We could not have asked for a better weather (except maybe the very start of Saturday morning with the weird hail storm) for a weekend spent at the Interlake Sporting Association range in Redmond WA. 7 attendees and almost as many volunteers met in the earling morning of April 10th and started with a reminder of why we are here doing what we are doing, teaching their fellow Americans of their shared heritage and the stories of the sacrificies made by many others before us to secure the Liberties and rights we all are endowed with.
I can't thank all of you enough for coming out to spend the weekend with us, especially on such a nice day rarely seen during this time in the Seattle area. You have all shown great improvement in your marksmanship skills throughout the weekend, it may have been an overwhelming amount of information being presented and taught, but that little booklet you each received contains a condensed version of everything that was taught. It is a very valuable tool for you to look back upon and refresh yourself with the skillsets that we covered over the weekend.
We ended our first Saturday with 2 first time Rifleman, congratulations Nehmiah and Stephen on your very impressive scores in the 220s on your first AQT of the day! Shortly afterwards on Sunday we had Gary and Ian follow up with their respective Rifleman scores as well! Those are some amazing numbers for first time attendees!
Paul, Sylvia, and Frank. You should all be proud of what you have accomplished that weekend. One of the greatest lessons that I hope you take away from the weekend spent on the range is that a Rifleman persists. You recall what the sighter squares targets looked like first thing in the morning to what they looked like just before the AQTs. Your groups started getting tighter and tighter, as you implemented each of the 3 legs of the stool in every shot you make. Some of you were literally knocking on the door of being a Rifleman, finishing up the weekend with a high of 193. Keep persisting, and make sure you mentally go through each of the 3 legs of the stool as you dry practice to become more consistent and stable. You will find those positions will slowly become less uncomfortable, and you will also find that your groups will start to shrink further and further as a result.
I hope all of you left the event having not only learned about rifle marksmanship, but also learned something about American history, and your heritage as an American, that you may have forgotten. I am very thankful for each of you joining us for the memorial volley, honoring those who gave their life in the fight for Liberty on April 19th, 1775. Their actions continue to echo through our common history today, as I hope that you have also been encouraged to participate in our civic process and become more engaged at all levels to continue to defend Liberty and preserve it for our future generations.
I hope to see you all at another event in the future, don't forget to bring a friend along, share with others what you have learned over the weekend, and help spread the word about us. I also hope that you will consider joining us as volunteers to help spread the message of Liberty far and wide to every part of our state and our country. Please reach out to me if you are interested in volunteering with us in any capacity you are able to.
Congrats!
Glad to see Appleseed back up and running here :)
Many thanks to Andy, Matt, Jay, Corey, Brian and Vince for all the effort you put into this event! We had such a great experience at our first Appleseed. The stories were inspiring and well told, the emphasis on safety was appreciated, and the marksmanship instruction and opportunities to practice were excellent. We had no idea how special it was going to be to participate in a Patriot's Day event. The 13 round cadence at 1PM was very meaningful.