Project Appleseed

A Rifleman persists!!
We only had two shooters sign up...and we persisted!
We had two instructors sign up that were unable to attend...and we persisted!
The temp hovered in the mid-30s with accompanying fog and dampness...and we persisted!

The Jonesboro Shooting Sports Complex always makes us feel welcome in Project Appleseed, and this weekend was no exception. Our two shooters were a father and son, Doug and Tristan, who showed up Saturday morning ready and excited to learn more about Liberty and Marksmanship. This was Doug's third AS event including a pistol clinic, and Tristan's second. After a welcome, then a great telling of the First Strike by BuddyLove, we drilled down on the 4 safety rules, how to make a safe rifle, line commands, and ammunition malfunctions, then shot our first Hits Count target of the weekend. With only two registered shooters, we had plenty of opportunity for the instructors to shoot as well. The Arkansas cadre has some outstanding shooters, and all three of them that shot the Hits Count target cleared it, including Morgan's Shingle. Doug and Tristan established a great baseline to work off of, and we settled into the marksmanship instruction from there. After some excellent POI delivery, we got in a couple of squares targets before lunch, and the groups were already tightening up! Bright1 did a great job delivering the Second Strike as usual, and the squares targets after lunch continued to show steady improvement. Both shooters were exceptionally responsive to coaching and instruction, and the results were encouraging to them. What a great loop to be in: learn something, apply it, see immediate results, then learn something else! We took a break in the afternoon for Jayhawker to deliver a solid telling of the Third Strike, then started shooting the AQT in stages with position POIs before each stage. Neither shooter managed a Rifleman score on this one, but the improvement evident when we shot the final Hits Count target of the day was impressive! The Benediction was given, and as we cleared the range, Tristan came to each instructor individually and shook our hands, thanking us for a great day. The eagerness to learn, the receptiveness to instruction, and the maturity and respect he showed warmed my heart with hope for the youth of our Nation, it's great to see someone besides us old people ready to pick up a bucket and help bail!
Sunday began again with the Pledge of Allegiance and a welcome back to Doug as our only shooter. Tristan unfortunately couldn't make it back for day two, but I feel confident he'll be back on the line before long. After reviewing the safety rules and POIs from the previous day, we shot another Hits Count target and the improvement was still there! We continued on squares targets at Doug's request until lunch, working on his seated position and transitioning, as well as reinforcing the steady hold factors in the different positions. BuddyLove told the story of Samuel Whittemore, and Guns&Hoses shared a new story to the group of Peter Francisco, the Virginia Giant. (Thanks goes to TigerDriver for sharing that one with me, I'd not heard it before!) The KD presentation was given in blocks by Papasi, SwiftonGal, BuddyLove, and Jayhawker. Unfortunately we aren't able to shoot KD at this range, but we encouraged attendance at our yearly KD shoot in Hot Springs in October. We shot three more AQTs until our shooter was ready to call it a day. He didn't quite make Rifleman score (yet!) but get this..from Saturday to Sunday Doug improved OVER 100 POINTS to end up with a 177!! I have full faith that he'll get that patch soon, and I know he'll be back because he volunteered to pick up a bucket by taking a blue hat and volunteering to be part of Applecore as well! 

Oh yeah,,,and the Arkansas Cadre had a couple requals with irons, and a couple requal Distinguished...great shooters, I told you! But we know it's not about us, it's about those we can reach and convince to help out and continue that Seventh Stepping. Thank you all for a great weekend!!

Tristan and I had a great experience with this weekend's events. The one on one experience was awesome. We felt that the instructors were rooting for us and they wanted us to qualify as bad as we did.

The fact that Tristan took it upon himself to shake each instructor's hand speaks volumes of the dedication and work each instructor put into us over the weekend

You could not ask for a better experience.

Thank you to all the instructors

Doug (Grillfather)