Hernando Sportsman's Club O4/17,18/2010

[PHenry]

2010 - Year of the Yotnottin - or - Weekend of the Ceratopogonidae

When I arrived at the HSC Friday evening just after 6:PM, Panhead was already there waiting to assist me in erecting the firing line. Within minutes of my arrival I felt the undeniable presence of an uninvited guest that was to become perhaps the greatest challenge of this event for students and instructors alike. In my 50+ years here in the bug, er, Sunshine State, I have never seen so many of the so called "no-see-ums" in one place!

Terms like "swarm", "clouds, or even "bloodletting" fail to convey what would happen if two or more people dallied in one spot for more than 30 seconds. 41 shooters, eight observers, and six instructors swatted, sprayed, scratched, twitched, rubbed, fanned, re-sprayed, smoked, joked and groaned, but on the bugs came. We tried Listerine, we tried 100% DEET, we tried praying - even bad language. The sprays were like BBQ sauce to these things - the Listerine, like a cocktail before a heavy meal - nothing worked. The only respite was achieved by standing in the pouring rain with a lit cigar!

Now the purpose of the preceding "power whine" is only to frame the following: Of the 41 shooters who came on Saturday and the 27 who returned on Sunday - not a single one of them left either day! Despite significant adversity, they persisted in the best tradition of the American Rifleman and the instructors present were most impressed by the grit displayed. Kudos to each of you - Huzaaaah!

From eleven year old boys to a woman who is, well, let me just be a gentleman and say that she would have been near the same age as the boys when WW2 began (and yes, she shot all day Saturday right along with the rest, from every position) - none of them gave up, not a single one! They did not falter nor flinch from the service of their country (sure they twitched a bit, but who could blame them - we all did). I felt honored to work with each of them.

And now on to the event - we opened up by honoring Mlle Yotnottin, AKA Jacqui Wells, the first Appleseeder to be called home to meet the Founders. I read a copy of the post I had done the day after she passed away and while it choked me up badly when I wrote it, Lady Liberty must have been at my side when I read it as I was able to get through it OK. The attendees were then offered a glimpse at the Florida-only Yotnottin's Rangers patch, designed and procured by our very own Willorith, her dear friend and former employer. Rest in peace Jacqui - the light of Liberty has one less hand holding it aloft today.

Once every attendee was able to recite the safety rules verbatim, all of us were immersed in a little of our extraordinary heritage by way of the First Strike of the Match. Next we set about assigning target numbers and low and behold - I had underestimated the number of Patriots in the area! Yikes - more targets, we need more targets! A good "problem" to have. Then on to the Redcoat targets and it was clear that we had plenty of room for improvement if we were to be considered worthy of our ancestors.

Owing to my own failure on the target line, we ran behind all morning and were forced to hold lunch back a bit, but there was no complaining to be heard - a lot of swatting and spraying, but no complaining. During lunch we were all once agin plunged into the time of the Founders with the Second Strike of the Match and I witnessed a couple of moist eyes - one of the signs of true Americans who revere the sacrifices of the Founders.

By 1500 hours we were all getting tired, but pressed on toward the April 19th volley fire. We posted a Redcoat target for every five shooters and the shooters circled up. As a warm-up I offered the final part of the story of April 19th - the Third Strike of the Match and then a brief framing of the famous BBB - the Bloody Butchery by the British Troops or the Runaway fight of the Regulars, reading the first paragraph so that all would know the truth of that day in the Colonists own words. We had some time to spare and so we shot another COF on the green CAQTs and at 14:55 the shooters prepared one magazine with 13 rounds to honor some of the men who died on April 19th, 1775.

Shooters! Your preparation period has ended! Is the line ready? Ready on the right? Ready on the left? Aaaaaallll ready on he firing line! Robert Monroe, Aim, Fire!............Jonas Parker, Aim, Fire!......... Fourteen names were read as 3000+ rifles rang the Liberty Bell from coast to coast in a nationwide volley for Freedom! The sound was deafening and the smell of powder invigorating. Our own expectant Appleseeder Jill, was on the video camera - history in the making preserved for posterity!

We were able to get in just one of the red AQTs on Saturday and no Riflemen were revealed, but when I asked a man who had scored 209 on his if he was planning to come back on Sunday - he looked at me like I had just sprouted extra ears and exclaimed you better believe I am! Silly question on my part.

As I arrived Sunday AM, it was sprinkling and overcast. But wait, the weather report called for possible PM showers - welcome to Florida. The dreaded no-see-ums (not sure why we call them that, as you can see them, taste them and certainly feel them) were clearly planning to afford us an encore of Saturday's performance - yet another opp for us all to improve our characters through adversity! I guess the rain let up a little here and there, but not so as you'd notice.

After a brief review of the points of instruction, we dove into our morning Redcoats and then some 1" squares. Ball & Dummy before lunch. Some personal attention for our two new shooters - Corben and Jacob and on to the AQT! The rain was coming down perdy good by then and the bugs were having their way with all of us - especially anyone foolhardy enough to lie on the ground - say in proper prone position!

The targets were so wet that they had to be lifted with great care from the wet backers and carried up to be laid out over a chair back and scored with magic marker only. But, wait, what's this? Despite blood sucking insects and pouring rain, a Rifleman appeared, and then another and another and finally another! Persistence was the watchword of the day and just as their esteemed ancestors before them, these Americans had prevailed against all odds!

To the repeat offenders like Julie, Gene, Melinda, Allison, Mike and Dawn (and many more that my poor memory has temporarily misplaced) as well as the many new faces like Kevin who scored 205 - ouch!, and his fine son Austin who swore he would return and would get his patch - to Mike the detective and Matt the young man who shouted down the "negative monkey" and persisted - I know that I speak for all of my fellow instructors when I repeat that it were our honor and our pleasure to work with each of you. The time in between events can be for me, most draining, but my soul is renewed every time I am afforded the chance to spend a weekend with all of you. May Lady Liberty follow you all of your days and watch over all of us.

Please tell your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers about the program (Gene is the winner of the unofficial 7th step award for this event with six, count 'em, six people in tow!). Get them to attend and I swear on my copy of PR's Ride that I will do my absolute best to light the brushfires of Freedom in their hearts and minds, so that they too will embrace the debt and the duty to pass our great American traditions forward to the next generation, so that the ideals of the Founders do not die with this one.

Yours in Liberty,
PHenry

[ItsanSKS]

Excellent review of the event, sir.  I hope that you have been able to recover from your most traumatizing experience with the dreaded no-see-ums. 

Please keep us all updated with the progress on getting the video footage of the volley. 

Looking forward to some pictures and others' accounts of the event.

-ItsanSKS

[4merUSMC1803]

PHenry,
The Parris Island Marines used to call those critters sand fleas.  We dealt with the sand fleas by using liberal amounts of...dare I say it?...Avon Skin So Soft! Seriously, contact your Avon rep and try it next time and let me know how it works down in the FL swamps, er backcountry.  I fondly remember, we used to buy it at the PX, by the case.  Aw shucks, now they're going to come and get me for divulging national secrets.
Darrell

[rhumcat]

PHenry,
Thanks again for hosting another excellent AS.  You always do a remarkable job.  I have received nothing but positive feedback from the quests that came with me.  The bugs hardly even come up in the conversation.
Regards, Gene   

[NHale]

A few pics...

[PHenry]

I have also been offered the following remedies (let's hope they work better than the Listerine and 100% DEET!):

Bounce brand dryer sheets
Victoria's Secrets vanilla body lotion (sounds like an excuse to visit that fabled establishment to me)
Vanilla extract and water - mixed 50 / 50

Gene,
Many thanks and congrats on your award.

NHale,
Nice pics sir - will post a few of my own as time and server allows

Many thanks to all,
PH

[Mrs. Cleaver]

What a memorable weekend. Sure I could have stayed home and watched TV or gone shopping, but instead I spent it with 46 amazing Americans and one million no-see-ums. It was an honor to meet each of you. As for the no-see-ums, I wish them all painful deaths. Even with the bugs and the rain, I would be more than willing to do it again. Thanks to everyone for your patience with me as a first time Line Boss. It was an honor to call the AQT commands for you. Your endurance, dedication, and determination in the face of the bugs and rain are humbling. I hope that each of you will return to another Appleseed and bring others with you. Chances are pretty good that you won't suffer the bug problem we had this time. But I bet you will return armed with Skin-So-Soft, Bounce sheets, and perhaps some Vanilla Body Lotion.  Congratulations to each of you for your great improvement throughout the weekend. Congratulations to our new and repeat Riflemen and Riflewomen. What a great accomplishment, but it is only the beginning of big and better goals and accomplishments. Won't you join us under the orange hat? If you didn't make Rifleman this weekend, remember that it takes many of us several Appleseeds before we qualify. Scoring a 210 or higher is no easy task, but the Six Steps, Steady Hold Factors, and finding that darn NPOA really do work. Dry firing at home and shooting targets at 50yds really help between Appleseeds. 

For many years my husband (Sendit) and I have actively written our congressmen and senators about issues we were concerned about, and of course we always vote. But I never felt like this was enough. Appleseed has given me an opportunity to do something that may truly help maintain the freedoms that our forefathers have suffered and died for over the last 235 years, and that we enjoy so much today. These freedoms are not at all free and can be taken away very easily. We must be vigilant and not let the light of liberty go out. Besides, telling the stories of the events of April 19, 1775 and teaching rifle marksmanship, a great and very important American tradition, is just down right fun. I sure do hope to see each and everyone of you again at another Appleseed. 

[NHale]

Lessons Learned:

1. If you still aren't getting enough eye relief with the scope all the way forward on the mount, you just might need a longer stock...
2. You don't need to have a calculator, etc. to convert 1/8or 1/4 MOA clicks to MOA. Ex: for 1 click=1/4 MOA, you just count the clicks out loud like you do for calisthenics. "1-2-3 ONE. 1-2-3 TWO, 1-2-3 THREE" etc.
3. Looking cool, ain't worth getting all ate up by no-see-ums. Goofy looking net hats are worth the 3 bucks or so. Nitrile gloves will also stop the little boogers.
4. Make sure your equipment is in order BEFORE you leave for an Appleseed.
5. The instructors give you printed materials in the hopes that you will actually read from, and LEARN from them. Not because they hate trees.

NHale

[PHenry]

NHale,
well said sir. I especially like #5.
PH

[NHale]

BAM! Practice AQT pdf for 11x17 printers...