URBAN SURVIVAL: Do You Really Need a Bug Out Bag? Part – 2; Yes Some People do Need a BOB, But Not Everyone

Waaal, my ol’ Daddy was a WWI vet and he said iffen a man caint make it with what all’s in his pockets, he probly ain’t fit to live anyhow. He always kept a clean Barlow knife, a Zippo with a dime and a coulle extra flints hid up in the wadding, a roll of cash, which tended to be a bit damp with sweat, a magnifyin’ glass and his old brass compass plus a small H&R.32 revolver. And his old cut-throat razor, a red neckerchief and a little bar of soap wrapped in tinfoil.

A few tea bags, a needle and thread, a small notebook with the phone numbers of well-fixed relatives and a few local ‘women of easy virtue’. A loop of wire and a hip flask of Irish whiskey. His wire-rimmed sunglasses. A metal snuff-box holding bobby pins, his lucky gold tooth taken from a German officer, and three uncut diamonds for barter.

A lockpick, a Gillette Blue Blade razor blade in its cardboard and paper safety wrapper. A brown glass pill bottle with some APC tablets and some powdery stuff he called his ‘nose candy’, whatever that was, some kinda medicine I reckon. And a set of wires and clamps that he said would start any car engine in the Southern USA.

I still remember that clanking sound he made when he staggered up the stairs at night to let and my brother out of our closet.
Yep, he was quite a guy, and HE didn’t need no sissified carryin’ bags!

ive have been reading you site all day and im really glad i was turned on to it,but i must disagree a little on the BOB.

my bob is not to survive in the wild running from the end of the world but to help, survive comfortably if we need to leave our home..for any reason.

my logic
1. if we have to evacuate because of weather or chemical spill , you have a bag ready with enough basics to get you where you need to go and not stop and have to buy supplies with the rest of the masses..wile they evacuated for katrina i was still going to work,in sorrento, gas stations along the evac route were picked clean,the popeyes by work ran out of everything but biscuits and french fries.the mcdonalds had a 2 mile long line before they ran out of food the walmarts were out of everything useful from locals not evacuating buying supplies..there was a steady line of cars jumping on and off the i10 looking for food and drink. im sure many of them would have liked a few mre’s,cliff bars, granola bars something they could chew on and drink instead of having to fight traffic back and forth looking for some supplies.(ill give you that pre packing and planing you wouldnt need a bob in this scenario by itself but factor in that sometimes they recommend you to evac 3 or 4 times a hurricane season,its not always mandatory, so having a BOB set up makes life easier)

2. trying to find a place to stay in a evacuation type scenario..most of the hotels were full,even out of state,so having some supplies to camp at a nice camp ground increases your chances of finding some place to stay in some sort of comfort,im going to do what ever i can to keep my family out of a shelter.

3. if something like a fire happens and your bag is set up right all you have to do is grab the bag,family and jump out the window if need be,with change of clothes,copies of important documents, phone numbers,spare car keys,c cards,check cards,even a flash drive with copies of pictures and videos you could replace,cash some food and water.you can avoid having to stay at a shelter. with all your important documents you can set up shop at a hotel,campground,friends house and have alll the information you need to get the ball rolling to regain your life.

4. a prepacked bag,that was thoughtfully put together lessens the chance of forgetting important items you might forget wile packing in a rush. to be honest leaving for a hurricane is a pain in the ass and you always wait till the last minute because it could always change direction at any minute,or just peter out and turn into a normal rain storm.so having everything ready to go makes life easy especially if it turns out to be nothing and you return home right just to unpack..reduces some of the stress involved in evacuating knowing you have important items and all you have to do is grab a few extras if need be,grab and go and not have to worry about running around like a mad man trying to get everything together.

just yesterday in a small town in louisiana had a chemical spill and had to evac the town. a bunch ppl got cought at work ended up in a shelter with nothing but work clothes a small bob in the car would have been a god sent for them..so there are some emergency’s a BOB set up properly would be more then helpful even in the states.

but i more then agree a BOB shoud not be set up to survive TEOTWAWKI..

damn didnt mean to ramble.

I’m not sure with you position on a BoB and how to use it. I live in Kenya as an expat, the country is nice but fragile. What do I consider my BoB: cash, passport, credit cards, phones and car keys.

I do have other things like a fairly good first aid kid and my sturdy travel pharmacy (antibiotics, antihystamines, pain killers, anti diarrhea tablets, water purification and a couple of other things) in other pouches; but if the SHTF then it’s out to the airport asap or the embassy. I should probably have more cash available because one doesn’t know if credit cards will work.

On the other hand, if we exclude natural events like earthquakes or flooding then most TEOTWAWKI scenarios mean an economic or political meltdown. These processes take time and don’t generally affect expats immediately. For example a year and half ago Kenya was engulfed by tribal violence, did expats leave? Some did, the rest went to the normal restaurants which didn’t even close down one minute. Because the violence was localised. If a country goes under the immediate effects are empty shelfs, return to foreign currencies (usually Dollar) and an increase in crime not bikers with mesh shirts, bad theeth and a penchant for 80′s memorabilia. I just read an article about Argentina in 2001 and it describes what happens when a country collapses economically (http://www.survival-spot.com/survival-blog/argentina-collapse/), makes for bleak reading. But these are not BoB scenarios, you have enough time to leave if you have the financial means. The ones who suffer are the people who cannot leave.

I disagree with the point that you can hide in the villages, please as an expat you are safer in the cities. On the countryside you are an outsider and nobody will help you.

Sorry for the long comment, keep this site going, love it.

I am new here, and man am I glad I found you guys! I thought I was the only one HATING the morons in the “5.11 tuxedo’s” on some of the other boards playing badass.

I am a police officer in a midsize midwest US city. I have taken in the info from some other boards and devised an action plan of my own, using what works for me. I have decided that a BOB is part of my preps,, in the sense of having a small pack in my car with a change of clothes, food, h2o, meds/kit, some small tools and some other stuff would be good to have in case I need it.

My wife has a bag, and we have one for our two kids. These include the “fire in the house grab-and-go kits,” and another small case with some food, ammo, sundries, etc, more of a camping kit than anything. I erred on the “it’s better to have it and not need it…” mentality, knowing that I can grab this stuff and relocate 2.5 hours north to the inlaws if need be.

I am not a contractor by any means (unless you count the security jobs I do part-time,) but I would like to think that I am prepared to the best of my ability to protect and provide for my family.

Keep up the great work and articles guys!

I would like to thanks James for yet another good write up. I have a couple points that come to mind about the BOB and use of. Knowledge is a big one, as has been said knowing how to use whats in the bag is a big one. But the bag is only part of the “Knowledge” bit. One big one to me is knowing about your surroundings and lay of the land so to say, if your living in your home town you most likely know all the roads and have a good idea about what ones would flood ect. Now put yourself in another city in a 1st or 3rd world country. What do you know about the lay of the land? what is the neighborhoods like to the north or south? Are they rough or blue collar? The list goes on. You can glean a lot by hanging with the locals without sounding like your writing AAR. A simple statement like I was thinking about walking down XYZ street and the local replies something like “Oh I dont know if that is a good idea, a little rough down there”, well there you go dont want to bug out that way. If your in a 3rd world spend some time online and pick up what you can BEFORE you go and while there buddy up with some westerners if possible.
As for the physical lay of the land I found google sat map to be a good one. I have not checked on 3rd world sat maps but like North Ireland some parts a blocked to all but basic road maps. Maybe James or someone could bounce a little intel back about 3rd world and sats. Another good resource is your basic road or tourist maps even if they just show where some castle is and the routes to it. All the maps and sat dont mean jack though if you dont get some boots on the ground and check your proposed bug out route. What looks good on an outdated map or sat view could turn out to be a busted to hell cow path, ok if your on foot but will really F your Toyota up and whats the point of the BOB if you loose it at gunpoint even in the best of times!

Personally I think everyone should have a BOB. Now I am not talking about a “I am going to live off the land and sneak behind enemy lines cause Red Dawn finally came true and there are Russian Paratroopers in my back yard bag” There are times that we may have to evacuate the safety of our homes on very short notice. There are two examples that I have been involved with. First are hazmat spills. This can happen anywhere there are roadways or railways. When you have a cloud of toxic fumes headed your way you want a grab and go bag. The other is a police evacuation due to a crazy ass neighbor. In both of these cases you only have a couple minutes to get out of Dodge.
I am talking about basic personal hygiene, change of clothes, meds, hard copy of phone numbers, copy of insurance policy etc.

given up on writing parts 3 and 4?

I would ahve to disagree about not having some sort of bob in 1st world country. If you recall what happen in Katrina as a classic example.