It was another wonderful Patriots' Day 2-day Appleseed 25m event at Redbrush Rifle Range near Evansville, IN this past weekend. With 11 attentive students and 7 capable instructors, there was a great atmosphere of learning and appreciation for the history of that day and the marksmanship so valued by those in that history.
We received plenty of sun and fresh air over the bright, windy weekend. By the end of the first day, the events of Patriots' Day had been told and the marksmanship fundamentals had been taught. A legacy Patriots' Day patch was promised to he or she that cleared the Hits Count target, and Adam stepped up to the challenge to claim it.
Sunday presented the same weather, and we answered with a review of the instruction, and AQTs. Along with the traditional Sunday history, we told the additional accounts for Patriots' Day, culminating in the memorial volley. After the volley, we presented all present with the unique patch in the Patriots' Day series for this year, and the Bloody Butchers poster to the heads of each household on the line.
I want to commend Ryland, Jadon, Jon, and Nate for their perseverance over the weekend, so recognized by the William Diamond award. I also wish to commend all the adults, Richard, Elaine, Brian, Bryce, Andrew, Adam, and Mark as well for the same. The well-attended targets from the Volley were presented to Nate and Jadon as the youngest present.
The Rifleman proverbial ice was cracked by a requalification from Geek, and then Adam proved he wanted to do more than clear the Hits Count target and made a 216 Rifleman score!
We finished with a KD activity at 100 yards to show that the lessons from the KD instruction earlier really do apply, and even at 100 yards with both center and rimfire.
Pictures below, please feel free to add your thoughts and your pictures.
Captions:
Indy teaches the safety POIs.
JHB teaches the line commands to the shooters
Alexandra the Great teaches the Hits Count.
The morning firing line x3.
Eye dominance exercise.
Prone steady hold factors with AtG and Geek.
Andrew ran a bolt rifle for much of the weekend for an extra challenge. Huzzah!
Father and son Adam and Jadon hold down the right side of the line.
Third strike under the flags with JHB and the students.
Seated position.
These were the targets at 100 yards. They seem smaller, somehow.
Adam clears the Redcoat. Huzzah!
Several pictures of the ceremony after the volley of handing out the patch for the weekend and thanking all for attending or instructing.
Youth recognition of Ryland and Jon.
Adam shoots the score and becomes Rifleman. Huzzah!
Youth recognition of Jadon and Nate.
The firing line for KD.
Thanks to the Indiana Cadre (represented by JHB, Geek, Indy, Alexandra the Great, Darkfoot, and Sur+Rifle) and Redbrush Rifle Range, as well, for making this event a great one along with all the students.
This was a fun, safe shoot. I made some new friends. Got to see some old ones. Had a great weekend. I enjoyed seeing the shooters improve as the days progressed. We had a couple of shooters that worked through some equipment issues. Muscle memory helps work those bolts quicker while maintaining NPOA and Steady Hold Factors. It takes a lot of practice. A rifleman persists and you folks did a lot of that along with improvement during the weekend.
I love it when we add to our ranks and IITs progress on the journey to red hat. We got to see both of our IITs advance and added an Applecore to the IN Cadre. Congrats to Indy and Alexandra the Great for your advancements and ShootNDrive, welcome to the cadre.
Thanks to everyone for participating in a fantastic event. It was great to see all the shooters progress over the weekend. As an IIT, I was honored to work with such a dedicated crew of experienced instructors. I was also humbled by the significance of a Patriots Day weekend Appleseed event and the debts we owe to those who sacrificed so much on April 19, 1775.