Midland, TX - Oct. 16-17, 2021 AAR

Tejas · October 18, 2021, 04:18:15 PM

What a great weekend in Midland, TX - the first Appleseed shoot in this region in over 5 years. We had an good mixture of minutemen, regular militia, and alarm listers - 16 shooters ranging in age from 14 to "I'm not gonna ask". Seven top-notch instructors, including some that drove as much as 300 miles to be here. Our shoot boss fought off the fatigue that goes with a difficult night, truly rose to the occasion, and started the day with the First Strike. From there we moved to the range, and after warming up with a Hits Count Target jumped into instruction.

This was an outstanding group of students. Attentive, eager to learn, and sociable; with experience levels varying from new to seasoned shooters. Teaching and coaching a group like this is a true pleasure. Just a few of the high points:

Two first-time Appleseeders earning Rifleman patches, one with a bolt action rifle!
A riflewoman doggedly persisting through multiple events, determined to go home with that patch, and succeeding!
That riflewoman's husband, already a rifleman and just as determined to keep learning and growing, earning a Distinguished patch with iron sights (using a borrowed rifle).
An orange hat coming back off a long lay-off, requalifying and earning a Distinguished patch in between doing a great job coaching and instructing,
Two new orange hats!
And to really top it off, Project Appleseed in Midland was the lead story on the CBS7 news Sunday night! See the story here: https://www.cbs7.com/2021/10/18/project-appleseed-returns-midland-after-six-years/

The marksmanship related high points are what makes coaching and teaching a pleasure, but the real joy for the instructors was the look in these student eyes as we told the stories that make Appleseed such a special program.

Midland is back!