________________________________________ *** CHICAGOLAND ALERT *** The Chicago Area Council’s annual University of Scouting is coming up on Saturday, November 15th. It’s going to be held at the Veterans Memorial Campus, 4248 West 47th Street, Chicago. Registration opens at 7:30 a.m., and the program kicks off at 8 a.m. sharp! I’m honored to be the Keynote […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, I’m a pretty new Scoutmaster. About a week ago I met an “old” Scout in our troop for the first time in a very long while. He hasn’t been to a troop meeting, he told me, in probably two years, and hasn’t been to more than maybe five meetings over the last […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, Looking at the Cooking merit badge requirements, I’m wondering how to handle the requirements on planning and preparing meals, for instance as sole individual tasks or as patrol member and patrol cooking tasks, for example requirement 4(a): “Prepare and serve for yourself and two others, the two dinners, one lunch, and one […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, We’re in a pickle… We have two early high school-age Scouts: “Zack” and “Zeke.” Recently, one of their classmates at school posted a Facebook photo of Zack and, seeing it, Zeke posted a comment that Zack “looked like a faggot.” Zack’s parents obviously got upset about this, and it got worse after […]

________________________________________ YUP, YOU’RE RIGHT! I MISSED LAST WEEK. I WAS FINALLY STATE-SIDE AGAIN, BUT THE MOUNTAIN OF ENVELOPES-WITH-WINDOWS (AND I DON’T MEAN MICROSOFT!) AND RIVER OF EMAILS THAT DECIDED TO ACCUMULATE AT OUR DOORSTEP WHILE WE WERE ON THE HIGH SEAS JUST ABOUT BURIED AND DROWNED US, SIMULTANEOUSLY. SO NOW, WITH THINGS SORTA BACK UNDER […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, I’m a Senior Patrol Leader with a “problem Scout” in our troop, and I could use some help in deciding what to do. On our troop’s most recent camp-out, this Scout put several others in danger while he was cooking, by igniting bacon grease. I’d told him several times before he did […]

Issue 413 – September 9, 2014 ________________________________________ Hi Andy, You’ve told us many times how to remove a volunteer, but how do you remove a Scout Executive and a Council President? Without going into all the gory details, our council has these two guys who subscribe to the “My Way or Highway” school of management. […]

Issue 412 – September 3, 2014 ________________________________________ Dear Andy, A while back, you published a letter about a Scout who had been denied his Eagle rank at his board of review for the dubious claim that he “lacked Scout spirit.” I nearly cried when I read that letter. What a horrible, horrible thing to put […]

________________________________________ Hi Andy, Does the BSA have any sort of instructional film or video (a “reality show” would be even better!) that shows a troop being run as it’s supposed to be run, including what meetings look like (the SPL’s in charge), how PLC meetings are run (chaired by the SPL), how troops go camping […]

________________________________________ Hi Andy, We have a three-way mini-controversy going on here that maybe you can help with. It’s about Commissioners-as-unit leaders. One of us is saying that A Unit Commissioner can also be a unit leader (i.e., direct leader), just not for his or her own unit. Another is saying that Commissioners can’t hold a […]