Who decides equipment to buy?

[Eagle92]

TT,

 

I'm just waiting until the youngest can hold his own on backpacking. Oldest is now using my old pack.

 

Right now we are in the "car camp here, let's go hiking here" stage.

[Tampa Turtle]

I am getting into the "let the 50 year old cripple stagger under his backpack" stage.

[Oak Tree]

In our troop the committee will allocate a budget for new equipment for the year. The equipment coordinator and the SM discuss general priorities, and the Equipment Coordinator works with the troop quartermaster and the patrol quartermasters to come up with a list of what is needed.

 

Usually the EC or the SM does the actual ordering of equipment, based on a fairly long history of experience with various equipment and knowing the failure modes, and from having searched out various good values. We did once have a committee member order a bunch of stuff and he got very cheap stuff that failed pretty quickly.

 

My experience is that the Scouts are pretty good at deciding what equipment is actually valuable to them on camping trips, and they know what works and doesn't work.

[SN95GT50]

I have read all the posts and my feelings have not changed much. Earlier I said it is the Troops money let the boys decide, I guess in the end I would change that to its the Scouts who will use the gear they should be the ones to determine what to get. Like I said before, I think it would be naive to think that the Scouts would make all of the right decisions, but I think their decisions would be what they think will work best. As leaders I think it is our obligation to discuss with them their decisions and if we disagree with them explain our reasoning and come to an agreement. Most importantly the Scouts must learn and I don't think that they learn when everything is just handed to them.

[Tampa Turtle]

I think the scouts are a pretty good judge of gear but lousy shoppers. I find we adults at our Troop keep foisting failed equipment strategies on the boys (i.e. Patrol Boxes). This what we did:

 

(1) Extol the glory of the Patrol Box. Response: (yawn)

(2) Decide that NEW patrol boxes will excite them. (boys decline making them)

(3) Boys should "own" patrol box by customization. (parents ended up doing it)

(4) Patrols decay out of abuse and neglect. (parents refinish them)

 

Boys really wanted to do Dutch Ovens. So we haul Dutch Ovens and Patrol Boxes out to camp site.