What would you put in your Bug out Bag?

[Treesuit]

Hey everyone, what I have here is great forum thread that everybody can participate in. I’ve been over at AR15.COM and have been previewing some of their threads, one of which is a discussion on BOB’s or Bug out Bags. The idea was originally conceived in WWII as Bail out Bags for allied air crews. The items included just enough to get a person through tough times until help arrived. Nowadays BOB’s are used for getting out of harm’s way and surviving until order can be restored.

It could be classified as a survival situation, say in the event you have to leave your residence and get to a spot or BOL (Bug out Location) and wait it out there. So here is what I propose, what do you put into a BOB that will keep you alive and comfortable for 72 hours? Since we mostly deal with military rations/civilian products/foods, etc that can be considered in your planning and please share your thoughts. Other things to consider is geography, urban vs. rural setting, physical stamina, any other health concerns, family members, and how do you intend to get out of the area if need be.

I’m sure we will have some great ideas and let’s try and put some of those actual ideas and suggestions out there for everybody to use. Let’s not forget that there are no stupid questions…just questions not asked, so let’s keep it professional. I’m also trying to tie this in with my last post, which was what would be a good three day assault pack. I had some interesting ideas over there, so I’ll start things off.

I live near Seattle, Washington and I’m in an urban rural setting. I have two major interstate federal highways near my house; I have a large army ALICE rucksack that is modified to handle a bigger load (4000 cubic inches or about 40 liters). I have enough field stripped MRE’s to last 72 hours, and I’ve included simple first aid supplies, cold weather clothing, modular sleeping bag, simple items and sundries for comfort and a rifle with limited amount of ammo. I do have a few Bug out locations marked out but my problem is that if something bad happened (i.e. earthquake, volcano eruption, or mass pandemic) both major highways would become choked with traffic and impassable. Not to mention county and state roads would become pretty bad with people trying to get away from the disaster. So the idea of maybe staying put and “bugging in” becomes a reality.

Now, with that, let’s consider everything. I’m also not trying to scare anyone or turn this into a right wing paranoid talk thread, but I say this because some of our East Coast US forum members just went through Hurricane Sandy and are still dealing with the after effects.

So with that what would you propose?

[rekrutacja]

The problem with "Doom-day scenario" is, that life is not a hollywood movie. Really, it's not "Mad Max", it's not "2012", and it's not "Independence day". There are natural disasters and so on, but most of the time they are being predicted at least few days in advance, and that leaves you a lot of time to prepare yourself for current situation. If you know sth bad will happen (flood, earthquake, volcano) and decide to stay in place - well, no planning will help you with bad decision making process. And for larger scale problems - being it asteroid strike, world war or alien invasion - amassing stuff will just not help. This is why I find all those "year supply of food in one package" offers just plain stupid. In case of war i need a plane ticket and immigrant visa to New Zealand, not freeze dried food. Preparing yourself for highly unrealistic scenario doesn't make any sense. Prepare yourself for likely scenario: buy a swiss army knife in case you need to open bottle of wine or cut a rope for your treehouse project, and a LED torch in case electricty goes down for few hours due to some idiot crashing his car into a pole.

[dirtbag]

Tell that to the folks in NY and NJ, who have been without power for quite a while.
They're still waiting for the Government to rescue them!
No food, no potable water, no heat...

I'd rather have some stuff stashed away and not need it than the alternative.
I'll take care of my own, you can wait for Obamy !

[sodjer]

my bug out bag is a slightly different concept,i have a 3day bag ready at all times ,but i mainly use it when work or life gets to heavy and i hit the tree line for 3 days,this helps in perfecting my set up because i use it at least once a month,and seasonally vary it.any disaster situation i have a land rover kitted out for a week,and have a few bolt holes i would go to

[housil]

Tell that to the folks in NY and NJ, who have been without power for quite a while.
They're still waiting for the Government to rescue them!
No food, no potable water, no heat...

I'd rather have some stuff stashed away and not need it than the alternative.
I'll take care of my own, you can wait for Obamy !

Here in Europa we are not used to such natural desasters because we don´t have them this often.

In the US, you have ~ one hurricane a year so you are prepared anyways. We don´t have to as the worst thing we usually get is a flood once or twice a year. I was on duty at the flood in 2002 in East Germany:



The aftermath of the flood


Me sleeping beside my rig


My "platoon" with

command car with local "scout", two disaster ambulances and one ACLS ambulance (me). The first "wave" was 600 ambulances (!) that headed to there.

One terminal of the airport Dresden we turned into a 150bed hospital with 8 ICU places


One of the mobile field kitchens where we got our three meals a day



As a heritage of cold war, we over here have a very well prepared, trained and equiped civil disaster aid run by e.g. the Red Cross etc.
Any EMS organisation MUST have civil protection unit´s and personal, otherwise you are not allowed to provied EMS.
Another difference is our electric power supply is below ground. So it doesn´t matter if a flood or a hurricane hit´s us, nothing can rip our cables apart as they are under the earth anyways.

But I´m prepared at home with (lot´s of) food, jerry cans, even a (fire department) flashlight that turns automatically when the power fails etc...

[Ruleryak]

But I´m prepared at home with (lot´s of) food, jerry cans, even a (fire department) flashlight that turns automatically when the power fails etc...

Man oh man you always have such interesting posts! I was just wondering about the flashlight - is it triggered by a radio signal or something like that? Or is it the kind that's built into your house or plugged in and goes on whenever the power is cut?

[housil]

Man oh man you always have such interesting posts!

Thx

I was just wondering about the flashlight - is it triggered by a radio signal or something like that? Or is it the kind that's built into your house or plugged in and goes on whenever the power is cut?

It´s one of that hugh firefighters handheld flashlight


The regular store price is +€600 without the recharging station. That´s €80 extra. It´s "gas proof" so you can use it even where there is an explosive gas-air mixture.
The recharging station is connetced at mains, when ever the mains fells off, the flash light turns on automaticaly.

[Ration Fan]

Yeah, these are good flashlights!
We use them at our fire department too.

[Treesuit]

Dirtbag, thanks for responding and re-iterating my post

Sodjer, thanks for your posting as well

Housil, you never seem to amaze the rest of us.

But let us steer the thread back on track. I just was curious to know if anybody has a BOB that they have in their car, truck, house and what they actually put into it for a disaster albeit if one knows it is coming or not and whether you need to get out or not get out.

Housil, it looks like you have enough to wait out a disaster at your home for a long time. So I am curious if that is first plan you and your family will go with?

Dirtbag, sounds like you have a BOB all set up. What do you put into it? And what is your first priority? Sleep system? Food? Water? Comfort?

Sodjer, You are in Scotland so what are your considerations for being comfortable? Is it the same as we have here in the US or is your plan much different?

[housil]

Housil, it looks like you have enough to wait out a disaster at your home for a long time. So I am curious if that is first plan you and your family will go with?

Yes, we`ll stay at home as we are prepared for almost everything I can imagine but I have also enough equipment to leave home and move somewhere into the woods.