Your Patrol and Troop
Patrols are the building blocks of Scouting. Your patrol is a team of six to eight boys who make things happen. With the help of a patrol leader, you plan together, learn together, and all of you pitch in to turn exciting plans into action. Together, members of your patrol can achieve much more than each of you could on vour own. You can invite your non-Scout friends to join the troop and become patrol members, too.
Patrols as such an important part of Scouting that a part of every troop meeting develop as a Scout and as a leader should be set aside for each patrol to meet by itself. At other times your patrol might get together in the home of one of its members or at a special patrol site.
A patrol is just the right size for outdoor adventures. On camping trips, a few tents will shelter everyone, and a couple of backpacking stoves are enough for cooking hearty meals. Patrol members can learn to roam the backcountry together without leaving any sign that they were ever there.
Because all of you are different, each member of your patrol will have much to share. You can teach each other the skills you know. As friends, you can look out for one another. Friendship, fun, adventure - that's what a Scout patrol is all about.