meamemg,
A year seems like a long time for the boys to be in a NSP. The longest I'd heard of before now was six months and I thought that was too long. I think that it's good to state the purpose of a thing so that all stays in perspective. In troops local to my area the purpose of NSP is to quickly teach the new boys what they need to know to function without embarrassment on their first few campouts with the troop. They learn how to light a stove, find things in the troop trailer, put up/take down/store a troop tent, ask your PL first, don't play in the fire, get from one place to a