Eighteen shooters plus one walk-on made for a full line at the Annapolis, MD Appleseed Rifle Marksmanship clinic. Nine of the shooters were JROTC students that drove all the way over from Delaware, lead by Colonel Mark.
Saturday was overcast, and a very comfortable temperature, which made for a great day at the range. A significant challenge was, none of the JROTC students had rifles (they arranged for loaners ahead of time), so we had eleven loaner rifles, mats, and slings being used. After the introductions, safety brief, and Redcoat, we started with sighters on the Squares target... and it was challenging, but a Rifleman persists! After some history at lunch, we got back to marksmanship training - while shooting Grenadiers (Green targets), we ran the "Hold the Trigger back" drill, and started to see huge improvement! Saturday afternoon saw Taylor M. clear her Redcoats with the best redcoat group I've ever seen! Another recipient of the much-coveted Maryland Front-sight patch.
Sunday dawned slightly cooler, but all eighteen shooters returned, plus one walk-on! We started out with more heritage & history, and then dove back into marksmanship and shooting. As we started shooting AQTs, it was apparent that the groups had improved significantly, people were excited! Some Dangerous Old Men (DOM) stories were interspersed, too!
Taylor re-qualified as Rifle(wo)man on Sunday, posting a score of 223 and backing up with a 227. On one target, she had a malfunction and didn't get six whole rounds down-range on Stage 2, but scored a perfect 100 on Stage 4... and still scored a 207 on that target! Nice shooting Taylor.
Daniel P. re-qualified as a Rifleman with a 211, and backed it up with a 221. Daniel also accepted an Orange hat and became part of the Maryland Instructor Corps. Huzzah!
New shooter Damian R. qualified as Rifleman at his first Appleseed, with a score of 211, he then backed it up twice more with scores of 217 (twice)... great job Damian!
Saturday morning when we started, nobody hit Morgan's shingle; at the end of the day Sunday, with the last Redcoat, eleven shooters got the shingle! Four shooters, Taylor, Mark, Jaden, and Daniel, all cleared their Redcoat target! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!
All the shooters maintained a fabulous attitude, huge improvements were made, and everybody had fun, too! At the end of the day, the JROTC Colonel (Mark) was kind enough to present unit coins to the instructor staff on behalf of their dedication to safety and the Appleseed Program, and excellent coaching given to all the students. Classy move, and we really appreciated it! Thank you very much.
Thank you very much to our host range, the Anne Arundel Fish and Game Association (AAFG) in Annapolis, MD. Check out their website http://www.aafg.org/.
And last but not least, many thanks to my fellow instructors, whose positive attitudes and professional demeanor made this not only a successful shoot, but a very fun one too! Thanks to Eroyle, MedievalEngineer, ABCgarand, WhyWon, and Aninha.
Wow, Taylor! That's some great shooting. I'm jealous!
Congrats to all. Huzzah!
I had not thought about engaging with JROTC - did they just happen upon the program, or did y'all reach out?
Monkey,
One of our instructors worked with one of the JROTC adults.
He came to an Appleseed, instantly saw the value in it for his cadets, and made it happen.
:F
Quote from: Cold Warrior on May 25, 2017, 06:24:04 PM
Monkey,
One of our instructors worked with one of the JROTC adults.
He came to an Appleseed, instantly saw the value in it for his cadets, and made it happen.
:F
Awesome - thanks for the feedback. Putting that one in my toolbox.