After completing law school at Texas Wesleyan in Fort Worth, Peter “Brooks” Rose received a direct commission as a judge advocate general (JAG) in the Air Force. He didn’t have a military background, he said, but found inspiration from his grandfather’s service.

“My grandfather who served in the Army in World War II and Korea was my example of what a servicemember should be, not only while serving but even more so when you get out and serve your community,” Rose said. “I tried to watch and emulate him.”

Rose, now a major, served in a variety of assignments in the Air Force JAG Corps and deployed to Afghanistan from 2013-14 and Qatar from 2020-21. He said being deployed to Qatar is a highlight of his career.

“The people there were very welcoming and hospitable,” he said. “It was a neat experience to work with their military as partners and experience the city of Doha. We got to get out and see the city and experience the local culture and food.”

When reflecting on the many lessons learned through military service, the importance of teamwork stands out to Rose.

“It’s neat getting thrown together with those you don’t know and building an honest-to-goodness team that does great stuff on the other side of the world,” he said. “I’ve been dropped into places that haven’t been functioning the best, and I think I was really able to play a good role in bringing personalities together and the team together and making them function. We could be doing whatever type of law, but if you can’t function as a team, it doesn’t matter, and it will grind to a halt.”

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Military service has also taught him to be humble and patient.

“You’re going to move around a lot, see and experience a lot, and oftentimes go to vastly different jobs, including something you might not have done before,” he said. “It can be unnerving, but it teaches you how to efficiently figure things out, who you need to know, the resources you need to find, and you solve one problem at a time.”

In August 2023, Rose completed more than a decade of active duty service. He is now serving in the Air Force Reserve.

While on active duty, he made a commitment to leave the communities he belongs to better and “to help and polish them up and make them shine.” One way he did this was by mentoring the younger generation of servicemembers.

“Toward the end of my time of active duty — and something I’ll continue now that I’m a reservist — I paid a lot of attention to the young airmen and soldiers and kept my door open so they could come in and chat about their careers and what they wanted to do in the military and life,” he said. “I tried to give them something from my experience and share lessons my mentors passed on to me.”

One of those lessons, from his grandfather, was the value of service beyond the military.

“The military makes you more well-rounded and thoughtful, and it makes you want to be a better citizen and make where you live and who you’re around better.”

Rose, a Premium member of MOAA, is doing just that by putting his legal skills to good use to advocate for the military community through MOAA’s Judge Advocate Virtual Chapter. He previously served as a member of MOAA’s Currently Serving Advisory Council, with his two-year term ending in 2022.

“Going into the Air Force JAG Corps gave me the best opportunity to really practice what I wanted to do and have a quantifiable effect on helping others, the community, and the country,” he said. “That’s translated as I’ve gotten off active duty. I can take a lot of advocacy skills I honed while in the court room and use them to help my communities.”