Davilla, Texas AAR Nov 20-21

[alonso1]

Another great shoot in Davilla God bless Texas!

Saturday we started with 16 highly motivated shooters.  The ages of the shooters ranged from pre teens to Joe, a Korean War Veteran.

I had a crew of brand new Orange Hats who just completed an RBC.  They were Charles W, Russell, Mike and Hunter.  Now Reliable and Andrew, both seasoned OH's were shooting on the line and I used them on occasion.

So, where were all the other Instructors you ask? They were about 200 yards away enjoying an AIBC with Fred.

Saturday went by nice and smooth and we finished the day with many of the shooters stating they learned something new.

Sunday came around with 13 shooters and what seemed to be a constant wind blowing and gust of around 25 mph... Just in time for the AQT 

I asked Charles W, one of the new OH's to line boss.  Wow!  you would have thought he had been doing this stuff for years.  Charles really did a good job.

We continued with the AQT grind and finished up around 4 PM.

We did not get any Riflemen this time, but we got a lot of improvement in marksmenship, 16 people who heard the 3 Strikes, and two young men, JD and Trey who earned their youth patches 

Now Pop and Scout  came around every now and then and they were taking pictures so I'm sure photo's will be posted.

Anyone who attended this shoot, or not, feel free to post your comments.

Until next time, keep those actions clear and I'll see you on the beach.

                                                                                                                    Mark

[scuzzy]

Sounds like a good weekend. As far was the wind goes I don't think I've ever shot at Scout's place when the wind wasn't blowing hard. Well maybe one time but that was it. You'd think you were in West Texas.

Glad we got a few more Oranges to help. All the help we can get is sure appreciated.

I'd wanted to get out there but did a shoot in Midland instead. We did get a new OH named Frank to sign up there. That was the icing on the cake.

See you on the trail.

[POP]

Alonso's comment "see you on the beach" sounds good about now.  Temp dropping fast here in Shreveport.  Should be near 30 in the morning.

But, regarding the Davilla Weekend event, 
I've got a couple of pics to post.   
My hat's off to Joe, I stood by him after a few courses of fire to lend a hand ... sometimes getting up from kneeling is a little difficult.

Great event.  Thanks Alonso and OHs for stepping up.

POP

[CenTex]

This is the old man at Davilla... Indeed getting up and down is a problem when you are two months shy of the 3/4 century mark... My wife of 53 years was my backup but was not needed due to the excellent assistance and support of the OH's and Alonzo1. We were not able to attend the Sunday session due to other obligations and that is just as well since the bones were reminding me that I had too much fun on Saturday...

Alonzo was no less than outstanding in his Strike presentations and instructions. We came home and pulled out the History Channel's 'American Revolution' and found out that Alonzo's word pictures were much better than the DVD presentation.

My shooting was way below what I expected of myself; I had to use a borrowed gun since my lever action, tubular feed was not the gun to have for an Appleseed. The gun contributed to the poor performance but the old body and the contortions required was the major cause. It would be good to make recommendations on gun requirements in the 'What to Bring' information.

I am very active in amateur radio emergency communications in Central Texas and was pleased to meet two new ham's, at least one was an OH. Any of you that are ham's are welcome to use our wide area repeater when visiting Davilla (W5BEC 147.14, pl123 located 1600 feet AGL (Above  Ground Level) near Eddy, Texas with a coverage radius of about 70 miles.). I am the trustee for the repeater.

We had four friends (one of which is also a ham) with us and they were equally impressed with the day; they also attended Sunday but I have not seen them yet for an update...

We will return in the spring time with a grandson in tow... and it will be cold at Davilla the next several days...

Thanks to all who contributed to a grand and glorious day...

[QwiqDraw]

This was our first Appleseed event.  It was outstanding!  We are already planning to attend a Spring Appleseed in Davilla to obtain our Rifleman patches (that is the goal).  My wife, son, his girlfriend and I are the 4 friends that CenTex mentions in his post. 

It is empowering to see that we are not the only people who see our Country heading in a direction that will soon be irreversible if we don't act now.  We also had the privilege of hearing Fred speak at the event. 

The shooting instruction was excellent, the message powerful.  Alonso1 with the help of several new Orange Hats and others (I am new to the Acronyms) did a great job.  Thank you for your patience while some of us struggled to break years of bad habits to learn a new technique.  It works.  We all could see an improvement by the end of the first day, though at times it was frustrating.  It all began to coalesce on the second day.  We could see improvement, even though we were fighting a constant wind that always seemed to pick up when we started a new round of AQT's.  My wife and I were a bit sore at the start of the second day, though I hate to admit it. 

If anyone has concerns for their safety at one of these shoots, don't.  The safety procedures are top notch, followed without fail. 

I would like to thank everyone for their time, patience and tutelage.  Scout, thank you for the generosity of your time and land to sponsor the event. 

[AuntieBellum]

While I only wandered by a few times on my way back and forth to the latrine, it really looked like everyone had a great time.  Fellow Patriots, thanks for coming out to experience Appleseed and your heritage.  Here are the pics of the youth shooters receiving their patches: