I update my BOB very often and think it is a great concept for preparedness. It is enjoyable to keep up with and there is a great deal of security derived from having one.

However, I remember reading once upon a time, how folks who have to maintain a low profile, IF you know what I mean, would make up a very simple BOB containing only the items a person might need when "on the lam."

These items would be all the cash that can be crammed into a small shoulder bag. In fact, the bag was sort of the person's bank account, too. Over time, all available money & any other light weight valuables are kept in the BOB so that all that kind of thing is in one place if TSHTF.

Added to the valuables and cash are a complete change of clothes complete with belt and extra underwear and socks with a zippered wind breaker type of light jacket of the reverseable kind with a solid color on either side. A light weight pullover sweater or long sleeve sweatshirt gives layering ability if it turns cold. The idea being to change appearances as simply as possible from time to time.

To complete the bug out bag would be something like a snub nose .38 special with the hammer ground down flush so it would not snag on a pocket and an extra box of bullets, for protection in bad places but easy to ditch if cornered by the law enforcement.

The rest of the kit would include a small pocket compass, wrist watch, sunglasses, pair of sneakers and socks, baseball cap & knit cap, shaving kit (with pocket comb, razor, shave cream, soap, toothbrush and toothpast) pocket knife, lighter, pack(s) of smokes, chewing gum, candy bars, flashlight, small first aid kit, city and state maps, and maybe a couple of magazines.

This BOB is kept under the bed or anywhere close, so that when the need to scram happens one can scram! Time could literally be so short it could be only a matter of grabbing the BOB and jumping out of a window. There may not be time to even put on shoes or strap on a wrist watch and that is why such things are in the bag.

With the need to travel light and at great speed but unnoticed as the main stategies this is a smart outfit to have together. Some say as little as changing into different colored jackets and sweaters along with each look being a ball cap or a knit cap or bareheaded, it might be possible to be nondescipt in public travel, like on a bus or in a taxi. The magazines are to hold over the face at various times as if reading but really chiefly to obscur the face in bus terminals, etc. Cigarette and chewing gum use looks common and so, reasuring to most.

Any of the items in the bag can be ditched one after another or all at once should the need arise. In fact switching to a paper sack or other kind of bag might be wise as the need to change looks and configuration of appearance arises.

"... easy to ditch if cornered by the law enforcement..."

You just keep thinkin' there Butch, that's what you do best...

Hornfrog, please don't take this the wrong way, but... what is it you do for a living that would... ah... encourage you to consider this particular type of BOB?

Just curious. I tend to kind of skip over most of the evasion-&-escape type of stuff. Of course, that probably absolutely guarantees that I'll need it someday.

Sue

You should probably include the name and phone number of a good criminal lawyer in your BOB too.

The only person I can think of who might have a need for a kit like this (minus the firearm) is a guy I read about in the LATimes who repossesses ocean freighters. Talk about an intersting job.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-repoman1mar01,0,7780387.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Ooooh, looks like I have some 'spainin to do! That post was intended to be a little tongue in cheek, but I see that went right over the top, didn't it?

Okay, and for the record, I am not in trouble with the law as you seem to imply that I must be, and I want you to know that I have the utmost respect for LEOs and even have a best friend who is a LEO that I see in church every Sunday at the church, incidentally, where I have been the preacher for many years!

My interest in the term is purely etymological in nature. I don't need a bug out bag of this type nor did my original post say I did. If you read and can remember what I said in the first part of my original post you will notice I very clearly am referring to material I have read about that used the terminology "bug out bag." I don't think that term was invented by this forum and for that matter don't believe this forum has ever even made that claim. They are good guys and I highly recommend them and all the great information found here. I have been reading and occasionally posting here for many years now.

I am going to stick to my purpose here though, no matter how many choose not to understand that. I DO believe that the term itself likely originated from the criminal element, however, which I am not part of nor have ever condoned. I was only commenting here on the style of "bugging out" this referred to originally and has been seemingly co-opted by these kinds of boards.

Please do not rush to judgment before you have considered all the facts and in the future handle one another, me included, with courtesy. Just like you would like to be treated when you comment on something.

I have to say, I found your description of a bug out bag for the criminal element only mildly interesting. Except for the quantity of cash, the choice in firearm, and the situation in which one would employ their bug out bag, the kit isn't notably different from the emergency kits of many people here. It seems that no matter what the reason for running is, if you are running, the list of things you need is pretty fixed.

On the ETS survival kits page, Doug mentions seven principle groups of equipment for an emergency kit. These groups are:
Signaling
Emergency Devices
Shelter and Personal Protection
Medical
Food and water
Personal Supplies
Miscellaneous and Multipurpose

Signaling is the only group I fail to see in your description of the criminal's BOB, although I suspect in this day and age a disposible cell phone is now almost certainly on the list (and perhaps should be on mine too).

For emergency devices, we have a flashlight, pocket knife, lighter, compass, wrist watch and sunglasses.

Shelter and personal protection are taken care of by a variety of clothing and a firearm.

Medical is a first aid kit

Food and water taken care of with candy bars.

The toiletry kit constitutes personal supplies.

Miscellaneous items include cash, maps, magazines, cigarettes and gum.

All in all the list mirrors kits put together here for emergency kits. I can't think of anyone who couldn't benefit from a kit similar in nature to this one. As always, the tools are tools, only the purpose they are put to maybe questionable.

This idea concerning the "On The Lam" BoB is like having a horse thief in the ancestral family tree. Nobody wants to talk about the possibility or admit to the reality that there was a horse thief in the family. The truth most likely is that just like every family (no matter how blue-blooded) has a Horse Thief somewhere in the family tree, The BoB probably did originate or was refined by this fact.

When I was a kid, I always was afraid that the law was going to come knocking (I was a BAD kid!!) and I always had a backpack ready to grab and go out the back door as the cops would have been coming in through the front door. I had never heard of the term "Bug-Out Bag" or "BoB" but that is what my backpack was set up as.

I suspect that many of us, when we read your "...However,...", soon after you mentioned that you update your BOB "...very often...", got the impression that you were considering going to such a bag. Then you used the phrase "...maintain a low profile...", which is a concept desired by many of our members. Right after that came the "...easy to ditch if cornered by the law enforcement..." part, hence the confusion. Sorry that we/I misconstrued your meaning...

The wicked flee when no man pursueth
- Proverbs 28:1