Y’all have inundated me with questions about “How’s our July 9th Eagle Scout candidate doing?” and the news, I’m happy to report to you, is excellent! Here’s a letter from the Scoutmaster of his former troop… Hi Andy, I’m the current Scoutmaster of this young man’s original troop. Having known him for over five years, […]

Dear Andy, I recently found out that because I’m a recipient of the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service medal I’m allowed to wear the BSA Community Organization Award square knot (gold on purple) on my Scouter uniform. I asked my local council how to obtain it but they haven’t responded in a month. I’ve also received […]

Dear Andy, Several months ago, I sent you an e-mail message regarding an issue my son, Michael, was having with our troop—they wanted to stop him from achieving the rank of Eagle because he didn’t actively participate in his troop, according to their “guidelines.” (Michael was heavily involved in many things other than Scouts, including […]

The letter you’re about to read is true. I’ve deleted some minor details and all names in order to protect the parties to this, but everything you’re about to read happened… Dear Andy, I’m a Life Scout, age 17 (I’ll be 18 in seven months). I earned Life rank in the troop I was in […]

Dear Andy, I’m just catching up on your recent columns and spotted several questions that were posted to you. You might like to know that your responses are supported and reinforced by very recently added scouting.org supplemental website pages. Here’s a new BSA link with a wealth of information on rank advancement and the board […]

Jack Welch, of General Electric fame, now writes a column much like my own for readers of Business Week. Recently he was asked how a company can keep its employees productive and loyal. His answer focused on three key ingredients: Keep it fun, keep it challenging, keep it rewarding. (Yup, he did say “fun”—I don’t […]

Oh, Boy do I have a bunch of sharp-eyed readers! Here are two who are helping me get up to speed… Hey Andy, The BSA has allowed Venturers (of either gender) to be Den Chiefs for the last couple of years. This means that that female Venturer most certainly can go through Den Chief training, […]

Hi Andy, We’re having a pack camping trip and we advised the families in our pack that a parent or legal guardian would need to come on the trip with each boy, as only these could sleep in a tent with their own child. Now, we have a single parent who doesn’t want to come […]

If you’re reading this column and you’re in MONTANA, NORTH DAKOTA, or WYOMING please take a quick break and shoot me an email. I’ve received letters from folks in all but these states. So think of this as a “roundup” and just send me a quick message to let me know. THANKS! Dear Andy, I […]

If you’re reading this column right now and you’re in Arkansas or Montana or North Dakota or Wyoming, please stop and email me right now to tell me this! Y’see, I’ve received letters from folks in 257 councils across the country, covering all states but those four. I’m betting there are some readers in these […]