AAR San Angelo, TX January 16-17, 2021

[GenX Minuteman]

    I am extremely happy to report the Appleseed event put on this past weekend in San Angelo, TX was a success!!!  We were blessed with wonderful weather, a dynamic group of instructors and a collection of shooters who were eager to learn.  We all shook off the West Texas chill on the first morning by starting out with introductions.  It was wonderful to see we had Texans coming to the event all the way from Corpus Christi as well as El Paso.  I was lucky enough to have a number of my good friends attending, one of whom traveled all the way from California to attend the event!  After our introductions and safety briefing we got started with the first shots of the day, Red Coat Target #1.  It was interesting to see we only had 3 individuals who were able to put three rounds in the 100 yrd target.  Of those three shooters, only 1 was able to also put three rounds in the 200 yrd and 300 yrd targets.  This was the extent of capability afforded by our fledgling group of shooters.
    We were extremely lucky to have Captain (Rob) all the way down from Colorado helping as an Instructor imparting his knowledge effectively to our green shooters.  Doubly lucky for our shooters, we also had White Paladin (Chris) providing Instructor level expert advice and comprehensive lessons.  Don'tFix1776 (Marshall) came to help and demonstrate his teaching skills as a dedicated and fast rising IIT.  KawGirl (Caryn) once again helped start the day off in the right direction by playing "The Star Spangled Banner" on her fife!!!!!  Thank you Caryn!!!!!  Caryn traveled from Florida to add her IIT skills and patient direction to our amazing list of helpers. 
    Our group of shooters worked through the usual teething issues regarding equipment, unusual body potions and general physical perceived limitations.  Little by little our cadre of expert Instructors was able to help each student make corrections to their form, help get sights aligned, tighten screws - whatever was necessary.  We were able to make it through our first day of instruction with tons of information pasted on to our students which culminated into an initial test of skill, the first AQT of the weekend.  All of the students were able to see what was in store for the following day - a challenge unlike they were expecting!  Sadly, no students were able to make Rifleman on our first AQT, but there would be many opportunities the next day.  The students did however show dramatic improvement from only one day of coaching, evident by their performance on the day's end Red Coat.  9 students now effective at the 100 yrd target, 5 at the 200 yrd target, 1 at the 300 yrd target.  We also had 3 students qualify as one of Morgan's Rifleman by hitting the 250 yrd shingle shot!  Quite the improvement from the day's first target!
  At the end of the day, we had one shooter who was rather dismayed by his performance and mention he would probably not be attending the next day.  Our ever encouraging Instructor, White Paladin (Chris), talked with him and provided a much needed overview of the shooter's true talent.  Chris made sure the student knew we would help him in any way possible, and the most important thing was to keep trying!  As the next morning dawned and students began to arrive, Chris's words of encouragement proved to take root as our unsure student returned for additional input and a shot at the AQT Grind!
    The shooters once again proved effective at the 100 yrd Red Coat showing 10 students were up to the challenge.  Only 2 were effective at 200 yrds and 2 got the shingle.  Luckily, this showed our student's had not forgotten all of the lessons taught the previous day.  And thus, we began with the process of the AQT Grind.  With various rifle swaps, re-sighting efforts and equipment issues resolved, our students were on their way to AQT #4 by the lunchtime hour.  Still no Rifleman at this point.  This all changed when my longtime friend Brandon Renner was able to put together a very respectable performance on a Rapid AQT resulting in a score of 218!!!!!  Way to go Brando!!!!!
    The temperature continuing to warm up must have loosened everyone's joints and ignited their drive to improve.  Transition times continued to decrease and scores began rising!  Michael Phillips, another of my longtime friends attending the event, crushed an AQT with a score of 222 using iron sights!!!!  Way to go Mike!!!  At this point improvements had plateaued and motivation was flagging.  We all agreed one more AQT would be a good way to end the day before the final Red Coat.  And wouldn't you know it, Hanes Segler, the student who thought about not coming back, proved his skill by ringing up a score of 215!!!!  Way to stick with it Hanes!!!
    The final Red Coat target of the event showed the level of improvement this group was able to obtain through only two days of instruction.  9 at 100 yrds, 5 at 200 yrds, 3 at 300 yrds, and 1 at 400 yrds!!!!  Add the fact that Brandon also got the shingle shot meant we had one student completely ace the Red Coat target!!!!!  Great to see a fitting end to a wonderful event with such great students!
    It was a true honor to be able to present our stories and marksmanship guidance to such a wonderful group of students!!!!  Thank you!!!!

Chad Stovell - GenX Minuteman

[KawGirl]

LOTS O' PICTS, PART 1  -  SAN ANGELO, TEXAS

[KawGirl]

LOTS O' PICTS, PART 2  -  SAN ANGELO, TEXAS

[KawGirl]

LOTS O' PICTS, PART 3 - SAN ANGELO, TEXAS

[KawGirl]

LOTS O' PICTS, PART 4 - SAN ANGELO, TEXAS +++ THE PATCHES +++

[Captain]

Another great event down in San Angelo with a lot of motivated shooters and instructors. The improvement by everyone was phenomenal and three folks getting their Rifleman score on Sunday was the icing on the cake. I look forward to either seeing everyone persist and continue their Rifleman journey or reading about those patches earned here on the forum.

[WhitePaladin]

Pictures from San Angelos.  (Edit: I don't know why they're on their side. It shows the correct orientation in my photo viewer)