Would you like your IITs Fried or Thoroughly Baked?
95 degrees of heat baked our line this weekend during the Matamoras PA one day Appleseed event. One day events can compact much into a short time, but the shooters were ready. We had a small turnout but we held the event anyway because our shooters thought enough of America to show up, and it is our job to be there. Let's not get tired of doing what is good - we have a mission to raise a nation of Riflemen, and there will be success if we do not give up.
The Red Coat diagnostics showed that the group went from an average of about 100 yards in the AM to an average of 300 in the PM with one cleared target. (Rich cleared the redcoat and earned a 1st PA rifleman's patch.) I was happy to see the group wanted to focus [with patriotic intent] on our history while we baked in the heat. We did get through two AQTs with scores up near 200. The group of instructors and students had a great time and afterwards everyone went out for a burger (literally - everyone ordered a burger.....).
This was a fun day for me - Appleseed should be fun and safe - this small group was both. I truly enjoyed being the Shoot Boss today.
I understand that lines can be big, or they can be quite small - both are important and deserve our commitment. Sometimes people want to go to the beach instead of an event; surely July 23, 2016 was a perfect day for the beach; on July 23, 2016, however, we also had a few men and women who knew it was also a perfect 95 degree range day. They showed up, and our line instructors [Red Hat MK1765, IIT Jesse O, and IIT Drifter 52] were there - I thank all of them them for making a commitment and sticking to it on that hot day when a few burgers at the beach might have been nice.
Our instructors are volunteers - the finest people you would ever want to meet. They are truly committed to this Appleseed mission. Sometimes we all might get distracted from significant life events, but that commitment is always there - at or just below the surface. They know that apathy is fatal to our nation; consequently as Riflemen, they never stop moving.
I have a story for that, of course; I remember a time in Basic at Ft. Bragg, in the 100+ degree heat, wearing a steel pot (yeah, a long time ago...), M-16 Rifle, full Ruck, and all my gear at the point in a long physical course that required us to crawl on our back in the dust under barbed wire. I was 20 then and signed up determined to be a good soldier - then the work came. I liked the work... but here is the story.... On that day, weeks into basic and exhausted from the training, I suddenly thought of my friends on the beach back home. I thought "what the hell am I doing here?" It was only for a moment, and it stopped me for just a moment. Stopping was fatal. I started moving again, and I reconnected with the determined spirit that put me there in the first place.
So, keep moving Appleseeders! Resolve to our Mission, and God willing, we will crawl under this barbed wire and get to those burgers .... on the beach... and in the bright sunlight of American Liberty.
Very well said. Thank you.