What a great weekend in Midland, TX - the first Appleseed shoot in this region in over 5 years. We had an good mixture of minutemen, regular militia, and alarm listers - 16 shooters ranging in age from 14 to "I'm not gonna ask". Seven top-notch instructors, including some that drove as much as 300 miles to be here. Our shoot boss fought off the fatigue that goes with a difficult night, truly rose to the occasion, and started the day with the First Strike. From there we moved to the range, and after warming up with a Hits Count Target jumped into instruction.
This was an outstanding group of students. Attentive, eager to learn, and sociable; with experience levels varying from new to seasoned shooters. Teaching and coaching a group like this is a true pleasure. Just a few of the high points:
- Two first-time Appleseeders earning Rifleman patches, one with a bolt action rifle!
- A riflewoman doggedly persisting through multiple events, determined to go home with that patch, and succeeding!
- That riflewoman's husband, already a rifleman and just as determined to keep learning and growing, earning a Distinguished patch with iron sights (using a borrowed rifle).
- An orange hat coming back off a long lay-off, requalifying and earning a Distinguished patch in between doing a great job coaching and instructing,
- Two new orange hats!
- And to really top it off, Project Appleseed in Midland was the lead story on the CBS7 news Sunday night! See the story here: https://www.cbs7.com/2021/10/18/project-appleseed-returns-midland-after-six-years/
The marksmanship related high points are what makes coaching and teaching a pleasure, but the real joy for the instructors was the look in these student eyes as we told the stories that make Appleseed such a special program.
Midland is back!(https://i.imgur.com/ZFh771u.jpg?1)
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(https://i.imgur.com/XhknIqp.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/bgRziVf.jpg)
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Yup - it was nice to be back in Midland after all these years. And thanks to you.
And an excellent job you did to boot.