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.