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I would guess that one Troop in twenty schedules actual, independent Patrol outings. More likely than not the Patrols all go camping at once – AKA a Troop outing (like my Troop).
I haven’t pursued independent Patrol outings for a couple of reasons;
Logistics – Planning, supplying and launching three or four separate outings is more difficult than planning one Troop outing.
Leadership – Maintaining prescribed levels of adult leadership would be a problem. Two adults with six or eight Scouts makes adult interference with Scout leadership almost inevitable
Our next outing will be a hybrid Troop/Patrol outing at our Scout Camp. Friday evening will be pretty routine. We have some activities planned for Saturday morning and afternoon. Late Saturday afternoon the Scouts will pack up their patrol and head out to separate campsites for the night. They’ll be within a mile of our Friday Night spot and will function on their own – no adults, no senior Scouts. We’ll find some excuse to drop by the campsites periodically and each patrol leader will have a two way radio. I am not concerned about their safety.
The Troop will reassemble the next morning and I’ll be anxious to hear about the different patrol adventures.
UPDATE
The outing was a great success. Of course the Scouts enjoyed the independence and challenge of operating as a Patrol. They experienced a great snse of adventure and we look forward to building this kind of Patrol-based element into furture outings.
I like the idea of splitting into fully independent patrols on a campout, but that strikes me as more like Brownsea Island than a patrol outing. For the full Brownsea experience they could sneak up on each other’s camps. Then they could practice first aid for Poison Oak.
We encourage our patrols to plan outings, but leave it entirely up to them. We have fewer patrol outings that way, but they do originate in the patrol. One patrol went on a camp out, another went to a movie. Those are both fine outings in my book.