Waco TX Nov. 17-18 2018 AAR

[AF5US]

What a shoot!

Project Appleseed was honored to have the chance to teach History, Heritage and Marksmanship to FOURTY-FOUR youths from Trail Life!   

Trail Life is a Christian organization similar to  Boy Scouts, teaching a wide range of skills such as outdoorsmanship, civil responsibility, respect etc.

These fine young men ranged in age from 11-17, and approximately half had never, or only very briefly, ever fired a rifle before.  As such, the first day's pace was a little more measured than normal as we focused on ensuring that all shooters had a solid grasp of fundamentals.  On day two approximately half were still struggling more than we might like.  Fortunately, the TX instructor cadre REALLY stepped up.  We adapted, improvised and overcame and were able to break the line into two parts, with one group covering the more advanced topics of marksmanship and the other group being further divided out into very small groups amongst the instructors for personalized, individual coaching. 

By the end of the weekend, our more advanced shooters were running those AQTs and loving every minute of it.  What really impressed the Shoot Boss though, is that EVERY ONE of the shooters that were previously struggling were showing definite groups in their prone positions. Some of them were even grouping below the 4 MOA standard that we strive for!    A sincere and honest "thank you" to the instructors that were determined to patiently work with these shooters on an individual level, and to explain, demonstrate and model shooting concepts as often as necessary and in as many ways as necessary until things made sense.

I cannot express how grateful I am to the TX instructor cadre.  I wasn't able to arrive Friday night, but I arrived early Saturday to find things 90% complete - targets were out, sign-in station was ready, t-shirts were sorted and stacked - a microphone and speaker system was even up!  All we had to do was set up the many target backers.  The boxes of doughnuts seem like a small thanks for all the work the instructors did before and during the weekend, but it is genuinely appreciated.

Also a sincere thanks to Trail Life for inviting us out to their camp fire Saturday night, and also to their worship service Sunday morning.  We took advantage of the camp fire to tell the second and third strikes.  The setting made for a great mood, and this allowed us to have more range time to work with the shooters and develop their skills.

Finally, and maybe best of all - WE HAVE A NEW ORANGE HAT!!!     A sincere thanks to John (forum username pending), who stepped up and asked us for an orange hat on his own initiative.  You're going to make an awesome instructor, and I look forward to working with you. Hope to see you at the Instructor Boot Camp, too!

[Mercedes]

Congratulations to all of the shooters.  Keep practicing and we look forward to seeing your advancement next year!

Debbie and Padraic

[paul.rome]

Another example of the Texas cadre stepping up (and setting the standard).

Paul

[scuzzy]

You guys absolutely Rock!!

The Trail Life young men are awesome. I remember the last one I did and we had a Flag Retirement Ceremony around a campfire. Everybody around the fire explained what the American Flag meant to him. There were some really moving words by the kids. And the adults too. I was actually bought to tears by some of the kids speeches. And I wasn't alone in that.

[Gugisman]

Outstanding weekend!

Six Trail Life USA troops from N. TX were represented.

Hat tip, and extreme gratitude to the Central Texas Rifle and Pistol Club for being a multi-year host of Appleseed, and, private, free-camping-on-site, Trail Life events!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Walk Worthy!

Eric Inman
Troopmaster, Troop 19:1, Denton, TX
Instructor, RSO, RWVA/Appleseed