Shoot Boss!

This past weekend, I completed the requirements to become a Project Appleseed shoot boss. (A shoot boss is an Appleseed Instructor who is also authorized to do the administrative and organizational work to independently plan, organize, and run an Appleseed shoot).

Due to all the intervening life circumstances, it took me much longer than I had originally anticipated to earn the shoot boss green hat. But it was worth it, as we need more shoot bosses and instructors. I have been an instructor for a few years, and have seen enough Appleseed shoots to have a pretty good idea of how they should be run. But being an instructor at someone else's event is one thing - planning and running your own event is a whole different kettle of fish.

First there are the administrative requirements. You have to pick a date and secure the use of a rifle range (already done for me in this case). You have to get instructors and advertise/recruit shooters to attend. And you have to write a course of instruction (COI) that drives the minute-to-minute events of the weekend.

Project Appleseed has very specific requirements for what is taught during a shoot, and strict standards for how it is taught and run, especially the safety standards. And there are broad guidelines for how it is organized and put together into an event. But there is a lot of room for customization, to accommodate range conditions, shooter abilities, instructor availability, and shoot boss preferences. You have to work it all out and put it together so that the instructors know what they are assigned to teach and everyone knows what happens when.

In addition to this, there are a number of specific shoot boss responsibilities, including the initial welcome briefing, introduction to Project Appleseed, the pre-history, and the Call to Action or benediction at the end of each day.  

What we call the pre-history is an overview American Revolutionary history prior to April 18th, 1775 that helps to frame the weekend and place the events of 18-19 April in context. This can include the founding of the colonies and their charters, the French & Indian War, the various attempts to tax the colonies, the intolerable acts and the declaratory acts, the Boston Massacre, martial law, the powder raids, and anything else the shoot boss thinks will help to set the stage for this history of April 18th-19th, 1775 as told by instructors throughout the weekend during breaks in the shooting.

The Call to Action or Benediction is a summing up of what they learned, not just about rifle marksmanship but also about the real purpose of Project Appleseed - to reignite the spirit of the American Revolution, and to get people motivated to take action to regain and maintain control of their government and to protect our Liberty. This may include quotes from the Founding Fathers, personal anecdotes, or whatever the shoot boss thinks will be effective in reaching and motivating the participants.

One thing we do *not* do is discuss current politics. Our philosophy is that we are all Americans, and that our founders let us a unique form of government in which power is the hands of the people, not an elite or aristocracy. Our intent is to motivate Americans to get involved in their communities and their government and work to ensure that they keep that power in their hands, not to advocate particular views on current political issues.

I think this banner captures the spirit of Project Appleseed nicely.

Like most shoot bosses in training (SBITs), I didn't write all this from scratch. I started with examples and notes from experienced shoot bosses, primarily my mentor in the process, and then made adjustments and customizations to that. This is an ongoing process, and the printed COI that I used for my SBIT-3 shoot this past weekend is covered with notes for the next shoot I plan.

In addition to this administrative work, the shoot boss is also responsible for ensuring that everything necessary to conduct the shoot is available and present on the range. As an instructor I had already assembled a couple of plastic tote boxes with range materials and instructional materials that I found useful to have on hand. But being responsible for everything involves a whole different level of preparation. I spent a lot of time before the shoot assembling the things I thought I would need, thinking about how to organize them for transportation and easy access at the range, and making some of the things I would need as well.

My supplies for running an Appleseed shoot.

Among other things, I made two dummy instructional rifles. Some version of these are always used to teach the various shooting positions, use of the sling, etc. so that students can gather around and see the demonstrator without us having to worry about keeping a real rifle pointed in a safe direction. But I had always used the ones that someone else had brought along - now I needed my own. I already had two wooden stocks from Ruger 10/22 rifles that I had bought in Michigan for this purpose before we moved to Idaho, but now it was time to assemble them into usable dummy instructional rifles. Some lengths of wooden dowel and miscellaneous hardware, sling studs and swivels, and GI web slings made them usable for teaching the shooting positions and use of the sling. A laser pointer on one of them makes it useful for demonstrating natural point of aim. 3D printed dummy triggers that use a toy "cricket" clicker (made and sold by another Appleseed instructor here in Idaho) make them useful to demonstrate trigger finger position and trigger control/reset. I was pretty happy with the results.

My dummy instructional rifles.

Another thing I put together was a flag line. Project Appleseed provides each new shoot boss with a set of a dozen American Revolutionary-era flags for display at Appleseed events. These have quite a visual impact when people first arrive at an Appleseed event, helping to set the tone of the weekend. If time permits, they also provide an opportunity to tell the history of each flag, further enriching the history presentations. I remember my very first Appleseed and being quite impressed by the experience of saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the Betsy Ross flag at the beginning of each day. My objective was to find a way to display these that would be quick and easy to set up and take down. I used a length of parachute cord and spring clips like you find in regular flagpole. We had to experiment a bit to find the best way to put them up and to take down and fold them, but I'm happy with this result as well.

My flag line at Fernan Rod & Gun Club, Bay #7.

Although there was certainly a lot of room for improvement, my SBIT-3 shoot was a success. I was too busy to take many photos (I'm sure as I get more experience I'll think about it more), but I did take one photo of a young shooter's first drill target on Sunday morning. This young lady (14) was having quite a hard time keeping up on Saturday (we teach a *lot* of new information), and was very frustrated and tired by the end of the first day. She had not been able to do very well at hitting the target consistently and was visibly upset. I even wondered if she'd come back on Sunday. She did come back on Sunday, and after our warm-up drill shooting a "Redcoat" target, she shot this as her first Appleseed Drill Target of the day:

A young shooter's first drill target on Sunday morning. Those are one inch squares at 25 meters.

Her improvement was so dramatic that I took a photo to show the other instructors. It was clear that she had paid attention to what we had taught, and that a good night's rest and careful application of the fundamentals were paying off in tangible results. The look on her smiling face when she saw her target is one of the things that makes volunteering for Project Appleseed worthwhile and rewarding for me as an instructor.

I don't know the name of the young lady in this old promotional poster, but we all call her "Rifle Girl".  I like look of calm self-confidence on her face (and I covet the furniture on her AR-15).

Growing Project Appleseed is a classic chicken-and-egg problem: To qualify as a shoot boss you first have to be an instructor, and in order to qualify as an instructor you first have to qualify as a Rifleman. These qualifications require participation in several Project Appleseed shooting events.

Without a shoot boss you can’t run an Appleseed event, and without Appleseed events you can’t develop a shoot boss. So this is at least a step in the right direction towards helping to grow the program.

My path to Shoot boss:

August 16th, 2015, Ramseur, North Carolina (Project Appleseed Home Range).  This is where it all started, both for the program and for me.  I finally achieved a Rifleman score at my third weekend event, and took the orange hat of an Instructor in Training.

September 18th, 2018, Kingston, Michigan.  Completed  the IIT process and earned the red hat of a full instructor.  Apparently we didn't take a photo of the presentation, so a selfie will have to do.

August 8th, 2021, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  Finally completed the SBIT process and earned the green hat of an Appleseed shoot boss.

Mood: Happy

Music: Bobby Horton, Take Your Gun and Go, John