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EL PASO TEXAS APPLESEED OCTOBER 18-19

Started by WestTx, October 19, 2008, 01:31:46 AM

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WestTx

The morning's early light today showed 3 instructors, 1 Shoot Boss and 23 shooters ranging in age from 9 to 57. Scout led off with a welcome and introduction and the day went very very well. TSRA Western Regional Director Rich Gilliland arrived early and even led the black ant eradication squad. Rich's valuable assistance and advice were greatly appreciated, as well as the TSRA money!
SNAITF, voortrekker, and Johnnyappleseed provided excellent guidance, patience and information throughout.
But that is only half the story.
Scout led an expedition on Friday, searching out likely Appleseed participants along the Border Highway, Downtown el Paso, Secundo Barrio and he was even seen having numerous close encounters with foreign sounding (and named) streets. Yes, he truly was living up to his moniker of "Scout". But it all could not have happened and come together without his guidance and steady hand upon the tiller.
Tomorrow brings even more experierences and episodes.
So stay tuned to this forum for more adventures of the Scout expedition to the far reaches of Texas.
Rifleman. That says it all.

funfaler

Great to hear! 

Thanks for the glimps into what is going on out there.

Looking forward to some additional details.


The dips in your couch will go away if you get up and take the Seventh Step!

Johnnyappleseed

Wow -- El Paso  ;D This was one really fine AS. Scout , Voortrecker + SNAITF- You guys really did a great job + it was such a pleasure meeting + working with you. I learned  different AS variations + so much more ;)
Congratulations to TaosGlock,Gill+ Alan who achieved Rifleman scores + are now IIT s .Thanx for bringing along 5 other shooters ,some who had never handled a firearm before this weekend.
Many thanx to Richard, Mike , Dawn , Barbara+ everyone in El Paso that helped so much. TSRA paid all the range fee's + are great guys. Not normally a person who joins gun groups  ::),Im now a proud member.
More to follow  ;D
Semper Fidelis
JA
Richard
Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge

Scout

We had a great shoot. You hear it at almost every new event from the instructors (or you should ;)) usually something like, "Wow, this was the best shoot yet!".

Every shoot should have the same type refrain from the instructors and SB, since every shoot should indeed be better than the last one. You should have learned from the last event and used that knowledge to make the next one the best it can be. And when you do this it should be.

Tighten up your story, use the new method you found for carding the shooters sights when explaining NPOA, teach them how to develope a cadence when shooting the timed stages so that they can finish in time and they will know where they are in the COF since following a cadence will lock them into a pace that will allow them to finish the course of fire without rushing the last shots. Every time you learn something new, keep it and work it in to the next shoot, always be learning and always be teaching.

This event was a great one. I love being in a new town with new Riflemen waiting to be made and patched in to the org. The Ft. Bliss Rod and Gun Club were very friendly and helpfull, The TSRA Rep, Rich Gilliland is a great man and he is now a fervent believer in APpleseed. He is going to push the org. every chance he gets with his organization. He had TSRA donate the range fees and he brought a nice flintlock rifle that we put on display with the other items on the Rev. War table (supplied by Cannonman66 ;D) And he gave a very nice talk after the APpleseed event had ended about the TSRA and how they can help our organization and the State of Texas, and shooters all over The United States.

None of this would have happened this soon without the push and help from Michael Schwartz. He used his pull with the city of El Paso and the Ft. Bliss MWR to get this shoot in place this year. He is one of those guys who know everyone in the city, in the shooting community, and just about everywere else you can think of. He is a man of great reputation and standing in the community and he made this thing happen with greased skids. Thanks Michael!, for what you are doing now, and for all you have done for this country in the past, (but that is for the campfire stories after we check your security clearences ;D)

WE left here at around two PM on Thursday afternoon, myself, Voortrekker and SNAITF. Johnny Appleseed was driving from California at the same time to meet us in EP. We drove from the Davilla DAR to El Paso in West Texas and arrived about 4:00AM Friday morning. Found the range locked up and drove around until we could find a cheap hotel and got a room. Slept for two hours and then went out and set up the range. We were met ther by Johnny APpleseed who drove over from California to help out. It might interest you to know that the drive from the middle of Texas to El Paso is about the same as from California to El Paso. ;)

We had the 1000 yard range and had to move out about 100 yards to get to a berm we could use. We bought some fence posts and wire for the target line, the club gave us a stack of new two ply cardboard sheets and we marked out the line and set it up, while Mike was blocking off the ranges firing line so people would not be setting up and firing while we were down range. The line would probably hold about two hundred shoters from side berm to berm so it was a large range and no reason we shoul not be able to get 100 shooters on line at an upcoming shoot.

We finished there about eight thirty and went back to the hotel and started rehearsing the shoot and finally got to bed around 11"00. We got up at 5:00am and had breakfast and headed out to the range to finish setting up and folks started arriving arould 7:30am. They took a bit of time to all finally get there as Mike tells me that El Paso is on "manana" time  ;) so we got started about 9:15 or so. 24 shooters on the line Satuerday morning. Things were going well untill the big Texas black ants got riled up as we had put the line on top of a colony. A black ant is about a quarter/half inch long with powerful cutting jaws and a colony is about ten feet across on top of the gound and about fifty feet across below. They gave the shooters hell until we finally called a temporary halt until Rich was sent out for supplies for the Appleseed Chemical Engineers Corp.

Once the ants were driven off and underground, we resumed and shot the rest of the day in deep dry El Paso heat. The day ended with a talk about what they had just experienced and what would happen the next day. A note about the range. It is right in a flight path for all types of aircraft and we had to be ready to call a cease fire at any time to allow the airraft to pass. It just happened that hearing of the benefits of the program to the country, they timed their over flights to coincide with breaks in the firing and no incidents were reported. ;D

The next day started early at 8:30 (normal time) with 18 on the line and got off to a good start. Folks were great and had a hunger to learn. No one was a quitter and no one was whining. Let me give a shout out to Mateo Delgado, an El Paso attorney with a body singled out for special attention by nature and scores of surgeries to try to correct an uncorrectable luck of the draw. Despite the pain I saw on his face by the end of the long second day, he never said quit, his rifle (a short M4) was taller than he was and twice his arm length, but he never said enough

We made four Riflemen, and all four were immediately drafted into the Instructor Cadre Corps. Lots of great shooters and all are still hungry for more Appleseed. The message found a home in all the hearts of the second dsay shooters I am positive.

Let me give thanks to all the instructors who instructed at the event. The instructors make the event happen and they make the Shoot Boss look good or bad. My team, Voortreker, Snaitf, Johnny Appleseed made me look good.

And my thanks to the four Riflemen who also decided to join in and become part of an organization that is changing the face of shooting in America and who are the willing to become the bots on the ground and do all the foot work involved in making this happen. ALan, Gill, Dan, and Mike Schwartz all shot to Rifleman standards and all took the instructors hat, even though I enumerated in detail all the work and committment it required before I handed it out to them, without a single bit of reluctance. Thank you all.

We made a big spalsh with TSRA. Mr. Gilliland was very impressed. He said he had never seen a course run like this with such professionalism and such a huge amount of valuable instruction presented so rapidly with the people actually grasping all of it. He was just bowled over he said, and he was going to start pushing this program right up there with his own TSRA program. He took a lot of pictures and he said they would be in the next available issue of the TSRA magazine. He gave his TSRA pitch and signed up around a half dozen or more members to TSRA after the Appleseed event on their own time. Thank you Mr. Gilliland and thanks to TSRA.

I will add the pictures in a bit.
BattleRoadUSA.com

"Who wants Ice Cream?" Fred

Sixty seconds is way too long for a minute, I am cutting it down to thirty seven seconds- SoM

"You can shout it, you can preach it, but no matter how many times you repeat it, NEVER believe your own bullSh*t." (as told to me by Grin Reaper)

voortrekker

We had a terrific time in El Paso.

The Fort Bliss Rod and Gun Club is an outstanding facility for Riflemen....and it is open to the public as well.

If I had access to a range like this, I'd be there at least once a week.

Scout, SNAITIF, and myself drove, and drove,....... and drove............. and drove...................... and drove to El Paso.  A loooong drive is easier with good companions and interesting conversation.   ;)     

We met Johnnyappleseed from the California AS Chapter Friday afternoon.   I recognized Johnnyappleseed from the 2006 Mingus, TX shoot so we had fun talking about that and how far Appleseed Project has come since then  :D , memories.

Johnnyappleseed and I shot our M1A's on Friday with West TX scoping for us at known distance steel......it was fun!

Met WestTx and the West Texas TSRA (Texas State Rifle Association) coordinator, Richard, on the range Friday to set up.

We had a really good line of shooters on this AS considering the first Redcoat targets they shot.  Sunday blessed us with 4 new Riflemen and 4 new IIT's. 

Thanks for all who attended the shoot, New Mexico and West Texas, y'all were a pleasure to meet and instruct.

El Paso, you've got a really outstanding range........take advantage of it, please.

The management of Fort Bliss Rod and Gun Club went above and beyond to help us......even providing at least 150 lbs of brand new card board backers.

Thanks all attendees.  Everyone of y'all were a pleasure to work with........keep it up and persist.

Thanks Mike for helping make the first West TX shoot happen, and for accepting the orange hat for West Texas.

Thank you Richard and Texas State Rifle Association(TSRA) for sponsoring RWVA and Appleseed Project in West Texas.

Thank you Dan, Gill and Alan too for stepping up and accepting the orange hat for New Mexico.

Again, Fort Bliss has an outstanding range to further the Appleseed project considering, especially, the very enthusiastic management and serious known distance range 5 (1000 yards).

Ok, time for some pics..............


This is a pic of the range benches at bay #5




The El Paso line






Future Rifleman



Sunday, SNAITIF and Scout are instructing.





Shadow of the Minuteman. (That's Scout in cognito, BTW) Thanks Cannonman!




The firing line Sunday morning.




Gotta love the M1A and one who knows how to use it........Yep, he earned his badge, RIFLEMAN shooting a .30 cal.......forged on the AQT!




The El Paso line on Sunday.




Sunday, the El Paso line again.




Riflemen and Riflewoman, forged in El Paso.




Thank You Texas State Rifle Association!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




If YOU are thinking, WE are winning.

SavageShootr

WOW Great pics, Thanks for sharing them.

It sounds like a great weekend in Texas.

Congratulations to all of the Riflemen and Riflewomen!!

Welcome all the new IIT's!!

~SS
"Listen to everyone, read everything, and don't believe anything unless you can prove it."' B.C.
"It isn't like it is life or death...it is more important than that." MrPete

Johnnyappleseed

voortrekker, thanx for the pics, they remind me of how much fun we had at the El Paso AS . ;D
This range has steel targets ,at 2-1000  yards , what voortrekker was kind enough not to say was thst I missed my 1st 10 or so rounds at 200 :o :o :o. every shot seemed I was blinking as the scope changed position on follow through :-[. Sure enough the scope mount had loosened from the drive to El Paso. I rezerod at 25 + the next 5 rds hit steel at 2-3-4+5 hundred .
Before shooting on Sat. Scout had brought some plastic rods + we asked shooters if they were famliar with their rifles, then we checked each rifle for a possibile bore obstuction. I liked the Scout's idea of using these rods , as oppossed to looking down the barrell ;D Further Scout had a set of hex key wrenchs + He checked each rifle for loose scopes + sights. He did find some loose ones too :o  nice going Scout.
Will post more later.
Semper Fidelis
JA
Richard
Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge

Junior Birdman

  Just have to ask......Did Scout check everyone's tire pressure before they left?  ;D

  Good shooting guys!  Congrats on the Rifleman scores and thanks for stepping up to an Orange Hat!  JB
"But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever." John Adams

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them. Fredrick Douglass

cannonman61



[Shadow of the Minuteman. (That's Scout in cognito, BTW) Thanks Cannonman!



You are very welcome. I am glad to see the  equipment being well used!  :) :)
Artillery lends dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.

Old Glory!

Wow!  Fantastic pictures!   Helps get a person through the week.  Congratulations all!  Hey Johnny Appleseed, you look right at home there in Texas. 
"My primary objective is to change hearts and minds, for that is where the gaping hole in the hull of the USS America lies. I am looking to make a spark and praying that it will ignite, by their own will, into a bonfire in their hearts and souls."  PHenry

"Folks, this Appleseed thing doesn't work if we get a patch and go home. It doesn't work if we shoot a Rifleman score and remember the good times we had out on the range. It only works if we take that 7th Step and spread the 'seed. HUZZAH!!!"  Slim 


April 18-19, 2009  "The seeds of rifle marksmanship were sown in good ground.  In the end, then, every attendee walked away as an instructor for their friends, family, coworkers.  May you tend your patch in Liberty's garden well and through a long life."  Francis Marion

WestTx

Let me add a few items.
Mateo Delgado is the Spirit of the Rifleman. Patient, hard working, determined. You would never know that he  a.) is vertically challenged; b.)can tell some of the best small person jokes; c.) is a lawyer!
He picked my small brain for the entire match on positions, loads, clicks, rifle improvements, ricle combinations and so on. He was so close, and will be back the next AS.
Scout dressed in the Rifleman Regalia- Man, my chest swelled with pride. Really, really made an impression on the folks Sunday.
The patient professionalism of all. It seemd they were everywhere helping out.
Scout's MAGNETIC SIGN ENVY.- Yup, it seems that Rich Gilliland's TSRA mag sign on the doors of his SUV made Scouts 8x11 sign seem a little undersized. I'm sure he'll get over it. Or get bigger signs.
The weather was beautiful, wind was nil and all received probably far more Vitamin D than needed.
Looking forward to seeing new faces, instructors and participants, in January. Maybe Fred himself will grace us.
Rifleman. That says it all.

voortrekker

We had great time!

I can't wait to return to El Paso and be in the company of Riflemen!!!
If YOU are thinking, WE are winning.