413 Eagle Scouts graduated from military academies in 2014

If you’re looking for the country’s bravest, most loyal and most trustworthy men and women, look to our nation’s military academies.

And if you’re looking for a ton of Eagle Scouts … well, look there, too.

Given Scouting’s strong support for the military, it should come as no surprise that a disproportionately high percentage of graduates at U.S. military academies are Eagle Scouts, especially when compared to nonmilitary public and private universities.

I polled the nation’s five federal service academies, and representatives from four of the five were able to send me the number of Eagle Scouts in their 2014 graduating class.

Turns out at least 413 Eagle Scouts graduated from our nation’s five military academies in 2014, a number that reflects the level of dedication Eagle Scouts have to our nation.

Across the four academies that responded, about 12.3 percent of graduates are Eagle Scouts. That percentage includes female graduates, so the number would be even higher if you were to only look at male graduates.

Here’s an academy-by-academy breakdown:

U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.

Total number of 2014 graduates: 1,063

Number of Eagle Scout graduates: 139

Percentage: 13.1 percent (Higher if you were to exclude female graduates)

U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.

Total number of 2014 graduates: 1,068

Number of Eagle Scout graduates: 99

Percentage: 9.3 percent. (Higher if you were to exclude female graduates)

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, N.Y.

Total number of 2014 graduates: 225

Number of Eagle Scout graduates: 25

Percentage: 11.1 percent (Higher if you were to exclude female graduates)

U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Total number of 2014 graduates: 995

Number of 2014 graduates who are male: 757

Number of Eagle Scout graduates: 150

Percentage: 19.8 percent (of male graduates)

U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New London, Conn.

I heard back from the public affairs officer at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with this response: “Unfortunately, we do not have data on the actual number of graduates in the class of 2014 who were Eagle Scouts, but there were 214 total graduates in the class.”

If we assume 10 percent of these graduates are Eagle Scouts — which might be lowballing it — that’s another 21 Eagles to add to our total.

Eagle Scouts in our Armed Forces

Are you an Eagle Scout who has served our country? Is someone in your family? Let us know in the comments below so you can be thanked and recognized.


About Bryan Wendell 3281 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.