Slidell, LA Nov 2 & 3

[Biloxi Steve]

You can't help but appreciate great Louisiana weather and a great turnout for an A/S weekend, Let me start by thanking the attendees for giving us their time to come out learn some history and start on their path to rifleman status. Saturday we had 17 individuals including 3 youth and Sunday we had 15 individuals, 12 returning and 3 Sunday only participants. Although we did not have the opportunity to present any rifleman patches, we saw great promise from many of our shooters and hope to see them return soon. We did have the privilege of welcoming a new O/H to Appleseed and look forward to working with him in the future. My thanks as always go out to my fellow instructors for making this weekend work so well and to the folks at Camp Villerie for hosting us. You always make us welcome and we appreciate the great facility. With the help of SB McPeek we filmed some IMC instruction and if it turns out well, it will be posted on you tube. There will also be photos posted soon.

[LawDog]

Wayne, thank you for stepping up to take an Orange Hat.  It is a privilege and honor to work with you.  You join a cadre of LA/MS instructors who give as good as they get, but always answer the call.  Welcome!

[bollox]

Enjoyed the shoot and I'm thankful for the opportunity to contribute. See you in Biloxi Steve. When my status changes I'll begin looking at the instructor material on the forum. In the meantime I have Paul Revere's Ride coming and a "course of fire" packet that Kenny gave me to prepare with. 

[Bullet]

With the help of SB McPeek we filmed some IMC instruction and if it turns out well, it will be posted on you tube.

Nice. I look forward to seeing that.

[LawDog]

Thanks to the shooters who assisted us in building and installing the new steps at the range.  Nice work! 

[LawDog]

On Sunday, our Blue Hat (TDog) had to take a break to write an essay for school.  I peeked at his work and found "Why I Want To Shoot 210."  I asked him to read it to the group.  The words of a 10 year old may have touched more hearts than anything this instructor ever said.

I want to shoot 210 on the original Army Qualifying Test, or AQT. It was
made prior to WWI, and used to train GIs, but continues to be used to
train generations of rifleman and women today. To shoot an expert score,
you must get 210 points. To elaborate, you must score: Stage 1: 42
points. Stage 2: 42 points. Stage 3: 42 points. However, stage 4 is
doubled to make up for stage 5, which we exclude in our AQT, or
Appleseed Qualifying Test, so you must get 84, or really just 42. That is
210, but it is better to be safe and get a few extra points each stage. The
most you can get on any stage is 50, excluding 4, where 100 is possible.
A perfect score is 250. I don't think I will ever get that high, but I will
certainly try. But why do I want 210? To be an instructor. To train to
serve my country, if the need arises. Because I can. Because I will. I
want to be an instructor because not everyone can. The real reason is to
save America. You can sit on your couch and let someone else do it. You
can "not worry about it". You say you are grateful while sitting on a
couch watching reality TV shows. You didn't vote this year, because
American Idle was on. You think of your neighbor as a show off,
because he is always trying to get you off your butt and do something
about this great, sinking ship. He asks you "How can you be grateful to
someone if you are not willing to defend what they gave their life for?".
Finally, you decide, if it stops his endless nagging, you might as well try
it. You fall in love with Appleseed and become an instructor. You are
always trying to bail out this "great ship". But I am tired of bailing out
this ship. It is hard, time consuming, and we are running out of people,
time, money, and our rights to buckets are being consumed. I want to
plug the hole.

[Biloxi Steve]

TDog, just want to let you know I'm proud to know and serve in A/S with you. YOU are the future of this great country and if we can get more like you, I know we'll be in great hands.