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Go bags. Practical, real world, discussion.


ED-SKaR

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We have to wait for a drug dealer to pull a gun on the cops and be shot dead by two well-aimed shots, first, though.

Well, one well-aimed shot, and a 2nd that appears to have entered his bicep, and exited embedding it's self into a colleagues radio mounted on his armour.

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You want to fight FIRE, what, with your bare hands?

A fire extinguisher is usually a better idea ;)

 

A go bag is something you shouldn't reach for in emergencies, as Jagraben says, you should get used to having it with you at all times.

 

For all other problems, the cure is preparedness: alpharubicon.com

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a go bag is split into 3 main parts

 

Medical supplies - Obvious, depends on the situation, if you're expecting to flee for a few days from a minor event, you're not gonna need what you'd need if expecting to flee a zombie apocalypse with possibly undefined time on the road.

 

Sustenance - Food/Clothes/Toiletries etc Things you NEED every day

 

Tools - Things to GET more things you need. Multi-tools, radios, batteries, self-defence also sorta fits here.

 

The way you build it is based on the likeliest course of escape.

 

If you live in an arid desert, you Sustenance is going to include LOTS of water and sunscreen, if you live in northern Finland, it's gonna be fleeces and thermal underwear.

 

The size of the pack is determined by the length of your escape, if your go bag is for an immediate flee from a short term danger (hurricane, rioting etc in metropolitan areas) your emergency escape will almost certainly last less than 48 hours as you make for the nearest shelter, stable zone then a regular backpack will suffice.

 

If war is sweeping the country and you're expecting to have to become a refugee, moving a large distance and possibly settling away from your original location, your bug out bag is going to be much larger, as large as you can comfortably carry.

 

You can also get collapsible walking sticks which will fit in a go bag.

 

Another thing is find slim/small guidebooks if you're not confident where you're going. If you don't know first aid, get a first aid guidebook to put in your kit, think you'll end up in a forest? Don't know how to make shelter or what to eat/avoid? Get a pocket book. You can always re-read them and in the case of a first aid book, if the first aider is injured, others have a guide.

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If war is sweeping the country and you're expecting to have to become a refugee, moving a large distance and possibly settling away from your original location, your bug out bag is going to be much larger, as large as you can comfortably carry.

But where are you going to go, and what if everyone else has the same idea and also goes to that place?

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I'll be quite honest, I don't see any reason to pack like a you're going to be a 'fugee.

 

As I mentioned previously, if you're on your own for any sort of long term duration, you are going to be screwed no matter what you bring beyond the basics. At that point, it's a matter not merely of learning CPR or even what mushrooms are yummy and which ones will send you to hell before they kill you in a most slow and painful manner. At that point, you're learning one or two trades essential to the running of a Stone Age civilization with a handful of Space Age gadgets brought to you by the men and women who drive white tanks and wear blue hats.

 

ETA: If you do want to be prepared for that sort of eventuality, study medicine. If you ever visit a Third World turdhole, you will likely find that there are very, very few doctors. Of course, if you are a doctor, and you value your life over your country, you'll do what most of those turdhole doctors have done: Leave and practice medicine somewhere that you get running water, good food readily available, and no one's trying to kill you because of some stupid arbitrary reason, like being born of the wrong village or visiting the wrong holy building once a week.

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I'll be quite honest, I don't see any reason to pack like a you're going to be a 'fugee.

 

Well if you're packing your go-bag for Western Europe, that might be a pretty low priority, I know mine certainyl doesn't contain all I need to resettle in a new location. What if your packing your go bag in zimbabwe, or somalia? The chance of war sweeping through your villiage/town/city is a lot bigger there...

 

As I mentioned previously, if you're on your own for any sort of long term duration, you are going to be screwed no matter what you bring beyond the basics.

Says who? My personal knowledge of fieldcraft goes well beyond the ordinary, but it's not fantastically difficult stuff, with a manual and a need you learn to create shelter, hunt food, perform basic medicine tasks (CPR, splinting broken limbs etc). That's down to the specific person, if you can perceive being forced to flee for beyond 72 hours as a real possibility, then you would be wise to learn how to survive in your country.

 

Another one I thought of, for longer trekks, bartering materials, if you're planning on crossing multiple borders, or flashing money is likely to get you killed, perhaps bringing jewellery or cigarettes would be more valuable.

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It all depends on what situation your go-bag is designed for. Mine's designed for keeping me alive for 72 hours following a major earthquake as that's the major threat, not yobs, zombies, or politicians (though the 2012 election year is fast approaching).

 

-Vic

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so now we should consider preparing for an apocalypse?

Again, there are different kinds of go bags depending on the purpose. The more reasonable kits are geared towards natural disaster and more realistic situations so employing those would be no different than having a fire extinguisher ready in your asbestos house, just in case. Then there are the zombie apocalypse-ready packs. Might seem silly to you now, but you'd regret not having packed the extra machete when the time comes. *oh and it WILL come*

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Isn't it getting a little fanciful now?

 

Some idiots spend 3-4 days robbing and burning (small scale in the scheme of things) so now we should consider preparing for an apocalypse?

 

That is kind of the point of a go bag. 99.9% of them never get used.

 

It struck me when a family on the news had her house burned down and she said "I didn't manage to save anything" They had the clothes they where wearing. No food, no money, all their legal documentation is gone (like the phone number for their insurance)

If it happens, having a go bag is a fantastic thing. If it never happens then its just 3 hours of your life and a square yard of your house taken up.

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Well if you're packing your go-bag for Western Europe, that might be a pretty low priority, I know mine certainyl doesn't contain all I need to resettle in a new location. What if your packing your go bag in zimbabwe, or somalia?

 

Then I pack enough to get to the nearest US consulate.

 

Says who? My personal knowledge of fieldcraft goes well beyond the ordinary, but it's not fantastically difficult stuff, with a manual and a need you learn to create shelter, hunt food, perform basic medicine tasks (CPR, splinting broken limbs etc). That's down to the specific person, if you can perceive being forced to flee for beyond 72 hours as a real possibility, then you would be wise to learn how to survive in your country.

 

Watch Survivor Man. He went out for a week, rarely found anything to eat, and he's a professional survivalist and survival instructor.

 

Seriously, the most important things to bring are basic tools, some basic knowledge, and a survival attitude. Your objective should be to get away from whatever drove you from your home, to hook up with friends or family, and to circle the wagons there, until such time as you can return or are forced to displace again. Trying to take as much as you can to try and live out the rest of your life in some sort of Red Dawn-esque fantasy is a good way to end up as bird food.

 

Another one I thought of, for longer trekks, bartering materials, if you're planning on crossing multiple borders, or flashing money is likely to get you killed, perhaps bringing jewellery or cigarettes would be more valuable.

 

Among American survivalists, such things are known as 'beans and bullets'. You buy food, water, and ammunition (and spare guns). Then you can trade your excess food and ammo for other things that you might need. You might also pool your resources with friends and/or family, people who you trust but who did not have the foresight to buy their own food, water, guns, and ammo, or bought too little, or as a means of simply increasing the amount of resources the two of you have at your disposal if you both (or all) did.

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It all depends WHERE you are,

 

You see Jagd, and no offence but you won't really get this. In England you can't go more than an hour or twos walk looking for civilisation without finding in almost the whole of the UK, just climb up a hill and within a hil or two you'll see a farmhouse, or a village, town, city or two or three, Everything's tightly packed, so my survival kit for the absolute worst case scenario of a nationwide rioting wouldn't need more than 24 hours of immediate supplies.

 

Now if I were in Tripoli, Syria right now (personally I'd be packing my flight luggage back to England, but lets say you can't or won't) There is a real possibility of war forcing me to leave the city in a hurry, and the trip is likely to be a considerably longer one.

 

Location also determines survivability, I knew an veteran survival instructor, he compared the falklands to Kenya. He said, and I believe it was a quote, though I don't know who or where from, if you can't survive in the falklands, you can't survive in Harrods with an Amex card, in Kenya most of you will be dead or dying in the first 24 hours.

 

Hence my advice being apart from looted and compiled, generic, ready to be set up to different situations.

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That applies to most of England, the bulk of the coastal areas of Wales and about a third of Scotland.

 

There are 5 million people in Scotland, 3 million less than live in London, and 3.5 million of them live in the 4 big towns.

If you tried to cross Rannoch moor with 24 hours of supplies your body would probably never be found.

 

With 24 hours worth of supplies you could probably cover 40 miles over easy ground on the first day, you would then have a terrible night's sleep and cover half that on the second day due to lack of blood sugar.

On the third day after almost no sleep, exhausted you might cover the same if you are really tough.

 

If you had a clue of what direction you were going in you would be at the sea by then since nowhere in the UK is more than 75 miles from the ocean.

 

Then you could track along the coast looking for a town.

 

In parts of Scotland though you would be lucky to cover a third of that distance though and you would die.

 

It's not just Scotland, the peaks, dartmoor and a few other places would kill you just as easily.

 

Your statement applies to most of England but saying all of England is false and could get you into serious trouble, I doubt you could even cross Salisbury plain with a single day's supplies unless you really know what you were doing, Norfolk is tough too, no landmarks and hundreds of water courses to find crossings for (lots of back tracking) .

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it's a good thing I said ALMOST all then isn't it :P I know, exmoor, dartmoor, scottish highlands, welsh mountains parts of the peak district would all probably qualify as almost, although, the chances of not even finding a farmhouse are still mildly low. But like you said, heading through the coast, or too high ground to spot any stray houses, villiages, or routes to travel.

 

But say compared to america where towns can be up to hundreds of miles apart, in England the chances of simply walking for days and finding nothing are very low.

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Im a police explorer at our local police department and we do ride alongs and that sort of stuff. We get to learn the job. Most of the officers take a small bag, clip a carabiner to it and hook it under the seat. Most officers carry 3 AR-15 mags, a few pistol mags, a few energy bars, Extra cuffs, flashlight, and a first aid kit including quick clot.

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