#30067 - 08/11/04 01:07 PM
Re: New Question about BOB
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Enthusiast
Registered: 01/12/04
Posts: 265
Loc: Stafford, VA, USA
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My mother was a little farther away, but close enough. She simply hunkered down until she could arrange to get out of Dodge. Granted my father and sister were on Long Island and could lend assistance. Did she need a BOB? No. Do those who live in the general vicinity need one? Yes.
My wife was across the river from the Pentagon the same day. She simply bugged out before the city closed down mass transit. Did she need a BOB? No. Did anyone in the general vicinity? No.
I am posting this simply to show that the need to have a BOB has less to do with the type of event, and more to do with the effect it has on your ability to live. Most people affected by 9-11 were commuters, not residents.
Hurricane Isabelle knocked out power to my house for a couple of days. No need to bug out, just hunker down. Snowstorms, again no power but no need to go anywhere. So what would cause me to bug out? Immediate life threat - wildfire, flooding, earthquake (rare in VA, and not necessarily a reason to go anywhere).
Terrorist strike against a nuke plant? While I doubt the effectiveness of this particular method (former nuc sub officer), you first need to determine wind and fallout directions. It is not necessarily an immediate threat due to the method of material spread.
Dirty bomb, more important to get out of ground zero, I will give you this one. This also would correspond to an attack against a large chemical plant or refinery. Think Bohpal (sp?) India, different method, same result.
Public riot - If you live in LA or DC, I would be able to evac the city for at least a week.
Sorry for the long ramblings, and I will fault no one for being prepared. Look at the realistic threats and you may find that maintaining an emergency equipment stash for natural disasters to be more important than having a BOB within arms reach at all times.
From my own 9-11 experience, communications breakdown was the hardest obsticle to overcome, hence why I have been following the HAM thread.
Bill
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#30068 - 08/11/04 01:19 PM
Re: New Question about BOB
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enthusiast
Registered: 02/21/03
Posts: 258
Loc: Scotland
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I think the 3000 people who died in Bohpal, never had a chance to wake up, let alone bug-out. Bugging out is only a good idea if you know whats happening as the event unfolds, otherwise, at best, your wasting your time, and at worst putting your life in danger unneccessarily.
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#30069 - 08/11/04 11:12 PM
Re: New Question about BOB
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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In response to your comment about the viability of an attack on a nuke, I work the outages, and every refuel outage, low flying air traffic scares the bejeepers out of me, no details, but enough said.
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#30070 - 08/16/04 03:08 AM
Re: New Question about BOB
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 01/21/03
Posts: 2203
Loc: Bucks County PA
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In 1993, when they first bombed the WTC, that was the day I was moving in to my apartment, exactly one block north of the WTC, on Greenwich Street. There was, as the time, a parking lot directly across the street from my apartment, with military helicopters landing and taking off constantly.
Nothing moved that wasn't olive drab or had a rotating red light on it for days. To get supplies, I had to march north, and to bring supplies in, they had small brigades of guys with hand-trucks.
It wasn't TEOTWAWKI, but it was dammed inconvienient.
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#30071 - 08/16/04 07:19 PM
Re: New Question about BOB
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Addict
Registered: 02/18/04
Posts: 499
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Someone on CPF explained a while back that the original meaning of a BOB was something an emergency responder (paramedic or whatever) kept at home in case they got a call in the middle of the night. Its purpose was not to have supplies to get OUT of an emergency with, but rather to go INTO an emergency from the outside on short notice, to assist with rescue, repairs, etc.
For most folks at home, in most but obviously not all situations, staying put ("shelter in place") is the best strategy. Keep stuff on hand to get through whatever it is, and to help your neighbors. No need to add to the load on already strained emergency response crews, shelters, and so forth.
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