Flash Report, Harvard, MA, 4/19 Weekend

[Nickle]

Ah, what can I say?

A weekend working an Appleseed with Fred, and some of the Northeast crew.

82 shooters, 4 Riflemen on Saturday, with plenty more possible for Sunday.

Had 1 Rifleman already commit to becoming an IIT as well.

Big Instructor crew, Crak (the Shoot Boss), Fred, Nickle, Northbridgewater, Anders, Lprgcfrank, CetmemanNH, Ninso, JJ-22, and Crak's 2 brothers.

We needed them all, as we had 4 packed lines. Lots of frugal New England folks there, so also LOTS of .22's, especially LTR's.

Fred, Blueskys and I did get to make a pilgrimage to the North Bridge Friday, and we're going to Lexington Green in the morning, 5:30 in the morning, along with Northbridgewater and Anders.

I'll let Crak cover the rest from here.

[lprgcfrank]

For those that twitter - photo's are posted under the hashtag #appleseed

Here's a photo of the 4 new Riflemen

[GrendelKhan]

The 2nd from left (with the beard) is me.  I had a great time and learned a lot.  BIG thanks to everyone involved! 

[lprgcfrank]

Here are photo's of 5 new riflemen and the Instructor staff.

It took me 5 hours to get from Harvard MA to Valley Forge PA. 
The news of Lexington and Concord took 5 days to get to Valley Forge and Philadelphia - quite a difference in 234 years.  Our forefathers that forged this country were truly amazing people!

[Rockrivr1]

I'm the third guy from the left on the Saturday pic.  It was a great time and I learned a lot.  Thanks to all the staff who put this shoot on.  Great group of people.  I unfortunately couldn't make it Sunday due to a work issue, but I'm looking forward to helping out at the next shoot as an IIT.   

[SavageShootr]

CONGRATULATIONS to ALL of the new Riflemen!! Welcome aboard all of the New IIT's.

Crak and all the rest of the crew, great job of Instructing out there.

Impressive showing in MA. Congratulations to all who showed up. 

Thanks for the reports and the pictures.

~SS

[crak]

Blah blah nice weather blah blah blah 87 shooters blah blah 7 riflemen on my range blah blah 6(?) on the other three ranges. This was the 2nd biggest Appleseed in the country this weekend and it was definitely something special, but I'm fairly certain I have my first grey hairs now. There's no way any of this would have worked had I not had such an amazing crew.. ten strong, and many called up at the last minute!

Hope everybody shot as much as they were hoping for on Sunday. I think we put more rounds in the 300 yard berm than it gets during the rest of the year.

Rich and Andrew kept the big line safe like champs.

Frank took a new shooter from 0 to Rifleman in about 4 hours.

Fred did the running target that I hadn't thought about in years. That's definitely going into my Sunday afternoon bag-o-tricks.

I don't know what went on on on Nickle or Dave's line, so they'll have to do the update for themselves.

Russ gave me the best kind of deja vu when we were piling materials into his truck , yet the brass was already cleaned up! There's a statute of limitations that has to expire before I tell anyone the rest of that story. Hopefully by next year I will have figured out how to have a good Patriot's Day Monday.

Ivan, sorry I didn't think of the barrel flex.

Nicole wouldn't let me look at her 206 target because she didn't believe in the .30 cal rule. Maybe she was just trying to delay the inevitable instructor pitch... (More on that in another post)

Troy, glad to see you finally get your patch. I look forward to seeing you showing others how to do it.

Looks like there's a bull market for minis again. Sweet. I'll get something official scheduled at the next meeting but until then some Riflemen seem to have seen what needed to be done and done it, organizing one at Harvard and another at Braintree before I could even get back to a computer to type this up.

And just so we don't forget how much water our part of the ship has taken on, Fred almost jumped out of his shoes when he saw some woman with a UN flag at the Concord parade on Monday. In other news, redcoats don't really appreciate the "Headshots on redcoat targets!" portion of the flyers we hand them (oops), and Ranger Dave at Hartwell Tavern "knows what he's about" in addition to recognizing our shirts as soon as we walked in. Part of my job now (the more I hang around Fred, the more jobs I seem to get) is to get a partnership going with the Rangers of Minuteman National Park, and if half of them are anything like Dave, this could be huge.

[northbridgewater]

Dave's line had a lot of newer shooters.  While none of them made rifleman, over 1/3 are knocking on the door and all made great progress.  Another great weekend hanging around with Americans, with being on Lexington Green at sunrise on 4/19 an added bonus.  We have some nice pictures of the North bridge but need help in posting them.  Anyone out there who can walk us through this? 

[northbridgewater]

Here are some pictures of the North Bridge on 4/19 during morning ceremonies.  I love the smell of blackpowder in the morning!

[northbridgewater]

The blackpowder shot

[GunnerJim]

Just an FYI for you MA folks. I attended the Appleseed at Stinson, WV and I'd have much rather been with y'all (that's southern for yuse guys!). My reasoning is simple LCOL Smith and MAJ Pitcairn had a local Tory guide on their hike to Concord, his name was Thomas Beaman and he was my Great Great Great Great Great Uncle. On the other side of the ledger were my Great Great Great Great Grandfather Joseph Beaman, a SGT in John Prescott's Co. of the Lancaster Militia and my Great Great Great Grandfather Joseph Beaman Jr, a PVT in Joseph White's Co. of the Lancaster Militia. Also in Prescott's co. were my 1st Cousins CPL John Wilder, PVT David Robins (KIA at Bunker Hill). In White's Co. was my 3rd Cousin, PVT William Phelps.

God Bless these men, and others like them, who had the intestinal fortitude to take on the British Empire.

[dwarven1]

Oh, GunnerJim, we have GOT to get you up here some time! Come up a day early for one of our shoots and we'll take you round to MinuteMan National Park.

[crak]

Jim, we're having one for Bunker Hill day.  Come on down!   

[GunnerJim]

Crak,
You're in MA. I'm in WV. That would mean I'd be coming up, not down!!

Any of you gents familiar with a Boston lawyer and former State Legislator named Paul Haley or a contractor named John Tartaglione, owner of JMS Partners, Inc, in Hopkinton?

LT Paul "Catman" Haley and LT John "Guido" Tartaglione were both F-14 Tomcat Pilots in Fighter Squadron 142 when I was a CWO4 and the squadron weapons officer. As a matter of fact, Guido was my "boss".

As far as Bunker Hill Day, I'd like to, but I'm having joint replacement surgery next week, minor outpatient surgey on 18 May and have promised my wife 3 days in Nashville, too.

[crak]

Crak,
You're in MA. I'm in WV. That would mean I'd be coming up, not down!!

Well, considering the state of things around here, a descent would be just as good a name for what you'd be doing as any.

Good luck on the surgery.  Hopefully it doesn't slow you down on your road to becoming an instructor!