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 […]

Hey Andy, Our troop is trying to verify some past Eagle Scouts to get a tally of how many we’ve had over the years. We have three who are said to be Eagle Scouts but we can’t find any records to prove it. Is there a national record somewhere that extends all the way back? […]

Do YOU subscribe to American Scouting Digest? I’ve been honored in their current issue with a section running eight full pages. Learn more about this excellent independent magazine at www.scoutingdigest.com Here’s a follow-up on the Green Zone CSPs. They’re $10 each and can be ordered directly from: Karl Johnson PSC 559, Box 6527 FPO, AP […]

We need today, right now, at this very moment, to take a profound lesson from Liviu Librescu, engineering science and mathematics lecturer at Virginia Tech, born in Romania, who on the anniversary date of the Holocaust remembrance, made a decision in the full knowledge of what was about to happen—knew and made it anyway—to save […]