If your son is a Webelos or Arrow of Light Scout, this is the year your family chooses a troop. You already know scouting. What you probably don’t know yet is how different a troop is from a pack — and that difference is the whole point of crossing over.
This page is written by BSA Troop 199, which has met in Fishers since 1993. It covers the practical questions first, and most of it applies whichever troop he joins.
From the bridge to summer camp
- Any Tuesday
Visit a meeting
7:00–8:30 PM at Legacy Bible Church. Free, nothing to sign, and parents can stay for all of it. Most families come two or three times.
- Tuesday, November 17
Troop Welcome Night
An open evening for prospective Scouts and their families, 7:00 – 8:30 PM at Legacy Bible Church.
- Late winter
Crossover ceremony
Held by his pack. He is received into the troop and given his Troop 199 neckerchief and woggle.
- March
First campout
A jumpstart for first-year campers, with parents encouraged to come. He receives his Troop 199 patch here.
- July
Summer camp
A full week, typically the first full week after the Fourth of July, Sunday to Saturday. This is where most merit badges are earned.
Along the way he works through the first Scouts BSA ranks — Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class — which are about camping, cooking, first aid and finding his way. An Arrow of Light Scout will recognise a good deal of the Scout rank already.
What is actually different
In the pack
- Adults plan and run the programme
- Dens, by school grade
- Families take part alongside their Scout
- Adventures, completed together as a den
- A few family campouts a year
In the troop
- Scouts plan and run it; adults coach
- Patrols of mixed ages, with an elected Patrol Leader
- Scouts camp with their patrol, not their parents
- Ranks and merit badges, earned at his own pace
- A campout every month of the year, rain or shine
Troop 199 is run by its Patrol Leaders Council: a Senior Patrol Leader and his assistants, the Patrol Leaders, and the Scouts holding the troop’s other positions, elected every six months. Among them are Troop Guides — in Scouts BSA, the older Scouts whose job is looking after the newest ones. An eleven-year-old’s first teacher in the troop is usually a fifteen-year-old, and that is by design.
What crossing-over families ask
When can a Webelos or Arrow of Light Scout join a troop?
At 10, provided he has earned the Arrow of Light or finished fifth grade. Otherwise at 11. He can stay until his 18th birthday.
He does not have to wait for his pack's ceremony, or for any particular month. Troop 199 welcomes new Scouts year-round.
Does he have to earn the Arrow of Light first?
No. The Arrow of Light lets a boy join at 10 rather than 11, and he will arrive already knowing much of what his first rank asks. It is not an entry requirement.
There is no Cub Scout requirement at all. Plenty of Troop 199 Scouts never wore the blue uniform.
Does he have to join the troop his pack usually crosses into?
No. A family can join any troop. Packs and troops often have a long friendship, and that is a good reason to look at a troop — it is not an obligation.
Troops differ a great deal in size, in how often they camp and in how much the Scouts themselves run things. Visit more than one, and let your son have the casting vote: he is the one who will be camping with them.
What happens at the crossover ceremony?
Crossover is the pack's ceremony, usually held in late winter, where Arrow of Light Scouts leave the pack and are received by the troop they have chosen. Scouts from the troop come to welcome them across.
New Troop 199 Scouts receive their Troop 199 neckerchief and woggle at the crossover ceremony. The Troop 199 patch follows at the March campout.
What is his first campout with the troop?
The March campout. It is a first-year Scout's first official campout and it is run as a jumpstart for new campers, so nobody is expected to arrive knowing how.
Parents are encouraged to come along on that one. After it, the troop camps every month of the year, typically on the third weekend, leaving Friday evening and back on Sunday morning.
What changes for parents?
Nearly everything, and it is the hardest part of crossing over. In Cub Scouts the adults run the programme and the family takes part. In a troop the Scouts run it: they elect their own leaders, plan their own meetings and cook their own food, and the adults train them, keep them safe and step back.
Parents are still very welcome. Troop 199 has more than thirty registered adults. Any adult who stays overnight at a Scouting event must be registered with the BSA and have completed Youth Protection Training.
What do we need to buy?
For his first meeting, nothing. The troop uniform is the BSA shirt, Scout pants, Scout socks, neckerchief and woggle — and the neckerchief and woggle come from the troop at crossover. If he already wears the tan uniform shirt as a Webelos or Arrow of Light Scout, it is the same shirt: the blue shoulder loops are swapped for green ones.
Camping gear is gathered over the first few months. The troop has a packing video showing exactly what is needed, so nobody buys the wrong sleeping bag. Scouts never bring food — patrols shop and cook for themselves.
What does it cost?
There is the national BSA registration fee, annual troop dues, and the cost of each campout, which is billed per trip. Dues cover registration, advancement awards and troop gear.
Fundraising opportunities are available to offset the cost, and no Scout is turned away from Troop 199 for financial reasons.
Can our whole den visit a troop meeting?
Yes. Visiting a troop is part of the Arrow of Light programme, and dens are welcome at any Troop 199 meeting: Tuesdays, 7:00–8:30 PM at Legacy Bible Church, 13490 Howe Rd, Fishers.
Den leaders, email scoutmaster@troop199.org beforehand so the Scouts can plan an evening worth visiting rather than have you walk in on a business meeting.
Come and watch a meeting
Nothing on a website tells you what a troop is like. An hour in the room does: who is at the front, who is doing the talking, and whether the older Scouts know the younger ones’ names. Bring your son, stay for the whole meeting, and ask the Scouts — not the adults — what they did last month.