Posted on 12/18/2014 5:33:56 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
A spokesperson for the Treasury Department told the Washington Free Beacon that survival kits being ordered for government workers at every major bank in the United States are for “emergency preparedness.”
.......“The solicitation is to replace aging kits and provide kits at additional location out of a preponderance of caution,” Collins added.
Once the government finds a bidder, each of OCC’s 3,814 employees will receive a survival kit, which will come in a fanny-pack or backpack that can fit all of the items, including a 33-piece personal first aid kit with “decongestant tablets,” a variety of bandages, and medicines.
The Treasury Department extended the deadline for proposals until Dec. 22, and is planning on spending up to $200,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...
No kidding...
We gotta have the bank oversight people “protected” when SHTF.
“The idea that gear will save you is pervasive in our society.”
Advertising-driven culture: the axiomatic premise that your problems (including ones you didn’t know you had until a stranger you’ve never met told you) are because you don’t have Product X, and getting it will solve your problems; your own behavior has nothing to do with it.
Hence political concepts like requiring everyone to buy gov’t-approved health insurance (delinquency subject to punishment), gun bans, and giving survival kits (however lame or advanced) to people who’d have no idea what to do with it.
Below is the contents list. The rest of the 27 pages is obtuse regulations not facilitating quality or pricing.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is seeking survival kits for its employees with the follow contents:
• Waist fanny-pack or backpack (all of the items below must fit in the fanny- pack/backpack)
• 2400-calorie food bar (minimum 5-year shelf life)
• 3-pack 8.5 oz. water (minimum 5-year shelf life)
• 50 water purification tablets (minimum 5-year shelf life)
• Reusable solar blanket 52” x 84”
• Dust mask
• One-size fits all poncho with hood
• 12 hr. light stick
• 1 pair of latex gloves
• Whistle with lanyard
• 33 piece personal first aid kit:
o 1 – antibiotic ointment pack
o 2 – extra strength non-aspirin tablets
o 2 – ibuprofen tablets
o 2 – decongestant tablets
o 4 – alcohol cleansing pads
o 2 – antiseptic cleansing wipes (sting free)
o 6 – 3/4” x 3” adhesive plastic bandages
o 10 – 3/8” x 1/2” Junior plastic bandages o 1 – large butterfly wound closure
o 1 – 1 1/2” x 1 1/2” patch plastic bandage
o 1 – first aid guide
o 1 – Carry anywhere case
• 5 Wet Naps
• Dynamo rechargeable lantern with AM/FM radio
• Air-Aid emergency mask
No conspiracy, just sounds like the Treasury has money to burn. And why wouldn’t they, they print the stuff after all.
Not a bad survival kit. It just needs a firearm (I prefer the 1911), ammo, and a good knife.
Don’t give them any ideas ;-)
Maybe they should include an emergency gun and some ammunition. Might have helped save the victims of the Australian terrorist
We’d get to pay for that, too?
No thanks, they can make do with cheap rape whistle.
I headed security at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency when they were finishing up their new building at 500 C street in DC (1991).
The head guy's office on the top (9th) floor was huge, had it's own balcony, sauna, bathroom (full with jacuzzi), and kitchen.
The list is little more than “shelter in place” after something like a moderate earthquake: clean up minor injuries, and stay in your office for 24 hours. It’s a comfort kit, not a survival kit.
Contrast it with the classic “ten essentials”:
- Map (if you have to walk to home, transport, or other safe location - do you know where to go?)
- Compass (do you know where you are and which way you’re going?)
- Sunglasses and sunscreen (maybe not so necessary for an urban kit, but if driven outside sunburns happen fast and can hurt)
- Extra clothing (you’re wet. now what?)
- Headlamp/flashlight (area lights helpful but insufficient, need directional lighting)
- First-aid supplies (up thru skinned knee isn’t enough)
- Firestarter (not even a “Hot Hands” included, mylar blanket is only thing vaguely resembling heat source)
- Matches (ability to start serious heat is very important, and very absent from the list)
- Knife (not included)
- Extra food (1 day’s worth)
And that’s not considering weapons.
Wow, they missed pretty much everything needed for a survival kit.
At least there was a few pouches of water and a decent stab at water purification - except they forgot a bottle to hold the water in! Oh, there’s a poncho too.
If you have to leave the office, cope with a serious injury, travel at night, cook anything, stay warm, or fight - yer done.
When armed bad guys enter a bank, its generally not for sex.
Where’s the Roman live honking goose to warn you when the enemy breeches the perimeter?
Never mind. Federal bankers don’t know what a perimeter is. And they’d probably wreck the goose by trying to squeeze fois gras out of the poor bird.
OCC employees aren’t hanging out at the teller windows.
They should hand out the guns and ammo to those people who did NOT receive a kit!
Or it could just be the annoying Health and Safety guys justifying their budget. If they don't spend it this year they won't have it appropriated in next years budget.
The government is great at wasting money on junk no one asked for or needs. They even write regulations making it mandatory spending because no one would order the stuff if they had a choice.
Preponderance of Caution = Ship Sinking mums the word
Cpt. Obama
No, not thin skinned but perhaps no sense of humor. Sorry but I missed the :) on your post.
As I said, my procurement days saw that kind of “hurry up blow the money or lose it next year” exercises as well.
Based on what was purchased, matrixed against other .Gov purchases, and the current climate as it is, this could be another indicator of the oncoming storm.
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