Gaylord, MI Sept 7-8, 2013

[ITB]

What a great weekend!  Nothing better than spending it with a wonderful group of fellow Americans!

Thank you to the Northland Sportsman's Club for the use of their 100-yard range.  It was a terrific place to spend the weekend.

We had some early rain on Saturday morning that was supposed to move off, so we jumped right into the history and told the First Strike right after the safety briefing.  Despite our slow start of shooting, the time monkey was nowhere to be found.  All of the shooters listened, learned and persevered through more rain and were rewarded with some sun in the afternoon. 

Sunday's weather was PERFECT - low 70's, sunny, a few clouds, and a nice breeze.   We shot some more, learned about some DOMs, and grinded out some AQTs. 

The end result: two new Riflemen, and three new Orange Hats!  Congratulations to Don and Bill for earning your patches.  And thank you both for stepping up to take the Orange Hat.  Don's son, Ben, earned his Rifleman patch at a previous event, also accepted the Orange Hat.  I look forward to working with all three of you in the future.

To Sam and Barb - you guys were awesome.  Barb quickly shook off the cobwebs and in no time had a great prone position.  Sam persisted in spite of a bad back, and had a great attitude and sense of humor.

Thanks also to Dan, Jim and Ed for coming out.  It was a pleasure meeting you, and spending the weekend with you.

Special mention to nailer22 - Thanks for coming out and helping with the teardown.  We're looking forward to seeing you at some future Michigan events.   

And lastly, thanks to ironsides and yarnjunky for volunteering for this event - you guys made my job much easier.

On with some pictures....

A view from the target line of our "digs" for the weekend:


Ironsides running the line:


Standing:


Seated:


Seated:


Ironsides doing the safety briefing Sunday morning:


Teaching prone:


Our three new Orange Hats:

[nailer22]

Great event with great people, both shooters and staff. Made this former Illinois boy feel welcome and supported. Why did I wait so long to move to MI?

Nailer22

[IRONSIDES]

I have to agree with Burbs we had a great bunch of shooters last weekend! They toughed through the weather on Sat. with smiles on their faces and great attitudes.

Here are the pictures of our 2 new Riflemen

[Compass]

I had a great time and I'm stoked that I finally got my Rifleman patch! After 3 tries! I thought I was, "Always going to be the Sharpshooter never the Rifleman". Great bunch of folks as always and the Instructors are always awesome and professional. It keeps me coming back and telling others about Appleseed! Now I went and got committed as a "wet behind the ears" IIT!