People who have not been to an Appleseed often ask me what's up with the "orange hat" or "taking the orange hat" comments that we make.
Here's the answer, we use colored hats to tell participants who is in charge and what their level of training is:
Orange Hats:
Orange hats are Instructors In Training (IIT's). They are people who run the line, check safety, call the commands and generally do the full grunt work of the events. With rare exception, these are men, women, and some teens, who have achieved a rifleman score and have taken on the work of the program. "Taking on the orange hat" simply means stepping up to a ton of work and training. A ton. They even get to go off for weekend or week long instructor boot camps.* Not everyone is asked if they will take on the orange hat, and not everyone who is asked accepts.
Red Hats:
Ret hats are full instructors and master instructors. They are people who have run many events as orange hats, gone through countless hours of training, and been tested by master instructors for their knowledge of shooting, history and other matters.
Red hats oversee the shoots and help keep the orange hats running the show smoothly. They are the guys who know it all and have seen just about everything. Keep in mind, some of these guys are personally running 20-25 shoots a year!
The Green Hat:
The green hat is the "shoot boss". When there are several red hats at a shoot the green hat is worn to be clear who is in charge. Even an advanced Orange hat could wear the green, but usually it is a red hat who does.
So that is it. The mystery of the hats solved.
Hope that clarifies,
techres
* Instructor Boot Camps will be covered in another thread I will post soon as an AAR! With Pics!
Here's the answer, we use colored hats to tell participants who is in charge and what their level of training is:
Orange Hats:
Orange hats are Instructors In Training (IIT's). They are people who run the line, check safety, call the commands and generally do the full grunt work of the events. With rare exception, these are men, women, and some teens, who have achieved a rifleman score and have taken on the work of the program. "Taking on the orange hat" simply means stepping up to a ton of work and training. A ton. They even get to go off for weekend or week long instructor boot camps.* Not everyone is asked if they will take on the orange hat, and not everyone who is asked accepts.
Red Hats:
Ret hats are full instructors and master instructors. They are people who have run many events as orange hats, gone through countless hours of training, and been tested by master instructors for their knowledge of shooting, history and other matters.
Red hats oversee the shoots and help keep the orange hats running the show smoothly. They are the guys who know it all and have seen just about everything. Keep in mind, some of these guys are personally running 20-25 shoots a year!
The Green Hat:
The green hat is the "shoot boss". When there are several red hats at a shoot the green hat is worn to be clear who is in charge. Even an advanced Orange hat could wear the green, but usually it is a red hat who does.
So that is it. The mystery of the hats solved.
Hope that clarifies,
techres
* Instructor Boot Camps will be covered in another thread I will post soon as an AAR! With Pics!
No Pressure here 
