciate that words are totally inadequate to describe this awesome shooter's paradise :~ O0 :~ O0 :~ O0 Insert into this location an Instructor Team that is both diligent and highly competent leading a large group of like-minded patriots up the ladder of marksmanship and you have an April 19th that couldn't be beat. No wonder there were so many new orange hats.
I didn't think anything could top my first Appleseed experience, but i'll try not to underestimate Riflemen in the future ;D Kudos, ya'll!!
Be well
Dutch
Lady Liberty is proud of The AS Projects nationwide April 19th honoring of our founders. That was truly a day "where marksmanship met history and the heritage began."
John Adams said: "Well, posterity, you will never know what it cost us to preserve your freedom. I only hope that you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it."
I'm positive John Adams is pleased with all our nationwide efforts to remember and honor.
For New Mexico, this was NM's second Appleseed at the NRA's Whittington Center and once again, it was a complete success! Since last September we increased the number of shooters by a factor of 4. The Appleseed Project is going to be a part of the regular NRA WC curriculum. How impressive is that?
A future shoot schedule will be posted soon. A big thanks to twh731 for getting much of the legwork done. And a huge thanks to program director Brad Schuppan and his NRAWC staff. They saw that we had water and any other things we asked for.
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And of course a huge thanks to the shooters who made it all possible. All of them stepped out of their comfort zone and came to learn the Rifleman's skills.
Colorado, our northern neighbor had road and airport closures because of snow. The amounts were measured in feet. We lost a few shooters due to that. The most determined of souls finally dug out and arrived early on Sunday and ready to jump in.
All shooters were subjected to 2 days of constant wind and cold temps. No one quit.
They learned to love hot brass flying across the sights and landing on their bodies. It was an added challenge and opportunity to learn to focus on the task at hand. The RWVA flags were constantly buffeted by winds up to 40 mph. Thanks to sarducci's excellent effort, those flags waved proudly and stayed tied. The wind changed constantly as the jet stream roared across northern NM dropping temps even more on Sunday. With the wind chill, the temps were below freezing despite the lack of snow.
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Fortunately the snow stayed on the high peaks.
Just minutes from the NRAWC is Wheeler Peak, NM's highest peak at 13,161'.
It rises above Eagles Nest lake in the Moreno valley.
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BlueFeather at the Admin Table, while a herd of deer take little notice of the arriving shooters. By 8:00, we had couples, two brothers,
a mother & son, a father and daughter and carloads of friends all carpooling to get to the Appleseed Project's 234 year Anniversary
of April 19 in Raton. All ready to get started on their journey as an American Patriot, and how to live the life of a Rifleman.
Outstanding!
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The target line 7:30AM, April 18, 2009:
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Shooters on the line. BF calls the line, while redneck and twh731 watch vigilantly:
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Day 2 was much colder but the shooters didn't miss a beat. The weather magically turned warm by the time
we started the grinding out of the AQT's. We got 4 of them in. staplegund, BF, twh731, redneck all
watch and instruct the line.
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BF watches her shoot with hawklike precision.:
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redneck and BlueFeather/ instructing:
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The Ball/Dummy Drill. Shooters detected and cured any shooting problems while the instructors watched for additional items.
A great way to get introduced to teaching. Everyone did well with this exercise.:
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Below an RWVA bumper sticker. "Thank" them we did...in spades. To remember them is to honor them.
We told about the history of these brave Americans and how they let nothing stand between them and success,
beginning on April 19th, 1775 and the events that occured at Lexington Green, the North Bridge in Concord
and along Battle Road on the way east to Boston.
As everyone discovers, the Appleseed Project is an outstanding American Heritage program with a superb marksmanship course.
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Part of the target line line on the special nationwide team
volley ...ready, aim, fire!
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We went inside and out of the cold bitter winds that ravaged the shooters.
All the history was done at lunchtime and redneck warms up the hearts and souls with the first two strikes of the match.
staplegund did a great job on the DOM stories on Sun.
The founders made some tough choices back on April 19th, 1775.
This area worked superbly for instruction given the weather conditions. The firing line is only 50 feet away.
The facilities at the NRAWC are especially well suited for the AS Project.
Whether large numbers of shooters, rain, shine or cold...bring em' on.
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After lunch the wind changed direction and so did the flags.
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There were 22 early morning elk at sunrise at the 300M end of the range.
Between the nightly wildlife (not us Appleseeders of course!) grazing on the range and high winds, the TL wires were tightened daily. (http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/3285/92947320.jpg) (http://img91.imageshack.us/my.php?image=92947320.jpg)
Cease Fire! Cease Fire! Cease Fire!
This antelope buck and his buddies visited just downrange of us. More than once sarducci or Val had to chase them off each time. Later when carding of the sights
during NPOA prep, a herd of deer wandered onto the 200 M part of the range. Fortunately they were just passin' thru.
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After April 19th 1775, Lord Percy wrote in his diary: "Whosoever looks upon the colonists as an
irregular mob will find himself very much mistaken. They have men amongst them who know very
well what they are about." Below are men who know what they are all about!
Our new RIFLEMEN! Congrats!
BlueFeather with (L-R) Mike, Bob (used a a tube fed rifle!) and Robb (used duct tape/string to attach a sling!).
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Our new IIT's: sarducci and twh731 our SC,
took the hat Friday eve so naturally we put them to work.
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By Sun. we had 5 more take the orange hat. Congrats to you guys!
L-R Val, Tony, Chris, Lex Concord and Al.
BlueFeather gets all giddy in group like this!
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A big thanks to sarducci who cleaned all 6 of my LTR's and others.
He stayed at the cabin while we all went into town for dinner.
Thank you big time sir!
His wife Marcia also was on the line.
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The centerfire section included a Romak 3, a Saiga .308, a Garand, a few AR's, 2 M1A's, an SKS and an AK.
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Rimfire rifles included a very classy Remington Nylon 66 (Diana from Taos) that naturally never missed a beat.
There were also 795's, 10-22's and about 6 tube fed rifles.
Half of the tube shooters came with their own homemade tube speed loaders.
These were serious loaders made of metal tubing. Wow! What a group of committed guys!
The other half got loaned the soda straw types we made.
Tony, who is now our newest IIT, loaned another shooter, Bob, one of his metal tube speed loaders
and Bob made Rifleman with his tube fed 22! What a great group to watch work together!
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Here is Jonah with his speed loader for his bolt marlin:
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Our instructor core for the 234 year anniversary of April 19th:
redneck, twh731 staplegund, BF and me.
sarducci was taking the flags down while a herd of deer came onto the range...again.
Sunset on a successful weekend of honoring our founders.
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Absolutely beautiful.
Not only is the training performed in a friendly, knowledgeable, professional manner, but the after action report reads and looks like a photo-journalists vacation log.
Least we forget, it was a 7 hour drive each way hauling all the necessaries with them.
To be impressed by it all is lacking, maybe awed is a better choice.
I sincerely believe that BF&TG would find John Adams proud of their devotion and commitment.
Though you can't see it, I am standing an applauding.
CSHR
I felt privileged to receive this instruction from all the great instructors and to learn in the presence of fellow patriots who share in and believe in the spirit that this country was founded on. It was the best time I have had in many years and I look forward to my next opportunity to meet more of the same caliber of people. Missed obtaining rifleman by a gnats hair and look forward to someday soon earning it. Nice to meet all of you and hope to see you again! Keep yer eye on that front sight!!
Joel
Ok, I'm convinced. Sounds like this was one of the most successful AS events of the new year. Are there any more Whittington AS dates this year? I'd like to get in on one. Instructor or shooter, don't much care either way.
Quote from: Perrito on April 26, 2009, 12:49:28 AM
I felt privileged to receive this instruction from all the great instructors and to learn in the presence of fellow patriots who share in and believe in the spirit that this country was founded on. It was the best time I have had in many years and I look forward to my next opportunity to meet more of the same caliber of people. Missed obtaining rifleman by a gnats hair and look forward to someday soon earning it. Nice to meet all of you and hope to see you again! Keep yer eye on that front sight!!
Joel
It is an honor to work with our fellow Americans! We will meet again.
Quote from: Stimey on April 26, 2009, 01:20:07 AM
Ok, I'm convinced. Sounds like this was one of the most successful AS events of the new year. Are there any more Whittington AS dates this year? I'd like to get in on one. Instructor or shooter, don't much care either way.
It was certainly the most successful in NM! 8) ;D :~
We are working on more WC dates as we speak. O0
Stay tuned!
Quote from: CSHR on April 24, 2009, 05:41:01 PM
Not only is the training performed in a friendly, knowledgeable, professional manner, but the after action report reads and looks like a photo-journalists vacation log.
Least we forget, it was a 7 hour drive each way hauling all the necessaries with them.
To be impressed by it all is lacking, maybe awed is a better choice.
I sincerely believe that BF&TG would find John Adams proud of their devotion and commitment.
Though you can't see it, I am standing an applauding.
CSHR
O0