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Beat To Death but.... - Practical BOBs

3K views 15 replies 12 participants last post by  Quip 
#1 ·
I'm sitting here with an empty glass next to me that used to contain Rum and Ginger.....






Aaaaaaanddddd I'm back. With a full glass. So here goes.

I am going through my RUSH72 tonight and looking through it. Man do I have a ways to go to complete my kit. With that being said I'm really starting to question some of the mentality when it comes to the BOB. I'd like some input, both for and against my thoughts.

Fact - A BOB is in the event of an emergency where you must leave your home. Otherwise, your home has all the equipment you'd need.

In all scenarios except about three I can think of, I'm coming home and staying here. My three that could (realistically) happen to me where I need to leave my home and not return for a minimum of 72 hours are:

1: House Fire
2: Tornado (Albeit that's a close dead-last as we don't get them around here)
3: Nuclear Event at the plant that is almost 1.5 hours away (Wind Direction).

Now, I live 15 minutes away from the largest air base in Canada. Our area is so remote, I find it hard to believe someone is going to waltz down my well off the beaten path road to come cause chaos. If it's that bad, I will have had time to prepare and leave.

I have a wife and 1.5 children.

I carry 36 hours worth of food/water/equipment in my truck at all times. My EDC is a RUSH24 and it's fully stocked with three Maxpedition EDC Organizers (Tools, IFAK, Comms/Electrionics), Water, Food and a few other things.

Our BOB is a RUSH72. Here is where my priorities have lied and my mentality with this bag.

Any situation where I will need to leave the home in a hurry has been mentioned above. At worst, we would be 24 hours before the local stores open and we can go get a few items we may need. I have $500 cash in the bag so even if our wallets don't make it we've got enough to get clothes, some stuff for the kids etc. Both our parents live within 30 minutes of us and will be our primary locations to bug out to.

If there is a scenario where the stores will be raided, then I'm an idiot and didn't watch the news. If a Tornado rips the town apart, well that's a local emergency, and not widespread. An EMP/Extended Power Outage is sudden, but not a Bug Out Scenario. If I do have to bug out, I will have exhausted my supplies at home.

I see these bags with enough food, water and equipment to go camping in the woods for 72 hours! In any civil unrest situation you will have ample warning. It's not like you will wake up tomorrow, the stock market crashes, martial law is enacted, and you as a citizen of your own country are stripped of your rights.

There are 2 things preppers need to have before any equipment.

1: Knowledge/Information
2: Health

Without either of them no amount of equipment, food or water will do you any good! It seems that most on here stay informed and as such will know there is impending doom ahead giving you time to, well, grab what you need to survive at a remote location. We would not be preparing for the worst if we didn't know why we were preparing. I'll bet the large majority wouldn't jump on the opportunity when SHTF to grab all our gear and expose ourselves while we travel to a BOL. For me that's a LAST resort. Stay in, stay sheltered, warm/cool, protected.

So in reality, the practical Bug-Out-Bag should not be tied to a number of hours you should have to survive, but the likelyhood of the disaster/emergency that will not allow you ample time to prepare. It's called a "Go-Bag" for a reason.... because you need to drop everything and GO!!!

Here is what I don't have in my bag. I ask you to have a valid argument if you feel I should have it.

1: Firearm/Self Defense weapon. - Not allowed to carry in Canada
2: A way to make fire - Not leaving to go to the woods and live for a week.
3: A way to filter water - Clean water will be on hand when I get to my parents or my wife's parents. There's enough water on the truck for 2 days for all of us.
4: A way to create shelter - Have a truck, and spare beds at my/her folk's.

What I do have in my bag:

1: Complete change of clothes for every person in my family
2: Cash/Identification
3: Hygiene and sanitation
4: Water and Food - 12 hour supply
5: Something to keep my kids occupied.

So there it is. I employ you to tell me why my thought process is out to lunch, or if I do make some sense as to the reality of a BOB.
 
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#2 ·
The best laid plans of mice and men... Chances are your correct in not needing certain items. However, no one can foresee the exact extent or parameters of all disasters. By forgoing certain items, if something would happen that you and your family would not have adequate shelter, water, heat or a way to defend ones self you will be SOL. Bad place to be in a Crisis.
 
#6 ·
what if your truck breaks down and you have to walk to get where you are going? I would make sure all walking members of the family have their own pack. even a toddler can carry a little back pack with things like a change of clothes, water bottle snacks and a favorite toy.
adding a few items like a water straw, emergency blankets and a fire source shouldn't add much to to the weight of the pack and could save your life and that of your family.
 
#7 ·
As I have been told by one of my Canadian co-workers, you CAN get a handgun in Canada by answering the "why are you applying for a license" question with ONLY "for competition". Nothing else.

He has two and they are licensed under the competition clause. Answering anything else will result in denial. So he says.....
 
#8 ·
Assuming all goes the way you think it will is a fallacy that will come back to bite you on the ass. Why not bags for everyone in your family that not only includes the items you mentioned but a couple of standard BOB's that have the essentials to sustain you on the road and a weapon to protect you and yours? You know, just in case the disaster that befalls you didn't get your memo on how it should act. I would rather have and not need then need and not have.
 
#10 ·
I tend to set up my BOB the same way I set up a back pack for hiking. I may add a firearm to the BOB, but essentially it is pretty darn close to what I use for backpacking.

If you want to test your BOB take it backpacking. You'll quickly figure out what you need and what you don't need by what gets used and what doesn't. It will also help with determining what foods and in what quantities you'll want to take along.
 
#11 ·
I guess the obvious question is, "if you are just going to the parent's houses, why not store the exact same supplies there, and not carry them the whole way?"

From there, I would suggest that you might be over confident in your ability to reach your locations. Remember the possibility that if there is a tornado/flood/fire etc. you might be one of many people trying to leave at the same time. You may get stuck in a traffic jam, stopping your vehicular egress and leaving you with no other option but to dismount and hoof it.
 
#12 ·
I see your point about a traffic jam, however the largest city where a traffic jam may be a worry is 1.25 hours away. Around here, the longest traffic jam has lasted 2 minutes. :)

Our bag does have some common items you would find in a BOB such as a lighter, paracord, flashlight, fleece blanket, etc.

I am building a new shed outside this year, perhaps a locked area inside may lend itself useful to the storage of our gear. I've also thought about a very small storage locker. We have a place nearby, a 5 minute drive or 1 hour walk away.
 
#14 ·
Again where I live we do not get tornadoes and flooding is also not an issue. Worst flooding we had in my area was 3 years ago and it was local to those living along the river. There are many different ways to get to where I would be going. Again natural disaster rarely affects an entire area unless it's winter. A storm will knock out power and damage homes however aid will come. I have lived in this area all my life. I know what the weather is like.

A multi car pileup? It is difficult to have a multi car pileup on roads where the speed limit is 45mph and you see a car every 10 minutes. :) The only major thoroughfare here is the 401 which I do not need to take to get anywhere. This area is farm land and very very rural.

I do see your point however statistically unlikely. We would be hit by an EMP before there would be total inability to get around in this area. ;)

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk
 
#15 ·
Fact - A BOB is in the event of an emergency where you must leave your home. Otherwise, your home has all the equipment you'd need.

In all scenarios except about three I can think of, I'm coming home and staying here. My three that could (realistically) happen to me where I need to leave my home and not return for a minimum of 72 hours are:

1: House Fire
2: Tornado (Albeit that's a close dead-last as we don't get them around here)
3: Nuclear Event at the plant that is almost 1.5 hours away (Wind Direction).
<snip>
So there it is. I employ you to tell me why my thought process is out to lunch, or if I do make some sense as to the reality of a BOB.
To me, the bag in my car is to get home.
If I am LEAVING home because I have to evacuate for the long term, I better be taking more than a bag
If you look at forced evacuations like the one up in Canada where the town was destroyed by fire, evacuees were interviewed afterwards and it is clear that the stress of a rapid evacuation affected their ability to rationally mentally process the event and what they should take on short notice.
People grabbed stuff in some cases that was wildly inappropriate for the circumstances
So now in addition to a GHB in the car, I have a number of duffle bags pre-loaded with clothes, food, etc
There is some differentiation between the bags based on seasonal stuff, but they're essentially similar
On the outside of each bag I have a document protector taped to the bag with a page listing the contents
Any of you prior service guys who deployed in the last 15 years probably recognize the process used with our deployment bags
The bags themselves are split, with one in the house, one in the garage, one in my FFL shop, which has its own stash of pre-filled MWC, MREs etc in storage
So if I was to lose any of the buildings to fire or other damage , I still have some redundancy
I used my old military duffels because they're what I have on hand and I expect that they would "give" a bit more than a hard sided container once shoved into my vehicle

Just having a BOB might make the first three days a bit more comfortable, but the 72 hour thing is only an estimate of the minimal amount of time it might take the gov't to get relief operations underway. if you look at things like Katrina, the process actually took much longer for many of the evacuees
More recent advisories have said to pack for longer than 72 hours.

So that's my thought process....
 
#16 ·
I don't have a single bag ghb or bob that doesn't contain a knife, multiple ways to make fire and a filter water.
 
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