Amarillo, TX December 3-4, 2022 - AAR

[GenX Minuteman]

    There is just something about the Texas Panhandle I love.  Maybe it is the brisk 30 mph breeze coupled with the distinct twinge of cow manure (which means $$$$$$$ to us Texans!).  Or, it could be the fact the Panhandle draws together a fair number of likeminded individuals who are all Freedom loving marksmen right out of the shoot!!!  I tell you what, Billy Dixon would be proud!!!  (if you don't know who the "Hero of Adobe Walls" is, please look him up - you will understand the reference afterwards).

    We had the pleasure to hold this event at the Amarillo Rifle and Pistol Club.  They were kind enough to allow use of their indoor range.  This certainly helped keep the cold Panhandle wind from ruining our shooter's enjoyment of the event.  We got all of our shooters setup on Saturday morning and proceeded with our normal series of activities.  The first "Red Coat" target of the weekend showed our shooters had some initial potential, yet not quite evident on the first target of the day.  We only had one student show proficiency past a 300 yrd skill level.

    Luckily, our IIT Josh was geared up to do some instructing and began providing them with bits of knowledge.  We worked our way through all of the key Points of Instruction and slowly started seeing improvements develop in our eager new Appleseeders.  We provided them with a few more solid blocks of instruction accompanied with a few demonstration exercises and the groundwork for a few future Riflemen had been laid down.

    We had been asking a lot from our shooters at this point regarding focus and activity, so we stopped right around the noon hour for a little bit of rest, food, and some history stories.  It certainly helps properly conveying the Appleseed history stories by not having to fight the Panhandle wind!!!!  I'm telling you what, an indoor range can certainly be a blessing!!!  This also helped during the discussion of Inches, Minutes and Clicks.  All our students could absorb the information in a much calmer, less challenging environment.  This isn't to say the concept and discussion wasn't challenging enough.  We worked through it and had our shooters now geared up to look at their own targets and see if they could properly adjust their sighting system.

    After completing a few "Sighter Squares" while adjusting scopes, something interesting started to happen.  Everyone's groups were looking OUTSTANDING!!!!!  Blake went from a large random fist sized group down to under 4 MOA, easily!!!!  She is only 11, and this is her first Appleseed event!!!!!  Our other young participants, Beckett and Eli's groups were all right in the black as well!!!



     Terrence provided us all with a demonstration of how well a Marine can shoot!  He decided to aim for the small Appleseed logo at the bottom of the "Sighter Squares" target instead of the black square.  He put three of the rounds directly in the middle!!!!!!  He was kind enough to let the 4th and 5th rounds wander up slightly thus giving Josh an excellent opportunity to discuss the topic of "Talking Targets"



    With everyone clearly dialed in regarding sighting systems and sharpened shooting ability, we through the challenge of Seated position at our now confident crew.  Everyone was somewhat dismayed by the larger group sizes, but understood it was to be expected.  Josh introduced the students to a few more challenges by adding "Movement" pressure and "Time" pressure into the equation.  After practicing this a few times our instructors reminded the students, "this is when you abandon your newfound fundamentals and employee your bad habits".  Just for good measure, we also threw in the confidence crushing lesson on Standing Position.  After a few rounds of practicing these new positions, our students were now on their way to facing the first AQT of the weekend.

      Before facing this challenge, we wanted to give our students a bit of motivation for the event.  Jon rounded the students together and told an amazing rendition of the "Second Strike of the Match".  This certainly got everyone excited and motivated to take a crack at an AQT!!!  We walked the students through each stage and gave coaching as needed.  After Stage 4 was finished, some impromptu scoring broke out, but I quickly suggested we address our second "Red Coat" target for the weekend so we could put Saturday in the history books.  Everyone agreed.  With only one day of instruction under their belts this student group improved to the point where 5 students (out of 12) were now proficient out to 300yrds.  Three students were also proficient out to 400 yrds and completely cleaned the "Red Coat" target.  Not a bad way to end a Saturday at an Appleseed event!!!!!

    Sunday morning started out by first handout everyone's scored targets from the previous evening's AQT.  Jeff, already a longtime Appleseed attendee and Rifleman, nailed an amazing score of 236 on his first target of the weekend.  While we didn't get any other Riflemen on that first AQT, there would be many chances on Sunday.  We fist had to reacquaint our students to the fundamentals once again by addressing the morning "Red Coat" target.  Sadly, there was some laps in skills as I'm sure sore muscles and unrefreshed memories had something to do with it.  This time around, there were only 3 students who were able to show proficiency at the 300 yard level.  No worries, we would break off the morning rust soon enough!!!!

    After sighting in the rifles for a bit, we verified all of the sighting systems were good to go!  We then jumped straight to an AQT!  The students were running through stages quickly and the instructors were jumping like fleas from body to body providing tidbits of knowledge and advice.  This seemed to help because Selden was able to knock out a Rifleman score of 213 on his first AQT of the morning!!!!  Way to go sir!!!! 



    Following Selden's footsteps, Mark was able to make Rifleman, with a score of 212, on the second AQT of the morning!!!!  Way to go Mark!!!



    At this point, the attending Marine decided he would swing for the fences, and he did indeed knock it out of the park with an awesome score of 224!!!!  Way to go Terrence!!!!



    A couple more AQTs and a few secondary exercises brought us to the lunch time portion of the day which gave the students a much-needed break and an opportunity to tell the final "Strike of the Match".  We all scarfed down our food quickly and had a good discussion about Liberty and what it means to guard the Freedom our forefathers fought so valiantly to pass down us today. 

    It was touching to have one of the younger students, Justin, come up afterwards and start talking about the Battle of Boston.  Justin basically told me, point for point, the story of how Benedict Arnold and the Green Mountain Boys captured the cannon from Fort Ticonderoga and used them to drive the British out of Boston!!!!!  Justin is only 12, but working on his PhD in History!!!  Thank you sir!!!  I was thoroughly impressed to say the least!!!!

    The afternoon still held some opportunity for improvement as student's scores kept increasing.  While the scores kept increasing, so did the need for people to leave earlier than expected.  Mark, Selden and Jeff had to tend to other things during the afternoon timeframe so our student count on the line dropped a bit.  I thanked them for their outstanding efforts and sincerely hoped to see them back on the Appleseed shooting line again (maybe to become future Orange Hats!). 

    We continued with AQTs as the students requested and reached a point where everyone needed something different.  We posted up a Red Coat Target for a bit of an old-fashioned "Bet on Your Skill Level" game.  5 shots at 5 target.  100 yrd target is 1 point, 200 yrd target is 2 points …  Morgan's Shingle is 5 points.  If you miss any target your score is zero!  Well, guess what, Dan was able to drop all 5 into the 400 yrd target earning him bragging rights for the adults with a score of 20!!!  Beckectt was a close behind him with a score of 18, putting him as the winner for the youth bracket.  Way to go gentlemen!

    At this point, Rob and Terrence had to leave the line and sprint back to the Land of Enchantment.  Rob quietly informed us they happen to work within an organization which "Cannot Be Named" but keeps our Nation safe.  I thanked them both for their dedication and attendance.  They repaid that kindness by asking "What as an Appleseed Instructor do you need most?".  I replied, "loaner slings for the students, I guess".  Wouldn't you know it, these guys went and took the slings off of their own rifles (and secondary rifles I'm pretty sure) and dropped them on the table along with ammo and Dorito chips for us Instructors to have!  Thank you both greatly!!!!!  We appreciate the unflinching, immediate show of support!!!!



    The younger students in the group kept begging for more opportunities at AQTs while the adults in the group realized they would surly runout of ammo before the younger crowd decided to stop.  We all came to a unified agreement AQT #9 for the weekend would be the last one.  Karen improved her score up into the 190s and Blake kept right up with her!!!  Way to go ladies!!!  Beckett kept pushing his scores up to an impressive 208 on the last AQT!

    We posted the final Red Coat target of the day and paid honor to our forefathers such as Dr. Joseph Warren, Samuel Adams and John Hancock.  While we had dropped significantly in student ranks, our improvement ratio was outstanding.  Out of 6 students shooting the Red Coat target, 4 were proficient all the way out to 400 yrds, and 4 hit Morgan's Shingle!!!!  I was ecstatic to see this, and so were the students!

    The excitement clearly boiled over to the point where they goaded me into posting one more AQT!  I conceded and let them have one more shot at it as the clock was winding down to the evening hours.  At this point, there were only the three youths, (Eli, Beckett and Blake) and one adult, Dan, shooting.  I told them all to separate out on the line and to bring the energy level down by a factor of 100!  I told them to get serious and focus on the fundamentals as hard as they could.  When we ran through that AQT you could hear a pin drop!  Everyone was on task and laser focused!!!

    Guess what, we got another Rifleman!!!!!!!!!  Beckett took advantage of the opportunity and put together an outstanding 219 score!!!  Way to go sir!!!!  We all knew you could do it!



    And to top it off, his sister Blake was able to get her highest score of the day with an impressive 205!!!!  This is still jaw dropping for me!  At the beginning of the weekend, she had a softball size group which kept moving around the target.  By the end of the weekend, she had a better group in the Standing position than most new shooters have in the Prone position!!!!

    One thing is for certain - they certainly have their family well protected with two expert shooters such as Blake and Beckett around!

    This was one roller-coaster of an Appleseed weekend, for sure.  I am still trying to calm down from the excitement.  I can only hope our students feel the same way and plan to come back to an event sometime soon.  If Amarillo Rifle and Pistol Club are willing to have us back again, I hope to see all of you there to master your new skill set!

    A special "Thank You" needs to be said for Josh, Colin, and Jon for helping to Instruct at this event.  They did an excellent job of staying right there alongside all of the shooters and helping where needed.  Also a big "Thank you" needs to be said for Kathryn and Scott for their help hosting us at the range (and some expert coaching as well)!
Thank you again for making this an amazing event!

Chad Stovell - GenX Minuteman

[GenX Minuteman]

[GenX Minuteman]