WIESBADEN, Germany - Ben Barnhart was in good company when he became an Eagle Scout at a Boy Scout Court of Honor ceremony Jan. 17.
Not only were there 21 other Eagle Scouts in attendance at the Hainerberg Chapel, but among them was his father, Lt. Col. Vincent Barnhart, a Boy Scout leader and medical director of the Wiesbaden Health Clinic.
All Boy Scouts must complete a public service project in order to achieve the highest rank in Boy Scouts. Ben Barnhart, 18, fixed up the Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation air rifle range in the Tony Bass Fitness Center, and earned 21 merit badges to receive the honor.
Dr. Robert Schloesser, USAG Wiesbaden’s FMWR director, Boy Scouts’ Transatlantic Council executive board member and Eagle Scout since 1951, said he had never seen so many Eagle Scouts at a Court of Honor.
Ben Barnhart, who is a senior at Wiesbaden High School and plans to study criminal justice at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks next year, said he encourages anyone who’s eligible to join Scouts.
“You learn a lot of skills and receive a lot of benefits from it,” said the new Eagle Scout.
Not only that, but scouting has taught him how to be a better neighbor and citizen, said the younger Barnhart.
Completing the Eagle Scout project also taught him leadership skills, he said.
While completing the project, he oversaw the work of 15 other people. He said he personally devoted between 40 and 50 hours to the project. But including the hours of those who helped him, the improvements took about 100 hours to complete.
Ben Barnhart said he has lived in Wiesbaden for seven years, but previously lived in Alaska for eight years. That is one of the reasons he hopes to go to college there.
“I always wanted to go back,” he said.
Vincent Barnhart said he became an Eagle Scout in 1982 by improving a section of the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania.
Watching Ben become an Eagle Scout was what the elder Barnhart said he calls a “harvest moment.”
The proud father said, every parent knows that parenting can sometimes be a struggle, but there are times when the guidance and hard work pay off. Ben’s achievement of the Eagle Scout rank was definitely one of those moments.
Wiesbaden Troop 107 Scoutmaster Jeff Stone, In a speech before the audience, reminded Ben and the other Eagle Scouts in attendance that the honor comes with responsibilities and the need to take care of those responsibilities.
“Eagles can soar, but weasels never get sucked into jet engines,” said Stone, sharing an adage from the aviation field implying that even though challenges will come with such responsibilities, it is always better than never trying.
There is no end to the Eagle trail, Stone said. Even after an Eagle Scout leaves Earth, his spirit lives on.
Ben’s mother, Andrea Barnhart, was also in attendance with her parents, who were visiting from Utah. Hopefully, more people will know about the air rifle range because of Ben’s project, said his mother.
“I’m just really proud of Ben for getting to this point,” she said.