From Virginia to Japan, military teen completes long journey to Eagle Scout

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A Nile C. Kinnick High School student who pursued Scouting across multiple duty stations reached its highest rank this week, completing a four-year journey that took him from the U.S. East Coast to the home of the U.S. 7th Fleet.

Carson Reifsteck, 16, received the Eagle Scout rank, along with its badge, medal and neckerchief, Tuesday during a Troop 35 Court of Honor at Yokosuka’s Ajisai Heights housing tower.

Reifsteck said he began his Scouting career in 2022 with Troop 164 in Arlington, Va. At his Eagle ceremony, he thanked his friends, family and fellow scouts for their support.

“Earning Eagle Scout has been a very long journey across many troops, and I’ve learned a lot along the way – not just about Scouting, but about leadership, responsibility and helping others,” he told approximately 50 people at the ceremony.

Eagle Scout is the highest rank in Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America. Troop 35 Scoutmaster Bill Sadlon said only about 5% of scouts attain the rank.

“You have to earn a significant number of rank advancements, a lot of merit badges and, more importantly, invest yourself as a leader to yourself and everyone around you in a service-oriented way,” he told Stars and Stripes after the ceremony.

Carson Reifsteck receives a round of applause alongside his parents, Laura Reifsteck and Rear Adm. Lincoln Reifsteck, after becoming an Eagle Scout at Yokosuka Naval Base, Aug. 11, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)

Carson Reifsteck, who earned Scouting America’s highest rank, Eagle Scout, thanks his friends, parents and mentors at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, Aug. 11, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)

Carson Reifsteck, left, poses with his Eagle Scout project, a sign for an on-base woodshop, in this undated photo taken at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan. (Bill Sadlon)

Carson Reifsteck, right, and his father, Rear Adm. Lincoln Reifsteck, center, work on a sign for Carson’s Eagle Scout community project in this undated photo taken at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan. (Lincoln Reifsteck)

“It’s a very big accomplishment for him, and it’s not one that commonly occurs,” Sadlon said.

Reifsteck is the third member of Troop 35 to become an Eagle Scout this year, preceded by Lawson Marshall and Hunter Kim, Sadlon said. The troop expects a few more by the end of the year.

Among the requirements is a community service project designed to demonstrate leadership while fulfilling part of the Scout Oath: “To help other people at all times.”

For his project, Reifsteck turned to a little-known woodworking shop near Yokosuka’s Fleet Recreation Center. Working with shop manager Jeremy Generoso, he learned the facility needed a sign to make it more visible to the base community. He described the project as a “win-win” for the workshop and himself.

Reifsteck used yakisugi, a traditional Japanese technique that chars the surface of wood, to make the shop’s new sign. He also built a bin where patrons can obtain scrap wood for free, an amenity he said had been widely requested on base.

His father, Rear Adm. Lincoln Reifsteck, commander of Submarine Group 7, was confirmed by the Senate for promotion to rear admiral (upper half), on July 30, the same day his son passed his Eagle Scout review. The elder Reifsteck, still active in Scouting, said his son’s accomplishment was a greater source of pride than his own promotion.

“To see my son be excited to do this and to experience it together as he was growing up, it was just really awesome,” he said after the ceremony. “I’m really proud of him.”

The admiral said scouting can be particularly valuable for military families who frequently move between communities.

“It’s just a great way to meet friends and have a common activity set together,” he said.