Prospective Eagle Scout Braden Adams has embarked on a project to honor veterans, service members, law enforcement and first responders with a trio of flagpoles, commemorative bricks and landscaping at the site of Christian music festival Rock the Desert.
A member of Boy Scout Troop 1908, 15-year-old Adams said he plans to have three flag poles with the Texas, Rock the Desert and American flags, a brick floor, part of which will include engraved pavers with a veteran’s name, rank and service branch. He added that he also wants to have bricks for law enforcement and first responders.
There will also be benches that people can have names on and a prayer box. Adams said those would be available for a donation of about $1,000. There will also be garden areas with desert-type plants.
Bricks will range in price from $50 to $250, depending on their size.
Gary Callarman, assistant scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 1908, said Adams has tentative approval for the project, but has to turn in the paperwork. He said Adams has already talked to Rock the Desert representatives and they have agreed it would be “an excellent project for them.”
Adams said he wanted to provide flag poles for someone and asked people who might need them. A troop member told him Rock the Desert needed flag poles and Adams said he added the idea for the bricks.
To complete the venture, Adams said he needs to raise about $50,000.
His mother, Brooke Adams, said that amount would be much higher without donations for heavy equipment, lighting, leveling, flag poles and digging holes for the flag poles. She added that contributions of gravel and landscaping also have been pledged.
“It’s an ambitious project,” Callarman said.
Callarman added that when there is an Eagle Scout project going on, people often step up to help because they know what the scouts have gone through to get where they are.
Braden said he hopes to finish around the middle or end of May.
Callerman said the project is a way to give back to the military and recognize them for everything they’ve done.
He added that Eagle Scout projects are meant to teach scouts leadership and organizational skills. Leaders are around to offer guidance, but it’s up to the scout to follow through.
After the project is over, Braden said he will host a dinner thanking everyone for their support and he’s going to try to bring in a special guest – Taya Kyle, widow of U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle, an Odessa native.
Braden said his mother came up with the idea to try and bring Taya Kyle to Odessa. He also talked to his father, Chris Adams, about what to do with the rest of the funds for the project and the dinner and decided to contribute the money to the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation.
The foundation’s website said it was founded by Taya Kyle to honor the life and legacy of service of her husband, “American Sniper” Chris Kyle.
Brooke Adams said she and her children got to meet Taya Kyle at the unveiling of the Chris Kyle statue at State Highway 191 and Faudree Road. “She was amazing,” Brooke Adams said.
She added that photos she took were used by Fox News for its social media feed.
Brooke Adams and her husband have six children.
Callarman said there are currently three scouts in his troop working on the Eagle Scout designation. The troop is three years old.
Braden also will be attending the National Boy Scout Jamboree this summer in West Virginia and Washington, D.C. He will attend as assistant senior patrol leader and webmaster. Braden also is a member of the Order of the Arrow.
