EVENT: History and guns

Project Appleseed is not about growing apple trees.

Last weekend my granddaughter and I spent two wonderful days together sharing the history of the Revolutionary War and shooting at the Farragut Shooting Range.

This event was made possible by a group of volunteers who belong to the RWVA, Revolutionary War Veterans Association.

Like many others in this area, I had never heard of the RWVA, but I liked the idea of learning how to shoot.

So I asked my 12-year-old granddaughter if she would like to join me by participating in this event. She hopes to get her hunting license this year, and she wanted to learn how to shoot better before going to the field with a firearm.

I was a little apprehensive at first due to the number of .22 caliber rounds that would be fired, and the required positions we would shoot from: standing, kneeling, prone, with a transition through each position.

Disappointment and frustration is another factor that shooters need to deal with and she handled both better than I did. A grandfather’s concern for their grandchildren can be a little smothering at times, but my granddaughter’s enthusiasm alone was my greatest reward.

We both had a wonderful time on Saturday and Sunday, not only getting better at shooting, Natural Point of Aim, Sling Holds, Changing Magazines, Time Shooting, Breath Hold, and Trigger Squeeze, but learning about the history that gave us this opportunity to shoot and learn.

So who fired the first shot that caused the Revolutionary War to begin, British or Colonials, and where was it shot — Concord, or Lexington?

My granddaughter knows and she can hit center mass at an AQT target at 100 yards or one football field away, standing.

I am eager to hear when the next Project Appleseed will be conducted. My grandson is so jealous of his sister that he wants to go next time. My granddaughter and I also want to go again; she is eager to hit Morgan’s Shingle. Morgan’s Shingle is a 7-by-7 inch shingle at 250 yards that was used to qualify the colonial militia riflemen.

Project Appleseed is not only about learning how to shoot. Lectures by some very well informed gentlemen take you on a trip into the history of our nation, back to a time when strong people put everything on the line to give us the freedoms we have today.

MICHAEL SHOFFNER

SFC retired

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