A High-Mobility 72 Hour Kit

03/24/2010 | noumenon

[Noumenon]

Most of this gear is off-the-shelf and relatively cheap. Check out Cabela’s, CheaperThanDirt.com or SportsMansGuide.com for the best deals.

Assumptions:

1. Civil unrest ensues.

2. Communications go down.

3. You may have to fight your way out of wherever you are. or on the way to your destination.

4 You may have to abandon your vehicle

5. You may have to walk to a prearranged safe place or rendezvous/rally point.

6. You will move quickly and not ‘camp out’. Rest, yes. Camp, no.

7. The weather may suck - majorly. Hot, cold, wet, snowy.

Strategy assumes that you may lose your backpack and/or your sling bag. Or that you may not have time to suit up, and that you can only grab your sling bag/backpack and weapons. Try to wear a pair of decent hiking shoes or durable shoes in case you can’t put your boots on in time.

First layer – Combat Uniform

I prefer the old 80’s era Swiss Alpenflage. Cheap and readily available (or used to be), works great for the inland Pacific NW environment. Rig for your area and circumstances.Strongly recommend good boots and a PASGT helmet with appropriate cover. Plenty of PASGT gear on eBay if you don’t have any. This is what works for my area. Think it through and pack what will work for your circumstances. The important thing is to have comfortable, durable clothing that you can wear for days.

Your pockets/belt will hold the following essential items:

1. Strike-anywhere matches in a waterproof case.

2. BlastMatch with tinder of some sort.

3. Maps or even Jeppesen charts are very useful. You should also do a custom Google map of your E&E routes. You DO have more than one route, eh?

4. Compass In a worst case scenario, you may not be able to rely upon a GPS device. Learn how to follow a compass bearing. You can guide yourself through thickly forested areas, featureless winter landscapes, foggy sagebrush areas, etc.

5. LED Flashlight and extra batteries. Use what works best for you. Carry at least two.

6. Energy bar(s). Something’s better than nothing.

7. Extra Clothing Layer. Poncho and/or parka. This could also be a mylar emergency blanket. Area / climate / season specific. A poncho will fold up into one of your pockets.

8. Sunglasses.

9. First Aid Kit. Carry basic first aid supplies such as sterile gauze and pads, Band-Aids, moleskin, etc

10. Knife / multi-tool Preferably one of each. An extra knife on a lanyard around your neck is good insurance.

11. Water and the means to carry it. Adopt/adapt for your circumstances.

12. Water purification tablets don’t take much room, either.
13. Wire saw. Notch a stick at each and lodge the saw's end rings in the notches and you've got a serviceable bow saw.

Extras if you’ve got the pockets or the inclination:

1. Small radio w/extra batteries. 22+ mile range/NOAA combo preferable. If you’ve made arrangements with others to meet up, that type of radio can be invaluable. But be secure about using one, though. Keep your plans confined within a small trusted circle.

2. 25-50 ft of parachute cord. Whatever fits. Very useful.

I’ve left off fishing kit and items like that because you’re probably not going to have the time for fishing and in any case, you have room for that sort of thing in either your sling bag or your small backpack. I’ve also not included magazines and ammo, because you’re probably going to be carrying that elsewhere.

Practice and test. Finally, when you’ve got that all together, field test it. See how fast you can get it all on, boots and helmet included. Do it again and again. Then do it at least once a week. Try walk, trot, run and see what rattles. Quiet the rattles. Then roll down an embankment, throw yourself down flat, crawl through brush, tumble if you’re capable and see what you’ve got left. Walk, trot, run. Still quiet? Good.

Second layer – Sling Bag

The sling bags offered by places like Cheaper Than Dirt and Sportsmans Guide are great. They’re easily snatched up and the contents will afford you an extra day or two of operations in the field. Plenty of webbing attachments for your customization pleasure. The premise is that even if you don’t have time to suit up, you can still grab your rifle and the sling bag and make a decent go of it. I wear mine on the left, since I’m a right-hander. The one I use also has a waist strap to keep it from flapping in the breeze. To a certain extent, I replicate the essentials listed above in the bag and the list below reflects that. But it differs in some details and sports a few additions. Ammo, for instance. I hang a 3 magpouch on it for my AR carbine, and there’s more ammo and an extra rifle/pistol in the bag. There’s an extra 15 round 10mm mag in there as well. Again, you’re not looking to camp out – you want to keep moving towards your destination. Rest, but don’t set up housekeeping.

1. Strike-anywhere matches in a waterproof case
2.Fire Starter. BlastMatch with tinder of some sort.
3.Maps. >Same as above.
4. Compass. Yep, another one.
5.LED Flashlight and extra batteries. If you’re smart, your radio, flashlight and any other device you might carry will all use the same batteries. Preferably AA.
6. MRE of your choice. A good meal (although some may dispute even the possibility) can make a big difference to your outlook. Even the (ugh) omelet ones.
7.Energy bar(s). Better to have 'em and not need 'em>
8.Extra Clothing Layer. Same as above.
9. Sunglasses AND regular glasses. For those of us who need glasses, the investment in an extra pair could be a life-saver. The sling bag described here accommodates glasses in hard cases nicely.
10.Binoculars. Compact, decent quality and keep them easy to get to.
11. First Aid Kit. Carry additional first aid as mentioned above.
12. Knife / multi-tool. /b> Preferably one of each. Again.
13.Empty Water container. You can fill it later. It’ll add to the one on your backpack.
14. Water purification tablets.
15.Rifle / pistol mag(s). Full, and one of each. They’ll be inside the pack along with as much extra ammo on strippers as you deem fit. Don’t overload it though.

16.Rifle ammo on strippers. 5.56 mm doesn’t take up that much room and you can probably carry an extra 2 or 3 magazines worth. Remember to include a couple of extra stripper guides. Wear one around your neck; keep the other in a zipper compartment in the bag.
17.Rifle mag pouch. Hang this in an easy-to-get-to place on the outside of the sling bag. Most will hold three AR-style mags.

Again, practice and test. Still have everything? Good.

Third layer– Small Backpack

Cheaper Than Dirt and Sportsmans Guide offer some nice compact backpacks. I like the Level III ‘assault’ pack. It’s big enough to hold more of what you need for an extra two or three days in the field, expands your available food and ammo stocks, provides for a change of socks, underwear and t-shirt, insect repellent, a small folding shovel and a hydration pack. Depending upon what you feel like stuffing in there, you can add a small waterproof bag with a towel and some baby wipes

Again, practice and test. Same as above. Still have everything? Excellent.

Weapons

When things get dicey, don’t assume that you’re going to just drive or stroll home. Rifle, pistol and a good fighting knife (that is, a knife that you actually know how to fight with) are essentials. The last thing you want to do is to get into a firefight. But you do want to have a chance to prevail if it drops in the pot. Again, carry what you know how to use. This will be no time for on-the-job training. If you don’t have the skills, take a martial arts class of some sort (NOT tai chi or freakin' yoga) and get thee to an Appleseed event to learn how to shoot like a rifleman. www.appleseedinfo.org.

Everyone’s got an opinion – so I’ll just tell you what I picked and why.

1.Rifle. CAR15 or equivalent. Light, accurate within reason and you can carry lots of ammo. I carry 7 loaded mags – one in the rifle, three in a quick-access pouch on the sling bag and two more in the backpack.
2.Pistol. Glock mod 20 with 1 mag in the pistol, two in the carry rig, one in the sling bag and two more in the backpack. This is a hard-hitting pistol, a real fight-stopper. No aspersions on .45s - I just like having 15+1 rounds of near-41 magnum persuasion on tap. Besides, if you’re down to your pistol, then you’ve got other things to worry about besides calibers.
3. Tomahawk. One MOLLE’d to my backpack. I like tomahawks.

4. Fighting knife. One MOLLE’d to my sling bag.

5. Miscellaneous small knives. Everywhere.

Car Kit

I carry pioneer tool items that could prove useful in some circumstances. This is in addition to the usual road kit with flares, gloves, rope, a regular tool kit, etc. Let your experience and imagination be your guide here.

1. Shovel.

2.Pickaxe

3.Axe.

4.17 pound tamper bar. With a tamper on one end and a wedge on the other.
5. 24” bolt cutters.
6.Extra food and water.
7. Sleeping bag.

Again, your circumstances and training will produce endless variations of this list.

[DocRock]

Bookmark

[Sloth]

Since I have a family member with poor mobility (especially when not on oxygen), we’ll have little choice but to hunker down where we are.

[DuncanWaring]

That’s one reason I got a tetanus booster shot a few months ago.

[Lurker]

I wonder what the shelf life on them are?

From what I've been able to learn it's in the area of 3 years or so properly stored. I've got some other stuff tossed into the freezer and will start putting them on some sort of FIFO replacement schedule.

L

[Travis McGee]

I sure hope we never get to the point where ABs are not available anymore.

[Noumenon]

You are correct - for perhaps more than 90% of the population, this information is of no value. They lack the training, the motivation, the will to live, the preparation and the destination to make this work.

I guess what I’m saying is this is sort of a Rambo type of solution.

Nope - it's a "I'm heading home or to my rally point no matter what" type of solution. Just because you're willing to fight doesn't make you a Rambo.

I'm one of those 'folks in the country' heading back to where I belong, to defend me and mine and to manage to live through what's coming at us all. Can't say that about the 90+ % of the monkeys who will be starving once the jobs and the government pellet machine stops dropping thier pellets.

[Noumenon]

That’s a tough call. Not a decision I’d want to make myself.

[Noumenon]

Yep. Standard sururban layouts are sieves. Indefensible for the most part. We plan to double or eve ntriple up here whe nthat becomes necessary. Tough to man a 24 /7 watch with two or three people.

[Noumenon]

GPS devices are only as good as the satellites that support them and the batteries that power them. Thus, the compass.

[Joe 6-pack]

I like the emphasis on the tomahawk. Not only is it an incredibly valuable outdoor survival tool for procuring firewood, constructing a shelter, scraping a hide, etc. it’s also a devastating weapon in CQB. Lynn Thompson of Cold Steel is a big fan of the tomahawk and has a pretty good video on tactics and techniques for tomahawk fighting.

[DuncanWaring]

That’s all certainly true.

But even if all that’s working correctly, you can still need a compass if you are moving very slowly for one reason or another.

[alarm rider]

Thanks for posting this. You have done many of us a true service.

[Lurker]

Compasses are great. We've got at least one in every BOB we own.

But an even more useful device which is quite similar is the Transit. Brunton makes a very good one, but they're not inexpensive by any definition.

Once you know how to use it you can figure slopes, angles, heights, and all kinds of other useful terrain information.

I got mine from a friend who was an Army Engineer as a gift. It took me a while to figure out how to use it but once you do it's a very slick and handy thing to have.

L

[Lurker]

Me too. But better to have ‘em and never need ‘em than the reverse.

[Grunthor]

if I might make a suggestion; http://www.foodinsurance.com/

[Travis McGee]

It’s smart to have enough to last during times of disruption, that’s for sure.

[Grunthor]

Perhaps a network of “out of the urban areas” freepers in our state with offline contact info and such might not be a bad idea.

[Lurker]

Basically I told my Doctor that I wanted enough one treatment cycle for every member of my immediate family and that it should cover 85 to 90 percent of the stuff that we could most reasonably expect to come down with.

The above list is what we came up with.

Now the odds that all three of us will come down with something simultaneously are pretty low, and some of the stuff could raise some eyebrows if purchased in those quantities all at once.

3 rounds of Prednisone, for instance.

But I believe that we're about as well prepared in that area as we will reasonably need to be. I'm sure it's not perfect but it's way, way better than nothing.

I'm also sure we're ahead of about 87% of where most other folks are.

[OldPossum]

Re your post 56 (sorry, I’ve been gone for awhile), those would be enticing offers to someone who’s looking ahead. There must be a lot of “cliff dwellers” out there who would like to take you up on them.

[stockpirate]

travis I think your ping list will find this post very interesting.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2478793/posts