Looking good so far, Bob... Now... sign up for another shoot and there will be an Orange Instructor In Training hat in your future!
I'd be absolutely thrilled to see that all four of my new Riflemen continue on their course - this is all part of the Plan To Save America.
I'd like to say that I think ALL of the shooters did a fantastic job - EVERY ONE OF THEM improved over the course of two days - some by an incredible margin. One shooter, here on NES, had a high score on Saturday of 125 on his AQT. On Sunday, he shot a 228, and if that weren't enough, he CLEANED the Redcoat target - he hit all 5 targets - THE ONLY ONE TO DO SO ALL WEEKEND. That is our own "Reptile"... and he tells me that when he came to Athol on Saturday morning, he didn't even know how to zero a rifle. He knows now, along with 17 other shooters, how to zero the rifle, the six steps to firing a shot, how to shoot standing, sitting or prone, the steady hold factors... and they all know the story of how our Revolution got kicked off.
The shooters braved temperatures down to NINE DEGREES (I have a picture of the outdoor thermometer!) and a snow-covered range (we're talking over a foot of snow, with a 2 inch thick crust of ice on top of it) to get off that couch, come out and start learning how to bail out the sinking ship that is our country. They learned to shoot better, and they learned the inspiring story of the Concord and Lexington... AND where the first shot in our Revolution was fired.* They did an awesome job.
18 shooters on Saturday, 13 on Sunday. FOUR new Riflemen... one of them FOURTEEN YEARS OLD. He drove up with his father from Putnam County, NY - about a THREE HOUR DRIVE (Are you listening, Milsurps4Me???). His brother and sister were signed up, too... and bailed. Bet little brother and little sister are, right about now, hearing young Jonathan talk about his weekend, and seeing his new Rifleman patch.
About 220 rounds shot on Saturday, 471 on Sunday - nearly SEVEN HUNDRED rounds put off.
These shooters are as fine a crew of Americans as you could hope to find, and it was my privilege, along with Firewall99, MrTwigg and Crak, to be their instructors. Far as I'm concerned, these 18 Americans have some serious bragging rights. And they have a job to do, too - they need to continue shooting and practicing, and they need to do step 7 - Recruit. They'll be getting their families, friends, and coworkers to come to an Appleseed. They'll be spreading the word, waking up all the sleeping Americans - the ones who've forgotten, if they ever learned, what price Isaac Davis, Robert Munroe, Jonas Parker, Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, Jr, Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, John Brown and Ashahel Porter paid.**
*No, it wasn't in Lexington OR Concord. If you want to know... we have several shoots all across the country coming up on Patriots' Day weekend, April 18th & 19th
**Don't know who they were? You should... and if you come to a shoot on Patriots' Day, you'll find out.