It started as a cold and blustery day. I woke up early and began loading the truck with all of the supplies needed. As I glanced at my thermometer near the front door I took note of the fact that it read 7 degrees.
Upon reaching the range about an hour later it was a balmy 14 degrees (according to the thermometer in the truck) and the wind was starting to kick up. How many would show up in the frigged cold?
Slowly shooters started to arrive. All said and done we had 20 shooters show up! We had several kiddos that were walkons as well.
Things were a little slow at first due to the cold. We would center up and people were hopping from one foot to the other, blowing on their hands and drinking hot cocoa that NMMI9100 provided. Redcoat, prone, six steps and so on we went through the course of fire. No one complained, however you could see by their shivering that they were mighty uncomfortable.
We finally broke for lunch and while some cowered in their cars for heat most everyone sat out in the cold with us instructors as we taught the three strikes. By now the wind was blowing and clouds had moved in. A quick glance at the thermometer in my truck showed it was 24 degrees.
The first strike was told and everyone was sitting on the edge of their seats, listening intently. Then the third strike and a few started to mist up. Finally the third strike and some explanation of why we do what we do. There was a great deal of emotional connection with those men and women. Everyone could feel the importance of that heritage.
We continued on with our grueling course of fire. We put the spurs to her and tried to catch up to where we should have been. Unfortunately the temperature continued to plummet and we saw the clouds turn into snow that wasn't reaching the ground. You could see the virga descending from them but for some strange reason it wasn't reaching the gound.
We managed to catch up and had our first AQT before the end of the day.
Blondie44 explained the course of fire for stage one. The sun was starting to get low on the horizon so we forwent going down range after each stage. Then she explained stage 2, stage three and finally stage 4. By now the wind was about 15 mph and we had a slight warming trend as the sun passed the clouds. With frozen shivering fingers they eagerly added up their AQTs. "Hey Shoot Boss! We have a question on this target!" Out comes the 30 cal bullet. He didn't really need the extra point, but we try to be precise.
Our first rifleman of the weekend! Woohoo! Congratulations David!
Then onto the last target, another red coat. The scores had really show some improvement!
After returning from the target line with Red Coats in hand apparently not everyone had finished scoring their AQTs. "Hey Shoot boss! We have some questions on this target!" Wait, you didn't miss that round on the third stage. That's two holes REALLY close together! That's a five, that's a four, that's a five. Woohoo! Two riflemen on the first AQT! Congratulations Andrew! Copies of Paul Revere's ride for the both of them!
So we finished the first day and headed home. Our minds were full of warm thoughts on the perseverance of all the shooters that day, especially the children.
0730 we arrive back at the range. As I left home I noted it was 24 degrees this morning. "Whew! I guess it will be a warmer day!"
We had 13 show up today. Two hadn't been there the day before so we went ahead and reviewed all of the positions again. Then Ball and Dummy. The wind started again around 20 knots and gusting up around 35 knots. Finally we started the grind. AQTs for everyone!
After the first AQT we broke for lunch and some dangerous old men and women were discussed. There wasn't a dry eye left in the group. We all began to understand the sacrifices and horrors that occurred that day. We explained that they paid with their lives and personal security so that we would never have to repeat that course of action. While they had the choice of Slavery or possible death we have a third choice, the ballot box. The temperature at lunch time was 22 degrees.
After the second AQT I noticed a lot of shot fussing going on and failing to focus on the front sight. We did the focus drill with a blank sheet of paper, then an NPOA drill on the squares. Then back to the grind.
Two AQTs later as we are scoring I see a huddle of people around one of the benches. They looked like they were studying something VERY intently. Humm... I wonder what it could be?
As I arrived over there one person asks me "Well, were wondering if this is a 210 or a 211." Well some math errors were made and it was actually a 216 I believe. He didn't even need the 30 cal rule! His buddies were just trying to get him soaked!
Woohoo! Third rifleman of the weekend! Way to go Scott!
We continued on the grind with a short break to decimate some cookies. The mood was quite jovial. Everyone was joking around, laughing and just having a blast. The camaraderie between everyone was superb!
On our second to last AQT we could hardly keep the mats on the ground. Even us instructors were feeling chilled to our bones. It was officially COLD! Freefyrefly quickly put them back into prep after a short break to score their targets so we could squeeze one more AQT in before the sun won out.
We finished our last AQT and began setting up for the final red coat and scoring the targets. "Hey Chris, can you look at my target? This was the AQT before this last one and I didn't think I did well, but it's pretty close!" Well out comes the 30 cal again. 209? Wait, look there! 210! Woohoo! Congratulations Curt!
Now I have to admit I felt bad for him due to the impending soaking he was going to endure. I had mentioned after the first AQT that a 210 gets you doused with water and I probably shouldn't have let that slip...
Being as it was colder than heck I figured he would have said "No way man!" as I opened the bottle of water, but no. He cinched up the hood of his sweat shirt and with a big grin said "Go for it!". At Appleseed we are all about tradition after all aren't we?
I pulled all four riflemen aside separately and asked them what they thought of the program. Each and every one of them felt like we were doing something important and two of them actually directly asked "How can I become an instructor?" Each and every one of them wanted to step up to the brotherhood of the orange hat and we will now have FOUR new IITs here in New Mexico! Way to 7th step there guys!
We shot the final Red Coat and again everyone showed tremendous improvements over the weekend.
We finished up and talked about getting involved, the importance of letting our voices be heard by our congress critters as well as awarded the kiddos with their very own patch for persevering through the brutal cold and not once complaining. All of us had a blast and look forward to working with you all again. Remember to be practicing those positions, write those one minute letters and most importantly let your friends and family members know the rich heritage that we have in this great country!
