MILFORD, Iowa | For Boy Scouts Troop 170, the number is soaring. And set to fly higher.
That number, 63, represents how many Boy Scouts have become Eagle Scouts under the direction of Bob Eilers and Mick Umscheid, troop leaders for Troop 170.
The irony? Neither one of them was an Eagle Scout. Eilers, a Milford native, wasn't even in scouts as a boy. Umscheid, also a native of Milford, participated in scouting until he was 13, when Troop 170 disbanded for a few years.
"I began participating as a leader in 1981," says Eilers, 70. "I went to camp with Scoutmaster Robert Koppert and he told me he needed help. My wife, Kathy, encouraged me to get involved."
Eilers noticed the enjoyment Koppert derived from his leadership position. He began assisting and his sons, Kirk and Kent Eilers, became scouting mainstays. Both Kirk and Kent earned their Eagle awards in 1990 and 1993, respectively.
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Umscheid, like Eilers, came about a leadership position through Koppert, who insisted Troop 170 needed a few more adults involved.
"Bob said that at some point, someone would also have to help fill his shoes," Umscheid said. "So, I got started helping in 1988. And six years after that, my son Ben became a Boy Scout."
Ben Umscheid was added to the impressive roster of Troop 170 Eagle Scouts in 1998.
Since 1982, Eilers says, there have been 63 Eagle Scout awards presented to members of Troop 170. Before that time, there were at least a couple, and maybe a few more, though the records aren't available for that era.
"There would most likely be other Eagle Scouts from here in the 1960s and 1970s," Umscheid said.
And, others are coming. Four members of the Boy Scouts here are currently on track to earn their Eagle Scout award at some point.
"We've had Eagle Scouts as young as 13," said Umscheid, a district representative for the Eagle board. "The oldest would be 18, unless a young man had a special-needs extension."
Umscheid, 62, said he enjoyed Koppert's company and demeanor more than he did working with boys when he became involved three decades ago. Koppert, a high school industrial arts teacher, was known as a strict taskmaster, who carried his classroom personality over to his work in the Boy Scouts.
"He could be rough and gruff, but that's how he kept discipline," Umscheid said.
These days, Umscheid enjoys taking a longer view, seeing how an 11-year-old grows from being a boy to graduating as a young adult. Some go on to serve as chiropractors, bankers and street superintendents in Milford, to name but a few.
Troop 170 has, in the past, taken in members from the nearby communities of Lake Park, Spencer and Estherville, if conditions warranted such action, namely, if a town had lost its charter because of declining membership.
Attracting and keeping Boy Scouts can represent a struggle in today's climate, one in which school and work demands, extracurricular activities and club sports can dominate one's schedule.
"We went to meeting on Sunday nights back in 1994 as a way to help kids be able to make the meeting," Umscheid said.
Back in the 1990s, Troop 170 counted 28 members on its roster. That number dipped to about a half-dozen Boy Scouts five to six years ago.
"It's cyclical," Eilers said.
Among the memorable Eagle Scout projects in Milford, both men agreed that an undertaking by Reed Jensen in 2015 helped better the community. Jensen directed an effort to re-set benches serving visitors to Florence Park, just east of the high school.
"He took those crooked park benches, re-landscaped the area around them, put bricks beneath each bench and put in cobblestone," Umscheid said.
Another project involved the painting of house numbers on curbs throughout the Dickinson County community. Tony Halbur piloted that effort as part of his 1990 Eagle Scout award.
Both men lauded adult leaders for their roles in keeping Troop 170 as part of this active community. Linda Nase, for example, is one adult leader who has raised three Eagle Scouts and will soon have a daughter who will earn the women's equivalent of the award.
Umscheid and Eilers also credited Milford's American Legion Post 384 for continuing its work as a sponsor and host of Troop 170. The Legion has a building east of downtown Milford and offers half of the site to Troop 170 for its meeting site and as a place in which to work on projects.
Eilers, a U.S. Marine who was injured in Vietnam in December 1966, is a member of the American Legion who extends the tie between the Legion and the Boy Scouts, a bond solidified for years by Koppert.
"The Legion has always been the Boy Scout sponsor," Eilers said. "And I'll keep leading the scouts as long as the good Lord allows."
