Project Appleseed

After Action Reports! => After Action Reports => Topic started by: Buttshot Comanche on May 21, 2008, 01:06:30 PM

Title: Cedar City, Utah May 17-18, 2008
Post by: Buttshot Comanche on May 21, 2008, 01:06:30 PM
The Cedar City, Utah  Appleseed went off almost as planned.   The weather was beautiful, the shooters were motivated and helpful, the shoot boss and instructors were dedicated, helpful, full of instruction and encouragement, and the range, though primitive, was perfect for our needs .   An excellent Appleseed.

There were 23 pre-registered shooters.   I did not get an accurate count of those who attended, but I think it was under thirty, not bad for a beginning Appleseed.    Bravo has the count and can clarify this.     There were shooters from all over Utah and some from Nevada.    Of course Fred came from North Carolina and Smiley Dan from Kansas.   

There were no teen age or pre-teen shooters, which was unusual, but we did have one young lady who fired on Saturday.    The shoot produced one Rifleman.

We had the normal organizational situations getting started and one extraordinary situation.   Fred, the shoot boss, had his suitcase full of targets and organizational material shipped to somewhere other than Las Vegas, his destination point.     One of the shooters had targets and there was a copying machine nearby, so we made do.    By 0930 we had these situations handled and were going at it. 

The shooters were a motivated bunch, and developed a dedication for the program.    Almost without exception, they volunteered to promote subsequent Appleseeeds and were organized into three sections.     Utah now has a Northern, Central, and Southern district each with an acting chairman and each district is planning to hold at least one shoot this summer or fall.

The training was , as usual, excellent.     The major accomplishment of Fred, Bravo, and Smiley Dan was to instill a love of the program in the shooters which will bear much fruit in the future.    I'll leave a detailed report of the shoot to one of the leaders.

Will (BC)     
Title: Re: Cedar City, Utah May 17-18, 2008
Post by: Bravo on May 21, 2008, 03:52:00 PM
Of course, BC, as always, is being far too humble.

Both he and his son stepped up BIG-TIME, to take this shoot from good to great. I'm not sure that either one of them ever gets the true recognition they deserve, so I'm trying to rectify that as much as I can  ;D

There were exactly 23 bodies that participated in the event - that's including both days (some on Saturday only, one more on Sunday only). One wasn't preregistered, and my own kiddo had to drop out due to a bad fall on the back of his neck (!!) the evening before the shoot. I'm not going to grumble about the medical costs, and look at the silver lining of at least he didn't spend the Appleseed in the hospital (with me there too). He was the sole no-show.

Interestingly, I've gotten some great feedback from this shoot, lots more than others I've been to. Many folks wanting to help, several telling me later how much they got out of it and were looking forward to the next one.

The fact that the wind didn't blow was amazing. This place is usually VERY windy. I tried to pick what I figured was a good weekend between "still raining / snowing" and "far too windy" - looks like the Good Lord saw fit to send us sun and very little wind. It's so windy here I remember asking one of my instructors - during the wind velocity determination exercises - "how many miles per hour do you estimate when you have to lean into the wind to walk?"  :o By the way, that range is getting snow now.

But the folks that showed up were a great bunch, and I feel confident they'll "get the word out" about any future shoots. Speaking of which! At one point, Fred asked how the people there had heard about the shoot. All (not most, or some, ALL) said "word of mouth" - if you include the internet as "word of mouth". So it looks like the radio and flyers didn't do much good  :-\ The silver lining on THAT cloud though, is that with more mouths, there will be more words of mouths, and therefore many more participants in the next shoot!

So, BC, you gonna do the honors and tell them about the pop-ups? I know that's got MY juices flowing!
Title: Re: Cedar City, Utah May 17-18, 2008
Post by: Buttshot Comanche on May 21, 2008, 09:35:34 PM
Mike, the shoot coordinator for Northern Utah, knows of the pop-ups at the Centerville range, so I'll let him tell about them.   He is planning a shoot for this summer at that range.

By the way, Bravo was the organizer and general ramrod of this shoot, young Will & I just helped as needed.    Thanks, Bravo, it was a great shoot and introduced us to some great people with dedication to the program.

Utah is blossoming!

BC