South Huntsville, AL (HISR) June 3-4, 2023 AAR

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Appleseed had a fantastic weekend hosting the Rocket City Young Marines (RCYM) at Hobbs Island Shooting Range (HISR) in South Huntsville, AL.  HISR is not only a big supporter of Appleseed, but they also have a mission to share the shooting sports with youth, so they waived all range fees for the group.  Thanks to Don and Matt at HISR!! 

Saturday morning brought sunny skies and ten YM between the ages of 9 and 18 eager to get started.  We held a basic rifle orientation session on the firing line followed by our safety briefing.  The morning Hits Count, or Red Coat, target reflected that about half of the YM had already attended one or more Appleseeds. The YM soaked up the marksmanship instruction throughout the morning and executed the dry fire exercises like pros.  By the time we started with squares most of the targets had very good groups.  Danna received a deck of cards for having the best group on the first square.  Aaron, Alex, and Zack each received pins and tattoos for subsequent groups.  After IMC and a few sight adjustments, we were ready to move on to the remaining instruction and an AQT. 

At the end of Saturday we had a competition where each YM was given 3 balloons and a magazine with 5 rounds.  The first one to pop all of the balloons was awarded a prize.  Jayden left the competition in the dust and earned a deck of Appleseed cards to take home.

The Sunday morning group was a bit smaller but no less focused.  Nine year old Alex showed he was listening intently on Saturday by having the answer to every question during the morning review.  Every one.   
Since we had open space on the firing line, Alex and Aaron's mom decided to join in.  EddieB provided some one-on-one instruction and she was shooting tight groups in no time.
Following a couple of AQTs the group took a break to take turns firing a few rounds with an M1 Garand.  Everyone ended up grinning ear to ear and took home some souvenir brass.

I have to express my gratitude to the instructor crew that made this event possible:
ArmyVet, EddieB, HardHolder, Maximum Ordinate, Mixed Metaphor, and Willociraptor.  Concord received his Orange Hat and worked his first official event.  All of you guys Rock!

Here are pics of the weekend's fun.

[Roswell]

Oh wow! This looks like an amazing event. Nothing like a Garand grin. 

Good job everyone! 

[Willociraptor]

Great group. Super fun event. Looking forward to the next one!
Good job Young Marines   

[JustKim]

NICE!  LOVE to see the youngsters doing some fantastic shooting!!!

[HardHolder]

This was a fun event. I really enjoyed working with the Young Marines.

I hope they come back next year.

I can't tell you how much I enjoy working with our Instructors. They are all so knowledgeable and great
teachers.

Thx for letting me be a part of Appleseed.