Thursday, September 29, 2011

To Hell and Back

I spent the last weekend with Robert.  Time that I cherish.  And we did have fun as well. We "worked" at the BB Gun Range at Northern Illinois Hunting and Fishing Days.  Robert does really well with the young kids teaching the 4 Rules and helping them with cocking, aiming and shooting the Daisy Red Rider's we use.  It's a lot of fun introducing new shooters (mostly kids and moms, as most Dads are too cool to shoot BB Guns.)  We have simple knock down targets, film canisters on string and everyone's favorite the bell-hop bell.  A challenge to hit, but gives a satisfying "DING" when you hit it, and everyone on the line knows when you do.   Everyone gets to watch a 3 minute video and then about 5 minutes of actual shooting.  Yes, as many BB's as you can safely fire.

The best part comes later.  The guys that run the range go to Knob Creek each year.  And they have a simple rule.  If you work the BB gun range, they take you to Knob Creek for the the Machine Gun Shoot. So each year we have several teenagers of family and friends that also work the range.  All really good kids, and fun to be around.  The prospect of shooting machine guns has Robert captivated.  He gets it that "things" are earned.

We  got home we had a couple of hours before he was  due to go back to his mom's.   He's liking WWII movies, so I've picked up a couple of the "9 WWII movies for $4.99" out the bins at Wal-Mart, I also scored a 16 pack of John Wayne movies to include McClintock!   So grab one of the CD's and it has To Hell and Back - Audie Murphy.  Wikipedia for some back story and then pop in the movie.  Yeah, somewhat cheesey.  You can tell that Audie was somewhat uncomfortable playing himself and wanted it as a tribute to those friends killed during the war.   Robert was just in awe.

Those are the lessons I want to teach.  That is what I want to pass on.

4 comments:

  1. Long live the story of Audie Murphy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. "and everyone's favorite the bell-hop bell."

    So excellent! I need to find a few of these somewhere.

    It sounds like you have already passed on the skill of teaching - which is also observation and listening. Robert will do well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Noah had to write a report for Engligh Honors last year and he chose To Hell and Back. Then we rented the movie. Noah's also into WWII stories/movies/books (Hmmm, I was too at his age).

    I wish my guys weren't so involved in other school activities that suck up their weekends. I'd love to bring them and work the line with you guys and learn the basics.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Can't ask for any better... Hang in there Sir!

    ReplyDelete