Dr. John and I failed...
With only one student signed up for a couple of weeks, it was difficult to justify the 4+ hour ride from north Georgia.
The other conditions just were not conducive, either...
The day began in the upper 40's and peaked in the 70's, clear blue skies and a downwind breeze later in the day. Water, Gatorade, hot dogs for the grill, tarps spread, backers ready and numbered, shooting mats and slings set to go, all the incidentals in container, and even the starting Red Coat and first Squares targets pre-mounted.
And, the one pre-reg arrived at 0900...just in time to join the other 5 students who were already there!
Yeah, we failed...to cancel...and it was a good thing!
Two people deserving equal recognition are Greg Clark as the exemplary range owner who is extremely enthusiastic about Appleseed, and my Blue Hat sporting wife, Dot, who was priceless in her admin skills, shooting ability and example for the other two women that joined the line.
With an interestingly diverse group of 6, and knowing the one-day has some limitations, I elected to run a verification of "can we get on paper" before going for Red Coats. A cheat, of sorts, but why test for something if your pencil has a broken lead. Two of six were not on the backer, and with a positive amount of time spent on zeroing one rifle and getting another student guided through steps 1 & 2 of the 6-steps this proved invaluable.
Now, with a fighting chance of some positive feedback, we ran the 13 rounds for 13 Colonies and a brief history of Morgan's Rifle Company. No cleared targets, but a respectable 4 of 6 students were 100 yd proficient--and this prompted our attention to the 6-steps to get rolling into the day.
Two of our students were truly not capable of getting into prone, so they each had a shooting bench from which to work. This was not only necessary, but would have been a detriment to not employ the bench due to the time lost in even attempting getting into prone.
During lunch, I packed in the Three Strikes. My wife reported later in the AAR Ride-to-the-barn that I took more time than I imagined, but I still felt it met the mission goals, so from that I'll fine tune it. If any students wish to chime in, you are encouraged to offer your comments.
To those who took a spectacularly beautiful South Georgia day and made it incomparable by attending:
Shelly (more valuable than you could imagine!)
Patrick and Haley (Perseverance and Motivation!)
Steve and Ben (What a father and son exemplify!)
Dot, my wife (words fail me...)
Greg (for the Love of a Brother from another Mother...and owning the range, grill master and Friend)
I hope that our next one-day in November has this fine gathering back for more, and to show their improvement. We have a 100 yd range within 100 feet, so it would be encouraging to employ distance in the next event, and certainly in December.
-goose
Outstanding event, from an instructor who cancelled because it looked as if there would not be a need for more than one excellent Shoot Boss. Wrong! Congratulations to Goose, Greg, Dot, and especially the gallant shooters who are in the process of establishing an Appleseed presence in south Georgia. I plan to attend the events scheduled in November and December and shall look forward to the pleasure of meeting all of you and sharing Appleseed with you. Huzza, all!
What an awesome report! After watching the pre-regs, I was wondering what would happen. It sounds like you had a magnificent, small group to teach with some picture perfect weather! Thank you for your dedication, Goose..to go even when it didn't seem necessary!
FabricatorsGal
(Megan)
I had already promised Greg that I would try and attend the next event. Goose, Dot and Dr John what a team!
O0 O0
Sounds like it turned out to be a good shoot!
Good job everyone! I'm glad your event went off so well. :)