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Marksmanship is family trait Father and two sons win honors on U.S. Army's elite pistol teams By PAUL FATTIG CENTRAL POINT -- Jim Rose could drive a nail at 50 paces when he was a member of the elite Army Marksmanship Unit Service Pistol Team. But Rose, 53, who spent four years on the team before retiring from the Army as a sergeant first class in 1989, doesn't claim to be the best shot in the family. Jim Rose His sons, Spec. 4 Thomas Rose, 22, and Staff Sgt. David Rose, 30, are now members of the squad based at Fort Benning, Ga. "While I may have had a talent for shooting, Thomas has a gift," Jim Rose said. "He's much better than I ever was." In fact, Spec. 4 Rose, a 1995 graduate of Crater High School, won the Forces Command Trophy as the Army's top pistol shooter this past summer. He and his brother, who made the team despite having been shooting competitively for less than a year, were among the top guns featured on the cover of the October issue of the Army's Soldiers magazine. The team outshot more than 700 top competitors to win the coveted National Trophy Team Match at the National Pistol Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio, in July. "They're both very good," their father said of his sons. Indeed, with roughly half a million soldiers in the U.S. Army, earning a spot on the 14-member team is no easy mission. The competitors shoot three different caliber pistols, including .22, .45 and 9 mm. They fire 270 rounds at a target the size of a silver dollar placed half a football field away. The maximum score at each competition is 2,700 points. Jim Rose shot 2,599 his last year. Son David, in his first year, topped 2,500 points and Thomas has shot above 2,600. The older shooter joined the Army six years ago; the younger two years ago. Although the senior Rose served as a sniper instructor at one point, he was a military policeman throughout much of his 20-year hitch. His sons are also military policemen. "Both of them are squared away," their father said, using a military term meaning a soldier does his or her job well. Jim Rose has been mulling over what makes a straight shooter. "Thomas and David and I have things in common," he said. "All of us did gymnastics. We seem to have good coordination and balance. And we all three played a musical instrument." Jim Rose plays the clarinet, though he cautiones he is no Benny Goodman. David plays the piano while Thomas plays the guitar, drums and piano. Like playing a musical instrument well, the key to accurate pistol shooting is getting the fundamentals down, he said. "Whenever you start having problems, you go back to the fundamentals and find out what you are doing wrong," he said. "Over a period of time, shooters learn how to correct that." "I remember a match at the all-Army championships," he said of a match he won. "I was under a lot of pressure. But when I'm under pressure, I tighten up my shot group." His two sons also perform best under pressure, he said. "A lot of guys when they are out there practicing can shoot the X right out of the X-ring," he said. "But you put them in a match, and they fold up. "Shooting is 10 percent physical and 90 percent mental," he added. And it doesn't hurt if your family tree is a Rose. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA