Jackson Free Press

"Being a shooter," Sgt. Tobie Tomlinson says, "allows for focus." Tomlinson, 35, knows a thing or two about focus. A service rifle shooter with the Army Marksmanship Unit, based in Fort Benning, Ga., he spends half the year training for and competing in national shooting competitions, and the other half teaching marksmanship to new soldiers. He captained the AMU's 2006 and 2007 championship rifle teams and, in 1995, won the individual National Service Rifle Championship.

"In our sport," he says, "it's not necessarily who's strongest or fastest, or who can throw the ball the furthest. It's who can stand the most still."

Born in Jackson, Tomlinson grew up in Madison and Byram. He graduated from Byram Attendance Center in 1991. It was in Madison that Tomlinson first started shooting. "My father used to take me up. … We fired .22 rifles in the sand pit," he says. He was a quick study: a year after his first match—a "turkey shoot" off of McDowell Road—he competed in the National Rifle & Pistol Championships at Camp Perry in Ohio. Only 15 years old, he needed a special waiver to participate.

Four years later, Tomlinson competed again at the national matches and outshot several members of the Army Marksmanship Unit, getting the attention of their coach.

"The head coach of the team came up to me and said, 'Hey son, how would you like to do this and get paid for it?'" Tomlinson recalls, laughing. "The idea of being paid to do my hobby was just incredible." He enlisted that year with his assignment to the Army Marksmanship Unit already assured.

Despite his individual accomplishments, Tomlinson is especially proud of his work as a teacher. He recently helped develop a special marksmanship course for new soldiers. "If I teach 200 people how to shoot well, those 200 people each teach 10 or 12 people that year—I've put my hands on a couple thousand people. I really like that fact," he says.

Tomlinson also teaches marksmanship to civilian groups like 4-H clubs and Boy Scouts. He enjoys the opportunity to present shooting in a positive light. "Unfortunately, most things you hear when it comes to firearms are bad," he says. "I absolutely love my job because I can influence others in a good way. It just makes better citizens."

To help his shooting, Tomlinson tries to keep his life organized, no easy feat with two children under age 5. Still, he and his wife, Mary, manage frequent family camping trips. "My kids are really neat," he says. "They really love camping. They're very much just like their parents."

Previous Comments

ID

82657

Comment

Great piece of work. It's good to see firearms in a positive light. www.nrams.com

Author

Cliff Cargill

Date

2007-12-22T07:34:57-06:00