Hot Springs, AR AAR - Sept. 21 - 22, 2019

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Saturday dawned with clear skies and the promise of a fabulous day!  Jayhawker and I arrived early at the MVSA Action Shooting Range to begin setting up.  My much better half, Liz, volunteered to help with the check-in admin - a big Thank You to her for taking care of it!  We were soon joined by Larry, who had driven down from Fayetteville, AR.  With his help (Thank you, Larry!), we had the shooting bay set up in short order and were ready to go as others began arriving.  Our shooters ranged in age from 9 to 68, with shooting skills from beginner to skilled.  After the morning briefings and The First Strike (Great job, Jayhawker!), we went through the skills needed to start down the road to becoming marksmen.  After a Redcoat and some drills on squares, we took a lunch break and listened to The Second Strike.  After lunch we did some more drills on squares and practice AQT's.  After hearing The Third Strike, we were ready to shoot some AQT's. 
Charlotte, Emma & Matthew (aged 9, 11 & 12) were very attentive throughout the day and must have listened carefully to the safety rules as they had no safety issues throughout the day!  And they shot good, too!  Thank you Andy (a previous Appleseeder), for bringing your children and helping on the line!  I'm always honored to have young shooters at these events as they are the future of our country.  Looking forward to seeing you all at future events!  Did I mention we had skilled shooters?  Mindy (think about that orange hat!), Kevin, Doug & Morris all posted Rifleman scores on Saturday!  Doug posted a 235 out of the gate!  All were returning Appleseeders and obviously, retained the knowledge gained from previous events.  Morris, who was down from Kansas, shot in the high 220's (both days) and broke 230 using a bolt action rifle.  Great job, Morris!  It was a pleasure getting to know you!  We ended Saturday tired & sore, but in a good way!  We said goodbye to Andy and his family and to Larry as they had other commitments on Sunday.  Thank you again for coming!
Sunday started out overcast but cleared up by the afternoon.  We began the day by reviewing what had been learned on Saturday and shooting a Redcoat and a few squares to ready ourselves for the AQT's.  Wow!  Everyone did great!  Mindy, Kevin, Doug & Morris repeated what they started on Saturday and were joined by Tommy who posted in the 220's.  Kevin was shooting a vintage (circa 1940's) Mossberg military training rifle (bolt action and iron sights) and posted scores in the 220's - Impressive!  Doug, who posted in the mid to high 220's took a break during the afternoon to fly his drone downrange (out of the line of fire!) to capture the action from a different point of view.  Looking forward to seeing those pics!.  With everyone settled in and shooting good, Jayhawker was able to take a break from instructing and shoot a few AQT's using a rifle equipped with iron sights.  In addition to being a great instructor, he displayed his Rifleman skills, shooting in the 230's with a high of a 239.  Great job, Jayhawker!  It's an honor to share the line with you.  Oh, and in addition, he provided custom made, limited edition chamber flags as we were going to be short the official AS versions.  Thanks for saving the day!  Paul came close but didn't quite shoot a qualifying score this weekend.  I have no doubt but that you'll be successful the next Appleseed (I think you and Mindy would both look great wearing orange hats, by the way!).  My favorite thing of the day?  Kevin asking specifically to hear the story of Samuel Whittemore during the DOM stories told at lunch!  Gotta love the history, right?   In all the excitement of the afternoon, it wasn't until after we had cleared the line and loaded up that I realized I had forgotten to have everyone shoot the final Redcoat of the day.  Sorry about that!   
By the end of the weekend, healthy portions of History, Heritage & Marksmanship had been served.  I hope that everyone who came had a great time and learned something about us as a nation and as individuals.  Thank all of you - I am honored to have shared the line with you!  Huzzah!
I'd like to close with a big thank you to the MVSA Officers and Board of Directors who have opened their range to the Appleseed Program and have waived the normal range fees for our attendees.  Thank you for your support!
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Forgot to add image of Jayhawker's custom, special limited edition chamber flags.  Thanks again for keeping us safe!

[Jayhawker]

IAO

Huzzah!

[Tennessee Beast]

Way to Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome!   

Edit: I didn't see the IAO comment from Jayhawker.