Texas Junior Rifle Team Brothers Earn Distinguished Badges In Rare Dual Achievement

Texas Distinguished Rifle shooters and the Texas Junior Rifle Team celebrated a truly remarkable milestone in June 2025, as brothers Joshua and Robert Brown earned their final Excellence in Competition points to achieve the prestigious Distinguished Rifleman badge—one of the highest honors in competitive marksmanship.

Joshua and Robert Brown stand tall with their dad, Michael, after earning the final EIC points to leg out on their path to earning Distinguished Rifleman badges. The brothers are the first sibling duo from the Texas Junior Rifle Team to earn Distinguished Rifleman badges in the same match. (Photo courtesy Texas Junior Rifle Team/CMP)

During the regional tournament at Golden Triangle Gun Club in Beaumont, Texas, 15-year-old Robert turned in an exceptional 488-15X score, while Joshua, age 17, was not to be outdone after posting an excellent score of 481-10X. Both scores clinched the final EIC points both teens needed to “leg out” in pursuit of their Distinguished badges.

For both brothers to achieve this milestone in the same match is not only a testament to their individual skill and hard work, but also a celebration of the camaraderie and support they’ve shared throughout their marksmanship journey.

As is custom, the brothers were welcomed into the distinguished ranks by all the Distinguished Riflemen badge holders attending the tournament. For the Texas Junior Rifle Team, having brothers achieve distinction together marks another proud chapter in its mission to educate young Texans in the fundamentals of rifle safety and known distance marksmanship.

Both Joshua and Robert have grown through the program, sharpening their skills though years of training, mentoring and competitive experience. They demonstrate that focus and perseverance, along with a bit of sibling rivalry, will result in excellence.

Congratulations to Joshua and Robert on an extraordinary achievement. The future of marksmanship in Texas has never looked brighter.

Fellow Distinguished Rifle shooters gather to congratulate Joshua and Robert Brown after the brothers earned their final EIC points at the 2025 Texas regional—a moment years in the making. (Photo courtesy Texas Junior Rifle Team/CMP)

More about the Texas Junior Rifle Team: The Texas Junior Rifle Team consists highly experienced adult coaches and dedicated junior athletes from affiliated shooting clubs throughout the state of Texas—focused on developing young marksmen and markswomen, ages 12 to 20, into confident, disciplined and proficient competitors in the sport.

For more than 40 years, Texas has had loosely organized state rifle teams, usually backed by local gun clubs that provide ranges, gear and adult mentors. Junior shooters from these clubs often teamed up to compete nationally under the Texas State Rifle Association banner—with some pretty impressive success. In April 2018, things got official when the Texas Junior Rifle Team, Inc. became a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Now fully sanctioned by the Texas State Rifle Association, they compete as an official TSRA team.

Learn more about the Texas Junior Rifle Team.

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