We did a cub scout camp out last month and my son's small Camelbak Mini Mule wasn't big enough for carrying much. So I was looking at the larger $50 Camelbak Scout and at that time the BSA store had them on sale for $40 so it worked out well.
This is the now his BOB and what we used at the camp out.


Contents:
Cabelas hiking pants,
Polarmax base layer shirt
Polarmax base layer pants
Pair of gloves
Two pair of Wigwam hiking socks
Rite in Rain notepad with golf pencil
Emergency Poncho
Mess kit
Toiletry bag with wipes,hand sanitizer, toothbrush and toothpaste, cough drops, etc
Snacks
Flashlight and extra batteries.

The 1.5L water bladder is in thee backpack and he has two .5L Camelbak kids better bottles for the side pockets.
The pack also has an emergency whistle on the sternum strap buckle.

Still needs a few things but getting there.

Great kit, Eugene! We're just about to take our Pack out for a weekend in the bush with their survival kits, many of them for the first time. A kit like this would be a perfect start for any of them.

Thanks, we did an overnight a couple weekends ago with it, I was just repacking for this weekend as were going to my parents in WV and they don't have phone or power yet from Sandy.

I hope your son loves the Scouts program. It's a great way for kids to learn and socialize, and a fabulous opportunity parent-kid time too. He's obviously off to a great start!

I'd go with a much lighter flashlight

Question- most of it makes great sense to me.
confused on purpose of mess kit, with lack of things to cook- unless it is for water purification, in which case, wouldn't a steel bottle and bail be more space efficient?


I was looking at something similar for my scout. Like overall concept, looking forward to your feedback.

I'm not sure about Eugene's son's Pack, but when we take our pack camping, we take care of all their food via group meals, except the snacks in their survival kits. They are often asked to bring their own mess kits for meals, and we build in the opportunity to teach them how to wash dishes. (and also lead by example in showing the how to make fewer dishes to clean.) By they time they hit Scouts and we expect them to be fairly independant, they're in pretty good shape if they've come through the ranks.

I think asking them to bring a mess kit is great. Yeah, eventfully it'll probably get tossed to save weight and space, but for now it's a great lesson in responsibility and teamwork.

At 6 years old and just starting in Cubs, this kit is a good solid kit for a one or two overnighter. Of course, I'm sure there are sleeping bags, outerwear, etc... taken along for the weekend too.

p.s. If I'm wrong on that assumption, and you do let them do the survivorman thing, my 9 year old would like to join your Pack,Eugene!

The pack does the large meal kitchen thing, said the older kids are required to have mess kits and his age it was optional. This one was a cheapie $5 I found, so this works as a BOB and cub scout pack.
Though we use it at least once a week for dinner

I should add that as my BOB matures I'm looking at adding a cooking module to it. Normally I separate cooking gear into INCH layer and try to keep simple food in the BOBs. But as we do more 'mock bug outs' I want to be able to cook a meal or two. So I'm looking for mess its for other family members and stove/meal prep for me. I have a small cutting board and my Buck Travelmate in mine. I added a small spork to everyone elses.

Needs a head torch. AA or AAA. L.E.D for choice.
Let's him use both hands and two torches are better than one.

I do have headlights, but they take coin batteries and keep turning themselves on and running the batteries dead so I've taken them out of the BOB's for now.

I am another advocate of headlamps. There are quite a few models that will take AAAs or AAs and will resist spontaeous turn on quite handily. Variable brightness levels are also readily available.

One of the challenges I found with headlamps when my son as six, was that the temptation to open the battery pack was irresistable. They were easily broken becuase those little tabs that secure the battery covers aren't very sturdy in a lot of lights. Not trying to dissaude, I love headlamps too, just something to keep in mind when shopping for one. My solution was to buy less expensive ones and being prepared to buy another sooner than I'd like. if you kit it in the kit and keep an eye on the kit, they have a much longer life.

My kids do the same thing, give them a flashlight before bed and you better have a spare to use to look for the parts under the bed in the morning.
I keep packs of small light sticks now, the little ones people give out for Halloween and similar. Pull out the tube full at bedtime and let them pick a color for bed.
I do need to research and get a headlamp for myself, holding my maglight while cooking dinner on the wood stove was a little unhandy.
We visited my parents, who now have no electricity, phone, or gas since Sandy, they have been keeping the refrigerator and freezer running from their small generator and all the neighbors worked to cut downed trees off of the roads so they were mostly passable. They ran out of propane a couple days ago so they no longer have hot water even unless they heat it on the wood stove.
We got there sat afternoon and left this morning, wasn't too bad for us, basically like camping. Weather was nice so we didn't use much of our preps at all. I left one of my bulk packs of AA's for them and they are now going to get on my family cell plan so they have some backup communications.

I forgot, besides headlamps I need to get small battery powered clocks to prevent the "is it time to get up yet" questions at 4:15am.

Didn't we have a thread on here about headlamps recently. I'm trying to find a decent one that will run on 2AA's. I find a lot of 3 AAA but I'm nearly standardized on AA's, I hate to go and add AAA's to thee mix.

Well, if we didn't, candle power forums has a complete subforum for headlamps, replete with lots of comments from aficianodos.

When you say AA headlamps, I immediately think of
Zebralight. Their models are single AA, but that just means that with a spare, you have double the run time. For me, runtime is the most important characteristic of any light - could I use it to hike all night or use in a cave on an extended trip?

I'd also add some reflective tape to the outside. Easier to find the pack, easier to find the kid.

Great idea, Teacher! When my son was younger, we attached one of those battery powered reflective strips to his pack. It worked just like reflective tape in the day time and then we could turn it one to flash at night. Relfective tape would be cheaper and as long as you have a light, you'll be able to spot it and him.

Good one.Was it mentioned one of those dog collar lights? They can be seen a long way at night,use little power to flash multi color LED,very bright. I think one of those on a jacket zipper......

Plus they are great for pets as advertised.

Take em to the Neil Diamond concert,when he turns to your section,open palms with light in each...His eyes pop open and he gives you a BIG smile,much fun!


Must order some more,fine little flashers,best pet flashers weve used,and tried several.Last a Looooong time.

deal extreme.1.93,free shipping!
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Nite-Ize makes a variety of small led lights which can be attached to just about anything. I use them to tag my scouts when moving around at night, especially in a crowded area. I can tell which ones are mine. Check Amazon, REI, or Gander Mountain, they all carry a lot of Nite-Ize stuff.

Those Camelbak packs have several bright reflective strips already on them.