*** Colorado /Rocky Mountain IBC - March 27-28, 2021 ***

[Captain]

The Colorado/Rocky Mountain IBC will be held on Saturday, March 27 and Sunday, March 28, 2021 (with an optional/maybe  kickoff on Friday, March 26th)

Senior Instructor Colonial Shooter will be driving down from Wyoming to conduct the class, so let's fill the seats and make this event awesome!

**********************  LOCATION  ****************************
Conveniently, we have an Appleseed Volunteer who lives central to most of our Colorado Cadre and his family has given their OKAY to hold this event at the house near Larkspur, CO.  (yes, it's me) Seriously though, this is a central location and should make it easy for us all to attend. It should also be a more stable venue regarding the ever-changing COVID situation.

Captain's House
Address available on Colorado Instructors forum or on request!

Our record number of attendees at an IBC is only 10 (including staff!). I hope we can blow that number out of the water and make me regret volunteering to have the event at the house!

*****************  WHO SHOULD COME? ***********************

Anyone who wears any color Project Appleseed hat is invited to attend. Also, anyone who might be interested in wearing one of those coveted hats is also welcome to attend, but please PM myself or Colonial Shooter to discuss 

Attendance is strongly encouraged. Colorado's only had two Boot Camps in our Appleseed history, so this is a chance to up your game before the 2021 season. The current situation in the world foretells increased demand and need for the Appleseed message of Liberty. Also, if money, transportation or an angry spouse might get in the way of your attendance, let us know and let's see if we can work it out.

Our volunteers cover a huge geographical area in the Rocky Mountain West and we're a large group!  This is your single, best opportunity to reconnect or meet for the first time a large portion of the Colorado/Rocky Mountain cadre and talk, share stories, and learn from each other.

BORDER RAIDERS WELCOME                            BORDER RAIDERS WELCOMEIf you're willing to get here, we'd love to have you!

**********************  SIGN UP  ****************************

Orange and Blue hats, please register via the Project Appleseed website here. Please include your forum name with your real name in the registration, so we can connect the dots!
Red and Green hats please register via TIPs

*********************  AGENDA  ****************************

Friday evening (optional)   - This is still a maybe. Some IBCs do some basic medical discussion on Friday - no certification will be given out, just basic stuff you may encounter at an event. We'll see if there's interest and who may be best to lead such a session. It will also give those who are coming in from out of town a chance to get settled.
Saturday - Official start! POIs  and safety breakouts all day!
Sunday - history, rifle familiarization, LibertySeeds, troubleshooting and KD. We will also discuss the State of the State (Region/State accomplishments and 2021 goals) at some point.

Times:
Someone will be here by 4 PM Friday if you should arrive early and Friday's program will go from approximately 6 to 8PM (attendance is optional). The rest of the weekend, we will start each morning at 8 AM and we will knock off around 5 PM on Saturday and 4 PM on Sunday.

Note: If you're arriving Saturday morning, please plan to arrive by 7:30 AM to get signed in.

**********************  LOGISTICS  ****************************

Meals:
Friday (optional) - dinner (simple stuff like cold cuts, chips and soda)
Saturday - breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Sunday - breakfast, lunch

Food, snacks, water and coffee will be provided, but feel free to bring your own if you have special dietary requirements. 

Cost: $35 for meals - payable at the door (you'll be refunded any unspent money).

Lodging:
Given the location, many folks may choose to drive back and forth from home. The location is about 30 minutes south of Denver and the same distance north of Colorado Springs. There are many hotels within about 25 minutes in either Castle Rock or in the North Gate area of Colorado Springs. Currently the most inexpensive is Days Inn of Castle Rock for $56 a night. If you choose to stay at a hotel, you might want to make a post in this thread to find someone to split the room. This would bring your cost down to a reasonable $28 a night. There's a year-round RV park in Larkspur 15 minutes from the house with hookups (Jellystone Park). Finally, you are also welcome to "camp out" at the house. By this I mean, bring a sleeping bag/cot/pad and set up on the floor in the basement or somewhere else in the house. There's lots of floor space available. Please let me know if you'd like to "camp"!

********************  WHAT'S AN IBC? **************************

An Appleseed IBC is an intensive two day session for volunteers to refine their instruction and develop the skills to have a greater impact on our mission. We want to equip you and give you the skills to make every event you attend more successful. The attitude at an IBC is helpful - everyone is coming out to help each of us improve our abilities. All volunteers will get plenty of hands-on instruction and mentoring, while building friendships and camaraderie.  You shouldn't have any fear/trepidation about attending - the purpose of the event is not to "test you" or put you on the spot.  Bring the skills you have, and be ready to learn. You WILL learn a lot, and have fun; even (ESPECIALLY!) if you're a newbie, or it's been a while since you've volunteered at an event. We Need YOU! You will learn more about "how" to instruct at an IBC than you can learn working a summer-full of Appleseed events.  IT IS WORTH YOUR TIME!!!

You can expect

Blue Hats - get to know the instructor corps, see what goes on "behind the scenes", learn how to help run a safe event, learn/practice the points of instruction and history in case you might want to change your hat color in the future.  We invite you to fully participate doing POIs, breakouts, troubleshooting - everything!

Orange Hats - this is a great way to boost your performance in 2021!  You'll have ample opportunities to practice and polish your points of instruction, safety, and history skills. Also, an IBC (in combination with your next regular Appleseed) may be used to move up the IIT ladder.

Red Hats - we need you!  Our ideal ratio is 1 Red Hat for every 2 Orange Hats.  Plus, this event will help to shake out the cobwebs that may have grown on your perishable skills.

Green Hats - You already know everything, right?  Great! If you're rusty? No problem. ALL Shoot Bosses should come out to this event.  This may be the only time we have such a large gathering of our cadre, and it's a great opportunity to make friends, build our team and relationships, and mentor each other.

There won't be any shooting, but there will be rifle familiarization depending on which rifles we can bring between all the participants - AR15, M1 Garand, M1A, AK, 10/22, 597 and 795, etc.

********************  PREPARATION? **************************

What should you bring? 
Well, in addition to your personal items for spending an overnight, please bring:
•   Just like our students, a teachable attitude is vital. 
•   Any teaching materials you normally bring to an AS
•   The instructor manual (let us know if you need a copy)
•   A notebook or pad of paper and pens/pencils
•   A dummy rifle, if you have one
•   Your copy of Paul Revere's Ride
•   A flash drive if you want electronic copies of our files
•   Some way to video yourself in the breakout sessions - this will be an eye-opener for you

Prepare and get the most from this weekend!

Blue Hats:
•   Read "Paul Revere's Ride"
•   Read the current Applecore Manual
•   Prepare for the AC1 RSO test, if you'd like to be certified to clear the line at Appleseed events
•   Make up a list of any questions you may have
•   Browse the current Instructor Manual, especially if you're planning to participate in the breakouts

Orange Hats:
•   Read "Paul Revere's Ride"
•   Read the current Instructor Manual
•   Read Fred's Guideposts
•   Try to commit as much of the "cheat sheet" to memory - line commands, safety rules, steady hold factors, etc.
•   Have at least a basic understanding of the strikes and DOMs

Red Hats:
•   Be ready to discuss all aspects of the history - prelims, strikes, DOMs, etc
•   Read the current Instructor Manual
•   You will be running/assisting in the breakout sessions. PMs with details will be forthcoming
•   You have no need for that cheat sheet, right?
•   Make sure your POIs are sharp

Green Hats:
•   Be ready to discuss all aspects of the history - prelims, strikes, DOMs, etc.
•   Read the current Instructor Manual
•   Read the current Shoot Boss Manual
•   You will likely be a squad leader for the breakouts - PMs with details will be forthcoming
•   ...I don't even need to mention the cheat sheet, right?

Again, there is no desire to put you on the spot, but the more preparation you do the greater benefit you will receive. There are three months until the IBC so let's get ready! Our mission is serious: the urgency of saving the country, and everyone's safety at our events.  That being said, these events are a lot of fun!

Please watch this thread for updates or to post questions (set this thread to "notify").  We'll see you all at the end of March!

[Captain]

Update (03-23-21): This is officially the second biggest Colorado IBC and we still have 6 weeks until "kickoff"! Honestly let's make this at least twice the size of the next biggest IBC (we'd need 20 total). With three events in April and 1 each in NM and WY, every single IIT in the region will have the chance to move up and be ready to get that red hat by the beginning of summer!

We had our first 7 people signed up in the first 24 hours! For a little background, according to the Pre-reg page on TIPs, we've had 2 previous IBCs in Colorado:

Year	Total	Red/Green	Orange/Blue
2021	16	7	9
2019	7	2	5
2014	10	3	7

But this is just the beginning! There are IBCs in other parts of the country that already have 16 and 22 people signed up! Time is short and our message has to get out - we have to grow. Do those states need liberty more than Colorado? more than the Rocky Mountain West? But maybe you're thinking, those other states have more people than here, right? NOT! The IBC in Wyoming last year had 16 Appleseeders! We already have Appleseeders coming from NM and WY for this IBC. Lets get every instructor in Colorado here to build up our program. And every instructor from our neighboring states and region! We can only defend our founding principles by increasing our effectiveness in winning hearts and minds! Plus - this will be a good time; super busy with lots of sharing and learning with great food and fun thrown in. We may also have some instructors who helped build the Colorado program in the beginning Oneshot_onehole and possibly Prone to Knit. These folks were SCs when we were seeing the most shooters on the line and having our maximum number of events.

Who will be there?

• Colonial Shooter (Senior Instructor and Shoot Boss)
• Sleepy
• Colorado Pete
• Captain
• Black Russian
• Ridge Walker
• Franktown_Kid
• Flux
• Bravhrt
• Cc45
• CodeFogey
• MileHiXJ
• Scoped It Out
• BoxMag1
• Captwa
• Digger13
• ??              Lets fill these slots! (yes there can be more )
• ??
• ??
• ??
• ??
• ??
• ??

This post will be updated as more people sign up. Be sure to set it to "notify" so you can get any updates. I would also invite you to post any questions or comments in this thread. How do you plan to prepare? What are your weak areas? What's the most important thing you hope to get from your IBC?

[Captain]

T-5 weeks

The more effort you put into preparing for the IBC, the more you're going to get out of it. The goal is to get you as close as possible to passing a Red Hat progress check . . . in two days! We're five weeks out and it's a great time to get started!

IBC Preparation -Gather Materials:

• Pauls Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer (kindle for $10 or used from Amazon for $6-8)
• Instructors Manual v8.2 - download from TIPS and print.
• Progress Checks - download the all the relevant PCs from TIPS. Over the next 5 weeks, try to fill these all out. Note the page reference where you found the answer. You'll eventually want to help out the next batch of IITs right? The most important is the Red Hat PC, it's relatively inclusive of the other skills and questions. If you are familiar with the questions and skills in that PC, you will have a great IBC!
• Teaching aides - print out anything you'd like to use while teaching. If you don't have anything yet, print out the flipcharts.
• Dummy rifle - start tracking down a rifle stock you can mount a sling to. Maybe you've been wanting to upgrade the stock on your own rifle and now you have the spare you need! Anyway, vet wrap on your laser pointer and you're ready to go.


• Shoot Bosses - download and print the Shoot Boss Manual

TIP: As you read Paul Revere's Ride, use a sheet of paper and make a note every time you read a name or number you'd like to remember correctly. For instance p320 - American casualties 50/39/5 (94). I rarely use many of the facts but only because I choose not to. (Also that's part of a question on the Red Hat PC)

[Digger13]

I signed up at the Appleseed website and sent an email but I'm not on the list yet. I'm looking forward to meeting new folks and seeing a few familiar faces.

Any word yet if the Friday evening portion is going to happen?

[Digger13]

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I am also interested in becoming an AC1 RSO (I'm a blue hat). Is there anything I should be studying?

[Captain]

Hey Digger13, you're signed up for the IBC - your name is on the check in sheet. The RSO/LSO duties are covered in Appendix F in the AppleCore Manual 2.1. You are also welcome to download the Instructor's Manual which has a little more detail. You are also welcome to participate in all the breakout sessions during the event just like the pistol IBC you were at. Thanks for the question!

[Digger13]

Thanks Captain. I'm looking forward to the IBC. Any decision yet on Friday evening's medical portion? Trying to firm up time for my trip down from Cheyenne. I know traffic on a Friday through Denver will really stink.

[TaosGlock]

Psssst, hey guys do you know who is showing up for this event?  
That famous Rifleman and Appleseed Instructor who literally wrote the book on Rifle Marksmanship.
Our very own Colorado Pete aka Peter Lessler. . I have worked with Colorado Pete so can attest to his tremendous
ability to convey his knowledge.
Pete has trained with Col. Cooper so he definitely knows the art of the rifle.
Maybe the SB can contact him and see if he can bring signed books for purchase. 

More here:
https://artoftherifleblog.com/book-review-gun-digest-shooters-guide-to-rifle-marksmanship-by-peter-lessler/2013/07/book-review-gun-digest-shooters-guide-to-rifle-marksmanship-by-peter-lessler.html

[Captain]

Hey TaosGlock! Yeah, we're pretty stoked that Colorado Pete is coming out. I had the chance to work an event with him in 2019 and he's looking to get active again. Also, thanks for the link with the information about the book! It'll be great for Appleseed and Colorado to have him out there leading the way and spreading liberty and rifle marksmanship once again.

Also coming off the inactive reserve is Scoped It Out. She's getting ready to hit the trail again and is on the list of Colorado instructors going up to help out at the Alliance NE Ladyseed this summer! We also have word from Prone to Knit that Oneshot_Onehole might be able to make the IBC.

For recent Colorado Appleseeders (like myself ) - some of these are the folks who were active a few years ago, including the previous SC, from when the state had some of it's biggest number of shooters and most events. It's going to be a great time for some Rocky Mountain camaraderie and to make all of us more effective Appleseeders and instructors!

[Captain]

Informational email went out to all IBC attendees. Below is a summary of responses for Friday dinner and for those staying on site. A "?" means I haven't heard back yet (let me know as soon as possible  )

	IBC Attendee	Dinner Friday	Staying Onsite
1	Colonial Shooter (SB)	Y	Fri/Sat
2	Sleepy	Y	-/-
3	Colorado Pete	N	-/-
4	Captain	Y	Fri/Sat
5	Black Russian	Y	-/-
6	Ridge Walker	Y	Fri/Sat
7	Franktown_Kid	N	-/-
8	Flux	Y	Fri only
9	Bravhrt	N	-/-
10	Cc45	Y	-/-
11	CodeFogey	Y	-/-
12	MileHiXJ	Y	-/-
13	Scoped It Out	Y	-/-
14	BoxMag1	Y	Fri/Sat
15	Captwa	Y	-/-
16	Digger13	Y	-/-

[hotairbill]

I am interested,do you still have room and floor space?  Thanks, Bill B

[colonial shooter]

Yes Bill there is room, just send Captain a PM to let him know. It is his house after all.

[Captain]

It looks like we're down to the final tally for the IBC as reflected in the rosters above. A couple folks had to cancel for the Junior Olympic Trials, a couple for health issues and a couple for ongoing COVID concerns for either themselves or family members. We have about five folks from out of state staying at the house and a pretty good showing for Friday. We're a week out from the event and I hope preparations are going well. If you have any questions or would like some help, please contact myself, the SB or someone else sporting a Red or Green hat.

Looking forward to next weekend!