Out of 90 pre-regs, 56 shooters came and shot in "New England's cruel second winter" on Saturday, and 43 on Sunday. It wasn't really that cold or that wet out but I guess it looked like it might be. Heck, it was probably like a day at a Hawaiian resort for Cathy but one of the BOD members passing through shook his head laughing, "You guys and the weather." Sadly, this was enough to go from five bays down to four. Ten Riflemen were forged, and so many took orange hats and immediately began working (seven, I think) that I ran out of hats again.
Yes, I did float around the bays on Saturday poking my head into Jon, Ross and TOM's business. I got smarter Sunday and told Fred he should do all that running around. I half expected him to disappear to the Bloody Angle for the re-enactment but all reports indicate he stayed on the range cracking the whip. Can't wait for the instructors in the other bays to post about the stuff I didn't get to see.
When the only "Oh bleep!" moment is when the lunch truck thought it was a one day shoot, it's probably a pretty smooth Appleseed. Cindy and Alex: You are directly responsible for Rifleman Dan who, upon eating three of your peanut butter sandwiches, found the will... the resolve... the strength... to eat a fourth sandwich. And then went and got a 210. All of America thanks you!
Actually somebody on one of the other bays shot down one of our fence posts. That probably was an "Oh bleep!" moment too.
This being the Jacqui Welles memorial Appleseed, Fred had the excellent idea of calling her as the 15th name in the volley and putting an extra round down range for her. Since the New England Appleseed motto is "WE SHOOT MORE BETTER!" I was happy to oblige and called on the full might of the U.S. space program to get all our watches synchronized. What impressed me most about Jacqui Welles was putting down her rifle immediately after scoring The Score and helping the people around her. That's someone who really gets it. Kaisha, despite months suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous Ed, did the same exact thing, only pausing to tell Ed to go make her a sandwich. To those of you trapped in one-Rifleman relationships, there is Hope and maybe even Change around the corner... only an Appleseed away! In fact, I heard a story about a guy in CT who finally got to stop hearing "Mr. Caitlin" this weekend!
Kaisha wasn't the only rifleman to put down the rifle and help their fellow Americans immediately. Larry and Matt also spent almost all day Sunday instructing.
Most IITs at their first shoot are shy, hesitant speakers who have to work hard to come out of their shells. Todd doesn't have this problem. And boy can this guy work. He was the center of events from Friday to Sunday. And I'm real happy he's not stopping at making two more riflemen. (You're not stopping, right, Todd?) And all this while under the judgemental eye of Fred's car horn...
The coolest Appleseed family I've met got even bigger this weekend with Izzy, and I'll leave it to Larry to post about what a good team they made. Next appleseed this crew shows up at is not over until one of them makes Rifleman.
I wish I had enough time to write about every shooter in this Appleseed, but you'll all forgive me if I use up the rest of the shoot AAR on Ted. This guy rolled up in a wheelchair and spent Saturday finding the best ways to shoot out of it. Sunday, he decided that wouldn't be accurate enough and found the best way to shoot with his elbows on the ground. He would've toughed it out in that spot all day no matter what the weather. If his rifle and scope weren't finding new ways to break all the time, he would've been shooting way over 210. Ted: Get the scope settled in, work on dry firing with a good follow through, and we'll get her done in Leyden in a few weeks.
Before I send shooters to their last AQT I ask what we've been harping on them to fix lately to make sure they understand what they have to bring home with them to think about individually. I ask the Riflemen and instructors what the last thing they fixed was. Fred's was: "There's only two things all of you need to do. Relax and do what you're told!"
A number of our attendees (instructors and shooters, past and present) proceeded to hop on a bus to DC for the Second Amendment March without even stopping home. Hell yeah!
I somehow managed to wake up and make it to Lexington at dawn on Monday. Felt a little out of place with a watery eye in a crowd of inanely chattering teenagers, but that's what we're trying to change here, right? After the battle three guys came running from the street with WWF style signs:
"BOIL THE LOBSTAH"
"WHO WANTS TO BE A REGULAR? NOBODY!"
"CAPTAIN PARKER FOR MVP"
They came down the hill, yelling "Better luck next year, boys!"
We met another Appleseeder at the North Bridge from Texas who was one of the originals. This guy must've been tough, 'cause Fred didn't make any Texas jokes around him. Acton, Westford, and Sudbury, and Bedford (at least) march from their towns to the North Bridge for the parade. A Bedford Minuteman died that morning marching... his name was Neil Hill. We tried to catch up to the Middlesex County Volunteers so Fred could hit on CortJestir's wife, but they either heard he was coming or had another gig because not a single one was to be found at the end of the parade eating balogna sandwiches. Anybody up for marching in this parade with an RWVA banner and some M1A's next year?
Colonel Barrett's farm was open to the public for a rare open house during restoration. We checked out the muster room where the militia met, the kitchen (at least I guessed it was the kitchen) where Mrs. B cooked breakfast, and the attic where kegs of lead ball were missed by a rather triumphant looking grenadier if the photograph was correct... that breakfast must've really hit the spot.
The Concord Museum had Abner Hosmer's powder horn (still with the strap!), Amos Barrett's powder horn, Nathaniel Barrett's sword, Major Buttrick's pistols, Joseph Hosmer's furniture, one of the two signal lanterns from the Old North Church, and an original Paul Revere engraving of the Boston Massacre. Fred found some colonial ladies in Hartwell's tavern to sarge, but he needs a better pickup line than "Did you know Paul Revere was responsible for the deaths at Lexington?" Maybe KoolAid and HollywoodMarine can help him out with that...
All in all, no casualties except a fence post. 10 Riflemen, 7 IITs, going up and down Battle Road four times in 8 days with 13 different people... Not too shabby! Too bad we didn't have 30 more people to teach.