Hogfamily Adventures, AKA: The hog blog: 2014

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Birchwood Recreation & Shooting Park Winterseed

On November 17th the Alaska Appleseed Project provided a one day Winterseed Marksmanship Clinic for Birchwood Range employees and EPM members.

Seven dedicated American Patriots braved the cool Alaska weather to learn the story of April 19, 1775 and improve their marksmanship skills.

Instructor introductions, safety briefing, and line commands started the day.

After the first Redcoat target we opened the "Firehose Of Appleseed Marksmanship Instruction".

Appleseed Events are regimented when it comes to teaching Marksmanship. The courses of fire have been thoroughly thought out, tested, and refined.

As I have mentioned in other Appleseed posts fisherdawg is an awesome story teller and innovative marksmanship instructor. When he is the Shoot Boss, aka Green Hat, he works very hard putting the program together and making sure all us instructors know what to expect and what we are to teach. His Points of Instruction, known as POI, are simple, easy to read, and follow.

I was a little surprised when fisherdawg introduced a new NPOA String of Fire drill that he invented.

"Really?..."

Pastor Jesse takes resting between shots seriously.

During lunch and the afternoon break "Three Strikes of the Match" was presented.

Then it was the "AQT grind".

After the final Redcoat target was shot and tallied it was time for the Winterseed Riflemen patches to be presented.

Four Patriotic Americans definitely know what they are about!

HUZZAH!

Birchwood Recreation & Shooting Park (link)

fisherdawg's After Action Report (link)

Revolutionary War Veterans Association Project Appleseed (link)

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Winterseed Marksmanship Clinic

On November 1st 20 fine American Patriots attended a one day Appleseed Winterseed Marksmanship clinic.

These fine American Patriots braved sub-freezing temperatures to learn who fired the "Shot Heard 'round the World", the events of April 19, 1775, and to improve their rifle marksmanship skills.

Neither cold nor darkness can deter our dedicated Alaskan Patriots.

George Hacker, (the instructor formerly known as Princ...er..."ShadowMan"), introduces the instructors for the day.

Pete briefs our shooters on Line Commands.

Mel our Shoot Boss in Training.

During the lunch break fisherdawg and Medicus present the first two Strikes of the Match.

Back on the line.

fisherdawg is an inspirational Appleseed story teller and excellent marksmanship instructor. Here he is demonstrating “Carding the Sights”.

Carding the sights is a way to help shooters ensure they actually have their Natural Point of Aim, (NPOA). While the shooter is aiming at the target the instructor places a card between the shooter’s eye and the rifle’s sights. If the shooter has his NPOA the sights will still be on the target when the card is removed.

Somehow fisherdawg may have missed that part of the instructor manual…

"Ok, Mr. I Don’t Need Glasses, read the first line…“F” yes…”I” um correct…“S” ok…"

"Alright, Hawk Eye, try the second line…“R” right… ”D” um right…”A” alrighty then…"

"Hehehe, Yup, Mr. Eagle eye, try the third line with the card out here…hehehe..."

So what kind of "card" was fisherdawg using?

Pete presents the Third Strike of the Match.

Our young patriots earn their Luther Blanchard Patch.

Luther was one of the first people wounded during the North Bridge skirmish. In A History of the Fight at Concord (1827), Ezra Ripley wrote:

"In a minute or two, the Americans being in quick motion, and within ten or fifteen rods of the bridge, a single gun was fired by a British soldier, which marked its way, passing under Col. [John] Robinson’s arm, slightly wounding the side of Luther Blanchard, a fifer in the Acton company. This gun was instantly followed by a volley, which killed Capt. [Isaac] Davis and Mr. [Abner] Hosmer, both of the same company.”