Huh I was in boy scouts as well, interesting to see the differences in how my troop handled merit badges compared to yours.
Most of the scout dad’s in my troop would sign up to be merit badge counselors, basically we had most of the core badges covered and some extra depending on interest. The only time I had to seek an outside counselor that wasn’t a camp counselor was for the lifeguarding (I think it’s called that) badge.
Most of our weekly meetings were then focused on merit badges and rank advancement as well as planning for the next upcoming camping experience
How big was your troop?
Thank you for the explanation!