As a boyscout, and now a leader I know how this works. The knife and lighter or matches are easy to get scouts to carry. The garbage bags and whistle are harder to get them to carry. I would bet that the mini disposable poncho would be easier to get them to carry. A compass and a whistle should be mandatory. Lanyards are easy to get scouts to wear when they are not loaded down with hundreds of gadgets. Scouts should never be out of yelling distance to camp, and should always have a buddy. Scouts wont carry the kits with them when around camp but will wear a lanyard and will ALWAYS have matches and a knife on them!


Sparky the reason that pea whistles are bad is that in water the pea breaks down and is not as loud.