________________________________________ The letter from the young Eagle Scout who became subject to a “bait-and-switch” by his own board of review that appeared in my October 20th column sparked any number of responses. Here are two… Dear Andy, I just read your October 20th column—in particular the letter from that young Eagle Scout whose council rep. […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, I’m an Eagle Scout. I’m now 20. I’d earned Life rank when I was 13, but just couldn’t find the right Eagle Scout Service Project that I wanted to do (I had lots of suggestions for the next more than four years about building shelves, making birdhouses, replanting shrubbery, repainting sheds, etc., […]

________________________________________ So here I am, with some time to spare between Scouting events, my family’s goings-on, and business priorities. I’m happily reading another issue of a Scouting blog—an official one, in fact. I’ve been reading its issues for some time now. Pretty good stuff, by-and-large. But this one’s different. Near the bottom of a short […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, In a recent column you said there’s no place for merit badges in the troop meeting program or on campouts. I thought there was a portion of troop meetings for skills instruction. In our troop, we have the Scouts arrange to do merit badges, and we set aside the skills instruction time […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, I was a Scout in my troop and now that I’ve aged out I’m an Assistant Scoutmaster. I have some concerns about how the troop’s being run and I’m hoping to get some clarifications from you on a few questions. First, is a Scoutmaster supposed to sit on the troop committee? And […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, I read your column with the question about Scoutmasters taking over the announcements really hit home—it could have been written about me! We have a good troop that’s active, uniformed, and youth-run. Thanks to you, I just made a commitment that the Senior Patrol Leader will no longer stand on the sidelines […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, How much involvement in troop meetings by the adults is too much? In our troop, for example, the Senior Patrol Leader may be describing the activities for an upcoming campout so that the Scouts will be able to pack accordingly, and the Scoutmaster may supplement the SPL’s description with a lengthier one […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, I’m re-reading “What Would You Do?” (page 22) in the May-June 2013 issue of SCOUTING Magazine. I’m troubled. There seems to be a disconnect between the contents of this feature and not only Scouting processes and procedures but with Scouting’s fundamental principles as well. The question posed is “Getting Scouts to Eagle,” […]

________________________________________ “Okay,” I began, “How many kids are there in a troop of perfect size?” I paused. Then, “Okay, everybody have a number in mind? Good. Now, here’s the answer to ‘how many kids are in a perfect-sized troop’… are you ready? It’s…Zero. That’s right: Zero.” Puzzled looks abounded from the hundred and fifty or […]

________________________________________ The NATIONAL JAMBOREE was a hoot! Over 27,000 Scouts and Venturers (the Venturing guys and gals looked great in green—wonderful additions!) supported by close to 3,000 volunteers. The venues, ranging from all sorts of shooting activities, dragon boats on the lake, five miles of zip lines, and spectacular arena shows, were all wonderful experiences […]