1. I spent several hundred nights in tents, as a Scout and later as an adult, and I don’t think even one of those nights was spent without at least one knife in my pocket while I slept. The sissies who treat pocket knives like scary weapons instead of as tools killed these kids.
2. I remember looking at a really nice spot to set up tents about five feet above a stream and being told that it was unsafe because of the possibility of flash floods. We didn’t like it, but we accepted that as part of “Be Prepared”. The next spring, we were taken down to look at that site at the end of a rare very heavy rainfall - and it was deep under water. Adult leaders should in general allow kids to make campsite decisions, but they should also override any unsafe decisions and explain why. Where were the adults?
Eagle scout here; always kept (at least) one in my sleeping bag and one in my boots, always accessible in seconds; still do. Ditto with flashlights. Like you, I've spent hundreds of nights in tents, and agree completely. Scouts used to be pre-military training-- making boys into men and preparing them to be soldiers; that changed a while ago.