It just never gets old, time spent in the company of American Riflemen is just the best thing you can do.
This weekend at Piru (Nine oh nine!) we had seven of California's finest once again take time out of their busy lives to come to a windy, dust filled canyon to work on sharpening their skills at being able to share and pass on to their fellow Americans our wonderful heritage. I want to thank you folks sincerely for stepping up above and beyond.
I'd like to thank Junior Birdman for once again coming out here to share his wealth of knowledge on how to teach and effectively motivate our shooters and be the best Rifle Instructors on the Planet!
Some early birds camped out at the range Fri night with the main contingent arriving Sat morning. We had 7 new IITs and Instructors attending an IBC for the first time with 4 Instructors.
Time round the campfire, talking Appleseed is simply the best thing for getting to know and understand and value our fellow instructors. Despite the discomforts and privations, camping is just the only way to go. Waking up to the sound of early morning AQT's, people squeezing in some trigger time to keep that perishable skill alive, is just priceless.
I had the privilege of running the instruction at this bootcamp under JBs watchful eye, making sure I didn't miss anything and keeping things rolling. Its a packed weekend, if an AS is a firehose then a bootcamp is a water cannon. Thank you to all the attendees for patiently and cheerfully persisting with the brutal pace and rolling with an instructor who doesn't eat lunch or stop for breaks!
Rifleman who attend an IBC truly exhibit that elusive character trait of leaving the ego at the door. It takes very special people to stand up and perform over and over again in front of their peers and have each effort dissected and critiqued - "do it again" and yet keep going, understanding its not "about me" its about something much bigger than all of us.
Thanks once again for the privilege and honor of working with you folks and we look forward to seeing you again "out on the Appleseed Trail."
I must have been slacking or easing the pace too much cos I'm sure I saw someone with time to take pictures!
Piru....Nine Oh Nine
V
Excellent!
Congratulations to all who attended!
Now, perhaps some of these freshly minted IIT's can sign up and help me at the Boulder City NV next weekend....
::)
I will be at PIRU.
I showed up to this IBC, after asking V if he needed help, because I had already been to IBC 3-09. Once everything was set up, there was not a lot more to do except participate. It was truly a great refresher, and learned more this time for things that have changed or I just plain old missed last time.
Except for the instructor meeting in Fresno last month, I have not camped for many, many years. The lack of shower and the dust, well, I looked like pig-pen after words, and when I walked into starbucks to get a coffee on the way home, there was dust flying off my clothes everytime I moved. After asminuteman pointed out Friday night the large balck widow spiders that made there home in everylittle hole along the burm where we were camping, I kept my tent zipped tightly the whole time. But just couldn't get past sleeping at night and feeling like there was something crawling on me. %)
It was great seeing everyone there, V did a great job instructing this IBC. JB, savageshooter and V, giving feedback on our demonstrations of the various POI reminded me of Randy, Paula and Simon on American Idol. ;)
For an IBC, you could not have had a better combination of intstructors (V and junior Birdman). The wealth of knowledge and instructional savy between them made it an especially great IBC.
V being the shy modest no ego guy that he is neglected to say that he is the first CA Instructor to take and pass the SI PC.
He is the first CA Instructor to be promoted to Senior Instructor, under the new system!
(Sorry JB, I couldn't wait one minute more)
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!! V. You have earned it.
HUZZAH HUZZAH HUZZAH
Quote from: SavageShootr on September 14, 2009, 04:42:09 PM
V being the shy modest no ego guy that he is neglected to say that he is the first CA Instructor to take and pass the SI PC.
He is the first CA Instructor to be promoted to Senior Instructor, under the new system!
(Sorry JB, I couldn't wait one minute more)
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!! V. You have earned it.
HUZZAH HUZZAH HUZZAH
Congrats V!! A VERY worthy promotion, indeed! O0
Congrats V, I was wondering when I would read this news.
I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures from California's home base.
Yay, V!! Excellent news!!! <:) O0 <:) Congratulations!!
Very well deserved, and while possibly a bit "late", still good to wear!! O0 O0 O0
I honestly can't tell you how glad I am that you finally brought that 10-22 so many months ago to Piru........ :~ :~ :~ ;)
We'll be TTYS
LLP
Another fine time at the official California Appleseed Home Range! This time I not only got lots of Pi, (Wind and dirt), and Ru, (Dirt and wind), but had the pleasure of watching "V" lead the attendees through the twisting, turning trail of the IBC, all the while applying maximum fire hose flow of rifley information into their noggins.
He allowed no breaks, but we did get 6 minutes for lunch on Saturday, showing that even V has a little human kindness deep in that heart of his. But the result was outstanding! (To quote Sgt Hartman of "Full Metal Jacket") New IIT were immersed into the tradition and heritage of the American Rifleman, and learned new skills which will allow them to hit the trail running. We also had a few faces I recognized from events past, looking to knock off a bit of rust and hone their skills as well.
V had the distinction of not only running the IBC, but simultaneously finishing up his SIPC as well, becoming the first ever California Senoir Instructor under the "new" system! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!
We had great team building excercises during the day and spirited campfire discussions at night. Lots of Boot Camp quotes, fine dining, and camaraderie. And as with ALL Boot Camps......there is no better place to be than in the company of Riflemen!
I still haven't found out if those IBCers in Sacramento got mints on their pillows with the "turn down service" after their massages. ;D (Everybody knows that DW runs a "cushy" Boot Camp)
We were fresh out of mints and DW didn't remember to bring any so we had to settle for chocolate chip cookies on our pillows (life is ruff). Also we were way too busy for the standard turn down service so we really were roughing it.
there was chocolate cake and nutter butters too....
Congrats V!
BD and I attending our first Appleseed under your instruction certainly changed our lives in a powerful way.
Yes, I suppose waking to James and BD in the kitchen with bacon, biscuits, and country gravy could be viewed as lavish. But then DW,BD, and James put us through our paces and we worked all the yummy grub off. One thing I learned for sure: attending an Appleseed as a shooter is the easy part. As much as I thought my muscles would fail as a shooter, imprinting the information DW giving me caused my head to hurt. The group cohisiveness was at an all time high during the mock Appleseed. We had survived an action packed two days of Appleseed instruction. There is no other way for me to describe the mock Appleseed : it requires many eyes. And thanks to BD,James, Ryan & DW for the patient, honest suggestions. I also thank them for their tolerance of my exceptionally colorful line calling.
Assuming the duties of an RSO and LSO was tested several times by renagade 'shooters', wandering away, wandering with rifles, entaglement beyond belief in slings, and assortment of bizzare trigger weirdness.
Quote from: NorCal22Gal on September 15, 2009, 01:50:15 AM
there was chocolate cake and nutter butters too....
Assuming the duties of an RSO and LSO was tested several times by renagade 'shooters', wandering away, wandering with rifles, entaglement beyond belief in slings, and assortment of bizzare trigger weirdness.
>:D >:D >:D ^-^ O0 :~ @&) :))
The IBC was a great experience, some of you may have noticed me taking pictures. I put them into a slide show with music if you want to view the show here is the link. By the way congrats V on becoming a Senior Instructor.
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewalbum.html?bm=180061
It will ask to load files on your computer, if you want a copy on DVD let me know on a PM and I can send it to you.
Dano
Dano,
nice job on the IBC slide show....looks as tho' there's some stuff we could do with that in promo for laptops in gun shows with that setup in loop mode.....or just online embedding....
I love the way these folks think!!
LLP
Thanks for that Dano, but the song.............were we such bad company? ;)
LOVE the line of flags you guys had set up. That's the kind of thing that really gets the smiles and adrenaline going as folks are arriving.
Every thing was going so well until IMC...
I was great. I am trying to clear my schedule to get back to Piru (909) to help out this weekend in V will have me.
Carrie.. I agree with you about the flags, we are fortunate that we have the DAR and the ability to have the flags like that.....
.... renegade shooters?,Jules, say it isn't so. They have those in Sac too? @)
Quote from: fiveofnine on September 16, 2009, 11:40:02 AM
Every thing was going so well until IMC...
I was great. I am trying to clear my schedule to get back to Piru (909) to help out this weekend in V will have me.
All IITs and instructors are
always welcome at Appleseeds! The only rule is RWVA can only reimburse costs to instructors who are "needed" to run the event. Everyone else is on their own dime. We might have a problem, and its a great problem to have, getting all the PC demo's done for all the returning IBC graduates to get their PC done. But a Rifleman persists so if they come we will get it done, even if I have to run two ranges so theres double the chances to teach IMC ;)
If you can make it follow the instructions in here (http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=2601.msg26699#msg26699) to add yourself to any shoots at which you want to instruct.
Cheers
Phil
Quote from: SavageShootr on September 14, 2009, 04:42:09 PM
V being the shy modest no ego guy that he is neglected to say that he is the first CA Instructor to take and pass the SI PC.
He is the first CA Instructor to be promoted to Senior Instructor, under the new system!
(Sorry JB, I couldn't wait one minute more)
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!! V. You have earned it.
HUZZAH HUZZAH HUZZAH
It couldn't have happened to a finer fellow.
Now, why didn't it happen last week, or last month? :)
(Congrats! Big time! O0)
Very much big congrats V!!! Well deserved.
NorCal22Gal