Melrose, Florida Ladyseed - March 12-13, 2016

[FabricatorsGal]

It was a gorgeous weekend for a Ladyseed in central Florida!

Many of us traveled from Georgia down to Florida on Friday.  We all began the weekend together with an instructor dinner at a local seafood restaurant on Friday night.  As always, it was an awesome evening of good food and conversation.  It set the mood for the next morning!

We had 15 ladies pre-registered; when the dust settled, we had 12 ladies on the Line for the Saturday morning Redcoat.  Many of them had been at the 1st Florida Ladyseed back in September; it was like a reunion!  Of the 12 shooters, we only had (4) 100-yard shooters; we obviously had our work cut out for us!  We went over the Loop Sling and the Prone Position.  After that, we had the ladies do the Eye Dominance drill.  As it turns out, many of them were cross-eye dominant.  We got the tape out and had them shoot their first squares of the day.  We then moved on to the 6 Steps of Firing the Shot.  Before the ladies shot their next squares, the instructors went down the line to check rifle fit.  We altered many rifles to make them fit better.  After taking care of the eye dominance issues and the rifle fit issues, we were truly able to work on shrinking their groups.  We covered NPOA and Talking Targets before we broke for lunch.  Rambo Granny gave her incredible version of Strike 1, and Red Niva did a great job presenting Strike 2.  When shooting resumed, we covered IMC, Rifleman's Cadence, Seated/Kneeling, Standing, and the Transition to Seated/Kneeling before the ladies shot the Saturday afternoon Redcoat.  They showed us on it just how much they had improved!  Of the 10 of them who participated, 8 of them were either 100, 200, 300, or 400 yard shooters!  Strike 3 was given in the midst of all that shooting.  Minutemom presented it for the first time, and as expected, she did an amazing job in telling the story!

There was a strong chance of rain on Sunday.  Most of the instructors had been praying that it'd hold off.  Our prayers worked!  On an overcast morning, 9mm4545 treated us to a moving talk on freedom and liberty.  We then completed our review before rifles were uncased.  We started off with another Redcoat; the 10 ladies present continued to show us what they could now do.  9 of them were either 100, 200, 300, or 400 yard shooters.  They then did some practice with the Transition to Prone and with mag changes.  We broke for lunch before moving into an AQT.  At lunch, the ladies heard the stories of Sybil Ludington, Molly Pitcher, David Lamson/Mother Batherick, Elizabeth Zane, Prudence Cummings Wright, and Hezekiah Wyman.  And Penelope Barker was talked about during the Saturday Benediction.  9mm4545 did a great introduction to KD!  He followed in Fabricator's footsteps by using a cookie as a target!  Sunday afternoon began with an AQT (finally!).  After the first one, we had the ladies team up to shoot the center out of a flower.  Team 1 obliterated the center of their target!  It was then time to shoot AQT #2.  It was apparent that some drills would be needed to improve the ladies' performances.  So, we had them team up again for the Redcoat Challenge.  We incorporated a mag change drill into the competition.  Team 1 ended up scoring 6 points, and Team 2 ended up scoring 48 points.  They were the clear winners.  They also did some "1st Shot" drills.  We had to do something to help them get their 1st shots off in less than 30 seconds!  After seeing some improvement, they shot AQT #3 before shooting the Sunday afternoon Redcoat.  On the final Redcoat, every lady there was either a 100, 200, 300, or 400 yard shooter!  And half of them shot the Shingle Shot!  Our weekend had been a success!

In the end, we had 4 ladies step up and take Blue Hats!  Welcome Marilyn, Andreya, Evelyn, and Sarah!  And we had one lady requalify.  Jean, who is a part of our Adaptive Appleseed program, scored a 215.  She earned the honors of shooting a M1Garand!  And yes, we'll be posting pictures of her proud moment!  And Andreya also stepped up to shoot it too!  What an amazing way to end an event!  Those ladies were all fired up when they departed!

I'd like to thank Smoakingun and his wife for opening up their personal range for Ladyseed events.  And thank you for providing accommodations for those of us who traveled for the events.  Your home was comfortable and inviting, and the meals you provided were out of this world!  I can't wait to come back in the fall!

And thank you to all of the wonderful instructors who made this a successful event!  Thank you Rambo Granny, Red Niva, Minutemom, Wy Knott, Gretchen, mecreos, Cable_Guy, smoakingun, 9mm4545, and anyone else I may have forgotten!  I couldn't have done this, my first shoot as a shoot boss, without y'all!

Hopefully, I can post my pictures in the next few days.  I know there were many photographers present; hopefully, they can post some right away!

[Cable___Guy]

Speaking for the men , thank you for letting us help in this great event.
I will try and post a few of the pics I took

[Cable___Guy]

PIcs

[Cable___Guy]

2

[Cable___Guy]

3

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4

[Cable___Guy]

Sorry Marilyn Caught you napping.

[FabricatorsGal]

Cable_Guy,

You posted the picture of the guys "hard at work", but y'all were truly helpful!  You helped us out with one-on-one instruction, equipment malfunctions, and other tasks out on the Line.  You also cooked wonderful food that kept our bellies full.  We sure did appreciate our guys!  Thanks!

FabricatorsGal

[Minutemom]

Another awesome Ladyseed in north Florida.  What an impressive group of women, both participants and instructors!!

Every shooter had an incredibly teachable attitude, which makes instructing such a joy.  One thing I really love about Ladyseeds is how fast the ladies become comfortable with each other and almost immediate friendships are formed.  It was so wonderful to see so many familiar faces on the line, and also to meet the first time Appleseeders.  I sincerely hope to see every one of you on the line again.  Congratulations to Jean for requalifying - clearly you you are a woman who knows very well what she is about .  And thank you Mary for correcting our Southern pronunciation of Concord and Pitcairn.  I will always remember Con-kerd, NOT Con-cord  .  I just know that you would have been out rabble rousing with Hancock, Adams, and Revere had you been around on the night of April 18th 1775.

Thank you to Glenn and Christie for hosting and feeding us.  Your hospitality and generosity is so incredibly heartwarming.  And a big thanks to all of our men instructors who made sure our event ran smoothly, and cooked for us!

And finally, thank you so much to my sister instructors.  The Georgia ladies are so incredibly amazing - I have enjoyed immensely the time I have spent with you and have learned so much from you.  Megan, you are an amazing shoot boss, and thanks to you the shoot was an incredible success!  And of course, Rambo Granny, my mentor, inspiration, and dear friend, you continue to inspire me and encourage me to reach higher. 

Marilyn, Evelyn, Andreya, and Sarah, thank you for stepping up and taking a blue hat.  Welcome to the Appleseed family!!!!!!

Can't wait to see you all again at the next shoot.

[Wy Knott]

I would like to thank all of the shooters and instructors for making this a truly enjoyable event with an especial thanks to the Smoak family for their generous hospitality.
There are are few more pleasant ways to spend one's weekend than with a group of patriots such as yourselves. 

Anna

[minnesotarabit]

What an absolutely awesome event, weekend, and especially Sunday! There is little I can add -  thank you to the men for the taking care of us, and the ladies for being such incredible, patience, compassionate instructors. Megan - Wow! I did not realize it was your first SB. You did an incredible job, and your balance and energy reaches to reverent. And yes, funny you all mentioned that we were so quickly bonded. Not too many ladies I can relate to - and the first thing I told archangel762 was how it was like having a family and how supportive everyone was of each other, kind. That is not common what so ever in today's world. Red Niva and Wy Nott - Gretchen, you have two absolutely phenomenal young ladies there. Well spoken, polite, educated, totally pulled together, honorable. Wow! And since I am a 9mm4545 and Rambo Granny "groupie" (I think there are lots of us…) - thank you for all the moral support and patience getting me this far in a year. Overcoming is part of the tradition. I will get there!

Smoak and Christie, thanks so much for your hospitality. Archangel762 is super jealous of your range . Perhaps I will get him to drag along at the fall shoot.

And cable_guy, I was doing rifleman's cadence….breathing that is….

Looking forward to the new family and a group of people WHO GET IT!!

Hugs to you all!

[Minutemom]

We are so happy to have you on board, minnesotarabit!  It is great to spend a weekend with other people who get it, as you said!  We need to get more people on the line, so they can get it too!!!!!

[B.C.]

Good times! Welcome new blue hats and thanks to Smoak for being the host with the most! Enjoy some pictures below:
Until next time my friends........Chris

[B.C.]

A few more..........

[Minutemom]

Thanks for the pics cable guy and mecreos!!  Great!

[Green Dragons]

Well, I finally got around to logging onto the forum.  I guess that means I plan on sticking around for a while.  I mean, who else would bring the doughnuts?
I am looking forward to seeing the new Blue hats at GTR in Gainesville on May 28 & 29!.  Maybe I can figure out how to sign up myself by then.  Anyone know if I need a setting in my profile for my blue hat??  Thanks in advance if that is the hiccup.

[9mm4545]

Welcome! Looking forward to seeing you in steamy Gainesville this weekend. There is a bit of paperwork that we need to fill out to "officially" recognize you as a Blue Hat. Once I submit the request for promotion you will gain access to the restricted parts of the RWVA forum and that includes the part where you can sign up to work shoots. You will also find the manual for Applecorps and lots of useful FAQ's. I don't think you need to do anything with your forum profile--yet.

[FabricatorsGal]

Thanks Bruce!  I'm not sure which one of you ladies is Green Dragons, but I'm sure glad you're ready to complete your paperwork!  I know us instructors are ready to welcome you to the family! 

FabricatorsGal