Posted on 01/26/2013 8:46:01 PM PST by Theoria
A couple of weeks ago, on a leisurely Sunday afternoon, 40 people gathered at a church in Washington Heights for a show-and-tell session sponsored by the New York City Preppers Network. One by one, they stood in front of the room and exhibited their “bug-out bags,” meticulously packed receptacles filled with equipment meant to see them through the collapse of civilization.
Onto a folding table came a breathtaking array of disaster swag: compasses and iodine pills, hand-cranked radios and solar-powered flashlights, magnesium fire-starters and a fully charged Kindle with digital road maps of the tristate region. Many of the items on display went far beyond the “10 Basic Pillars of Bug-Out Gear” that Jason Charles, the network’s leader, had passed out in advance through the Internet. A good number were tweaked to fit their owners’ needs and interests. A locksmith in the group had a lock-picking set. A vegetarian had a stash of homemade dehydrated lentils. One man had a condom designed to serve as an emergency canteen; another had a rat trap — to catch and eat the rats.
After showing off his own bag (parachute cord, a bivy sack, a two-week supply of Meals Ready to Eat), Mr. Charles, a New York City firefighter, told the group that he had just bought a dog. “So now I have to implement his plan, too,” he said a little worriedly. With a pause and a sheepish look, he added, “That’s weird, right?”
New York hardly seems like a natural location for what has become known as the prepper movement, but in fact the city’s prepping community is not only large and remarkably diverse, its leaders say, it’s also growing rapidly.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Pass along to whoever is running preparedness lists, etc.
NYC Region Bug out bag
Mock it, review, etc.
glad to see that I have a lot of that stuff ;o)
Glad they are prepping. They will need it more than most if services ever go down in the Big Apple.
I sure would hate to have to bug out of NYC in panic....that probably would not be fun at all.
Like an escape plan of jumping into the lion enclosure when the tigers get loose.
Face it NY'rs, you are doomed if the SHTF. Storm Sandy had them defecating in the hallways after a few days. The EBT mob had not even had time to get hungry.
It’s obvious what they’re missing.
I have been watching some of the Prepper series on Natl. Geo.
While I commend anyone who does basic prepping, many on the TV series are really going to drastic extremes to prepare
for something that may not come even close to the actual disaster that might really require getting the H out of Dodge.
I have done my basic prepping by already doing just that.
That is not to say that I am prepared for a car mowing me down as I ride my bicycle to the market in the next few minutes.
Prepper ping.
If I were in a city of comparable size to NYC, I would hunker down for a few days in hopes that the panic would subside and the roads would be cleared of the ones who didn’t prepare and merely panicked.
Maybe they need to learn how to stand up and fight their own before they bug out to safer regions.
It is a shame such people will get caught in the cross fire one day.
If I were stuck in NYC when the SHTF, I would barricade my apartment lobby entrance with the help of like-minded neighbors, bug-in with my sizable stash of canned goods and bottled water, and wait for the EBT-induced mayhem to subside. Bugging out, unless you can do so before the panic takes hold, would suicidal.
Things would probably turn out better if I had a firearm or a machete or something, but Bloomburgler frowns on such things.
You beat me to it.
I don’t live anywhere near NYC ,but that is primary — to bug-in. Bugging out would be a very dangerous thing to do no matter where you live. I would only do it if the alternative was much, much worse.
Face it NY’rs, you are doomed if the SHTF. Storm Sandy had them defecating in the hallways after a few days. The EBT mob had not even had time to get hungry.
*
Don’t remind me. My kid lives there. I can’t convince her to prep beyond a case of bottled water. It just worries me every single day.
Of course, her company whisked her out of there during Sandy. She didn’t get home for a week.
I suppose I could get her to prep for such a scenario again.
Just wish she’d quit and come home.
Please keep in mind that the Doomsday Preppers show is part of a NatGeo series called "American Outliers". The folks you see on the show are chosen to be extreme in a rather obvious attempt to paint all preppers as whack jobs. Given the reaction to the show, I'm not certain it's working out that way.
Okay, let’s take a jab or two at this.
Quibbling on the freeze-dried/dehydrated food. They work great as long as you have WATER. You can John-Wayne it and eat the stuff without rehydrating, but the price is the food dehydrates you in return. Supplementing that food pack with energy bars, water purification tabs, a filtered water bottle along with the Katadyn filter are good plus-up’s.
Something missing is, SOCKS. Care of your feet got drummed into my brain in the military. Extra pairs of both cotton and woolen socks will serve good stead. They can be used as packing and padding for fragile items, or wrapped separately in vacuum bags to reduce bulk.
An additional thing: consider a stash of cash. Bugging out of an urban area can be made smoother by greasing a few palms along the way. Opportunities may arise as you exfiltrate the disaster area to restock your kit. A hot meal at a beanery that’s still in operation, or a surviving fast-food joint, can do wonders for your morale. And once you do arrive at your destination, whether by chance or design, you are not utterly destitute.
“a fully charged Kindle with digital road maps of the tristate region”
Regular old paper maps are lighter and don’t need recharging. A Kindle seems like a stupid thing to put in a bug out bag.
i think many people aren’t preparedto/stay in place awhile until it gets saferto move around. and also only to venture out at night.
“Doomsday Preppers show is part of a NatGeo series called “American Outliers”.
_______________________________________________
I have not seen or heard of “American Outliers” and find no reference to it in the search engine, but Doomsday Preppers
has numerous links.
The National Geo feed to Asia may vary from that in the US.
That is a poor choice to have for getting out of Dodge. The only way I leave my house is if a hurricane or tornado destroys my house to the point I have to leave. I do have a bug out bag for that and in there is four days (12 meals) of MRE type food (not government issue crap) with the heater in the box. Those things are expensive and are only for having to leave my house to go where I can find proper housing. There are also individual boxes of water for six days and that includes enough for my Yorkie. Her food is also in the bag.
The best way to survive a disaster in NY, is to LEAVE NOW and live somewhere else out of that state, and not Mass.. Seriously, that state and Mass. just took those people hostage - no guns allowed.
Yes, that author didn't mention a gun and no effective method of self defense. Zombies with “illegal” guns there would take what the preppers had and kill them to boot.
Me, I'll head out to Old Sarge's house and he'll give me a special name like he does the rest of the family. I'd have to rent a moving van to take all my preps there, but it would be a blast to intrude on Old Sarge. I forgot - what state are you in? I've got a number of guns and ammo now, so I'd probably be welcome. Plus, I could be the medical director. :o)
however, if you work in a bad part of town, and everything goes kaput, I'd be very scared...
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