What happens when you mix 30 women from all over the country with a wide range of ages and varying skills with handguns and concealed carry? A whole lot of laughter, learning, and lessons—and new friends for life.
The Nashville Armory hosted the range sessions during the SIG Rose Retreat. Photo by Jodi Stemler
|
This past week, SIG SAUER hosted the first ever Rose Retreat at the JW Marriott in Nashville, Tennessee, and clearly the mix they put together was a recipe for success. The Rose is SIG’s offering that includes everything a woman needs to start on her handgun journey, or to continue on that path as she develops more skills and confidence.
The collaboration between 8-time world champion shooter Lena Miculek and SIG was launched earlier this year with almost immediate accolades from women across the country. The package includes a SIG P365 in either XL (9 mm) or .380 caliber with a Vaultek lockbox, magazines, magazine loader, dummy rounds, and access to training curated by Lena. The brand is rapidly evolving to include concealed carry gear from Crossbreed holsters, Arrowhead apparel, and a growing list of Rose branded items.
In addition to the product offerings, Rose has already become a rapidly growing community of women who are supporting each other no matter where they are on their own firearms journey. During the Rose Retreat, there were women (like Lena and Paige Roux) who were literally born into the firearms industry with vast skill and experience. There were also complete beginners, victims of abuse and violence, and women like me who may have a connection to firearms or the industry but haven’t yet crossed the comfort level to be confident in concealed carry.
Most of us started the three-day event knowing no one else, or maybe having a couple friends or acquaintances in the group. We left with new friends and contacts that everyone intends to maintain.
But it wasn’t just bonding time, we had direct training by Lena and SIG’s outstanding training crew led by former law enforcement agent Hana Bilodeau. Newbies learned proper techniques at the range as well as how to break down and clean their gun, while experienced shooters and instructors polished their skills and found new ways to teach women how to shoot.
I’ve done several women-only hunting events in the past and every time I attend something like this, I realize that there is a band of women out there that may have different life experiences or skill levels, but we all find common ground in our love of hunting and shooting. An event like this is reinvigorating and inspirational, and that is just what SIG has in mind as they hope to replicate the Rose Retreat and widen the tent for this growing community of women shooters.
One stone thrown in the water causes ripples to extend far wider than the original point of impact, moving farther and enveloping others in the wake. Events like the Rose Retreat present a perfect example of this as we carry the experience and knowledge to those in our own realm of connections.
In a future article I’ll be breaking down more details about the Rose, the Rose Retreat, and some of the individuals that I was blessed to meet. But right now I have to clean up from the range and put on my fancy dress, because I have a formal dinner to go to with my new band of sisters!
-– Jodi Stemler
In addition to being an award-winning outdoor writer and communicator, Jodi Stemler heads her own consulting firm specializing in conservation policy and communications projects. Her clients include the Boone and Crockett Club, the Mule Deer Foundation, the Wildlife Management Institute, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Safari Club International, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and many more.