Harvard, MA Oct 6-7, 2012 AAR

[Lima Tango]

What a great Fall weekend in New England to hit the range and do some shooting, and that is exactly what we did at the Appleseed held at Harvard Sportsman's Club in Harvard, MA. We had great shooters and great staff working together to make it one for the books!
24 COOKS (23 on Saturday with 13 coming back on Sunday) heard the alarm call and took their place on the firing line on Saturday morning, by dusk on Sunday we had turned 8 of those cooks into RIFLEMEN!!!

We were able to break up the group into two lines, 1 that spent more time on drills, and the 2nd that gave a bit harder flogging! As this was my first shoot as SBIT, I informed both lines that I had an RWVA challenge coin for the first Rifleman score of the weekend. Naturally, both lines swore that they would claim the first Rifleman. The 1st line made drastic improvement with the guidance of Round Trip, Mzweatherby, and mj52; however it was Dave on the line that Lupis42 and I were running who struck first with a score of 223! Dave accepted the challenge coin with the promise that he bring a friend to another Appleseed and challenge those shooters with the same coin! He gladly accepted! Shortly after Derek shot a Rifleman score of 217!

The strikes were told by Lupis42, myself, and Round Trip; our shooters were clearly moved by the story of sacrifice for freedom and liberty.
Saturday Redcoat:
AM/PM
100: 9/14
200: 5/7
300: 3/4
400: 4/4
HS:  3/5

Sunday came with Round Trip and mj52 getting their shooters dialed in and tracking so well that Christina, Tim, and Allison graduated to the "hard flogging line". With their addition, myself and Lupis42 did our best to turn our line's remaining 7 cooks into Riflemen. Matt, Jason, Christina, and Morgan all earned a patch before lunch!
At lunch I told them about some "dangerous old folks" like Hezekiah Wyman and Samuel Whittemore. Dave, our 1st Rifleman, informed us at lunch that he wished to take an Orange Hat. Hiphip-HUZZAH! I then told the shooters the story of how I had the strength, courage, and resolve to eat 3 of Crak's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and shot my first Rifleman score after lunch on this very range some years ago. Well it must have inspired them because Natalie and Joe got the job done that afternoon. Natalie hitting it dead on at 210, was baptized into the 210 club with North Bridge water!(Welcome to the club )

Not everyone gets it on their first time out, and heck if we didn't make it hard it would be worth doing. Chris, Tim, and Allison are all knocking on the door of a Rifleman score with consistent scores from 185-198. Round Trip tells me that his students were also on the brink. Allison went from not even finishing the AQT and having scores in the 150's to a 198! Chris and Tim were refining their skills all afternoon as well with significant improvement. Forget knocking on the door, come back to another Appleseed and you guys will kick it down!!!

Sunday Redcoat:
AM/PM
100: 13/10
200: 4/2
300: 2/5
400: 2/2
HS:  0/4

Sunday wrapped up with Eric, Natalie, and Allison, all young college students(all 1st time appleseeders who used loaner LTR's provided by Lupis42 and I), being presented with Young Patriot patches. You could tell that the older folks understood how important this was and all 3 were looking very proud! I was even asked by one of them on how to purchase/build their own Liberty Training Rifle! OORAH!
Speaking of rifles, the shooters were very happy to learn more about the Civilian Marksmanship Program and get some hands-on time with an unloaded World War II M1 Garand I acquired from the CMP! I ended up signing 5 "proof of marksmanship" CMP forms! All took handfuls of RWVA tri-folds to spread the alarm to their friends, at their own gun clubs, jobs, and colleges!

Special thanks to our Shoot Boss, Lupis42; for making sure I was a good Shoot Boss In Training. Also thanks to Mzweatherby, Round Trip, mj52, and our new Orange Hat Dave for stepping up!
PS, if any of you have more pictures please post them; I was unable to get photos of Matt, Natalie, and Christina being patched! I know other staff got pics of this so please add them ASAP!

Come back to another Appleseed and bring a friend. Actually, bring 2 friends!
Persist, persist, persist!

See you on the firing line!
-Lima Tango

[Lima Tango]

More pictures!

[Lima Tango]

More pictures thanks to Round Trip!

[Lima Tango]

A few more from Round Trip!

[lupis42]

For some reason, I cannot get photos to attach.

[Round Trip]

Beautiful weekend, Lima T. you said it well.  Mz Weatherby and I were clicking and doing a happy dance by the end of the first day with the earnest interest and solid skills the shooters were showing after grinding though repeated basics.
I was very concerned Saturday morning how it was going to go.  A couple of young new shooters, who never shot before and were nervous.  They persevered listened with humorous humility and adapted. By end of Sunday both were confident and competent shooters, one earning her rifleman patch with a 210 score and North Bridge water baptism, Huzzah.  All the shooters deserve much respect for their persistence, one trying to get the shots on the paper to then learn the scope was toast and others working and working to tighten the group. At the end of Sunday I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was proud to be an American and appreciating the sacrifices others made for us, you could feel it.   Thanks Lupis42, Lima Tango, mj52 and Mzweatherby this is good.

[Lima Tango]

More pictures thanks to Lupis42
Patches presented to Matt, Christina, and Natalie(who was also dunked!) and Round Trip telling the 3rd strike!