The Troopers' first major victory was in the 1965 World Open in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Their first national contest was the 1961 American Legion Championships in Denver, where the corps finished fourth.

As it was necessary for the Troopers to travel extensively to compete in drum and bugle corps competitions, Jones chartered passenger buses to carry the Troopers across and around the country on trips that would last for several weeks, making the corps a 'touring corps', a concept that was unusual at the time. In 1958, the corps entered its first field competitions. In its first season, the Troopers were sponsored by the Casper American Legion post, were strictly a parade corps, and made the corps' first appearance at the State American Legion Convention in Riverton, Wyoming. In order to fund the new corps, Jones took out a $4,000 loan to purchase drums and bugles. He decided to name the new corps the Troopers to honor the 11th Ohio Cavalry, a United States Army unit stationed at Fort Caspar, Wyoming Territory, to protect supply trains during the Indian Wars of the 19th Century. In his own youth, Jones had won the American Legion individual snare drum championship while a member of Casper's Sons of the American Legion drum and bugle corps, in which he had also been the corps manager from age fifteen.

'Jim' Jones, a Casper, Wyoming building contractor and a veteran of the World War II United States Army Air Forces founded the Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps in 1957 as an activity for local youth. Legislation designating the Troopers as Wyoming's Musical Ambassadors

Backaroo drum