Waterman, IL - September 10-11, 2011

[dond]

This is just a brief introduction to enable others to respond. It was a beautiful day for an AS. Several excellent instructors were on hand to provide help for the shooters. Three Blue Hats kept things running smoothly. 40 shooters filled the line on the 200 yard range. Any more could not have been added comfortably. These shooters were exceptionally attentive to the information presented to them. Several were taking careful notes of this material. They responded well when requested to and were quick to answer question correctly when asked. And when shooting began in earnest it was apparent that they had listened well, since many had very good groups from the beginning. And the instructors were quick to respond to any difficulty the shooters had. We began the AQT with the third stage since all previous shooting had been done in the prone position. It seemed like most of the shooters were shooting exceptionally well, with good shots on the targets. We are looking forward to finishing it and forging several new Riflemen today.

[Morgan]

I should start out by saying what perfect weather we had all weekend for an Appleseed!!  Sunday the line was a little crowded but we managed.  I would personally like to thank all the RWVA members/instructors (green, red, orange, and blue hats) for all their hard work and dedication.  Thank you to Gravy for all of his instruction and to Castle Mountain for teaching me the "double-tap" OH and a SPECIAL thank you to Ewald for pouring an entire bottle of water on my head for shooting a 210 on the final AQT Sunday!!!

Glad to finally join the ranks of many Riflemen after 2.5 Appleseeds!!!!

John

[dalesp]

PHOTOS!

[dalesp]

Photos - cont....

[dalesp]

Still more photos!

[dalesp]

Final group

[Patriot Gal]

Thanks for all the great pictures, Dalesp!!!  Well done!

What a fabulous Appleseed Weekend!!!
Waterman was a HUGE SUCCESS!!!!! 50 people on the line over the two days!!! Nine, count 'em NINE Riflemen!!! (and women)!! Great weather, great instruction by DonD who taught us there's more than one way to "skin a cat" as far as teaching rifle training skills. Thanks Don!!! Thanks to our AC ladies, Don's wife Sarah, Tornado's wife Amber Waves and daughter Olivia. Couldn't do it without you! Special thanks to George63 for being our 'Boots on the Ground' to get the line set up and taken down.

It all came together on Sunday afternoon when every AQT resulted in more and more Riflemen. Don will have the list on the AAR. Tornado did a fine job presenting history and instruction to earn his red hat!!! And "RedBird" took his orange IIT hat! Congrats to you both!!!

Finally, thanks to all the instructors who came to help the weekend be such a success and to all the great participants who had to be one of the best groups I have witnessed!!! You were so attentive and focused on the task in the manner of true Riflemen!!! You truly persevered!!! Congrats go out to you all for a job well done for all your hard work learning the skills and then applying them. Well done All!!!

Y'all make me so proud of our country!!!

[BrownBessEd]

DaleSP--thanks for the pictures!  Congrats to all the new Riflemen!!

[POP]

Good to see your smilin' face again, Ed.
Great Pics, Dale.
And, Carol, Phillip, Don, Sarah, and everyone else, sounds like ya'll did a "bang up" job.  Those 50 shooter lines are exciting.

See ya'll on the trail.
POP

[Amber Waves]

This weekend marked the anniversary of our first year in the RWVA .  As a family, we came last year and what a year its been.  Last year we had no riflemen.  This year only the youngest two are knocking on that door, waiting for the chance to prove that practice and patience, pay off.  Our son, may be the only one without a Hat, but he is holding out for that day he shoots Rifleman and has earned the right.  As a Mom of three committed kids, I'm busting a few buttons.  They make me proud. 

DaleSP took a lot of great pictures.  As soon as I can go through mine, I'll post the ones that aren't copies, that my kids took.  We had so much fun this weekend, working with everyone.  Big thanks to Dond and Sarah for coming all the way from Kentucky.  I really enjoyed working with you all, Ewald, Gravy, Karl, Stonn, Swany, DaleSP, Patriot Gal and Castle Mountain.  Wished that Mountainman222, BrownBessEd and George63 could have stayed longer. 

This was fun, lets do it again next year.

[dugjeep]

I was getting paid time and a  half  to coach that day 

[Tornado]

Waterman was a great success! We had a very full line of shooters but they were very patient, even though fairly crowed, and  persistent. 9 Riflemen!       Redbird, Scott, Brad, Mike, Tiffany, Brian, John, Bruce, and Dennis (I apologize if I've got your name wrong) Congratulations!!! And there are several others knocking at the door.

Thank you shooters for your patience, willingness to learn & apply the instruction and your persistence. We had a great instructor core. I learned so much from each that I was able to work with. We had several really step up. Redbird took the orange hat, welcome and hope to see you again soon. Also, I really enjoyed the history. Kudos to BrownBessEd & family and Castle Mountain for making the history "come to life." Very memorable.

Special thanks to dond and Sarah for making the long trip from Kentucky. I learned some really useful things I hadn't heard or seen before that will help me and that I hope to pass along.

Our family really enjoyed being a part of this shoot & having the opportunity to work with you all and I'm humbled to earn the red hat.

Pictures to follow.

--Tornado

[Tornado]

More pictures:

[Stonn]

It was an excellent weekend for a shoot, the weather was good but the shooters make this one of the best AS I've attended. There was comradery in the group plus a lot of familiar faces and it shows in the group photos. DonD was getting low on riflemen patches after awarding 9 of them at the end of the day.

I also have a few photos to add;
1. BrownBessEd in period specific attire.
2. Firing the Brown Bess musket.
3. Castle Mountain telling the story of Samuel Whittemore in the first person.
4. Sunday's shooters after the redcoat.

[Stonn]

5. Sunday morning's Redcoat con't.
6. Another angle.
7. Rocking the third stage of the AQT.
8. Other half of the line.

[Stonn]

9. Castle Mountain reading the Declaration of Independence.
10. Stage 2 of the AQT.
11. Pink furniture on an 10/22.
12. Kids getting their patch with DonD.

[Nightingale]

Waterman was a great shoot. The weather was great the turnout of shooters was great as well. The history taught by the instructors was inspiring and truly amazing. I had a great time working with the shooters and learning more from the other instructors. I learn something new at every Appleseed and this was no exception. I hope to be able to do this again next year. 

--Nightingale

[Amber Waves]

So, I've finally gotten around to posting my pictures.  I hope they are ones that you all haven't seen yet.

Saturday we got up to cool temps and some fog.

[Amber Waves]

Throughout the day my kids kept grabbing the camera.

Here are some of my favorites.

[Amber Waves]

Sunday was sunny and warmer, just like the First 9/11.  You couldn't have asked for a nicer day.

First off, we had a special visit.   Thank you, Brown Bess Ed and your kids.

[Amber Waves]

We also had two new hats given out.  Red to Tornado and an orange hat to Redbird, our new IIT.
Congratulations guys! 

[Amber Waves]

I know DaleSP has some of these pictures already posted, but what the heck.

Eight shot Rifleman scores and got their patch.  One even shot 210 and got baptized.

Dixie Dennis an IIT from Kentucky re-qualified.

[Amber Waves]

So, I hoped you enjoyed the pictures.  I sure liked sharing them.  It was an awesome weekend and I hope to see you all there next year. 

The Miller Family