Over the weekend of Feb. 26 – 27, Five Dogs Shooting Range played host to a shooting clinic with a deeper message than just hitting targets.

Project Appleseed is a program of the Revolutionary War Veterans Association with the goal of increasing awareness of how ordinary citizens using basic shooting skills played important roles in securing our nation’s freedom in the Revolutionary War.

“We are an American heritage organization and we teach the traditions of the American rifleman from the beginnings of our country starting on April 19, 1775,” said Cameron Loessberg Jr., the shoot boss for the event. “We teach how our forefathers went out that day to fight tyranny.”The two-day program also included instruction basic rifle handling. “We have a rifle marksmanship program where we teach rifle marksmanship to all walks of life,” said Loessberg. “We have people from 7 or 8 years old all the way up to 80 that come out to these.”

The rifle instruction is geared so that people who have never before shot a rifle can become proficient in basic rifle marksmanship. “We start at the beginning,” said Loessberg. “The first thing we start off with is safety. Safety is priority one.”

At the end of the instruction, attendees are given the opportunity to show what they have learned by shooting an Army qualifications test. “We teach all of the positions, standing, kneeling and prone,” Loessberg said. “And we shoot under the same time constraints they did back then.” People who pass the test are given a special patch.

Local resident Eric Wolfe attended the event with his two children. “It’s a chance to study about American heritage and the skills that brought the country to where it is today,” he said. “To learn the proper use of those skills is just great.”

The marksmanship training was mixed with educational teachings about the tactics and techniques used by Revolutionary War riflemen and demonstrations of the equipment they used.

“Ronald Regan once said ‘Our heritage is always just one generation away from extinction,'” Loessberg told the attendees during one demonstration. “If we fail to pass it down to our children, it’s gone forever.”

For more information on Project Appleseed events visit Web site at www.appleseedinfo.org.