________________________________________ The universe is composed of three things: matter, emptiness, and opinions. Unfortunately, the latter two are often confused with one another. ================================================================ Hi Andy, Our troop and district have always told Scouts that they can’t use pressure treated lumber for Eagle service projects and such. But I can’t find anything online stating why, and […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, For the National Outdoor Badge—Camping Segment, if a Scout spends the summer as a camp counselor at his local Scout camp, and stays in the same kind of tent that he would have were he a camper at summer camp, do all those days/nights of camping count toward this badge/segment? (Bob Fales, […]

________________________________________ Have you ever noticed that, when somebody misreads or misinterprets an advancement requirement, it somehow never favors the Scout? Here’s yet another case in point… Hi Andy, My son’s a First Class Scout. He’s just completed all requirements for Star including a total of eight merit badges to date. All eight of his merit […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, We have an 11 year-old Scout who just recently crossed over into our troop. While starting work on his Tenderfoot fitness requirement (10a), he couldn’t do a single pull-up. After 30 days (for 10b) he still couldn’t do a single one. Neither can most of the other new Scouts. In my opinion, […]

________________________________________ Here’s something different… a bona fide SUCCESS STORY! If you’re a regular reader, you already know that I advocate having the Scouts themselves decide what patrols they want to be in (meaning: which friends in the troop they want to hang with). Here’s a letter from Scoutmaster Jeff Freeman on what happens when you’re […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, In the BSA’s JTE (“Journey to Excellence”) program, the color order is Bronze-Silver-Gold. This looks weird. I thought it was supposed to be Bronze-Gold-Silver. What’s the deal here? (H. Sprockette, SM) Yup, that’s the order for JTE: Bronze-Silver-Gold. Even though the BSA has, since 1910, employed Bronze-Gold-Silver (as in Eagle palms, regional […]

________________________________________ Dear Andy, Our troop committee members, together with a district advancement representative, recently conducted an Eagle Scout board of review. We declined the candidate. The vote was unanimous. In the course of the conversation, we touched on the Scout Oath and Law. When it came to reverence, the Scout responded that he had no […]

________________________________________ Hi Andy, My son just crossed over into a pretty good troop. Based on my own experience as a Scout (my two highlights were being elected Senior Patrol Leader and making it to Eagle along with my two best friends) the troop seems to be getting lots of stuff right, like using The Patrol […]

________________________________________ Hello Andy, I’m confused. In your column No. 390 (March 25th), a reader raised a question about Scouts not being able to repeat the Scout Oath, Law, etc., at their boards of review. Part of your answer was: “To put this in further perspective, although it’s fairly standard practice to ask Scouts to repeat […]

________________________________________ The requirement with the fewest words and greatest clarity will be the one most subject to “interpretation.” The volunteer who takes all available training for the position, and the one who takes none, are both called Scoutmaster. All volunteer meetings start late…except the one you’re running late for. In precisely 91.37 percent of all […]