Project Appleseed

Serious Business!

    This past weekend surprised me in more ways than one, for sure.  April 19th, 2025 marked the 250th anniversary of America's Revolution against the Old World's grasp on our identity and future way of life.  It also marked a weekend when 20 Patriots showed up to our Appleseed Event in Fredericksburg, TX – despite it also being the observance of Easter on Sunday.  The event only had 10 or so students signed up for the longest time and I began to worry our Celebration event may be lightly attended, but just like 250 years prior- the Patriots began to work their way through the forest and showed up in serious numbers.  And these individuals absolutely had their game faces on!!!!

   Our first diagnostic target of the weekend proved the intent of our students rather quickly.  Out of 20 students, 16 students proved initial field effectiveness at 100 yrds. 13 of those students further proved field effective at 200 yrds.  Furthermore, seven of those students proved field effective at 300 yrds, and four could qualify effective at 400 yrds!  Seven students were able to place one shot in Morgan's shingle which means we had four students complete the Red Coat target even before we began our instruction.  Like I said earlier, they meant business!

    Our event Instructor, Gus, began the weekend's Appleseed instruction with a professional level of directness and brevity.  He worked through the first key areas of marksmanship fundamentals and sling usage to provide our students with steps to improve their shooting further.  After addressing a few practice targets it was clear the student's marksmanship was already improving quickly. 

    The combination of Gus's instruction and cypherpunk's modeling worked perfectly to convey the concepts of, Six Steps of Firing a Shot and Natural Point of Aim perfectly.  Our students enacted their new found skills to further improve their precision.  In between bouts of instruction and shooting I would make note of the current time and explain what events were taking place in Concord, MA on that fateful day 250 years ago.

    We had been making effective use of our wonderful Spring Texas early morning weather by moving at a quick pace, but noon time crept upon us quicker than expected.  Our students needed a bit of break and some food which allowed me a bit of time to backtrack and inform everyone how the events on the morning of April 19th, 1775 had come to be.  It was a true honor to be in front of an eager group of Americans this day conveying our history with intent to impassion the security of our Freedoms given to us by our Forefathers.  We discussed the massacre which occurred only a few hours before hand on that fateful morning 250 years ago and how it put into motion the Revolution as we know it today.

    After our break, our students were provided with instructions on how to take their improved precise groups and now place them accurately on the intended target by following our Inches/Minutes/Click methodology of adjusting their sighting systems.  Unsurprisingly, everyone was able to achieve sufficient accuracy rather quickly which allowed us to move on to our next block of positional shooting instruction.

    Once again, Gus and Josh were able to walk our students through a series of new positions from which can be used in situations requiring a more elevated shooting position than what prone position can provide.  While challenging for most people to achieve, the seated/kneeling shooting positions to have advantages in certain situations.

    After mastering a new difficult position, we threw an even more challenging task at our students, shooting while in the Standing position.  Again, the advantages the standing position affords in terms of speed and quickness must be weighed against the loss of stability.  The Hasty sling certainly helps maintain control of an unstable system, but there are many degrees of freedom yet unaccounted for.  Our students did their best to shoot from standing while not getting too discouraged by the results, hahahaha!

    We finished up the entirety of our Instruction quick enough for our students to make an attempt at the Appleseed Qualifying Test (AQT).  After working through the various AQT stages it was clear we were going to be handing out quite a number of Patriot Day Special Rifleman patches!  Right out of the gate, Jonathan and Nathaniel dropped starting scores of 223 and 230 respectively.  After working through scores for more shooters we identified Tim and Lou as new Rifleman as well with scores of 220 and 211 as well!!!!  Four Rifleman on the first AQT – Not Bad at All!!!!


    Interestingly, our students maintained their solid accuracy throughout the day despite a challenging physical output for the day.  The day's ending Red Coat target showed almost identical results as the morning's target.  Instead of seven students showing field effectiveness at 300 yrds, there were now nine students who did so.  We had a similar number of students clear the Red Coat target which was great to see!

    The observation of Easter on Sunday morning began with an early morning Texas thunderstorm which threatened to alter our plans for the remainder of our event.  Luckily, calm weather followed the storm and we were able to post our Morning Red Coat without getting rained on or struck by lightning.  Our student's skills clearly had not diminished over the course of the evening because, once again we had four students who were able to completely clear the Red Coat target.  This was great to see!

    We began Sunday by confirming the rifles had held their zero settings.  The students were able to accomplish this task quickly because of the previous exercise on Inches/Minutes and Clicks.  While the rifles were fine-tuned for accuracy, the shooters needed a bit of further refinement.  We worked through a quick session of Ball and Dummy drill to allow the students to act as Instructors with each other and further reinforce the fundamentals in their own shooting.
 
    We began our extended addressing the Appleseed Qualifying Test (AQT) to allow our students opportunities to achieve the highest score possible.  Right before lunch time, Dan was able to requalify as a Rifleman with obtaining a score of 212!  Way to go Dan.  As the AQTs kept coming, the scores kept increasing!  Jonathan, who had made Rifleman just the day before, quickly outdid himself by achieving Distinguished status by turning in a score of 240!  Way to go Jonathan!  Likewise, Nathaniel was able to top his previous score by achieving an impressive score of 246!  Way to go Nathan!!!!  Our very own Instructors, Mark, Peter and Gus were also able to requalify as Rifleman!  Great to see Gentlemen!

    After a few more AQTs, we allowed our students a bit of a break and try something new – a game honoring Captain John Parker of the Lexington militia.  The game turned into a true competition with a very heated discussion on how to obtain the highest possible score for each team.  We separated into four teams for the game.  Once the planning period had ended, the shooters got to work on addressing the oncoming Red Coats at Parker's Revenge!!!  After the two minute time period was over, the scores showed the winning team – Team A – dominated with a score of 61!!!  Way to go Phillip, Tim, Peter and John. 

    The afternoon's continued AQT sequence continued to prove fruitful for our shooters.  Teresa was able to requalify as Rifleman with a score of 223!  Likewise, Tom, who is a new Appleseed attendant, was also able to turn in a score of 223!  Way to go Teresa and Tom!!!  On the final AQT of the weekend, Arindam was able to put everything into action and obtain a Rifleman score of 212 on his first ever event.  Way to go Arindam!!!!!

    The weekend wrapped up with a serious discussion regarding the need to take action in one's own political life in order to protect our Freedoms we take for granted all too easily.  We honored the architect of the Revolution, Dr. Joseph Warren, with a unique addressing of the Last Red Coat of the Weekend.  Our students were certainly a bit worn-out by this point and their final target reflected this, now with only one student able to clear the entire target.  This should not be thought of as a decrease in the capability of our students over the course of the weekend, but rather an indication of the level of effort they put out during a very action packed day.   A better gauge of skill would to note the number of awards handed out during this event – Rifleman patches handed out to five new shooters,  Requalified Rifleman for six shooters, and two Distinguished rockers handed out as well!!!  Now, this is truly an impressive result!

     It was an amazing event with amazing students.  I will say again, it was an honor to be with such a group of serious Patriot on this ultra special weekend!  Our Instructors and myself are still touched by how solemn everyone held this weekend's importance, and the reverence shown during our Patriot's Weekend!  Thank you!

Chad Stovell – GenX Minuteman

P.S. -  I have just receive notice our youngest shooter, Noah, has since been able to take his new found Rifle marksmanship skill and prove himself as an NRA Sharpshooter!!!!  Way to go Noah!!!  Your dedication during this weekend was inspirational to see!

San Antonio Cadre Present:
Chad Stovell – GenX Minuteman – Shootboss
Jerry – Twinkle Toes – IIT
Josh – cypherpunk – IIT
Zack – Zack74 – IIT
Dave - BigWave - IIT
Mike – Gus – IIT (promoted to Red Hat) – Way to go Gus!!!!
Mark – El Tejano – Instructor
Peter- Malibu – Instructor
Ron – A-Lister – Instructor
Ressa – CheyennePearl – Blue Hat

Chad,

Big thanks out to you and the rest of the instructors during the event! I had a great time, and because of the quality instruction I was able to finally earn my patch and rocker. Always love coming out to hear of our amazing shared history and to enjoy the beautiful Texas weather.

See everyone at the KDs in October and November!

- Jon

Here are some additional photos by Robert Fulton: