BSA Troop 315 was first chartered to St. Anthony Parish of Pocatello Idaho in January of 1961. Troop 315 was a splinter of the existing Troop 115, also chartered to St. Anthony Parish. The Scoutmaster was James S. Martin. Jim approached the Knights of Columbus organization and asked for a meeting room for the Boy Scouts. This wish was granted and when the new gym was built Boy Scout Troop 315 had a home right above the Knights of Columbus Hall. We still meet every Monday night at 7:00pm in the James S. Martin Scout Room. Jim continued as Scoutmaster for the next 25 years. In January 1985 Jim, and Troop 315, awarded the 100th Eagle Scout award from Boy Scout Troop 315. The troop had grown to a massive troop of over 100 Scouts by the mid 1980s. Under Jim’s close watch the troop operated as the finest example of what a Boy Scout Troop should be. Jim was awarded virtually every leadership award our council had to offer at that time. Jim Retired from the troop in 1986.

The new Scoutmaster of Troop 315 was Mr. Bob Walsh; Bob was Scoutmaster for the next 13 years and presided over the troop’s 200th presentation of the Eagle Scout award.

In 1999, Mr. Fred Davis was named as Scoutmaster and continues as Scoutmaster today. Boy Scout Troop 315 has a current membership of 36 Scouts (and growing), five assistant Scoutmasters, three of them are Eagle Scouts from Troop 315. The troop has a strong committee.

Some of the activities troop 315 is known for:

1. Troop 315 does a Historical Flag Ceremony second to none. We have in our Scout room one example of every flag ever flown over the United States of America. Some of these flags, of course, are replicas of the original, Jim Martin arranged the script for the ceremony years ago and we still use it today.
2. Troop 315 is proud to be one of the few complete-uniform troops in Pocatello. We require our troop to be dressed in the Boy Scout shirt, pants, belt and our troop neckerchief to be considered dressed in Class “A” uniform.
3. We have established a very strong TLC (Troop Leadership Committee) consisting of a Senior Patrol Leader, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader’s Corp, Historian, Scribe, and Quartermaster. This group of leaders are the Scouts that are responsible for our calendar, meeting organization, meeting agenda, patrol competition, maintaining control of the troop at meetings and handing out whatever discipline is required.
4. Troop 315 has had a history of sending young Scouts to the state capitol in Boise to act as Capitol Guides. This program has been scaled back in recent years by the state of Idaho.
5. Over the years, our troop has sent many Scouts, Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters to Ft. AP Hill, Virginia to attend the National Jamboree.
6. Troop 315 has attended summer camp a total of 42 times since it’s inception; most of those trips, however not all, have been to Camp Lemhi. We have also attended Camp Island Park, and will attend Camp Treasure Mountain at the base of the Teton Mountains in the summer of 2004.
7. We have sent members of our troop to Disneyland in California three times for summer outings.
8. We have sent several of our members to Philmont Scout Camp for their summer outing on at least four occasions.
9. Troop 315 is known for our outstanding swimming program that is held every February. We are proud of the results from this important program. For the past many years over 95% of the Scouts we take to camp are able to pass the BSA swim test.
10. We have established the very best rock-climbing program in our area; we have the only certified climbing Assistant Scoutmaster in Pocatello at this time and are sponsoring a climbing program at least once per month.

Some of the events we do on an annual basis are:

1. Spring fishing, water skiing, boating and general fun trip to one of the local reservoirs.
2. Winter camping trip to Camp Taylor for a weekend of cross-country skiing, sledding, snowball fighting, as well as learning to survive in the outdoors during cold months.
3. Trip to Lagoon in late October for overnighter and loads of fun at Lagoon Fright-night events.
4. A bike trip to some local site in late summer usually involving swimming and overnight camping with bike ride home.
5. We always enjoy our five-mile hike in early summer to Salt Squirrel, this is in preparation for summer camp.
6. We can’t forget Summer Camp. This week is something we look forward to all year around. It seems everything we do is in preparation for camp.

It may seem that a lot of our focus is on fun-things and not a lot of thought to merit badge programs and advancement, however, we run a year around merit badge program and never leave advancement in the corner. Many of the outings listed above involve several merit badge requirements. We try to incorporate some of these at every outing.