Buford, Georgia Ladyseed AAR - February 20-21, 2016

[FabricatorsGal]

For this shoot, I was able to recruit female Instructors from 3 different states.  They came from Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.  As a result, my husband and I opened our home to the traveling folks.  Since they all arrived on Friday evening, I decided to have a dinner for all of the instructors, both the out-of-state ones and the local ones.  I figured it'd be a great way to get to know each other before working together.  It was such a delight I guarantee it'll be done again!

Saturday morning, we were hoping to check-in our sold-out crowd of 24 participants.  We had 4 no-shows and 1 walk-on.  All in all, we had a group of 21 eager ladies.  And it should be noted that 20 of those eager ladies basically had no previous rifle experience.  I started out with an introduction and a safety briefing.  Afterwards, we headed out to the range.  Once we got our 2 relays set-up, we let the ladies start out by shooting the Redcoat Target.  They weren't very successful; actually, 6 of them had no idea where their shots had gone!  While I took a tally, the men who helped us out put backers up for those who had no shots on paper.  We then moved into our instruction.  We had enough ladies that they gave all of the instruction.  We covered sling use and the prone position.  It was at that point we realized what a challenge teaching was going to be at an indoor range.  We had to talk loud enough to be heard over the air handler.  It was quite a challenge; we were all hoarse by the end of the weekend.  We also did the eye dominance drill upon returning to the Line.  I'm not exactly sure how many ladies ended up cross-eye dominant, but it was more than just a few.  It was yet another challenge.  We then proceeded to shoot our first square.  This was truly when we realized how little these ladies knew.  The 1st relay took nearly 10 minutes to get off their 5 shots each!  The 2nd relay was a little bit faster.  From here on out, we knew we would have to watch our time very carefully.  The Line Bosses did a fantastic job monitoring the time.  It was also at this point we knew we needed to utilize the 4 men present on the Line for one-on-one instruction.  They were well received by the ladies.  I'm so thankful they were there to help!  The last thing we did before lunch was teach and practice NPOA.  Talking Targets and IMC had to wait until after lunch.  By this point, though, almost everyone was on paper and beginning to tighten up their groups.  rambo granny gave us a highly detailed version of Strike 1; I wish I had recorded it!  T.J. 8 then told us Strike 2.  The ladies all stayed for lunch to hear the history; the Instructors didn't disappoint!  After lunch, we headed back out to continue our instruction.  We taught and practiced Talking Targets, IMC, Rifleman's Cadence, and Seated/Kneeling before we took a break for Strike 3.  Red Niva did a great job finishing up the story of April 19, 1775.  We returned to the range where we taught and practiced Standing.  At that point, we had to finish up for the day with a Redcoat Target.  We went from 7 people scoring on the Redcoat that morning to 13 people scoring! The Transitions and the AQT would have to wait until Sunday.  The improvement we saw over the course of the day was huge!  I closed us out with the story of Penelope Barker.  She overcame adversity and stood up to defend her freedom and her liberty.  She was just 1 woman who reached out to many and made a difference!  When the Instructors talked during the After Action Meeting, the highlight of the "Good" was the ladies' improvement over the course of the day.  The lowlight of the "Bad/Ugly" was having to instruct over the air handler.  I planned for all of the instruction the ladies received on Saturday to be reviewed in the classroom on Sunday.  I also planned on instructing the Transitions in the classroom, so they could be actually be heard.

Sunday morning, all of the ladies returned except for one who wasn't feeling well.  We were able to start exactly at 9:00.  I gave a short introduction before my husband, Fabricator, gave a very moving talk on freedom and liberty.  I wish I had recorded that as well.  It touched folks, even moving some of them to tears.  I think he really made them think about the importance of understanding what freedom and liberty are and that they must be defended.  Then the Instructors gave a very thorough review session.  It made me proud how well they all worked together!  I was also amazed at how much the participants had actually heard the day before!  I felt like we were starting out in a very good place.  We went out to the range mid-morning.  We started out with 12 people scoring on the Redcoat.  Then we worked on transitions before lunch.  We started out with some dry practice.  Then we went live.  The amount of time spent transitioning was ridiculously long, so we did a drill to help speed them up.  It only took one time for them to get shots off in under 18 seconds.  They responded so well to the exercise.  We then did some mag change drills before we broke for lunch.  During lunch, Fabricator did an abbreviated version of KD.  I don't think it'll be forgotten any time soon as he was making targets out of Ritz crackers for his demonstration.  The ladies then shared stories of gallant women and children who played very important roles in the Revolutionary War.  We returned once more to the range.  At this point, I believe most of the ladies chose to shoot a full AQT.  After checking their progress, I was convinced that another group of shooters had replaced the ones that had shown up on Saturday morning.  They had some great groups, especially on their standing stages.  They had gone from not being on paper to shooting AQT scores in the upper 100s!  I can't remember how many AQTs they did, but I think it was either 2 or 3.  Melissa, a returning Appleseeder, requalified with a 228.  She shot that with her centerfire rifle this time.  She also agreed to take a Blue Hat; we're hoping we can convince her to exchange it for an Orange Hat someday.  Welcome to the family Melissa!  The ladies who made it through the entire afternoon made us Instructors proud on the final Redcoat.  Of 13 shooters, 10 of them scored!  I closed us out with a short benediction.  I believe that we'll see many of those ladies again.  I've already had one contact me to get some of the information my husband shared on freedom and liberty.

So, it looked nothing like a "normal" Appleseed; but it was highly effective!  It was a great learning experience!  All of the Instructors and many of the participants would love to see another Ladyseed added to the Georgia schedule this year.  A special thank you to Dr. John for all of his guidance.  This was my final shoot as a SBIT.  And thank you to Gretchen, Red Niva, T.J. 8, rambo granny, 9mm4545, Wy Knott, franklinfarmer, and Fabricator.  Without y'all, this event wouldn't have been the success that it was!  And thank you to the Georgia Gun Club!  Just like always, they were very gracious hosts who went out of their way to allow another successful Appleseed event to occur!

[DrJohn]

Congratulations to the ladies who made this such a fine success, our wonderful instructors but most especially our gallant students, almost all of whom were far out of their comfort zone Saturday morning. But they persisted with admirable tenacity and by the end of the event, they had all turned into respectable shots. Most important, as FabricatorsGal mentioned, they heard about the steep price that was paid for our Liberty, by men as well as women and children, and came away with a fresh appreciation for just how precious the gift of Liberty is. Huzza and congratulations to all, and I hope most sincerely to see all of you again soon.

[Melissa5]

It was great to see girls and women of all ages coming out to learn history and rifle marksmanship (some for the first time).  The instructors certainly rose to the challenge and kept everything safe and fun for everyone.  You gals (and guys) did a super job!

Even though this was my 7th Appleseed, I still learned several new things.  I don't remember who talked about getting confused in the round count and how to recover by going to the last target on the right of the page and working backwards.  I needed to use that tip on the last stage of the AQT.  I also learned a new placement for my trigger finger elbow from the seated position and that really nailed down the stability that I needed.  Thank you all for your wonderful instruction.

I am looking forward to doing what I can as a blue hat and maybe as an orange in the future.   

[Doug Carlton]

Thank you to all the volunteer instructors and all the participants. I am grateful to each of you for your part in spreading Liberty.