Flash report: Kemmerer Boot Camp

[risky buisness]

Boot camp is alive and well in Kemmerer! 1st day; 8:00 Am, after the safety breifing, Red coats for the gauge of where we are at. One hopefull did not leave a mark on the target, others breezed thru them in grand style. Already not 10:00 one rifle bites the dust, another is critically ill,  but in the true Appleseed tradition we adapted and overcame, and broke out some spares.
Slings krapped, out magazines unwound and sights went south, all to be remedied in good order. This was before noon, shortly thereafter reality took in when the wind (a slight breeze actually) took up and moved some of the shooters cars sideways in the parking area, much speculation was floating as to how much hold off would have been nessasary to engage targets at 500,it was decided that 5-6 feet was suffucient and the standing targets were then engaged much to the delight of all present, while we waited for the dust to clear to actually see the targets we mostly agreed that the heavyier rifles were beter suited to the conditions and still fired the course with what ever we had, 1 M1A, coupla Garands, several Liberty Trainers, and a bolt gun.
After 'The Guys" stirring historical account of April 19 th and a well deserved lunch we attacked again and overcame more obstacles, whiped redcoats, and hit our first QDAQT with 1 team member doing a 214 with several others in hot persuit. For all you poor folks who did not get here for this --shame shame shame, what a total immersion in shooting, friendship and history this is. I am frankly amazed at the volume of information and the chance to have personel attention to insure my success in this venture, oh the shooter who didnt hit the paper earlier was doing 2moa later in the day. The Guy asked me to pass on this tidbit " I am still very satisfied with the level of marksmanship and commitment from people in the west" he further adds " Koolaid, get your California --- out here" , hey I'm just the messenger. Well I have to go to work now so after were done tommorow I will add more to this---Risky

[Fred]

     OK, risky, good to know there's still some wind in WY, even if it was so gentle all it managed to do was move cars in the parking lot. (Note: NO smiley

     Ask The Guy if he showed you the "wind" modification of the standing position. (He may have slept thru that segment of instruction in his instructor's boot camp!

     BTW, can you or someone get some pics up, so we can admire the scenery? (If you have trouble loading them, email them to me at freds@centernet.net and I'll get them up.)

[colonial shooter]

I see that The Guy steals all the thunder (well deserved I may add) Risky forgets to mention the rest of the staff present. Colonial Shooter (only there or the day ,due tothe new job) is replaced at he leaves by what the wind blew in from the south lands of the Peoples Republic of Kommiefornia Bob 210 strolls in and the wind seems to stop. Good crop should come out of this BC, should have been more attendees, maybe next year.

[Fred]

    Yes, CS, it is true that there are certain stars who overshadow the rest of us...

     It's a burden for the rest of us, to always be in that shadow.

     But if you've been around The Guy as much as I have, you know it's inevitable.

     It sure is a good thing we have that rule about checking our egoes at the door, or Guy would really be hard to handle.

     Glad you could make it to the BC, if only for one day. Bet you're glad, too.

     Thanks for making the effort.

     Even if you needed extra sunscreen because of The Guy's radiance! I usually have to use SPF 45 instead of 30...

[Fred]

     PS: CS, almost let you get by with it...

     But, man, we need to know what is going on out in Wyoming. (!)

     Who's there, how many, what they are doing, how they are shooting, etc.

     You were there a whole day. Let's hear the real stuff.

     Is risky buisness really the "worlds fastest single shot M1 Garand operator"?

     I mean, we want to know.

     So, fess up, and let's have the scoop.

     And we don't want it next week, or next month, we want it (insert soonest time here).

[colonial shooter]

You are right Fred. But working under TG, Makes me remember why this is so important to me and the reason I want to pass it on. He almost made me get that little twinge that I get when I hear you tell the History of the "Day" almost. He definatly had the students attention. This group already knows the meaning of persevere. The only female in the group yesterday shot with my LTR that was about two inches too long, fought with it all day but still seemed to shrink her groups by over half by the end of the day. NOTE she had only shot shotguns before attending day 1.

[colonial shooter]

As for the numbers , one female shooter, four males( okay 3.5 , as Risky is there from 3:15 til close starting today). When I left Sunday night at 8:00, TG and bob210 and one other were camping, The rest went to town for a soft bed and hot shower. FYI RB did shoot his Garand well at the Redcoats but moved to his LTR for the remainder of the day. Every shooter had shown improvement using the Redcoats as a judge.

[risky buisness]

Update this flash report!!!!!!   Colonial shooter, I did not omit your most appreciated presence or Bob 210 on purpose simply put I was going to further advance the story this evening, well the secret is out, we actually have (and had) the most dedicated rifle instructors in the buisness, for all you other dedicated instructors dont feel too bad, we will at some time get to meet you as well but for now these guys are the best.
  Today brought more drills more coaching more history and 2 more Riflemen one shooting a 227. Improvment if measured by the redcoats is dramatic, full distance for tommorow, yep Fred, the wind is still blowing 20-25 mph gusts at times and we still had 2 more Riflemen in spite of it, raining when I left well after dark, so tommorow we will be wet cold and we will still be Riflemen , maybe like some other Riflemen in April, in New England 1775.
As for the worlds fastest M1 garand operator that is a title I will retain however a new op rod put me out of contention to challenge my own record.
As we fire on our targets we some times see other persons who have rifles showup to shoot at an adjacent range, they peek around corners and appear as if they want to draw near but dont, perhaps they are awed, perhaps they dont understand, perhaps they just dont believe that they could do what we do, but in time we will get them ready to try.

[risky buisness]

One more item as a side note, The Guy , politically correct person that he is, allowed that one shooter who had fired on another guys target would be made to have a pink ribbon on his area if it happened again had NO reply when the shooter told him that " you can spread peanut butter on my butt and wrap me in a pink tutu as long as I keep shooting groups like that"

[kool aid]

Tell The Guy that I am workin' on it.

And tell him to call a WAAHmbulance if he misses me so much.

And for goodness sake did he bring his own rifle this time?

[Fred]

    rb, I was with you, reading your report, enjoying it, nodding in agreement - 20-25 mph gusts? - gosh, it's lucky they are having such a calm spell out in WY for their BC, is what I was thinkin'.

     But then you had to go a step too far, push the envelop too much, and mention rain.

     Sorry. There we part company. Rain in WY?         

     No way.

     I've been there at least a half dozen times, and it was dry as a bone each time. Don't try to fool an "old Wyoming hand" like Fred. ()

     Heck, I'm so spoiled by Wyoming, that when I go there, I won't even pick up a rifle unless the wind is a steady 20-25 with gusts up to 40!

     Any thing less? Well, it's just not Wyoming. Not the Wyoming Experience. (Yeah, Fred's a snob about things. )

     Those scared, hesitant 'girls' who'd like to come over and see what's happening? Why not suggest to Guy that (if possible) they be invited over to fire whatever the next course of fire is - maybe we can recruit some more for your next AS/BC. Heck, I'd ask them if they'd like to stay and shoot with the BC for a few hours... Plant seeds whenever and wherever you can, right?

     Glad as heck to see all the improvement in rifleman skills. Makes the instructors feel good to see that kind of improvement.

     Keep it up, and gradually switch to the notion of not only learning those skills, but, once you have them, passing them on to others. EVERY LAST PERSON IN WYOMING should know how to shoot a rifle.

     And the only way we get to that goal is to teach EVERY LAST PERSON IN WYOMING.

     With this RBC, we come a little closer to that goal.

     You, rb, are to be greatly thanked for providing this opportunity. A real stepping-up-to-the-plate action on your part. And the new riflemen of Wyoming should line up to thank you (and prob will, some day!)

     Keep those reports coming, rb. Love readin'em!

[risky buisness]

More happenings In Kemmerer!!
  Evening everybody, well it's another day down, AQTs, red coats no problem. Were fine tuning positions and critiquing every one here for exclence and preformance, running the line quoting the 6 steps, the safety commands and pushing The Guys formidable store of knolowdge to head off possible trouble areas, Its getting make or break now as Fred kindly sent the "Red Hat" box to Wyoming and we all want it bad I mean BAD, this is the most amazing experience Iv'e ever had, you cant lay in the dirt with 6 or 8 guys for a week shooting  and not come away thinking that golf is not the ultimate bonding experience. As for the wind: light breeze only 20 mph gusts, didnt rain much Fred so your vision of Wyoming is still in tact, As for the lookie lou fellas
we thoughtfully extended our club trap shooting season so as to give the Boot Camp max exposure to the other not so informed people, I left them to the Guys capable hands and will continue to report the news. Full range targets are for in the morning, KRAP, I am still working all day and shooting in the afternoon so when I get there the guys are ON and ready so there is a lot of challenge for me to keep up, so I make Guy repeat a lot of stuff,  he occasionally does, mostly he asks a shooter to tell me or show me and then (gasp) expects results, fine tunes and grins, this is cool. I think we need a new drill Fred, Start with an open flagged action, safety engaged, prone, at the command grasp rifle, pry a 4 inch piece of sage brush and an antelope turd out of the action and load, what do ya think?

[Fred]

I think we need a new drill Fred, Start with an open flagged action, safety engaged, prone, at the command grasp rifle, pry a 4 inch piece of sage brush and an antelope turd out of the action and load, what do ya think?

     Would prob be an excellent drill for WY, but of limited usefulness in most of the other states...

     Now for a complaint, risky.

     Being on this site, you know we can be pretty 'rubber meets the road' centered.

     Here's the complaint, in simple and easy to understand English, with no shimmying around:

     Your reports are too short.

     Let me make that clear: TOO SHORT!

     That one paragraph was great, but I'd like to see two MORE (three more is fine, as is four... ) but let's shoot for two more.

      To give you ''more" to report, when you get there at 3 PM, ask people what happened earlier and jot it down, so you'll remember to include it here.

     For example, if Guy ends every day with a red coat target, let us hear the good with the bad. There should be constant improvement in people's shooting from day-to-day, but at the end of a long hard day, sometimes it doesn't show.

     Let your fellow BC-ers know that what they do is being reported each and every day, so they'll not want to 'mess up' and get mentioned in your report. That works, too.

     Also, a lot of us (I specifically did not mention "Fred") will want to know what Guy was wearing that day...

     You know, National Equirer stuff like that. Keep it informative, keep it gossipy, keep it humorous...

     And keep it at least three paragraphs (no cheating, either - three paras each the size of the latest one you posted).

     This is our first Wyoming Boot Camp. Our first Boot Camp West of the Mississippi.

     You're writing History.

     

[risky buisness]

"Boot camp is more fun than kicking little chickens in the ditch", this quote from a shooter who finally got up wind of most of the participants and shot well proabably because his eyes cleared sufficiently to see the targets. Wed is definatly shower nite, so armed with a map of Kemmerer, off the offending bootcampers go to the rec center for a close encounter of the wet kind hopefully to erase the 27 lbs of dirt blown on to us today at the full distance AQT, now we all know Fred is a sensitive kind of  guy regarding wind, as I thought about this fact one item became clear, he's never been to Western Wyo ! Ah now I understand, the slight breezes east of here are only tempting us to put on 2 right and  squezze the shot, here in the real Wyoming, we  put on 5 and hold  on the right shoulder side, like today for instance as the Guy casually remarked to us as we lay in the dust at the foot of the hill holding the distant targets " looks like you guys got about 15 min before it starts raining , prep time is over!" peering over the sights I wondered Aw hell Il'e just hold right--- yep 5 shots all 14 inches left, you guys can do the math on that, any how we got some first rate wind doping skill, with 1 guy shooting a 213 and several others very close to the magic number. 4 days ago we proabably couldnt have. One guy swears that he will shoot rifleman with his SKS, getting pretty close too, a little better day he will, when you can see a guy go from 3 inch at 25 to shooting a 70 plus in a class 1 gale at 400 you got to know that the program, the instructors and the message is top shelf. Regarding  my request for a new drill I better mention how that came to be, after shooting yesterday and finding my Garand pretty clogged I thought I might clean it well you guessed it under the clip guide was indeed an antelope turd and a piece of brush, gee must have blown in there when the coat I had over it blew off. So guys theres a new bootcamp saying,"got to looking and you will never guess what I found in my rifle"
  The sucess we've had here is great our one lady shooter, no rifle experience at all, went from not hitting the paper to 150 or so and wer'e not done yet. As for my self I have a tough challenge, having to work then go to shoot and absorb all I can in the limited time avaliable when the other fellas  and lady are getting the whole meal deal keeps me humping, but so what, it's a challenge and if your reading this your proably up for a challenge too, get to a boot camp, hell put one on, at the minimum go Appleseeding, oh yea there is one in Kemmerer this weekend, with some new instructors too.

[Grin Reaper]

Here's the complaint, in simple and easy to understand English, with no shimmying around:

     Your reports are too short.

     Let me make that clear: TOO SHORT!

You need to post pics!

Fixed that for ya.

[kool aid]

TOO SHORT AND

NEED PIX!

[Fred]

     Nice report, risky - even if still a little too short for my taste, it made up for it in interest.

    To hear that Appleseeders are mastering the wind at long ranges - well, I told you you were gonna be writing History - and I was right (as usual, everyone agrees...).

     And Grin is right - now we need pics.

     So rustle up some pics, and we'll leave you alone for awhile...

     And, yes, say "Hi" to Guy!

[Paul Shanks]

How many folks are attending?  sounds like fun

[risky buisness]

Krap!!!!!!!!!! I had just finished a 4 (honest Fred) paragraph report, I went to post and saw a Warning about a new post while I was typing and my post at least as long as war and peace went away, whats up??? Ack!! its way late and I cant do that again,

[risky buisness]

Paul there are 6 of us, and your right it's fun, way fun, you need to go, really.

[Fred]

...saw a Warning about a new post while I was typing and my post at least as long as war and peace went away, whats up??? Ack!! its way late and I cant do that again,

    Sure, risky - and next you'll be telling us your dog ate it, right?

[Atlas Shrug]

Krap!!!!!!!!!! I had just finished a 4 (honest Fred) paragraph report, I went to post and saw a Warning about a new post while I was typing and my post at least as long as war and peace went away, whats up??? Ack!! its way late and I cant do that again,

Easy fix.

When this happens, use the "go back one page" button on your browser.  Keep doing it until you get to the window where you entered the text.  (At this point, I copy all of the text to another place just in case - usually an email window or text file.)   Then hit the "post" button and it should work.  If not, then use the browser "reload" button.  If that fails, go back to the thread, start a new reply, and copy the data you saved in the email or text file.

Some combination of the above should work.

[Muddogg]

I always copy the document before I post if it's a long one or I spent a lot of time writing it(Just in case, you gotta be prepared! )

[Scout]

We are waiting........and we need the whole three paragraphs now.

[colonial shooter]

The Guy must be still flogging them for no report to be in by 9:20pm MT. I guess we'll just have to wait for the AAR....

[risky buisness]

hey now guys, I just got here, a little paitence, I will be busy typing for a bit

[Nickle]

Hey, where are the pics?

[The Guy]

This is too amusing to keep here, so I'm moving it to the AAR place..... after I add to it that is!

I must say, I have missed Wyoming.

Already.

Gosh, wide open spaces, they think 15 drops in less than 5 minutes is rain, wind to propell the Mayflower overland, mulies on the range, lord only knows what in the shotgun shells, town closes at 1900 SHARP, and they kept on trying to tie me down to stay.

Gosh.

It was with a heavy heart that I left, but duty calls.

There are other Appleseeds, other Bootcamps, other women, but what do they all have in common?

They all need a dose of The Guy.   ( LOL)

And best of all, after seeing the Instructors break away from my controll, and soar on their own, I know that I have left a team of Quality Instructors behind me.

So I can travel on to the next hopeless batch, whip them into shape over the course of a week, and make them Men Among Men as well.

Thanks for making the trip worth it!

Guy

ps, your turn to churn out some more Riflemen!