Project Appleseed

I want to thank V for making the long drive back up Northen California one more time to lead the Sacramento 10-10 IBC.

We had a full weekend with 14 student IITs showing up from as far south as Fresno and as far north as Redding.

In attendance were,

Nukechaser, Polygunner, 30 Cal Sleeper, Applesauce4360, 24 Volts, Furrow Foot, 3Huzzas, Hat Trick 123, Bump Sleeve, Pin Breaker, Hambone, L!ppen, Tank, and Danni-O.

The Instructors assisting V were Jules, Eaglescouter, NorCal22Gal and myself.

V made excellent time on Saturday getting through the day quickly and including a chunk of Sunday's material before covering Advanced Rifleman Saturday night. Many of the student IITs had to take off as soon as instruction was over while the rest enjoyed a potluck dinner with us that went long into dark. As with most Boot Camps that's when the best conversations are had.

About 10PM we were down to just the few that were staying with us and we wrapped up the day.

13 instructors returned for Sunday (10-10-10) and V led us back into the instruction quickly. Before long we were examining a wide variety of rifles that the IITs my encouter at future Appleseeds, then the instructors demonstrated common shooter's problems for the IITs to find, and we moved on to the mock Appleseed.

WE ended the day with the IBC quiz and group work on the come up question from hell.

Shortly after sunset the house was too quiet and Jules and I sat reminiscing on another great Appleseed weekend and started gearing up for the Appleseed coming up this weekend.

To all our IITs I want to remind you that the knowledge gained this weekend is parishable, put it to good use by instructing at an Appleseed near your ASAP to cement it in place.

SAC 10-10!!!

The opportunity to interact with some of the finest marksmanship instructors in Northern California was a real pleasure.  Thank you all for the fellowship and the opportunity to hone our presentation techniques.

What a great weekend. The dragons lair is turning out to be the central hub of Appleseed activity in northern Ca. 
Thanks to all of the instructors who came out to help the new IIt's on their path to becoming better Appleseed rifle marksmanship instructors.
A special thanks to those who drove so far to share their knowledge, V, eaglescouter, and Nor Cal 22 Gal. Thanks you for your efforts, they are truly appreciated.
The fire hose of instruction was awesome, there was not a single moment where my mind wandered or boredom set in.
I have the tools to be a much better instructor due to all of your efforts, thank you!
I would recommend all IIT's attend an IBC if you get the chance. It's well worth it!

I do have one question.
At some point on Sun. someone said "rifle moving" and V was going to say something about that. I missed it or something distracted him from making the comment. I'm curious as to what he was going to say.

One last thing,                SAC 10 10

Thanks again
pg

There is little I can add to what has already been said of this weekend's IBC. On behalf of ALL of us, I want to thank V for coming up here to Instruct. Eagle Scouter, Nor Cal 22 Gal, you have been our right arm, and we could not have done this weekend without you.

To all of our IIT's: Good job, thank you, and keep coming back. If I was unable to give you the personal attention before or after the day's instruction, forgive me. As V was having you drink from the informational firehose, I was in the Lair being a Cook.  Thank you to all who helped set up, tear down, bring food to pot luck, and cheered each other on.

If you want to put all that outstanding information to good use, we have an Appleseed  coming up this weekend, Oct 16-17. You always have a place here at the Dragon's Lair.

love Jules

"Rifle Moving" is not something I've seen explicitly in the manuals but has been standard practice at every shoot I've attended and held.

Its basically communication amongst the instructors to alert them to the fact that someone is moving a rifle, swapping one out, etc, packing up early to go home, whatever. If you were an instructor on the line and out of the corner of your eye you seen someone pickup a rifle and turn around and walk off with it, hopefully you'd leap up and start trying to constrain a possibly evolving safety issue.... only to find that some other instructor has told the shooter that they can move a rifle.

So by shouting out "Rifle Moving" as the "responsible instructor" you alert the line boss and other instructors that a controlled exercise is taking place. The line boss echo's it back.

If a shooter asks me can I swap a rifle I say, sure, in the next prep period wait for me to give you the go ahead. Then I tell the line boss, shooter x is going to be swapping a rifle in the next prep opportunity. Then when the Prep is called I tell the shooter to go ahead, watching for safety issues and escorting the rifle off the line with the shooter I shout Rifle Moving. Line boss confirms all is good. When the shooter returns with the other rifle and we are still in between prep begins and cease fire, then I shout Rifle moving and escort the rifle/shooter back to the line. If I see them coming back late, cease fire already having been called, shooters down range etc, then I intercept them, have them put the cased rifle down behind the safety line, in a rack under cover etc., Then when the next prep starts I again shout Rifle moving and escort the rifle/shooter back to the line.

Its just an exercise to keep everyone aware of whats going on, and the shooters reassured that the instructors have positive control of the line and people aren't just wandering around with rifles willy nilly.

Thanks V.
And thanks again for making the trip to educate us.
pg

V:

Be on the lookout for a package arriving within the next week. No, it is not ticking.

love Jules

To all,

Thanks to V for lead instructing the IBC; to BaldDrgn, Jules, Eaglescouter and NorCal22Gal for assisting.  And, I can't forget to thank BD and Jules for hosting and putting some of us up for the weekend. The starry night sky at your place sure is beautiful.  Being under the Firehose of all Rifleman Knowledge again, was much like my first Appleseed.  I have 10 pages of handwritten notes.  Thank you for the advanced Rifleman instruction too.

Take Care,
FurrowFoot

I cannot begin to thank all of the instructors enough for the knowledge they shared.  A special thank you to V for coming all the way up here!

I felt so much more confident as an IIT this past weekend due to all that I learned, as well as that which was reinforced last weekend.  At first I cringed when breaking up into groups to "teach" each other, but I think those were the most beneficial exercises for me.

Inside I know the SHFs, six steps, NPOA, (and now IMC!!!) but teaching others is an entirely different animal.  I am so much more confident now and I owe it all to you instructors and to my fellow students.  You are the best!  Thank you thank you thank you!

Sac 10 10!

I want to second all the comments of how fantastic the Sac IBC was in developing skills as an IIT.

What a great group of folks and a special thanks to those who made the long trip to help make this a true "drinking from the firehose" learning experience. A big shout out to V for sharing his extensive knowledge of not only Project Appleseed, but teaching methods and marksmanship as a whole.

Oh, and V... when we kept asking each other if someone would be our "Vanna", to model a position while one of us did the speaking, this is she, of whom we speak. Yes, it is a "regional/cultural" thing. 



Thanks again!
nukechaser



SAC 10-10!

A million thanks and +3 Internets to V for driving the 900+ miles for the IBC, The instruction was great and gave an unbelievable boost in my confidence to instruct.

And thank's to Nukechasher for the laugh, you owe me a new keyboard.

Some shots from the IBC.  Sorry for the late post...