Julian Chuckrey, Evan Horne and Evan Okamoto recite the Eagle Scout pledge during a ceremony at Yokota Middle School on Yokota Air Base, Japan, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jeremy Stillwagner/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Scouting America Troop 45 in a rare event this week promoted three of its members to the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout.
The three new Eagle Scouts — Julian Chuckrey, Evan Horne and Evan Okamoto — were promoted Wednesday during an on-stage ceremony at Yokota Middle School in front of their families, friends and fellow Scouts.
“The Eagle rank is the top rank for Scouting America, and we’re really celebrating the path to get there,” the scoutmaster, Air Force Col. David McAlroy, director of operations for 5th Air Force, told Stars and Stripes at the event. “It takes most Eagle Scouts anywhere from three to six years to earn it, and it must be completed before their 18th birthday.”
Becoming an Eagle Scout is a prestigious and often surreal moment for Scouts.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Okamoto said in an interview at the event.
To earn the Eagle rank, Scouts must advance through six prior ranks, earn 21 merit badges and complete a service project that benefits their community and demonstrates leadership and management skills, according to a Scouting America website.
Fewer than 10% of Scouts achieve the rank.
For his Eagle Scout project, Okamoto refurbished 13 benches outside the middle school, which took two years thanks to paperwork, approvals and other requirements, he said.
Scouting America Troop 45 scoutmaster David McAlroy gives closing remarks after promoting three members to the rank of Eagle Scout at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jeremy Stillwagner/Stars and Stripes)
Most troops typically award only one Scout the Eagle rank each year, according to McAlroy.
“Another unique thing is two of them did their whole scouting career at Yokota,” he said.
Okamoto is the only one of the three from a military family; Chuckrey and Horne started at Yokota as Cub Scouts.
The ceremony came at a time of uncertainty regarding Scouting America’s support from the Pentagon.
National Public Radio in November reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was planning to end support for Scouting America, according to a draft memo NPR said it obtained. The memo was meant for Congress but had not yet been sent, according to the report.
Hegseth, in the memo, said Scouting America promoted diversity, equity and inclusion and had become an organization designed to “attack boy-friendly spaces,” according to NPR.
Scouting America’s precursor, Boy Scouts of America, emerged from an era of scandals and bankruptcy to become Scouts BSA in 2018, the year it admitted girls into the program, according to an Associated Press report in May 2024. The organization rebranded itself as Scouting America in February 2025.
Hegseth’s plan would eliminate medical and logistical support to the Scouts’ National Jamboree and would bar Scout troops from holding meetings on U.S. military installations, according to NPR.
Newly minted Eagle Scouts receive congratulations during a Court of Honor ceremony at Yokota Middle School on Yokota Air Base, Japan, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jeremy Stillwagner/Stars and Stripes)
“For more than a century, we’ve worked with every U.S. presidential administration — Republican and Democrat — focusing on our common goal of building future leaders grounded in integrity, responsibility, and service,” Scouting America President and CEO Roger Krone said in a Nov. 25 news release following the NPR report. “We will continue our efforts to work with the Pentagon to address this critical issue.”
Scouting America troops meet regularly on military bases in the United States and overseas and would have to make significant changes if the plan moves forward.
“The organization has been through a lot of changes; it’s a pretty old organization, it’ll continue,” McAlroy said.
“I think it has sound principles, and I see a lot of application to preparing young men and women for potential life in the military, so I hope they continue to support it on DOD installations.”
