Andy McCommish

Andy McCommish is the author of the "Ask Andy" columns that appear in the United States Scouting Service Project Internet website (http://www.usssp.org) at (http://netcommish.com). This is an advice column that serves the genre of Scouting worldwide; however it is primarily populated by members of or questions about the U.S. organization, Boy Scouts of America. (source: http://www.usssp.org)

The advice provided is in response to any question asked by a reader that relates in any way to the Scouting movement worldwide. Beginning in the Fall of 2001 on what was apparently to have been a quarterly basis, by early 2002 the columns became monthly; however, by November 2003 the columns became twice-monthly and have more-or-less remained that way ever since (see http://netcommish.com).

On average, columns are at least 5,000 to 7,500 or more words each, meaning that, to date, some million words may be found in these columns. Some are in the Op-Ed motif (see "Are We Really That Smart" and "Fruit Salad, Christmas Trees & Generals," both 2006); the vast majority are of the question-and-answer variety with commentary sprinkled in occasionally. Questions are written by Scouting professional staff, adult volunteers, parents, and Scouts themselves. The author claims to respond personally to every person who writes to him.

The column makes the statement that, "You’ve written to me from 289 councils and direct service areas, across 49 states (all but North Dakota) plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico; the Scouts Canada Thunder Bay Area and Burlington, Ontario; Scouts Australia-Queensland; plus Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, and even Iraq and the “other” BSA: the British Scout Association, including the 1st Carlton Colville Air Scout Group, Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, the Scouting Association of the Republic of Poland, the Singapore Scout Association, a Scouting researcher from Malmo, Sweden, and a Scout Leader from Tasmania."

Andy McCommish is the pen-name of an active volunteer in the Boy Scouts of America, who is himself an Eagle Scout and holder of the Explorer Silver Award, and who was elected into the Order of the Arrow as a Boy Scout. He first became active in the BSA movement in 1950. Later, as an adult volunteer, he served as an Assistant Scoutmaster, Scoutmaster (three times), Cubmaster, Den Leader, and at three different levels of Commissioner. He is presently a Merit Badge Counselor and has counseled 96 Scouts from more than a dozen different troops on a variety of Eagle-required merit badges. He has attended four National Scout Jamborees: Twice as a youth, once as a First Assistant Scoutmaster for a council's Jamboree troop, and once as a member of the National Staff. He attended Schiff Scout Reservation three times: Once as a paticipant in the National Junior Leader Training Course (NJLTC), once as a participant in the National Explorer Elected Leader Training Course (NEELTC), and one entire summer as staff Senior Patrol Leader of the NJLTC program at Schiff. He has attended Philmont Scout Ranch five times: Twice as a Philmont Training Center conference participant (Administration of Council Training [1989] and International Scouting [2008] ) and three times as Staff to the National Junior Leader Instructor Training Course (2001-2002-2003). He holds, among others, the Scouter's Key for Scout Leader, District Committee Member, and Commissioner; the Distinguished Commissioner Award; the Scoutmaster Award of Merit; the District Award of Merit-twice; the Silver Beaver Award; the Daniel Carter Beard Masonic Scouter Award; the Cliff Dochterman Rotarian Scouter Award; and the International Scouter Award.

The author presently resides in New Jersey, where his Scouting "career" began as a youth, and writes nearly daily. His columns are reputed by his readers to be "no-nonsense," "to-the-point," and "always identify the BSA source, when there is one." As noted earlier, the columns are read around the globe,notably the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq.