Gunny,
After five years (and counting) in Cubs, I'm kind of new to this Boy Scouting stuff. But, I'm pretty good outdoors through the virtue of my own mistakes.
We just did a backpack trip where the boys did 13 miles in one day in a cold, solid rain. Of the six Scouts, two had done one 15 mile trek before, the other four were on their first trip. Of the four dad's, one is very experienced, I'm OK, the other two were total novices.
All of them had pretty much the right gear. We drummed proper footwear and socks into them. What I think really made the difference is that their