The Bloggers
A long-running question-and-answer column for Scouters, issue by issue.
Showing 1–50 of 415 · page 1 of 9. Each title opens the post in a new tab.
December 24, 1992, Southern California. Early evening. My 12-year-old Scout son and I are hunting for a tree. It’s been a difficult year. I’ve done my best to keep a bright face. Fact is, I’m pretty much in survival mode.
Hi Andy, About that Scout who used an outdated merit badge workbook, I’d like to offer an alternative view on why he grabbed that worksheet and started in before contacting a counselor. My guess is that somewhere along the way, the notion that it’s all about “capturing” the next badge (rather than learning about brand-new…
(Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Just drop a line to me at [email protected]) THIS IS FOR ALL SCOUTS… Never believe anyone who claims you don’t “deserve” your next rank! Only YOU can request—and absolutely expect to receive—your Scoutmaster conference and your board of review!
Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Just drop a line to me at [email protected]. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE! A surgery to repair a severely injured right shoulder rotator cuff three months ago put my right arm in a sling 24/7.
Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Just drop a line to me at [email protected]. Here are some spectacular responses to September 15th questions! First, Game Design Merit Badge… Hi Andy, About that Scout completing Game Design, the BSA says “Approval of the Application for Merit Badge…
Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Just drop a line to me at [email protected]. Dear Andy, We have a Scout who completed all the work for the Game Design merit badge over the course of a year and a half.
________________________________________ Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Just drop a line to [email protected]. Dear Andy, I should start by saying that I could not be more proud of the Scouts and Scouters here at President Ford Field Service Council.
________________________________________ Some time back, there was a question about why it’s not in the best interests of the Scouts you serve to delegate your Scoutmaster conferences to someone else—not even an Assistant Scoutmaster. Here’s a reason for not delegating, from a long-time Scoutmaster and frequent contributor.
________________________________________ Hi Folks! The surgery went well, and although it’s taken a little while, I’m back in action. So here we go… Hi Andy, Well, I wrote to our BSA National Office about the discrepancies in the definitions of the points of the Scout Law, and I did get a response.
________________________________________ Hi Folks! I’m going to have a bit of surgery tomorrow, to fix a physical problem that’s been buggin’ me for a while, and that’ll knock me out of action for several days. So here’s an “advance” column and I’m hoping to be back to you by the week of August 24th… Just the other…
________________________________________ This letter is for a fellow commissioner who’d prefer not to be named: You asked be about a troop’s erstwhile “executive committee” and a policy they’d recently set. Now we know there’s no such thing associated with a Scouts BSA troop: All troops have a committee of men and women willing to roll up their…
________________________________________ Last week’s column rang some bells! Here’s what some folks had to say about training and guiding Senior Patrol Leaders and Patrol Leaders, BSA resources available, district “diplomacy” and the need to avoid “politicos” and “power hogs”… Hi Andy, You’ve hit the nail-head again!
________________________________________ Hi Andy, We’ve got a sticky situation here and it crosses several levels. We need some outside, non-partisan help and you’re the guy for that, so here it is… I’m a District Commissioner and have a bunch of pretty darned good Unit Commissioners on the front-lines.
Issue 648 – July 21, 2020 ________________________________________ (The correspondence immediately below is from in July 2018. I’m offering it to you here because I believe it calls up an issue that has—I certainly hope—been put to rest, as a result of the huge enthusiasm of girls everywhere, many of whom have grabbed on to SCOUTS BSA “like…
________________________________________ Hi Folks! On Monday, our fifth grandchild (bringing the “count” to three boys and two girls, the youngest now two days old and the oldest approaching his 19th birthday in October) was born healthy and noisy in Washington, DC, to our Eagle Scout son and his beautiful wife!
________________________________________ Hi Andy, In your column last week—June 30, Issue 646—you talked (accurately) about “dark” troops and tenure-in-position. I’ve done some further checking and there’s an even more COVID-19-specific reference that includes the GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT you mentioned for the Scout who is Senior Patrol Leader of a presently “Covid-dark” troop.
________________________________________ Dear Andy, Unlike other Scouts in his troop, my son (let’s call him “David”) decided to complete his Eagle Service Project before taking care of other requirements like merit badges, tenure-in-position, and so forth. His project was a success and his merit badges came along just fine, but tenure-in-position has become a problem and we…
________________________________________ Hi Andy, Last week, while your answer to John Walker about current camping protocols was correct, it was incomplete. The BSA has guidelines that have been specifically put out on how to count “virtual camping” toward advancement, and also for Order of the Arrow camping requirements.
________________________________________ Hi Andy, Given the restrictions now in place as a result of our country’s Covid-19 circumstances, do you think there’s any room for exceptions to the “camping nights” requirements for rank advancement and Camping merit badge? For instance, do you think the BSA would say it’s okay for a Scout to count camping nights from…
________________________________________ Hi Andy, One of the joys of my Scouting activities is serving as the council representative for Eagle boards of review. I had my first one tonight, since social distancing was put in place. It’s always rewarding to welcome a hard-working, happy Scout to the rank of Eagle Scout.
________________________________________ Troop 5 of North Bergen, New Jersey was founded in 1916. In its long and storied history, it served generation upon generation of boys and young men, touching their lives in myriad ways and always true to the Scout Oath and Scout Law.
________________________________________ Hi Andy, Inspired by Ken King’s recent posting of the famous Ashley Book of Knots, here’s a question… Let’s say I need to join the ends of two hanks of the same kind (and diameter) of rope. Assuming the rope is woven like parachute cord and not “laid” or a monofilament, which one of these…
________________________________________ Several weeks ago, a discrepancy in the descriptions of the points of the Scout Law was pointed out to me. The online versions (verify these for yourself at https://www.scouting.org/about/faq/question10/ ). You’ll notice that these tend to take all self-determination away from Scouts; instead, they’re much more like “rules” and, as such, they eschew Scouts’ self-evaluations as…
________________________________________ Hey Andy, How do I search all 638 of your issues a specific topic without having to open every individual issue? (Tony) There’s deliberately no index. That’s because there are rarely “blanket” answers that will apply to every nuance of every situation folks have been writing to me about these past 19 years!
________________________________________ Hi Andy, I’m sure this has been asked before, but I just can’t find the answer… We’ve been told that a Scout can’t ask for a board of review until after he or she has been active in current rank for six months.
________________________________________ The story below is originally from NorthJersey.com and NBC Nightly News, and I’m thrilled to included it here (I was raised in New Jersey and earned my Eagle rank there). Our friend “Bryan on Scouting” also published this. Enjoy! “Sometimes music can say more than words.
________________________________________ Looking for a new way to talk about Scouting to a friend, a co-worker, or a possible major donor? Here’s a brilliant video that describes the essence of Scouting as an EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION. It’s narrated by a personal Scouting friend of more than 30 years—Mr.
________________________________________ Dear Readers, I’ve seen various “gallows humor” emails floating around, and the occasional wry comment on social media, and these have impelled me to consider today. As many if not most of you already know, I’ve been writing special “April Fool’s Day” columns for you since 2007.
________________________________________ Remember my “Rule 26”? Here it is: A bought neckerchief slide is gonna get lost; a hand-made slide, never! I’ve seen lots of photos of Scouts recently. Some are of boys in their Scouts BSA troops, and some are of girls in their Scouts BSA troops.
________________________________________ These are the times that try our souls (Thank you, Thomas Paine) . Everywhere, we’re hunkering down, staying safe, staying clean, staying as healthy as conditions and our constitutions allow. Bluntly, our country is in lock-down. This is the wise decision and the right thing to do.
________________________________________ Hi Andy, We have a troop of some one hundred Scouts, all active and involved, and we’re still growing modestly every year. But this year, we gained twenty new Scouts all at once! They crossed over from two different packs and so creating three new-Scout patrols was pretty easy.
________________________________________ I believe I’ve got the sharpest gang of readers on the planet! Thank you! Here’s some solid information that came in only a few hours after last week’s column was published… Hi Andy, Always enjoy reading your articles and advice.
________________________________________ Several readers had good points to make about some of the issues that have recently come up. Here they are, and they’re worth a read! Hi Andy, Great answer on that troop discipline issue! I’d add that there’s no such thing as a “troop discipline committee” – that’s ultimately the job of the Scoutmaster.
________________________________________ Hi Andy, I’m the Chartered Organization Representative for a Scouts BSA troop. Unlike the prior person in this slot, who was an “in title only” sort of guy, I’ve been pretty involved with the committee chair and Scoutmaster. Currently, the three of us are updating the troop’s “discipline policy” documents.
________________________________________ Hi Andy, I saw that stuff last week about that district that was insisting on holding their own boards of review for Star and Life ranks. Boy, they must have a whole lot of volunteers sitting around twiddling their thumbs for them to have enough time for such a non-essential (and completely “illegal”) job!
________________________________________ I’ve been thrown a lot of curve-balls in the past 19 years, and this one sits pretty near the top… But it’s sure a winner when it comes to the reply, which I usually omit but I’m making an exception today.
________________________________________ Hi Andy, My son has started his first year in Scouts. So far, four troop meetings have gone by and no requirements have been done yet for being a Scout in the troop. When he asked about doing merit badges—he had picked three pretty easy ones to start himself off with—he was told not to…
________________________________________ Hi Andy, In your column last week, you helped an Eagle Scout straighten out the real date of his board of review. I’m also glad to see that the board of review member who was blatantly wrong was taken away.
________________________________________ Dear Andy, Last night was my board of review for Eagle. It went okay and they told me that I’m an Eagle Scout, but the date they said it’s going to be is last week and not yesterday. That’s because the man who was the chair of my board of review said that, because there…
________________________________________ This was supposed to have been a Christmas issue, on December 25th. Obviously, that didn’t happen—the result of a family tragedy from which we’re not yet fully recovered. Thanks for your patience. Here it is, as originally written for you.
________________________________________ Hi Andy, The “position of responsibility” requirement for Star rank states: “While a First Class Scout, serve actively in your troop for four months in one or more of the following positions of responsibility…” One of our Scouts was Assistant Senior Patrol Leader (“ASPL”) at summer camp for a week this past July.
________________________________________ (Here’s another column that was delayed while we fixed our glitches…) Dear Andy, Unfortunately, our troop’s Committee Chair has been bullying our Senior Patrol Leader over our planned orienteering project for “Webelos Woods.” He just sent our SPL an email (yes, he copied others too, which is how I came to see it) that criticized…
________________________________________ (Yes, I’m up and running again, thanks to our fabulous USSSP “team”! Here’s a November column I couldn’t post until now. Others are right behind this one!) Here are some comments on troop-level merit badge “classes,” merit badge fairs, and such, from a few weeks ago… Hi Andy, At a recent troop committee-and-parent meeting, the…
________________________________________ Yup, I actually do take vacations, and one is coming up starting tomorrow. I’ll be back with more answers on November 12th. So, in the meantime… Happy Scouting! Andy
________________________________________ Hi Andy, I read with interest your reply a couple of weeks ago about merit badge “colleges.” Your thoughts on their value (or lack of) mirrored my own experience with them. Earlier this year I was asked to “teach” a merit badge at our council’s Merit Badge College.
________________________________________ Last week’s issue featured a letter from a fictitious “Scout Mom”—Mrs. Ima Koddler—voicing a plethora of complaints about how her twin 17 year-old Life rank, lackadaisical sons—Brawley and Crawley—were being hindered in her (not their!) quest to shove them through to Eagle rank.
________________________________________ Dear Andy, I’ve hit a big road-block and don’t know where to turn. I hope you can help me. My twin sons, Brawley and Crawley, are Life Scouts and 17 years old. They have just a little bit to go, and their 18th birthday is only about three weeks away!
________________________________________ Hi Andy, Every year, our council holds a “Merit Badge College” for Scouts. It’s done classroom-style and attendance is usually pretty good. Lots of Scouts show up, especially for some of the Eagle-required merit badges. But this year, there’s a new rule that we haven’t had before.
________________________________________ Hi Andy, In last week’s column you said to Scouts: “For each merit badge you’d like to earn, go to your Scoutmaster first, and tell him of your interest. After a brief chat with you, your Scoutmaster will give you a signed Blue Card along with the name and contact information for at least one…
________________________________________ Navigating the course to EAGLE – A Few Hints My column last week apparently struck some chords. Thanks to all of you readers who let me know I was on the right track! Here are a couple of letters from you all… Hi Andy, I always look forward to Ask Andy but I loved this issue.
