Reply #10: It's been a long time, but IIRC from my BSA days you are first

[petronius]

nominated for the OA (we had a tapping-out ceremony at an annual regional jubilee) and then you go to an OA campout where you are subjected to myriad ordeals to prove your fitness. So, you should congratulate him on his nomination; however, full membership is basically assured...

On a side-note, I think we were in the same troop - I was a degenerate asshole! I've been laughing for 10 minutes remembering our games - one of our favorites, on desert campouts, was to have a bunch of people climb into the boulders around camp. Then, one person would circulate through camp pointing out tents, and the people in the boulders would throw rocks to try to hit the specified tent. Once we'd caused enough damage and injuries to get the attention of the adults we'd blame the whole thing on the CAP group camped nearly, and offer to go kick their asses! Damn, I loved the Boy Scouts...