Posted on 08/17/2015 5:05:14 PM PDT by SkyPilot
He is one of the best. Somewhere he has a video showing how to bend flexible copper tubing using sand. That one stuck with me because of the simple brilliance of the method. He knows his stuff and he is indeed practical. I have learned a great deal from him.
THE OMEGA MAN (1971)
I have my bug out to get to my bug in. I have to work in a city. I carry an oversized back pack by most city in-comer standards. Within my bug out (not chancing leaving it in my vehicle in case I cannot get to it) is my VERY slim laptop pouch for work. Beyond that is the 38 (loaded), extra ammo (lots), socks, first aide, two days (x2 person) dried rations; vitamins; aspirin; water treatment kit (plus times two bottles) and a multitude of other “things” in case I have to hump it on foot 30+ miles home which would take me 3 days playing it safe. If I can get to my vehicle safely; great; but I don’t plan on it. I plan on having to hoof it. I am more than worried these days about an EMP and given the weakling in the white hut; it is a real possibility since NO nation has a reason to fear him; hell, they can count on him standing our military down.
Infantry Marine here as well. My current bug out weighs in at about 32 lbs (and you would never know it looking at it, couple pounds less after I ditch the laptop). I lug it around five days a week religiously and clock a couple miles a day humping with it. It is never in my vehicle except when I am driving from point A to B (the occasional C). TOO many people think they will sling something on and book. Those people will be in pain several hours later and killing their ibuprofen or aspirin supply post haste because their back is not conditioned. Again, my kit is to get me to my bug in, lots more but certainly not less.
Excellent article.
Bugging out now is better than later, IMO, because it gives you time to figure out your mistakes and correct them. I know some folks doing some things they might regret.
A family I know built a cabin on a mountain with only one road in and out. . Easier to defend against the zombie hordes, they’ll just pick ‘em off coming up the road. Huh. But it’s actually unlikely any zombies will be climbing any mountain roads. Far more likely the homesteaders will get their own selves trapped, in or out, by a fire, a mudslide, a snowstorm, a serious injury, a broken down vehicle, once they get there. IF they get there when SHTF. It’s 800 miles away.
Nobody needs to go to a mountaintop or a desert to escape the feral hordes. You can hide in plain sight and let them pass right by you.
There’s lots of cheap land that can be had just 20 or 30 miles out of town. Get off the freeway, onto any county or farm road, and look for miles of wooded frontage. Tuck your cabin back in the woods, where it can’t be seen from the road, and hunker down. The time to start planting a garden is now, not after SHTF.
Oh, and instead of three wee bottles of Gallo wine I’d stick to Everclear. For medicinal purposes and as a firestarter, of course.
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I tried Everclear about 40 years ago, I’d prefer paint thinner.
Hurricane Ivan also hit Alabama hard. Gulf Shores was essentially wiped out. I live just north of Tuscaloosa and we had hurricane force winds. We were out of power for several days and had limbs down everywhere. Luckily we had plenty of supplies because the local media stressed how bad it was going to be. We had it made, though, compared to the poor people on the Gulf.
We found out what “horrible” really was on April 27, 2011...
Exactly! Even Marines have a logistics train behind them. They may be days or weeks out, but they return to base to recoup and restock.
Unless your name is Elijah, your oil will run out at some point. In a total SHTF scenario, the only long-term solution is kick-starting your local means of production.
That’s not food; that’s what you feed food. Now, rabbits are yummy.
Looking thru most of the discussion so far, and I have to say most folks have this idea down pretty good...
It has taken me years, and the best lesson I learned over that time, was to not let a lot of people know you are prepping...
All I have to add is this, if you cannot walk away from anything you are doing at that moment when the decision has to be made, in 30 seconds, you are behind the curve, if you already have a place you are going to, if not bugging in...
I wont lock the door, we’ll load the dog, throw the wife in the bed of the truck, and we are gone...Or maybe the other way around, it depends on how I feel...
As for letting anyone know, that’s kinda up to you...The obvious people know (3, plus the dog), and we have plenty of stuff to take care of us for quite some time...
You got to consider security, and keeping a very low profile...
If you bug in, I would try not letting anyone know you are there...Neighbors can be nosy, but laying low for a weekend might be a great drill, and kinda fun if you have kids...Just game it out ahead of time, and in the end, see if anyone (neighbors) ask where you were...
Just tell them you were laying low for the weekend, and be glad they noticed nothing from you for 48 hours...
If not, and somebody noticed something try to be coy about it and see what they saw...Keep it simple, if it was a light, a curtain move, the dog barking, etc etc etc...
It will give you something to think about and improve on...
I would also, on a side note, never talk about what I have, how much I have, and where I’m going...Not even in such a generally anonymous forum such as this, or any other...
Just remember rule #1: “Don’t talk about bug-out club.”
bkmk
Here are a few good items you can purchase on-line that I have found to be good products:
A Blast Match firestarter - sparks five times hotter than a lighter or regular match.
A cutlass Ka Bar machete - cuts through things with great efficiency and stays sharp, amazing quality.
5 gallon collapsible water containers.
Water purification tablets.
A good head lamp.
I didn't go in after we started evacuating thousands via buses (Gen Russ Honore finally took charge), but I spoke to some who did.
They described it asa kind of Lord of Flies meets a large Sceptic Tank.
The water was off, because of no power. People just deficated and urinated EVERYWHERE! Diapers were littered on the floor of the whole place. Roaming gangs had already established "territory." Any food and water distribution had already been taken over by the thugs. There were stories of gang rapes.
No thanks.
The day before Katrina hit, I will never forget the FOX News report. Shep Smith was walking around the French Quarter, telling people a Cat 5 was off the coast, and asking why they were still there? They cursed at him on live TV, and were drunk.
They say the "poor" could not afford to leave, but that is really not true. Many of the stupid remained as well, and I think that whole situation helped created this "bug out" culture. Again, there are times to leave. Katrina would have been one. But hitting the highways too late or at the wrong time can be deadly too.
Blunt force trauma - I have to remember that one.
Our home is pretty defensible - bugging out is only viable for us in cases of natural disaster.
bump for later read
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