NESA.org
™ THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE FOR EAGLE SCOUTS FALL 2016
FOLLOW THE LEADER After a career dedicated to public service, Dr. Robert M. Gates looks back.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: Game Designer Controls His Destiny See 2016’s Top Eagle Scout Project Linebacker Smashes Into Hall of Fame Reintroducing the Exploring Program
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ARE YOU GOING? Show everyone you will meet them at the Jamboree!
You can take a picture with a live eagle, meet Distinguished Eagles from many walks of life and enjoy fellowship with Eagle Scouts from all over the nation at the NESA exhibit! To get your patch and to find other great gift ideas, visit nesastore.org. Go to nesastore.org for great gift ideas!
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Eagles’ Call
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On the Cover
Distinguished Eagle Scout Dr. Robert M. Gates, former BSA national president, shares how Scouting helped prepare him for roles as director of the CIA, the 22nd U.S. Secretary of Defense and beyond. Read more about Gates on page 10. Cover photograph by W. Garth Dowling.
NATIONAL EAGLE SCOUT ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT Frank Tsuru DIRECTOR Dustin Farris
NESA COMMITTEE Glenn Adams, Steve Bowen, Rick Bragga, Dr. David Briscoe, Howard Bulloch, Clark W. Fetridge, Hunter Jones, Dr. Ken King, Dr. Michael Manyak, Lou Paulson, Rich Pfaltzgraff, Todd R. Plotner, Congressman Pete Sessions, Joe Weingarten
Contents
Regents consist of more than 600 life members of NESA who are recipients of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Michael Goldman MANAGING EDITOR Paula Murphey SENIOR EDITOR Bryan Wendell SENIOR WRITER Aaron Derr ASSOCIATE EDITORS Gretchen Sparling Clay Swartz SENIOR DIGITAL EDITOR Bryan Wursten DIGITAL EDITOR Keith Faber COPY EDITOR Lauren Billman EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Adryn Shackelford SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Brittany Hale, Ryan Larson, Jeff Laughlin, Mark Ray DESIGN DIRECTOR Eric Ottinger PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR W. Garth Dowling ART DIRECTORS Elizabeth Hardaway Morgan Kevin Hurley PHOTO EDITOR Edna J. Lemons PRODUCTION MANAGER Lenore Bonno IMAGING ARTIST Marcie Rodriguez
SALES OR art
FROM TOP: BSA FILE PHOTO; KIRBY LEE/USA TODAY SPORTS; MICHELLE MAXWELL; W. GARTH DOWLING
HONORARY PRESIDENT, BSA PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES Barack Obama PRESIDENT, BSA Randall L. Stephenson CHIEF SCOUT EXECUTIVE Michael Surbaugh MAGAZINES ADVISORY COMMITTEE David Talbot (Chairman) Ethan Draddy, James G. Elliott, Allen Pusey, Beth Reynolds, Paul Sammon, Jeff Stoffer, Alair Townsend FOR SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION AND CUSTOMER SERVICE: (866) 584-6589 ADVERTISING INFORMATION: (212) 532-0985 ADVERTISING OFFICES: 1040 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, SUITE 16A, NEW YORK, NY 10018
VOL. 42, NO. 3
Features 10
Real American Hero By Bryan Wendell
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At the Top of His Game By Bryan Wendell
Dr. Robert M. Gates, Eagle Scout and former defense secretary, knows what it takes to be a leader. An Eagle Scout at the company behind videogame franchises Halo and Destiny makes games soar by pushing all the right buttons.
CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR John Stewart NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Jay Stuart CLIENT SERVICES DIRECTOR Eric Moore SENIOR ADVERTISING MANAGER Patricia Santangelo (Northeast Region) ADVERTISING MANAGERS Brian Cabanban (Central Region) Tanya Mitchell (Western Region) PRINT AD PRODUCTION MANAGERS Lisa Hott (Scouting and Eagles’ Call ) Leah Myers (Boys’ Life) DIGITAL AD PRODUCTION MANAGER Patrice Eulin MARKETING & RESEARCH Jillian Foley (Marketing Specialist) Jennifer Chan (Research Analyst) SALES & MARKETING ASSISTANTS Bianca Lentini (New York) Karie Sconyers (Irving) CIRCULATION MANAGER Judy Bramlett CIRCULATION ASSISTANT Judy Pritchard
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Departments 2 News From the Trailhead
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3 Members 6 Community
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8 Lifestyle 18 Achievements
Eagles’ Call magazine (ISSN 2373-7026) is published four times a year by the Boy Scouts of America, 1325 W. Walnut Hill Lane, P.O. Box 152079, Irving, TX 75015-2079. Issues are Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. Copyright © 2016 by the Boy Scouts of America. All rights thereunder reserved; anything appearing in Eagles’ Call magazine may not be reprinted either wholly or in part without written permission. For submission guidelines, go to nesa.org. Postmaster: Send address changes to Eagles’ Call magazine, P.O. Box 152401, Irving, TX 75015-2401. Online address changes: nesa.org/eaglescall_subscriber.html. Send other correspondence to NESA, S322 Boy Scouts of America, 1325 W. Walnut Hill Lane, P.O. Box 152079, Irving, TX 75015-2079 or eaglescoutmag@scouting.org. Printed and bound by Quad/Graphics.
NESA.org Visit NESA online to submit your Eagle Scout projects, see more Eagle achievements, apply for scholarships and more.
scoutingworks@scouting.org
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News From the Trailhead
FALL 2016
Eagles’ Call
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Dustin Farris (left), NESA director, and Frank Tsuru, NESA president.
From the President
I wear a size 12 and Glenn Adams wears a size 9, yet his shoes engulf me. The saying “You have big shoes to fill” could not be truer as I follow the exemplary work achieved by the former National Eagle Scout Association president. Let me first share some of the amazing things Glenn did to elevate the already-lofty status of NESA. Glenn helped grow NESA council committees from obscurity (at about 70 councils) to arguably some of the most prestigious committees in Scouting (at more than 200 councils). During his eight-year tenure, Glenn boosted NESA scholarships for Eagle Scouts from $150,000 in 2007 to $650,000 in 2015. In addition, he and his wife founded the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award a little over seven years ago; the award recognizes the nation’s best Eagle Scout service project with a $2,500 scholarship. Glenn will continue to be part of the NESA committee at the national level, and I will lean on him significantly for his sage advice. My Scouting career started in 1968 when I joined as a Cub Scout in Chicago. My father and mother were huge advocates for Scouting and were the catalysts for me to continue in Scouting during those difficult times when athletics, cars and girls started to take greater priority. I received my Eagle Scout Award in 1977 and sporadically maintained contact with Scouting, serving as assistant Cubmaster and Cubmaster for my son’s pack in the late 1990s. It wasn’t until 2006 — when I was asked to join the board of the Sam Houston Area Council — that I started giving back to Scouting in a meaningful way. What rang loudly in my ears were my parents’ expectations for me to be “the best American I can be” and “that will be achieved through Scouting.” My parents were very passionate about raising their son as a great American because of their experience being interned at relocation camps during World War II. Even though my parents were American citizens, they were of Japanese descent. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the government rounded up all Japanese — American citizens or not — took them from their homes, schools and jobs, and relocated them in camps throughout the United States. My parents were deeply hurt by the attack on their newly adopted country by the country of their descent. Furthermore, they were embarrassed that the U.S. government could not trust them and that they had to be put in camps under armed guard. Through all of this shame and embarrassment, they vowed to be great Americans and made sure to raise their son in that manner. I am honored to serve as NESA’s president and take on this newest challenge — and I plan to carry on the many initiatives in progress. With the ever-rising cost of education, providing more scholarship dollars to Eagle Scouts will remain one of NESA’s top priorities. Additionally, I will make it my personal mission to introduce NESA to more Eagle Scouts and to councils without NESA committees. I also plan to focus on bringing Eagle Scouts back into Scouting during the gap between college and about age 35. But most important, I will work tirelessly to continue my promise to my parents to be the best American I can be.
ROGER MORGAN/BSA FILE PHOTO
Once an Eagle, always an Eagle,
Frank Tsuru President, National Eagle Scout Association
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Exploring // MEMBERS
Secret No More Reintroducing Scouting’s Exploring program.
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cally partner with religious institutions and civic groups, Exploring primarily partners with businesses and government agencies. A hospital may run an Exploring post focused on health-care careers (such as medicine or administration), while a police department might run a post focused on law enforcement. The organization provides expertise in its field; Exploring provides expertise in working with young people. Through training, shadowing and hands-on activities, Explorers — men and women ages 14 to 20 — get to try out careers that interest them. As Anderson likes to say, the program “teaches kids what they want to do and what they don’t want to do.” (Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh, for example, quickly learned accounting wasn’t for him when he joined an accounting Exploring post as a teen.) Anderson, an Eagle Scout and a former Explorer, sees Exploring as a natural partner for Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, Venturing and Sea Scouting. “What if we build kids from character to career?” he asks. “We really have a program that develops the whole youth.”
To boost Exploring awareness and enrollment, the BSA launched a nationwide campaign last year to engage volunteers and professionals. Since then, Exploring leaders have held numerous webinars, overhauled the Exploring website (exploring.org) and begun creating a library of curriculum modules to teach life skills. Membership is gradually increasing — and not just in the traditional fields of law enforcement, health care, and fire and emergency services. Today, there are posts in a dozen career clusters, including aviation, business and social services. Anderson says there are many ways Eagle Scouts can get involved. The most obvious is to consider starting Exploring posts through their businesses or other organizations. The other is to help their local councils grow their Exploring committees. “We’re trying to build a national, regional and local volunteer base,” he says. “That’s the way we’re ultimately going to grow: by getting our volunteers involved.”
BSA FILE PHOTOS (3); TIM FADEK; W. GARTH DOWLING; PATRICK SCHNEIDER
he word “Exploring” evokes different images depending on your age. At various times, Exploring has been a high-adventure companion to Boy Scouting, a career-awareness program, and a catchall that included Sea Scouts, Fire Exploring, church-based youth programs and more. After nearly two decades as what senior director of Exploring Tim Anderson calls Scouting’s “best-kept secret,” the program is back with a fresh look, a new website and a crystal-clear vision: “to shape the workforce of tomorrow by engaging and mentoring today’s youth in career and lifeenhancing opportunities.” The timing couldn’t be better, given daily news reports on the dangerously shallow talent pools in skilled trades and the education system’s increasing emphasis on career readiness. As Diane E. Thornton, Ed.D., national director of Learning for Life, points out, students these days are introduced to careers as early as elementary school. So how does Exploring work? Unlike Scouting’s traditional programs, which typi-
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MEMBERS // Frank Tsuru / Silver Buffaloes
Mr. President Frank Tsuru becomes NESA’s top volunteer.
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uring the BSA’s annual meeting in May, Frank Tsuru of Houston became NESA’s newest president, replacing Glenn Adams, who stepped down after more than eight years of distinguished service. A former president of Sam Houston Area Council, Tsuru calls his new assignment the best job in Scouting. “The best committee in all of Scouting is the NESA committee,” he says. “You get to work with great people, and you get to give money away to very deserving individuals — very cool stuff.” Like his predecessor, Tsuru hails from Texas, works in the energy business — he is president and CEO of M3 Midstream — and first became a company president in his mid-30s. But his background is unique: He joined Scouting in the 1960s because his parents, who spent World War II in an
Idaho internment camp for JapaneseAmericans, wanted their son to become the best possible American. And what’s more American than Boy Scouting? “The Japanese culture of that time was to be proud and never bring shame to the family name; the internment was extremely difficult for my parents to understand,” Tsuru says. “In everything I did, my parents insisted that I not just do my best, but be the best. As you can imagine, I wasn’t just going to be a Boy Scout; I was going to be an Eagle Scout. And not just an Eagle Scout — I was going to go on and be senior patrol leader. That was how I was raised.” Tsuru’s Scouting experience helped him land his first job out of the University
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of Kansas when he beat out nearly 10 similarly qualified candidates who were not Eagle Scouts. More important, his Eagle rank has helped him to be a better businessman, husband, father and citizen. In a 2015 Sam Houston Area Council testimonial video, attorney Les Csorba, who serves with Tsuru on the board of an inner-city school, called him a poster child for Scouting. “His character, his tenacity, his work ethic, his sacrificial living all exemplify the values that obviously were built into him through his Scouting experience,” Csorba said. Tsuru already is thinking about what he wants to accomplish during his tenure as NESA president. At the top of the list: raising the profile of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and the NESA Outstanding Eagle Scout Award. He says more people have summited Mount Everest than have received the DESA. “That’s how exclusive that fraternity is,” he says. “I think people need to know that.”
Pa
In its cou ha gli ne Ch ne an Pat W op kid pe ha be Co an T A cil’
Birds and Buffaloes
TIM ACREE, MURFREESBORO,
led an extensive revision of training for BSA commissioners, who serve as essential liaisons between unit leaders and local councils. TENN.,
*RON BELL, MIAMI, FLA.,
has overseen American Indian events at more than a dozen national events and strengthened relations with tribal leaders. STEVE BRADLEY, RIVERSIDE, CALIF., has
worked behind the scenes to ensure the success of youth leaders at major Order of the Arrow events. 4
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Back row, from left: Timothy A. Acree, Daniel Leo Coberly, Joseph P. Landy, Christopher Allen Grove, J. Brett Harvey and James D. Rogers. Front row, from left: Steven D. Bradley, Mark Alan Kriebel, Christine Perry, L. Ronald Bell, David M. Weekley and John D. Tickle. Not pictured: Timothy Cardinal Dolan. *DAN COBERLY, HAZEL
GREEN, ALA., used his Army
background and contacts to strengthen military support of the BSA overseas and at national jamborees. † DR. CHRIS GROVE, ORMOND
BEACH, FLA., has kept Scouts healthy at nine national events and now oversees health and safety for the Summit Bechtel Reserve. *MARK KRIEBEL, ENDWELL, N.Y., led
creation of a guide for starting new units to extend and strengthen the Scouting program.
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*JIM ROGERS, RENO, NEV.,
has leveraged his leadership of Kampgrounds of America to bring free camping experiences to young cancer patients and their families. *JOHN TICKLE, BRISTOL, VA., is underwriting a new Scout-centric leadership and training center at the Summit Bechtel Reserve.
55in Mi
*DAVID WEEKLEY, HOUSTON, TEXAS, led
the creation of the Voice of the Scout tool, which lets Scouts and their families give feedback on the Scouting program. * DESA recipient
†NOESA recipient
BSA FILE PHOTOS (12)
Before they were Buffaloes, they were Eagles. Nine of this year’s 13 recipients of the Silver Buffalo Award — Scouting’s highest adult honor — earned the Eagle Scout Award in their youth. Of those nine, six are Distinguished Eagle Scouts, while one has earned the NESA Outstanding Eagle Scout Award.
EAGLES’ CALL
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NESA Committee Spotlight / 500 Eagle Scouts / Scouting Alumni Network // MEMBERS
NESA Committee Spotlight:
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Pathway to Adventure Council
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In the six years since the BSA celebrated its centennial in 2010, dozens of local councils have merged. In many cases, that has meant combinations between struggling suburban councils and their big-city neighbors. Last year, for example, the Chicago Area Council merged with three neighbors — Calumet, Des Plaines Valley and Northwest Suburban — to form the Pathway to Adventure Council. While council mergers help the BSA operate more efficiently and serve more kids, they also shift the landscape for people who identified with councils that have closed or changed their names. If you became an Eagle Scout in the Calumet Council, for example, you might not see an obvious home for yourself in the PTAC. That is, until now. Almost from day one, the new council’s NESA committee, NESA PTAC, has
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ONLINE NETWORK FOR ALUMNI Have you visited the all-new Scouting Alumni Network 1.0? The service — available at nesa.org — went live earlier this year, replacing the online community NESA used since 2008. With a few clicks or taps, you can reconnect with members of your old troop or connect for the first time with Scouting alumni from your city, college or industry. And it doesn’t matter if those people are Eagle Scouts. For the first time, NESA is joining forces with the Scouting Alumni Association, the Order of the Arrow and the alumni groups affiliated with the BSA’s four high-adventure bases. Check it out today at nesa.org.
NESA LEGACY SOCIETY MEMBERS Philip R. Engelmann South Florida Council Don E. Hall Trapper Trails Council Michael T. Heitke Glacier's Edge Council Craig Hudson Orange County Council Marc Hudson Orange County Council Paul Hudson Orange County Council James C. Karegeannes Daniel Boone Council Franklin L. Lobb Mount Baker Council Paul G. McLaughlin Lewis & Clark Council Dustin Randell Phelan Chief Seattle Council Matt Scherocman Dan Beard Council
The 500 Club
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ast December, Ben Kenyon became the 500th Eagle Scout in Troop 890 of
Dallas. To celebrate the milestone, the 55-year-old troop held a Texas-sized celebration in May. On hand were Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh, Congressman Pete Sessions
Charles A. Spain Sam Houston Area Council Dr. Michael S. Stecker Old Colony Council
(the father of two Troop 890 Eagle Scouts), more than 60 of the 500 Eagle Scouts, and a host of current and former Scouts and leaders. Attendees renewed friendships, swapped stories and reflected on the impact the troop has had on its members and community. But they also looked ahead. In fact, the color guard for the evening was composed of the first members of the troop’s next cadre of 500 Eagle Scouts.
Robert Tarquinio, Ph.D. Western Los Angeles County Council Andrew D. Willis East Carolina Council
JOIN THE NESA LEGACY SOCIETY By making a contribution to the national NESA endowment, you will help fund Eagle Scout scholarships, NESA committee service grants, career networking opportunities and more. (Note: You must first become a James E. West Fellow in your local council.) Visit nesa.org/PDF/542-121.pdf to make a contribution. All NESA LEGACY SOCIETY FELLOWS will be recognized with a unique certificate, a pin to wear on the James E. West knot and name recognition in the pages of Eagles’ Call magazine.
BSA FILE PHOTOS (12)
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strengthened ties and reduced barriers. Beginning in January 2015, a core group of 15 volunteers from the four previous councils — many of whom had never met before — began meeting monthly to develop a unified vision for their group. That group has since doubled, and it continues to grow today. “It took a lot of brainpower on all our leaders’ parts — a lot of thought, a lot of intentionality around what we were doing and how to make it work,” says Jac Charlier, chairman of NESA PTAC. Two priorities quickly emerged: holding social events for adult Eagle Scouts and hosting a recognition dinner for new Eagle Scouts. To emphasize that NESA PTAC would serve the whole Chicagoland region, the first social event was held at a barbecue restaurant in the Indiana suburbs — and was very well attended. “It signaled very clearly that NESA PTAC was not NESA Chicago,” Charlier says. This March’s first Scout Recognition Dinner sent a similar signal to current Scouts and Scouters. More than 500 people attended the event, which recognized not only new Eagle Scouts from across the council, but also highachieving Venturers and Sea Scouts. In other words, NESA PTAC is proving the new council is far more than the sum of its parts. “You can’t say you’re about something bigger if you don’t demonstrate it in action,” Charlier says.
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COMMUNITY // Eagle Scout Projects
Time for Recess Zac Blohm awarded 2016 Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year.
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or years, kids at Jefferson Elementary School in West Allis, Wis., did more waiting than playing on their school’s old, rusty playground. By one estimate, the 25-year-old equipment could handle just 70 kids at a time — and the school has 575 students. That’s no longer a problem, thanks to Zac Blohm of nearby Oak Creek, Wis. For his project, which won this year’s Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award, Zac raised $129,407.45 and enlisted the help of 162 volunteers to completely rebuild the school’s playground. SEALING THE DEAL: Zac planned to add on to the existing playground and set out to raise $55,000 over 12 months. When he blew through that goal in half the time, he offered school officials a deal: If they would tear down the old playground, he would keep raising money and rebuild the playground from scratch. They quickly agreed. 6
Wisconsin Eagle Scout Zac Blohm raised nearly $130,000 to rebuild an elementary school’s rusty playground — all in the name of his late sister, Veronica.
For Zac Blohm, building a school playground was much more than an Eagle Scout service project. The effort was a way for the Blohm family to heal after the loss of Zac’s baby sister, Veronica. The playground, called Veronica’s Place, has a pink swing (shown opposite page, top) in honor of his sister.
MICHELLE MAXWELL (6); COURTESY OF THE CROOK FAMILY (2); COURTESY OF THE DANTE FAMILY; COURTESY OF THE LEE FAMILY
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Eagle Scout Projects // COMMUNITY SLIDES AND MORE: Zac installed the playground in one day in August 2014. It features the usual swings and slides, as well as many elements that encourage more active play, such as climbing walls and suspended rings.
GRASSROOTS SUPPORT: While Zac scored some big donations, much of his support came in small amounts. Jefferson Elementary’s student council held monthly bake sales, Girl Scouts sold rubber-band bracelets and the school’s Cub Scout pack surprised him with $500 they’d earned from selling wreaths door to door.
Check This Out
MICHELLE MAXWELL (6); COURTESY OF THE CROOK FAMILY (2); COURTESY OF THE DANTE FAMILY; COURTESY OF THE LEE FAMILY
North Carolina Eagle Scout builds 16 Little Free Libraries.
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s the son of a school librarian, Jesse Crook grew up surrounded by books. So when he saw a Little Free Library on a family trip three years ago, he knew he’d found his Eagle project. “It was really neat; I had never seen that before,” he says. A Little Free Library is a box resembling a birdhouse that is mounted in a public place and filled with books. Anyone is free to take a book or donate a book; the goal is to promote literacy. The Little Free Library website, littlefreelibrary.org, now boasts 36,000 sites in more than 70 countries. Jesse’s mom, Edie, had seen students take books from school because they had none at home, and she loved the idea. So did his dad, Jimmy (a fellow Eagle Scout and finance director for the Piedmont Council). So did friends and neighbors, who quickly donated more than 4,000 books for the project. “We had too many,” Jesse says. “They’re all over the house now.” While getting the books was easy, building the libraries took a little more effort. Jesse received a grant for materials from Lowe’s, and then worked with Eagle Scout Steve Brooks, a carpenter, to come up with several different designs. Jesse’s volunteers
REMEMBERING VERONICA: Zac named the playground for his sister, Veronica, who died not long before the project began. A sign and one pink swing on the playground memorialize her. KING OF THE PLAYGROUND: Two years after the project’s completion, students still recognize Zac when he visits. “It’s really cool going back and kids still knowing who you are,” he says. built the libraries in Brooks’ workshop, students at his high school helped paint them, and his mom’s coworkers and students added colorful designs. In the end, Jesse built and installed 16 libraries at schools and parks in impoverished Gaston County, N.C., neighborhoods. But the project didn’t end there. Since finishing his project last year, Jesse has maintained the libraries and spread the word. He has more libraries ready to go, which he offers to any group willing to adopt one. “When I’m gone to college, I won’t be able to check on them, so we need groups to commit to making sure they’re all right,” he says. Build your own using a guide at go.boyslife.org/lfl
OTHER NOTABLE EAGLE PROJECTS MARCO DANTE AMENDOLA, WEST NYACK, N.Y.
During World War II, 1.3 million soldiers passed through New York’s Camp Shanks, the point of embarkation for most U.S. forces heading to Europe. Today, all that’s left of the sprawling base is the Camp Shanks Museum in Orangeburg. For his Eagle project, Marco Amendola replaced the museum’s sign, repaired a wall and restored a cobblestone flag circle. He even created a tall signpost with arrows pointing to such long-forgotten sites as the mess hall, chapel and more. Marco used a historic photo of the camp to bring the past into the present. Among the men who relied on the original signpost was Marco’s great-uncle, Nicholas Amendola, who passed through Camp Shanks. The project memorializes him and his twin brother, Frank (Marco’s grandfather), a decorated veteran of the Pacific theater.
KEEFER LEE CARRISON BROWN, WASILLA, ALASKA
On a school trip to the Alaska SeaLife Center, Keefer Brown began dreaming of a career as a marine biologist. So the Seward aquarium and wildlife-rehab facility seemed the perfect place to do his Eagle Scout project. His plan to build an observation area overlooking Resurrection Bay was complicated by the fact that he lives in Wasilla — 170 miles away. Beginning in 2013, Keefer made multiple trips to Seward to talk with the center’s staff, solicit donations, deliver supplies and arrange for work (like excavation) that Scout volunteers couldn’t handle. Finally, in May 2015, he brought together Scouts from both Wasilla and Seward to build the wheelchair-accessible 47-by-14-foot People Perch Observation Area, which offers breathtaking views of the bay.
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LIFESTYLE // Kevin Greene
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Tackling legendary linebacker Kevin Greene.
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pick Clay Matthews and undrafted free agent Frank Zombo. “Skills and athletic ability are not end-all things for me. For me, it’s looking in a man’s heart and seeing his motivation and what drives him,” Greene says. “Because I know everything else I can pretty much teach.” Greene coached in Green Bay for five seasons (earning a Super Bowl ring) before stepping away in 2014 to spend more time with his wife, Tara, and children, Gavin and Gabrielle. He didn’t leave football entirely, however, choosing to work with the team
Scouting and Service
at Niceville High School in Florida, where Gavin was a linebacker. “He led his team in tackles, tied his team in sacks,” Greene says. “He’s an outside linebacker/defensive end, kind of like his dad.” Now that Gavin has graduated and Gabrielle is a senior, Greene is contemplating a return to football, though he might just continue being a full-time dad. He’s in no hurry to make a decision. After all, he knows a thing or two about patience.
KEVIN GREENE grew up as an Army brat, the son of Eagle Scout and future Col. Therman Greene. As the family moved from base to base, Scouting was a constant for Greene and his older brother, Keith. Among his fondest memories are becoming an Eagle Scout alongside his brother and being inducted into the Order of the Arrow. But that last memory is a little hazy. “I always understood if you got three notches in your arrow, you were kicked out,” he says. “I just looked back on my arrow like two months ago, and I’ve got four notches on there.” Despite maybe getting away with talking too much during his OA Ordeal, Greene soaked up Scouting’s values. “Those are some of the values, quite honestly, that I took with me throughout my entire life,” he says. “I just think the Scouting values help a young man grow up to be a winner.” Greene lived out those values in part by serving in the Army Reserve during most of his NFL career, completing his service commitment during the offseason. He attended Airborne School with Keith and eventually left the Army as a captain. (Keith, who died four years ago, was a career soldier and retired as a lieutenant colonel.) “I’ve achieved everything I’ve ever put my hand to in life,” Greene says. “I think that has something to do with Scouting.”
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s Feb. 6, 2016, dragged on, retired NFL linebacker Kevin Greene sat waiting with his family in a San Francisco hotel room. A knock on the door would signal his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame; a phone call would mean better luck next time. With the clock approaching 4:15 p.m., Greene began explaining to his family how he would handle the phone call — one he had received three times before. But then a series of “big, ginormous knocks” told him his patience had finally paid off. It wasn’t the first time patience benefited the Eagle Scout from Granite City, Ill. Greene enrolled at Auburn University in 1980, where he was a regular student until he joined the football team as a junior. By outworking his fellow walk-ons, he made Coach Pat Dye’s team that season. Over two years, he registered 69 tackles as an outside linebacker, earning the team’s Zeke Smith Award as defensive player of the year in 1984. In the 1985 NFL draft, there was more waiting: The Los Angeles Rams drafted Greene in the fifth round. He quickly demonstrated a work ethic that more than made up for what he acknowledges was limited athletic ability. He worked out more, practiced harder, ate better, slept sounder and studied longer than most of his teammates on the Rams — and on the three other teams for which he played during his 15-year career. His hard work paid off: Greene recorded 160 career sacks as a linebacker — the third most in NFL history. Joe Montana, John Elway, Dan Marino and Brett Favre all dropped to the turf under Greene’s crushing weight. He went to five Pro Bowls, was named to the NFL’s 1990s All-Decade Team and helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win the 1995 AFC Championship. He also had a brief professional wrestling career in the mid-1990s. In 2009 — 10 years into retirement — Greene returned to the NFL as an outside linebackers coach for the Green Bay Packers. In the five years that followed, he coached whomever Defensive Coordinator Dom Capers gave him, including first-round draft
EAGLES’ CALL
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Howard Lincoln // LIFESTYLE
Brush With Fame Distinguished Eagle Scout and Rockwell inspiration Howard Lincoln.
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uring his 24 years with the Seattle Mariners — the last 17 as the CEO and chairman — Distinguished Eagle Scout Howard Lincoln helped negotiate the construction of Safeco Field, watched the baseball team reach the postseason for the first time, and oversaw an expansion into the Japanese market by acquiring players like superstar Ichiro Suzuki. But his recent retirement has evoked memories of a time when, instead of working hard, he lay down on the job. Literally. In 1953, 13-year-old Lincoln attended the National Scout Jamboree in Irvine, Calif., with his troop from Oakland. When BSA artist Norman Rockwell showed up to work on ideas for his latest painting, Lincoln’s Scoutmaster, Del Anderson, recruited Lincoln and three other Scouts to pose for the famous artist. Rockwell’s goal was to take reference photos that would guide his work back in his Vermont studio.
“We went out and pitched a tent and built a fire in broad daylight,” Lincoln told the Puget Sound Business Journal in 2005.
“Norman Rockwell was there. He explained the scene was nighttime, a Scoutmaster standing by the tent, and we would all be asleep. It was 90 degrees in the shade in the middle of the day.” For his trouble, Lincoln received $25. And Scouting immortality. “The Scoutmaster” graced official BSA calendars in 1956 — 60 years ago this year — and quickly became one of Rockwell’s most beloved Scouting paintings. Lincoln is the blond Scout to the right of the campfire, his face turned forward a bit so his mother could recognize him. Visitors who view the painting at the National Scouting Museum in Irving, Texas, typically focus on the Scoutmaster (portrayed by Jamboree staffer Marshall Ammerman), not realizing there’s a future CEO lying down on the job right behind him.
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REAL AMERICAN HERO By Bryan Wendell
and former defense secretary, knows what it takes to be a leader.
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fter addressing the newest Green Berets at Fort Bragg last year, former Defense Secretary Dr. Robert M. Gates toured the North Carolina Army base with one of the men who trains the soldiers. Gates turned to the instructor with a question. “Can you tell the difference between a kid who was in the Boy Scouts and one who wasn’t?” Gates asked. The man looked at Gates like he’d lost his mind. “Of course,” the instructor said. “They know how to do most of this stuff already.” Gates wasn’t surprised. As a Distinguished Eagle Scout, he knows how Scouting changes a man in ways you can see (he still bears a scar from Philmont) and ways you cannot. He credits his time in Boy Scout Troop 522 of Wichita, Kan., for giving him leadership skills, a sense of service before self and the ability to compromise. “Nothing teaches leadership skills like being in charge of a bunch of 12- and 13-year-old kids and trying to get them to do what they don’t want to do,” Gates says. “It was a lot like dealing with Congress.” Gates, who was defense secretary from December 2006 until his retirement in July 2011, was known for his ability to navigate the stubborn Washington bureaucracy to get things done. “Only when people are unwilling to bend — when people are insisting that it be their way or the highway — that’s when we encounter great national crises,” Gates says. “It’s what precipitated the Civil War. It’s what has led to a lot of the paralysis we see in government today.” Gates was never shy about criticizing Congress in his long career of public service — including nearly 27 years with the CIA and 4 ½ years leading the Defense Department. In his 2014 book, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, he says Congress “is best viewed from a distance — the farther the better — because close up it is truly ugly.” He called the majority of Congress “micro-managerial,” “thin-skinned” and
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“incompetent in fulfilling basic constitutional responsibilities.” And when the TV cameras pointed toward these congressmen and congresswomen? Forget it. Members from both parties became “raving lunatics,” he writes. “It had the effect of a full moon on a werewolf.” It’s no surprise, then, that after living in Washington, D.C., most of his life, this career public servant retired to the other Washington. He now lives north of Seattle in a spot roughly 2,300 miles from our nation’s capital. He likes to joke that he found the place in the contiguous U.S. that is the greatest distance from D.C. Retirement keeps him busy. He travels to speaking engagements, is chancellor of the College of William & Mary in Virginia (his alma mater) and was national president of the Boy Scouts of America from May 2014 to May 2016.
THE STUDY OF GATES
Nearly every wall of Gates’ spacious study is filled with books. One entire side is biographies — from Abigail Adams to Chuck Yeager. Gates has alphabetized them by the subject’s last name. There are biographies of world leaders (Stalin, Mao, Thatcher), biographies of American leaders (Hamilton, Kennedy, 12
As defense secretary, Dr. Robert M. Gates did more than make speeches. He traveled to meet soldiers who had committed to fight for their country. “I regarded each of them as my own sons and daughters and … I was going to take care of them,” he says.
Reagan) and biographies of famous people (Einstein, Twain, Tina Fey). There’s a map of the Russian empire (he has a doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown). There’s a flag of Texas A&M, where he was president for four years. There’s the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented by President Barack Obama. There’s a sign that says, “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” But his favorite item here isn’t a book or a flag or a medal.
FREQUENT FLIER The job of defense secretary requires extensive travel to visit the nation’s military and its allies around the world. In his 4 ½ years on the job, Gates spent more than 1,500 hours in the air. He traveled in a Boeing 747 transformed into an airborne command post. The plane could be refueled in midair, survive an electromagnetic pulse attack and communicate with nucleararmed submarines using a mile-long antenna unspooled behind it. 664,150: International miles flown, which is the equivalent of flying around the world at the equator more than 26 times 104: Different countries visited, including several trips to Iraq and Afghanistan 1,599: Hours in the air — equal to more than 66 days
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It’s a piece of armor from a mine-resistant armored-protective vehicle, known as an MRAP. It’s the size of a piece of toast. And it has a big hole in it. As defense secretary, Gates lobbied hard for this extra armor, even circumventing Congress when needed. This particular square of steel is the reason the group of soldiers inside that MRAP are alive today. “I was prepared to spend whatever it took to protect those young people and bring them home safely, and allow them to accomplish their mission,” Gates says. In other words, Gates understood that the job entailed more than just visiting military bases for handshakes and patriotic speeches. What a leader does outweighs what he says. “Young people — and perhaps almost everyone — are pretty skeptical of rhetoric from senior leaders,” he says. “What matters are actions that, over a period of time, build a pattern that people look at and say to themselves and to others, ‘OK, he or she is the real deal. This person really is looking out for me.’ ”
A CALL TO SERVE
“Servant leadership” is a relatively new term in Scouting. It’s the concept that someone wants to serve first rather than be a leader first. When Gates was a Scout, director of the CIA and defense secretary, he simply called it “leadership.”
employees. (The restriction on gay Scouts was removed in 2013.) The 2015 decision required thoughtful discussions with religious-based chartered organizations, volunteer adult leaders, BSA professionals and, of course, the Scouts themselves. Gates says the process worked because it was transparent — and because the stakeholders weren’t congressmen “in it for their own self-aggrandizement.” “I think a big part of a successful transition or the successful change was respecting everybody’s point of view, having a regular process where everybody was heard,” Gates says. “A very democratic process where everybody knew what was coming.” With that hurdle cleared, Gates spent his second year as BSA president spreading stories about Scouting service, heroism and adventure. “When you have a couple of million young people out there doing good things and we can focus the message on what they’re doing, what they’re accomplishing and the kind of people they’re becoming,” he says, “that’s the message that the country needs.”
Leadership means “subordinating one’s ego to get the job done,” he says. It means “looking out for the people who either work for you or with whom you are working.” Those parallel attitudes explain why Gates agreed to become the Pentagon’s top official in 2006. “I said, ‘As long as those kids out there are doing their duty, I have to do mine,’ ” he says. “I became secretary at a time when we were losing two wars and we were taking a lot of casualties, so I had to deal with both of those. I suppose people call that servant leadership, but I just call that getting the job done and taking care of people.” Getting the job done meant orchestrating compromises — not easy when too many politicians see compromising as “selling out,” he wrote in Duty. Nearly a decade later, Gates was at it again — this time as the BSA’s national president. Gates, who oversaw the end of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy barring openly gay people from serving in the U.S. military, was confronted with a similar scenario involving gay adults in Scouting. In 2015, the BSA removed its national restriction on openly gay adult leaders and
THE SAME BADGE, ONLY TOUGHER Gates received the Eagle Scout rank Aug. 16, 1958. Does the award still mean as much nearly six decades later? “First of all, they’re not getting the same Eagle Scout award that I got,” Gates says. “In contrast to so many things in life today, getting your Eagle today is a lot harder than it was when I became an Eagle.” He says the requirements were easier in 1958. For one thing, there was no Eagle Scout service project — a daunting obstacle on the modern Eagle trail. Still, he says, the award’s significance hasn’t changed. “Whether you’re 15 or whether you’re 75, you still have the same Eagle badge and you still have the same values,” he says. And that means something in the job market and at universities. “College admissions officers are now looking at the Eagle award as a leading indicator — as perhaps the most significant indicator — of likely success in college,” he says. “It shows that at age 12 or 13 or 14, this young man has the discipline and the long-term perspective of accomplishing a goal that is two or three years off. They look at that and say, ‘That kid is likely to be successful.’ ”
At the 2010 National Scout Jamboree (below), Gates told the crowd that his Eagle badge “was the only thing that distinguished me from most high school kids.”
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An Eagle Scout makes Destiny soar by pushing all the right buttons. By Bryan Wendell
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ts location — next to an LA Fitness and across the street from a California Pizza Kitchen — is rather pedestrian. But step inside Bungie’s headquarters in Bellevue, Wash., and you’re transported to an out-of-this-world office that’s anything but corporate. Would you expect any different from the team behind some of the decade’s hottest videogames? The lobby is a shrine to gaming’s past and present. Encased behind glass are figurines, replica guns and other artifacts from Bungie’s 25-year history. The cases surround an area where low-tech games like pingpong, foosball and air hockey offer the employees a break from their screens. And the climbing wall? That’s upstairs. Standing near the security guard (and keeping baddies at bay in his own right) is a giant statue of Master Chief. He’s the armorplated protagonist from Halo, Bungie’s series of sci-fi shooters that has sold more than 65 million copies since its 2001 debut. But the real heroes at Bungie don’t wear armor. They’re guys like Eagle Scout Matthew Ward, who greets his Eagles’ Call guests in an untucked button-up, jeans and red sneakers. Ward is Bungie’s cinematic director for Destiny, the studio’s 2014 space sensation that won hundreds of industry awards. At a place that both fosters creativity and attracts creative people, Ward fits in perfectly.
A MAN WITH A VISION
Matthew Ward is the cinematic director at Bungie, the company behind videogame franchises Halo and Destiny.
Ward got his start not in videogames but in the film world, where he specialized in what’s called “previsualization.” These days, when directors want to envisage an effects-heavy scene, they need not rely solely on imagination or hand-drawn storyboards: They turn to previsualization pros like Ward who use computers to create a 3-D rendering of the director’s vision. Ward learned about previsualization at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. As a student there, he landed an internship that’d make any sci-fi fan envious: He got a gig at Industrial Light and Magic, which — any true Jedi will tell you — is the groundbreaking company behind the visual effects in Star Wars. Ward worked his way up the Hollywood chain, eventually getting previsualization jobs on big-budget films like Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, The Polar Express and Superman Returns. He worked with directors like George Lucas, Robert
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much, he never wants to leave. And that’s where Ward and his team shine. They’re responsible for the cinematic cutscenes in Destiny. These are the moments in videogames in which the action pauses so the player can set down his controller and watch. “There’s occasionally a moment in gameplay where we want to make you just take a second, settle down and deliver some story to you — using cinematic techniques that we’re used to seeing in films and television,” Ward says. It’s no longer enough to tell a gamer that the good guy wants to fight the bad guy because he’s a bad guy. Players want — no, they expect — to see the context behind what they’re being asked to do. “It’s also a chance for us to sell consequences that we might not be able to do as easily when you’re running around shooting guys,” Ward says. “Let’s dim the lights a little bit; let’s silence all the shooting and let’s hear some story.” And that story? It better be as good as or better than what HBO, Marvel or rival game companies put out. “If we do anything that’s half-measured, we’ll certainly be called out for it,” Ward says. “At the end of the day, we have to make sure that we ratchet up the quality level to compete with those other amazing filmmakers and games. I mean, games are just getting more and more compelling and beautiful and rich.”
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Zemeckis, the Wachowskis and Eagle Scout Steven Spielberg. In fact, like many of his colleagues in the entertainment industry, Ward says Spielberg is a big reason he entered filmmaking. Ward heard Spielberg speak at the 1989 National Scout Jamboree in Virginia. Spielberg, whose Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade swung in to theaters that year, was at the Jamboree to announce the new Cinematography merit badge. “I still remember Steven Spielberg speaking,” Ward says. “And inspiring us in ways that I didn’t think, later in life, I’d be remembering. Maybe that had something to do with leading me down this path.” That path has taken Ward into the high-dollar, high-stakes world of videogames. He’s still telling visual stories, just in a different medium — and in a climate where the forces competing for the entertainment dollar have never been more diverse. Sure, the biggest rivals for Ward and his Bungie brethren remain the studios behind games like Doom, Call of Duty and Madden NFL. But now potential customers can download $1 games for their smartphones or tablets. Or maybe they’ll put down the controller and stream one of the zillion quality television shows out there. Or catch the latest superhero movie. Or read a book (or at least a comic book). So the pressure is on Bungie to make its games — sold at up to $50 a pop — better than ever. That means transporting a player to a world that envelops him so
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The lobby at Bungie headquarters is filled with memorabilia from the company’s Halo series. Upstairs, in an area of the building off limits to visitors, the team is hard at work on Bungie’s next big game. Its latest installment, Destiny: Rise of Iron, was released Sept. 20, 2016.
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Ward will do pretty much anything to make Destiny compelling and beautiful — except one: He won’t wear a Spandex motion-capture outfit. “You’ll never catch me in one of those suits,” he says, laughing. Ward leaves that job to the professional stunt performers. To bring its fictional heroes — called Guardians — to life, Bungie squeezes actors into Spandex suits. Then they walk, climb and tumble in front of cameras tracking their every move. That data gets fed to a computer, and Bungie’s animators and artists take over from there. Ward’s ability to delegate — and play well with others — comes from his time making movies and observing the actions of Spielberg, Lucas and Zemeckis. “These guys are the ultimate leaders,” Ward says. “Artistic collaboration can be very difficult, but the more you do it, the more you see how to be successful at it. A better product always comes out of constant collaboration. Usually the best idea will win, and you’ll get something better out of it.” At Bungie, that begins with an
understanding that cinematic cutscenes are one piece of the larger puzzle. “Because of that, we have to collaborate with other teams — like our designers, our concept art team, our art department — to make sure everything we’re doing is the best experience for the person at home,” Ward says. Bungie also puts thought into the best experience for its employees at the office. Cubicles can mean game-over for collaboration, so Bungie eliminated them. The company uses an open-floor concept where face-to-face interaction trumps phone calls or emails. “It’s the only way we can work with the size of our company and a project as big as it is — to keep communication as open as possible,” Ward says.
IT STARTED IN SCOUTING
The cinematic cutscene about Ward’s life must include the time he completed his Eagle Scout service project with Troop 212
of Chesapeake, Va. To a teen, Ward says, an Eagle project can look like the big, ugly ogre at the end of the game. It’s only after you’ve slain the beast that you realize you had the skills to succeed all along. “Doing the Eagle Scout project was very much like a daunting task,” he says. “I look back on it now and I go, ‘Wow, you are just a big crybaby.’ ” For his project, Ward led a team of volunteers who built a children’s library. They gutted a room, built and painted shelves, and gathered donated books. Ward saw how several pieces combined to form something bigger. Sounds familiar. “Funny thing is, a game as big as Destiny has smaller projects inside that all stack together,” he says. “My team takes big, big chunks, and we work together and produce something beautiful out of it.” And Ward’s guiding hand? That’s a beautiful thing, too. Says Ward: “Scouting probably was the first experience I had in being a leader and being asked to be responsible for more than just myself.”
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ACHIEVEMENTS // For God and Country
For God and Country
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Many young men exchange their Scout uniforms for fatigues, dress blues or battle dress uniforms. NESA salutes the Eagle Scouts shown below who are serving our nation in all branches of the armed forces. Recognize another Eagle by completing the form found at nesa.org/eaglegodandcountry.
Lt. Jimmy Angerman U.S. Navy
Midshipman 4th Class Trent M. Herzog U.S. Navy
2nd Lt. Benton F. Roe U.S. Army
Received a master’s degree in construction management from Louisiana State University. He is stationed at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Miss. He received his commission in the Navy as he received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Military Academy in 2006.
Sworn in as a midshipman at University of Florida’s NROTC program. He is majoring in mechanical engineering and is active in the Florida Running Club. Trent was named as Midshipman of the Month for September 2015.
Graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts in modern languages/Arabic. Completed Airborne and Ranger training at Fort Benning, Ga., and now is serving with the 10th Mountain/Light Infantry at Fort Drum, N.Y.
Ensign Stephen MacIntyre U.S. Navy
Pvt. Christopher T. Simpson U.S. Army
Graduated from the University of Idaho in May 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in geological sciences and commissioned as an ensign. Assigned to Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Fla., as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal student officer.
Graduated from basic in February 2015 at Fort Benning, Ga., where he received his infantry blue cord. He went on to airborne school and earned his wings in March 2015. He is stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., with the 82nd Airborne Infantry Division.
Cmdr. Gary D. Bennett U.S. Navy Returned from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after his second deployment as a naval reservist from Yucaipa, Calif.
1st Lt. Peter Duston U.S. Army, Retired Although retired, Duston serves as a uniformed bugler with the 101st Air Refueling Wing at Bangor Air Base, playing taps at dozens of funerals and events. Duston is a Scoutmaster and teaches bugling to Scouts.
Cpl. Bryan P. Feeney U.S. Army Promoted to corporal with the 53rd Quartermaster Company stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. He is in the Army Corps of Engineers as a horizontal engineer (heavy equipment operator).
2nd Lt. Luke Ganster U.S. Army Graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in May 2014. Commissioned as a second lieutenant. Assigned to Fort Hood, Texas.
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Pfc. Benjamin Mitchell U.S. Marine Corps Graduated from boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in January 2015 in San Diego, Calif., and School of Infantry, Camp Pendleton, in April 2015. He is stationed at Twentynine Palms, Calif., in the 2nd Battalion/7th Marines/Weapons Platoon.
Ensign Matthew D. Morris U.S. Navy Graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science in oceanography. Commissioned as an ensign and relocating to Pensacola, Fla., where he will begin flight training as a student naval aviator.
Lance Cpl. Anthony J. Olson U.S. Marine Corps Completed basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego. Stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
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Capt. Daniel S. Spratt U.S. Army Commissioned as a first lieutenant upon graduation from University of Central Florida and the U.S. Army ROTC program. Completed Army flight training at Fort Rucker, Ala., branched to Medical Services Corps as UH-60 Blackhawk medevac pilot. Served as aviation platoon leader in Korea and deployed as battle captain and forward support combat medevac platoon leader in Afghanistan. Has held positions of rear detachment commander and battalion operations officer with the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade in Germany.
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2nd Lt. Adam J. Thomas U.S. Air Force Graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in May 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in international history and a minor in Japanese. Commissioned as a second lieutenant. Stationed in Del Rio, Texas, for pilot training.
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Lance Cpl. Jakob C. Womack U.S. Marine Corps Accepted an invitation to join the United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps.
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Once an Eagle ... / Awards & Recognition // ACHIEVEMENTS
Once an Eagle ... ... Always an Eagle. NESA remembers Eagle Scouts who have passed. Recognize the life of another Eagle by completing the form found at nesa.org/ eaglegonehome. This link also provides more information on how to make a Living Memorial donation in the name of a deceased Eagle. Andrew Frederick Boldt, 21 West Bend, Wis. Eagle: 2009 Passed: January 2014 Glen E. Brolander, 84 Stillwater, Minn. Eagle: 1945 Passed: March 15, 2014 Edward Eliot Caine, 84 Sonoma, Calif. Eagle: 1951 Passed: December 2014 Charles Quincey “Chase” Gage IV, 19 Columbus, Ohio Eagle: 2013 Passed: May 2015 Miles Hannagan, 19 Downington, Pa. Eagle: 2012 Passed: February 2015 Daniel C. Hurley Jr., 70 Fairfax Station, Va. Eagle: 1957 Passed: January 2015 Robert A. Ineich, 83 Downers Grove, Ill. Eagle: 1947 Passed: Dec. 10, 2014 Rodger L. Moore, 85 Englewood, Ohio Eagle: 1947 Passed: June 2015 Frank E. Rymes, 86 Lexington, Mass. Eagle: 1945 Passed: January 2015 Lee H. Somers, Ph.D., 76 Champaign, Ill. Eagle: 1953 Passed: January 2015 Jedidiah Woomer, 19 Tonawanda, N.Y. Eagle: 2014 Passed: April 2015
Awards & Recognition Eagle Scouts shine, even after reaching the top honor in Scouting. NESA celebrates the achievements of the Eagle Scouts shown below. Recognize the success of another Eagle by completing the form found at nesa.org/eaglemagawards.
Robert C. Barker Flatonia, Texas Received the BSA’s Whitney M. Young Jr. Service Award in 2016. During his 40 years of service at the BSA, Barker also received the Distinguished Commissioner Award (2015), Commissioner Award of Excellence in Unit Service (2015) and the 40-Veteran Award.
David T. Douds Woodstock, Ga. Graduated from the Georgia State University College of Law with the highest pro bono distinction. David interned with Georgia Supreme Court Justice Robert Benham. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Georgia with a double major in German and philosophy.
Matthew D. Forster Lexington, S.C. Graduated from Clemson University with a bachelor’s in construction science and management with a minor in business. He was a re-founding father and a two-year president of the Phi Kappa Phi – Zeta Chapter. While in college, he continued to serve as SR5 Section Chief and is a recipient of the Centurion Award.
Ethan Gregory Ganzy Johnstown, Pa. Graduated with honors from Capitol Technology University with a Master of Science in engineering. He is an alumnus of Harvard University and Oxford University. A NESA STEM Scholarship winner, he is employed by the U.S. federal government and will pursue a doctorate in cybersecurity.
The Rev. Dr. Charles W.L. Hall Hattiesburg, Miss. Retired as a colonel of the Mississippi State Guard. Received the National BSA Alumni Award. Elected to Vigil Honor of Tiak Lodge 404. Completed the National Camping School’s “Resident Administrators Course” at Sea Scout Base Galveston (Texas) in preparation to serve as the camp commissioner of Camp Tiak’s summer program in 2016.
Michael Lucchi Bowie, Md. Graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering. While at Georgia Tech, he climbed Mount Everest with a group of Eagle Scouts. He has accepted a position as an aerospace engineer with Northrop Grumman Aerospace in Redondo Beach, Calif.
Jason Oliveira New Bedford, Mass. Promoted to captain at American Airlines, where he flies the E-190 based out of Philadelphia International Airport.
Scott Parker San Antonio, Texas Awarded Information Systems Security Association’s Distinguished Fellow status, which is limited to the top 1 percent of the ISSA members.
John R. Scott Rogers, Ark. The Arkansas Bar Association awarded Judge Scott with the 2015 Outstanding Jurist Award, which is given when deemed appropriate to honor an active federal or state judge who exhibits exceptional service to the administration of justice, competency, efficiency and integrity on the bench. The recipient also must have served on the bench for a minimum of 10 years. Scott serves as circuit judge, 19th West Judicial Circuit, Division IV.
Martin K. Thomen IV Orange, Texas Awarded the Matilda W. Sinclaire Language Award by the American Foreign Service Association for his work as a member of the U.S. Foreign Service. The award recognizes his superior achievement in the Turkish language while posted to Istanbul, Turkey.
Alexander Vlahinos Castle Rock, Colo. Graduated with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and a minor in business administration from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. He now works at Schneider Electric in Sacramento, Calif.
Matthew P. Waskiewicz Hadley, Mass. Graduated summa cum laude from American University in Washington, D.C., with bachelor’s degrees in economics and in political science. Received the university’s award for outstanding service for his impact on the campus community.
Peter Zell Lake Mary, Fla. Retired from the fire service after 32 years of dedicated service. Served communities in the Detroit metropolitan area and central Florida. Zell earned many awards, ribbons and citations during his tenure, including the State of Florida’s Distinguished Service Award during Operation Firestorm in 1998. He retired from Orange County Local 2057 of the International Association of Firefighters.
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ACHIEVEMENTS // Family Affair
Eagle Scouting Is a Family Affair Scouting’s highest honor is best shared with other generations of family members. Join NESA in celebrating the families of Eagle Scouts shown below. Recognize the Eagles in your own family by completing the form found at nesa.org/eaglefamilyaffair.
Barnes-Hess Family Whitefish Bay, Wis., and Garden City, N.Y.
Farber Family Huntersville, N.C.
Lennie Family Milwaukee, Wis.
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William Farber Jr. (1979), Andrew Farber (2014) and Nathan Farber (2011)
Don Lennie (1989), Brian S. Lennie (1984), Dylan Lennie (2015), Brian A. Lennie (1956) and Andrew Lennie (1992)
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Tom Barnes (1955), Danny Hess (2014) and Dan Hess (1982)
Beecher Family Tulare, Calif.
Flinchbaugh Family Orlando, Fla.
Leppert Family Louisville, Ky.
Steve Beecher (1978), Leroy Beecher (1957), Bernard Beecher (2009), Matthew Beecher (2010), Alex Galvan (2014), Kenneth Beecher (2003), Gregory Beecher (2005)
Dr. David Edward Flinchbaugh (1952), William David Flinchbaugh (1980) and Karl Louis Flinchbaugh (1988)
Louis Andrew Leppert (1964), Nathan Andrew Leppert (1996) and Joseph Aaron Leppert (1998)
Foster Family Lewisville, N.C.
Mattson Family Frisco, Colo.
Edward Foster (2012) and Robert Foster (2014)
Paul Mattson (1969) and Till Mattson (2014)
Gibbons Family Philadelphia, Pa.
Mihalko Family Uniontown, Pa.
Edward M. Gibbons (1980) and David W. Gibbons (2012)
David Mihalko (2011), Daniel Mihalko (2013) and Timothy Mihalko (2015)
Bishop Family Wayne, N.J.
Sc
Nich and
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Sam Kyle Bishop (2014), Ryan Bishop (2013) and David Bishop (2010)
Sc
Courtney Family Camp Hill, Pa.
Max Courtney (2013) and Andy Courtney (1977)
Heidelbaugh Family Camp Hill, Pa.
Duhn Family Cross Plains, Wis.
Thomas Duhn (1998), Michael Duhn (2001), Erik Duhn (2006) and Stephen Duhn (2015)
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Warren R. Heidelbaugh (1951), Emlen C. Heidelbaugh Jr. (1951), Matthew Heidelbaugh (2015) and Michael Heidelbaugh (1985)
Moore Family Clifton Park, N.Y.
Michael E. Moore (1958), John M. Moore (1982), J. Chandler Moore (2013) and J. Bailey Moore (2015)
EAGLES’ CALL
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Family Affair // ACHIEVEMENTS
Neri Family Shakopee, Minn.
Tarnow Family Milan, Ill.
Shawn Neri (1988) and Brandon Neri (2014)
Matthew Tarnow (1974), Daniel Tarnow (2015) and Joseph Tarnow (2013)
Schmitt Family Pine Brook, N.J.
Nicholas Schmitt (2010), Adam Schmitt (2012) and Gregory Schmitt (2013)
Schneider Family Houston, Texas
Wagner Family Yorktown, Va.
Jeff Wagner (1970), Mark Wagner (1976), Roger Wagner (1977), Austin Wagner (2011) and Adam Wagner (2015)
Walden Family Millville, Mass.
Samuel Schneider (2015) and Charles Schneider (1977)
Schwab Family Dallas, Texas
Thomas Walden (2009) and James Walden (2013)
Wilcox Family Cobham, England
Jim Schwab (1980; Silver Beaver, 2015), Jack Schwab (2014) and JW Schwab (2010)
Wayne Wilcox (1975) and Greg Wilcox (2014)
Smith Family Prescott, Ariz.
Wolf Family Broadview Heights, Ohio
Dr. Preston Smith (1953), Randall Smith (1980) and Adam Smith (2014)
Wong Family Belmont, Calif.
Darryn K. Wong (2008), Dr. Timothy K. Wong (1975) and Ryan K. Wong (2012) United States Postal Service STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION 1. Publication Title: EAGLES’ CALL 2. Publication No.: 2373-7026 3. Date of Filing: Sept. 1, 2016 4. Issue Frequency: Four times a year — Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall 5. No. of issues published annually: 4 6. Annual subscription price: $7.00 7. Complete mailing address of known office of publication: 1325 W. Walnut Hill Lane, P.O. Box 152079, Irving, TX 75015-2079; Contact Person: Judy Bramlett, 972-580-2167 8. Complete mailing address of the headquarters or general business offices of publisher: 1325 W. Walnut Hill Lane, P.O. Box 152079, Irving, TX 75015-2079 9. Full names and complete mailing addresses of publisher, editor, and managing editor: Publisher, Michael Goldman; Editor, Paula Murphey; Managing Editor, Bryan Wendell; all addresses, 1325 W. Walnut Hill Lane, P.O. Box 152079, Irving, TX 75015-2079 10. Owner: Boy Scouts of America, a nonprofit organization, 1325 W. Walnut Hill Lane, P.O. Box 152079, Irving, TX 75015-2079 11. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities: None 12. Tax status (for completion by nonprofit organizations authorized to mail at nonprofit rates). The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes: Has not changed during preceding 12 months. 13. Publication Title: EAGLES’ CALL 14. Issue date for circulation data below: Summer 2016 15. Extent and nature of circulation No. copies Avg. no. copies each of single issue issue during nearest preceding 12 mos. to filing date a. Total No. copies (net press run) 161,751 136,000 b. Paid circulation (by mail and outside the mail) (1) Mailed outside-county paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541 (include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies, exchange copies) 139,879 129,604 (2) Mailed in-county paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541 (include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies, exchange copies) 0 0 (3) Paid distribution outside the mails including sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, counter sales, and other paid outside USPS 0 0 (4) Paid distribution by other classes of mail through the USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail) 0 0 c. Total paid distribution 139,879 129,604 d. Free or nominal rate distribution (by mail and outside the mail) (1) Free or nominal rate outside-county copies included on PS Form 3541 847 834 (2) Free or nominal rate in-county copies included on PS Form 3541 0 0 (3) Free or nominal rate copies mailed at other classes through the USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail) 13,750 0 (4) Free or nominal rate distribution outside the mail (carriers or other means) 0 0 e. Total free or nominal rate distribution 14,597 834 f. Total distribution 154,476 130,438 g. Copies not distributed 7,275 5,562 h. Total 161,751 136,000 i. Percent paid 90.55 99.36 16. Electronic copy circulation: None. 17. Publication of Statement of Ownership: Will be printed in the Fall 2016 issue of this publication. 17. I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties). Michael Goldman, Editorial Director
Randy Wolf (1985), Jack Wolf (2015) and Brian Wolf (1983)
FALL 2016
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