Readers looking for a heated discussion on patrol assignments might likely look under this forum, but actually there's one roiling away in Advancement (http://scouter.com/index.php/topic/28189-positions-of-responsibility/?p=437306 somewhere around post 50).
The way I see it: this is community dependent.
In some communities, the boys come "networked" with older and younger boys -- even as cross-overs. This was my case as I was tighter with the older boys in my neighborhood and church than with the boys in my den. So, dropping into a mixed-age patrol was like putting the bluegill back i