What's in your "Bug-out Bag"?

ScottHW referred to Cody Lundin in his post, and I have recently finished his book, When  All Hell Breaks Loose - Stuff You Need to Survive When Disaster Strikes.  I found it to be very helpful, and am feeling a lot less anxious about what to do when TSHTF.  While the book focuses more on surviving a short term emergency, such as a natural disaster, a lot of the ideas could be used long term.  You could certainly at least keep things going for a few weeks, and that would give you time to consider your more long term options without panicking.  At the very least these are good ideas for anyone who faces the possibility of earthquakes, tornados, blizzards etc.

It is critical to make long term plans, but for anyone feeling overwhelmed as to how to begin, this book can give you a good start.   

Sam,

Great subject! I'll do a more "in depth" writeup later (See - Pictures and explainations) but a quick suggestion right off the cuff is heavy duty trash bags.

I know it sounds really goofy, but they're good for so many different things it's not funny.
Gathering and holding water, improvised poncho, collecting mushrooms or fish - the uses are limited by your imagination.

I also didn't see 550 cord (Paracord) which amazing stuff. Can be used for fishing, load bearing, securing, shelter building, rope making, making rafts... all sorts of great stuff.

I'll take some pictures and do a proper examination of the gear that has and hasn't worked for me in the past... as well as how I carry it.

Cheers!

Aaron

OK,

I apologize for the delay, had social obligations that precluded me from doing anything useful the last couple days.

In order to achieve a wholistic approach to gear, you must think of it like clothing.
When we go out for the day, we assess the conditions, the likelihood that you'll encounter rain, or hot weather, what work will you be doing and so on.

We typically "dress" in a way that fits our particular style.
Some prefer business dress, or functional, some casual or outlandish.
I use this anaolgy because the things you carry as a businessman, or in a dress might be different than what I wear as a casual/functional type.

So, with that in mind, just like clothing (base layer, mid layer, outer layer) I arrange my gear into three "lines".
A brief description and pictures to follow.

First Line:
The first line kit are the things immediately on your person; your keys, wallet and whatever else you choose to carry.
For me, this is my most important line. These are the things I absolutely cannot do without in a "survival" situation, regardless of which type it may be.
If I ran out the door due to a fire, or was my boat capsized... if a nuke goes off - these are the things that are "on my person". It's geared towards a short, intense situation that is potentially life threatening:

Pictured:
Thumb Drive - 2GB
CRKT M21-04
Leatherman (terrible, but issued) Multitool
Lighter
Cellular Telephone (also a piece of crap)
15 Round Magazine (9mm 124gr TAP)
Glock 19, 9mm
Hammerhead Retractible Pistol Lanyard (For marine environments)

Second Line:
These are the things that are usually very near at hand, easy to carry, and make life significantly easier. These come with me to the Airport, in the car, to the range, or when I'm out exploring/adventuring. It represents an intermediary between gear for "short term" survival, and "long term" surivival. It suppliments either well, but is geared to provide equipment for a problem lasting between 1-5 days:

 Pictured:
M51 Engineer bag
Petzl Headlamp
(3) Parker Pens
(2) Sharpie Pens
(1) Rite-in-the-Rain Notepad
2 Cyalume Flares
(3) pairs of Rubber Surgical Gloves
(1) Roll of Gauze
EMT Sheers (hard to see)
MRE "spice pack"
Zip Ties
Snare Wire/Fish Hooks
Wilderness Medical Kit
50' Paracord
Magnesium block
Compass
Garmin GPS and Kestrel Aneometer

Third Line:
The "third line" of gear is the "Get out of Dodge" bag.
This bag contains what I'll use to construct both a temporary and permanent shelter, treat more severe wounds, and eat for the first 7 days. For sustanance, I keep 7 MRE Entrees in the cardboard in a pouch - I keep the cardboard for firestarter.

Pictured:
MOD 3 Sleep System
Eagle Becker (Medium) Pack
Toiletries kit (Unscented only)
Toilet Paper
Medical Kit (Military)
Mess Kit
Poncho
MRE's, Various delicious entrees
(2) cold weather shirts
(2) warm weather shirts
(2) cold weather socks
(2) warm weather socks
(2) Instant soup
Tea Kettle (filled with goodies)
Gaff Hook
300' Paracord
Spork
Pocket Chainsaw

As with all things, the most important variable is the amount of knowledge, skill and determination you possess.
Two sayings that I keep with me as well:
"The more you carry in your head, the less you carry on your back"
"Persistance beats resistance"

Cheers!

Aaron

Glad to help!

Cheers!

Aaron

Heheh, thank you my friend!

I hope that this is "useful" for people to decide what suits their style. Not everyone wants to or can carry a pistol every day, but certain items and tools can really make your life a lot easier.

Over the years, I've tried all sorts of different things between preparedness and being avid about primitive camping and fishing, so I hope to take some of the learning curve out of equipment.

The real challenge is getting skilled!
Ideally, everyone should be able to collect water, start a fire, select a site and build a shelter that traps heat in and water out.

Thank you again,

Cheers!

Aaron

Aaron,

Thanks for all the work on your part, as always.  Interesting selection.  Two questions:

Where're the water related supplies (i.e. bottle, filter, purification supplies, or ...?)?

Why the gaff hook?

ao,

Sorry, I missed you questions.

I have a Nalgene bottle with a metal cup that I use to boil water. Typically, I scavenge and strain using a variety of methods:
1. Straining through charcoal and socks; using a scavenged bottle as a medium.
2. Strain water through the shemagh and into the teapot for boiling.

The water purification tabs don't do me right, and I've been looking into a katadyne filter, but one of my main requirements for kit is that it can't be "consumable" unless it's a firestarter, or sustenance..

That said I'm in the PNW, so rainwater collection, and water sources are in no short supply.
For longer trips, my backpack is outfitted with a 100oz camelback, which I typically fill out of the nalgene.

The Gaff hook is a compliment to the Gill net that I neither possess or would ever consider using, seeing as I'm not entitled to gill netting as a non-American Indian. That said, if all hell breaks loose, it's smarter than a trot line or a baited hook attached to a bell.

Cheers, and thanks for the questions! Always fun to discuss survival kit ;)

Aaron

My current new BOB is an Alps Denali

Contents

Platypus hydration system 3 liter, plus 6 liters back up

Platypus water "grab" bag, and filtration system

Aquamira Filtration straws plus fliters for 200 gallons

3 layer GI Modular sleep system.

5 days MRE's

GPS

1 Motorola Talkabout T980RSAME FRS/GMRS Walkie Talkie with Throat Mike, PTT extension, Ear bud

Cell Phone

Mylar Blanket

Medium First aid kit, Sutures and needle, topical antibiotic cream, band aids, immodium, 20x Augmentin antibiotic capsules, analgesics, bandages, sponges, disinfectant Crazy Glue etc.

100' Rope

500' Para cord

Full Change of clothing (pants' underwear, shirt, Vest, socks)

Heavy weather gear (Level 3 ECWS clothing)

Ammunition (5.56, 40 S&W, 12 gauge)

Spare Mags, and gun cleaning supplies.

Remington 870 Shotgun (Strapped between my back and the pack for easier retrieval.

On Self,

Clothes, boots

Vest, containing

2 Swedish firesteels

4 full Magazines for 40 S&W

4 Full Magazines for 5.56mm

20 rounds cocktail 12 Gauge

Gerber combat/survival knife

Belt Webbing containing

Compass

Leatherman multitool

Magnesium block and fire starting materials

Water canteen

Small hatchet

2x punch knife

Small first aid kit, band aids, topical antibiotic, small sponge, alcohol wipes.

Springfield XDm

Shouldered Robinson XCR

Normal BOB weight is 65 lbs, plus the weight of the weapons

Used to do 30 mile forced marches in under 6 hours with more weight than that.

That's half my weight, more with the weapons, and only a few years above my age.

It's the Winston Churchill speech for some of us.

SG

That's pretty funny. I can see you pulling into a strange camp somewhere, tired, hungry, out of supplies and saying.."do you take American Express?"

SG

Gungnir,

Brother - you travel heavy!

I generally keep my bug out gear down around 35-50lbs. Which is almost a third of my body weight at the maximum.
Less than a quarter ideally. That said, I have my "lines", so I can add or subtract as needed. My EDC (Everyday Carry) only weighs about 5 lbs maximum. The Carry bag perhaps 10-15 and another 25 in the backpack.
 

Pictures mates! They tell a thousand words!

Cheers =D

Aaron

Ok - I'll chime in since I'm the "organizer" in the family :)  

Sam: Important documents and keepsakes, we keep a small totable file box with a handle (like this one, but ours has a lock) that contains: birth certificate, marriage license, G's naturalization certificate, passports, social security cards, deeds, last will & living will, firearms proof of ownership, vehicle titles & insurance cards, pet records (immunization & health certificate), and a list of physical assets. We also have a thin binder in there which contains I.C.E. data; a list of medical conditions, allergies, medications & healthcare contact information;  a list of all financial assets (including phone#, acct#, PW, etc); and our regular address book. 

In case of a fire or other immediate evac situation, it's an easy grab-n-go. We also have all this information scanned as PDF files on a USB pen drive in each of our BOBs just in case... although many agencies will NOT accept anything other than a "stamped" original or certified copy.

Aaron: Gungnir & I will post pics and an updated list once we're done reassembling and restocking our BOBs for true wilderness situation. Might be a few days since our sleep system is at the dry cleaners. 

Basically, we have a similar system to yours, with an additional layer in there. "Immediate" is stuff that is always on our bodies -- est. 1-3 days. "Short term" is kept in a small knapsack and contains things that would fit in our belt, vest & jacket -- est. 3-5 days. Our "medium" survival kit is in a stuff-sack inside our "long-term" survival kit, but it can be easily removed and added to our "short term" knapsack (once we've redistributed) as well -- est. 5-10 days. Long term -- we could essentially live on "forever".  Basically, short, medium and long are a nesting system.

Yes, we do travel heavy, but only if we're running with our "long" kit. Long kit runs about 65 lbs (3 + 2 liters of water). Medium kit runs closer to 40 lbs (3 liters of water). Short is about 20 lbs (2 liters of water) distributed all over the body. Immediate is about 10 lbs... mostly tools, weapons & ammo (and 1 liter of water)