Project Appleseed

What started out as a glorious weekend (and eventually turned back into a glorious weekend) took a turn for the worse on Saturday morning.

In the bay next to us were some Sheriff deputies who were practicing concealed carry draw timed stages.  One of the deputies was appendix carrying and during his draw stoke he accidentally shot himself.

We were in the middle of a SOF at about 11:30.  I heard one bang from the range next to us, and then faint call for help.  Since we were in the middle of a SOF and my ear muff were dampened, I looked over at another instructor to see if he heard the same thing.  He had a quizzical look on his face and then we heard a call for assistance.  He is an ex-paramedic so he grabbed the trauma kit and went to render aid.  This was part of our medical plan, he was already the assigned instructor for that duty.  The instructor assigned as the 911 caller had to leave the range to contact emergency services as the range is surrounded by hills and cell phone service is very weak.  The instructor assigned to gate duty was sent to gate to await the arrive of emergency services.   The Appleseed medical assistance planning worked perfectly!

The range was made cold and we started lunch and history presentations a bit early.  The range was shut down for about two hours while the deputy was stabilized and transported off the range.  The Sheriff department then had to do a wrap investigation before the range was allowed to go hot.

Otherwise, the weekend was great.  The student arrived with an excited expectation of the weekend to renew their hearts and minds with the spirit of the American Revolution and to improve their marksmanship skills.   Both of the these agenda items were completed.  A few of the student showed up with some decent marksmanship skill, but for about half of the group, this was their first rifle marksmanship instruction.  All of the students stayed very attentive during the instruction and adopted the techniques they were taught. 

There was some improvisation to the history presentations on Saturday, as some instructors had other duties, but the remaining instructors stepped up and filled it for them.  The students were kept occupied until we were able to continue with the course of instruction.  Needless to say, we did not finish all of Saturday's instruction and had catch up on Sunday.  The students still completed four AQTs on Sunday.

Congratulation to Doug, Chris, Grant and Greg for shooting their Rifleman scores.  Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah.
 These four shooters were all first time AS students.  They listened to the instruction, practiced what they were taught and went home with a rifleman patch.   

For those that did not achieve a rifleman score, dry practice will help develop your rifleman skills.  Using a laser pointer attached to your rifle will help reinforce your marksmanship techniques. 

I am looking forward to see everyone at another AS event in the Northwest.  It was a pleasure spending the weekend with you.

I would like to also note that two of our new riflemen were also EMTs, and a third new rifleman, Greg is a former Army Medic. They were absolutely essential during our excitement!

Folks, this is why we make an emergency plan. It worked exactly as it should have! No crowd, no panic, and great communication. Thank you Booga for running 1/2 mile to make that 911 call since nobody had service. KFritz for keeping the public from coming in, and opening the gate for EMS (they did NOT have a key to get in!) Janer for relaying messages and being our runner when 911 had questions.

This was a real life or death emergency, and you all acted like it was an everyday event. The happy ending is due to all of you!

As the person who called 911, I'd like to relay my experience so that others can learn from it.

Know the address of the range
When you call 911, it's just a dispatch service that is looking to know what area you're in so they can connect you to the actual emergency services for that area.  In my case, they didn't know the range at all and just wanted to know where in Oregon I was calling from.

Make sure you have cell reception
Our location was in a valley/deadzone, so nobody had reliable cellphone service, but I recall getting a few bars outside the gate so that's where I was loitering to make the call.  I had to call 3 separate times to actually relay our situation due to the call dropping mid-conversation.

Use radios or have a designated runner
Due to not having reliable cell service, I wasn't able to stand beside Bandaid while he was treating the wounded and my running back and forth resulted in a dropped call.  Thankfully I was able to get the critical information I needed before having to leave the scene, but radios would have kept the a steady stream of information.  Bandaid literally had his hands full at the time, so he couldn't use a radio, but another instructor could have relayed any update I needed to  tell 911 from the top of the hill.

Info that EMT/911 needs
After calling 911 and letting them know a Training Accident occurred at the range, they needed the following information.

• Are all firearms secure at the scene?
• Where was the wounded injured?
• What is the condition of the wounded?
• Is the wounded conscious?
• What is the age of the wounded?
• What is the name of the wounded?

Thanks to Bandaid's expertise and experience, I was able to let them know the entry/exit wound, the Code of the situation, and that life-flight should be on standby, but other information I didn't have on hand or know.

You will not stay on the 911 call
After 911 gets all the info they need and they've dispatched the necessary services, they will tell you to call back if the situation changes, then hang up.  This gives you a chance to return to the group and render any additional service needed.


Hope that helps for anyone in the future that has to call 911.

A best practice we have been using for a while is to put the address of the range on the COI.  The range's address was on this COI, but no one thought of sending that with the 911 caller.

I will now make a notecard with all of the range's contact information, driving directions and GPS coordinates.  On the back of the card I will write the questions that the 911 operator will ask.


I do have a set of Baofeng radios in my equipment trailer.  Again, no one thought to send them with the 911 caller. 

If I could get a note from the National Board saying that I am required to go and buy buy nice radios to use for events since I am doing my SBIT?  ;)  ;)  **)  **)

Number one - I think it is super cool when I hear stories like this.  You guys saved a life this weekend! 

We have our emergency plan on a laminated sheet of paper and use wet erase markers to fill it in for each event.  In the case of an emergency, our 911 caller would take the sheet with them.  It's good to know the questions that 911 dispatcher will ask.  We will update our sheet to have that specific information on the sheet.  I will attach a photo of what ours looks like.  I stole the idea from Miss Conduct, and I know several others have "stole" it from me.

I will post a copy (already updated) on Buckman Tavern for anyone who is interested.

I am not sure I can say required, but......

Quote from: Mike AKA Bandaid on July 22, 2026, 09:09:34 PMIf I could get a note from the National Board saying that I am required to go and buy buy nice radios to use for events since I am doing my SBIT?  ;)  ;)  **)  **)

Quote from: JustKim on July 23, 2026, 12:24:48 PMNumber one - I think it is super cool when I hear stories like this.  You guys saved a life this weekend! 

We have our emergency plan on a laminated sheet of paper and use wet erase markers to fill it in for each event.  In the case of an emergency, our 911 caller would take the sheet with them.  It's good to know the questions that 911 dispatcher will ask.  We will update our sheet to have that specific information on the sheet.  I will attach a photo of what ours looks like.  I stole the idea from Miss Conduct, and I know several others have "stole" it from me.

I will post a copy (already updated) on Buckman Tavern for anyone who is interested.

I am pre-printing these with each ranges info, and laminating them so we can use dry erase markers to fill them in at each shoot. Thank You for posting that! It's a handy bit of kit for those of us with OCD!!!!

Quote from: Mike AKA Bandaid on July 25, 2026, 02:28:58 PMI am pre-printing these with each ranges info, and laminating them so we can use dry erase markers to fill them in at each shoot.

Mike, I would second Kim's suggestion to use wet-erase marker instead of dry-erase. Dry-erase tends to wipe off at the slightest touch.

Actually, now that I think about it... typing up the information and printing/laminating a card for each range is an even better idea. Not everyone can read my handwriting, and this is critical safety information so it's worth the extra effort to make it easily legible. Keep a folder with the laminated card for each range that you shoot boss at, and whip out the relevant one for the weekend.

You could hole-punch the card and attach it with a lanyard to a 2-way radio, along with a key/keycard for the entrance gate if that range needs one to get in. If an emergency happens, the designated person just grabs the radio/card combo, turns it on, and heads for the gate. The other radio could be pre-staged with the medical kit, too. Same grab-and-go prep.

Anyway, just some ideas to throw out there.

Quote from: Nashville Stage on July 26, 2026, 02:01:11 PMMike, I would second Kim's suggestion to use wet-erase marker instead of dry-erase. Dry-erase tends to wipe off at the slightest touch.

I had never even HEARD of wet erase pens! I have a new pen to collect!

Quote from: Mike AKA Bandaid on July 26, 2026, 03:43:03 PM

Quote from: Nashville Stage on July 26, 2026, 02:01:11 PMMike, I would second Kim's suggestion to use wet-erase marker instead of dry-erase. Dry-erase tends to wipe off at the slightest touch.

I had never even HEARD of wet erase pens! I have a new pen to collect!

Staedtler map markers great option

Great ideas all!