My son's BS troop does NOT provide troop tents. They have a few tents that were donated - usually used by newbies that haven't yet purchased their own tents, but we've found that personally-owned tents are treated much MUCH better than troop tents.

Alps Mountaineering provides very good discounts for Scouts and Scouters (adult leaders) and decent basic gear.

The patrols' cooking gear, water jug, and dining fly are indeed kept and maintained by the troop. That includes a Coleman 2-burner propane stove, a 20 lb tank w/ hose, the standard big aluminum cook kit (pots/pans), utensils, a Harbor Freight dutch oven, a cast iron fry pan, 3 wash tubs, and some misc. They have Coleman lanterns, but I don't see them as a must have (headlamps do just fine).

They use plywood patrol boxes. They weigh a ton (for young boys) I'm tending to think Rubbermaid Roughneck tubs would work better - lighter, easy to replace if needed, waterproof, ...