I agree with what John wrote. Here are a few random thoughts:

The boys tend to add things to their pack as they aspire to whatever nifty gadget some adult has. Unfortunately, they tend to NOT remove items they are already carying... the first year ready pack is about right, the second year pack is 50% heavier, the third year pack is larger and at least twice as heavy... this is all exacerbated by well-intentioned parents who purchase, well, really wierd stuff as well as unservicable look-alike junk. Plan to deal with those problems.

Add a small sewing kit and extend that into a small repair kit. A little duct tape, a little 7 mil electrical tape, a small piece of hot melt glue stick, and a bit of dental floss (the bobbin from inside the container) paired with a stout needle will get used. (Or purchase inexpensive bobbins from fabric store and wind carpet thread on them with a sweing machine) But keep the sewing/repair kit small and functional - and protected from soaking. Oh, a thimble is useful (metal - the plastic ones rarely survive a boy's pack)

Make a habit of treating their minor injuries from their personal FAK and check to be sure they replenish used items. The best way to do that is to stock frequently used items at the Troop and sell at calculated cost back to the scouts, even if it's 6 cents for one bandaid.

I am not a fan of parachute cord as the sole cordage in a ready pack. I have carried and used paracord for 30 years and still do - usually about 50' - 60' total, most often broken down into several lengths. There are various arguements for what lengths are most useful, but the versitile range is about from 6' to 12'. If you let boys carry longer lengths, they tend to custom-cut, say, a 3' length for some chore instead of using a pre-cut length.

What I prefer the boys to carry is the white-and-pink polyester (Dacron) cord, again pre-cut. It is far better for a number of scout-related skills (learning knots, lashing, measuring, etc.) Keeping in mind that they should always be in buddy teams, you can start them off with 2 lengths of about 10' - 12'. Use a Sharpie permanent marker to turn one or both of them into a useful tape measure. 4 - 5 pieces will handle about anything they might need to tackle. You can toss in a 10'-12' length of paracord also, but I suggest that is part of an on-body PSK rather than a ready pack item.

Maps, maps, maps. When the new phone books come out each year, rip out the local maps (including indices). Go to any large business and they have pallets of them. Go to a visitor center when convenient and pick up the three most-likely state highway maps (Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, perhaps?) If you have a map of any sort of your local scout reservation, add that. Go to Terra Server and laser-print B&W aerial and topo maps if nothing else. Put all the above, folded, into 1 qt or 1 gal ziplock bags and hand them out.

More later - got to do some work for a bit.

Regards,

Tom

Crew 258 Troop 258
Illowa Council