BakerS

In the event of creating a new troop my suggestion would be that you wait a little bit on an SPL. Starting off with a couple of patrol leaders is probably the best place to start. When the time comes to actually select who the SPL will be after a year or two, I would suggest that you (or who ever the scout master is) appoint them instead of holding an election. Don't get me wrong, I love democracy as much as the next guy, but when a troop is in it infancy, the scout master needs to take extra caution in who the leadership is. As much as I hate to say it, elections amongst youth tend to be popularity contests even after carefully explaining to them how important it is for it to not be. When one or more of your scouts shows that they have the skill in leadership that is adequate to lead an entire troop of their peers, then you will know who you should choose. Maybe when they get too old or just don't want to do it anymore you can switch over to the official Boy Scout recommended method of choosing an SPL.

I am very nit picky with uniforms. I originally gave the suggestion at a meeting one time that we do a uniform inspection, its now become something that's done every 2 to 3 months. It being my idea, I get the privilege of doing it myself. I try not to be so critical about it, seeing as not all of our scouts are capable of finding the means of putting their patches on their uniforms. I think that its a great way of getting your scouts to keep their uniforms in tip top shape. Also it gives them the opportunity to learn about all of the different patches and where they go.