You know? I have seen a few mentions of firearms in the forum and a section in "Gear/Equipment," and yet nowhere have I seen mention of a cleaning kit added to bags full of equipment. Especially when the weapon is part of a BOB, a cleaning kit would be of huge importance. <br><br>I am currently deployed in Bosnia and I have to carry an M16 with me everywhere I go. I clean mine more than most people seem to clean theirs and I still consider myself to be a little negligent. With the snow and sand and just daily carry, that sucker gets pretty nasty fast. <br><br>In a survival situation, odds are the reason you are breaking out all your survival gear did not begin with a clean start. A cleaning kit, even just a flexible bore brush, a couple of patches and a little tiny bit of lube, could go a long way towards keeping your weapon in good shape. <br><br>If your intended purpose is to be included in a BOB, you might want to consider a full cleaning kit as mandatory. A multi-purpose brush, bore brush, and chanber brush, not to mention a bunch of patches and lube are mandatory.<br><br>You can't depend on your weapon being there for you when you really need it, if the darn thing is so dirty, it doesn't operate correctly. If you are in a wet environment, your weapon will begin to rust. Water+steel=rust. Funny how that works. If your weapon is a semi-auto, it will be guarunteed to jam if not taken care of. Whenever we go to the range as a group, somebody always complains about there weapon jamming during the timed qualification. When their weapon is inspected, sand, dirt whatever is all over the inner workings. I always go to the range with a spotless weapon. I have yet to have my weapon jam on me. Hmmm.<br><br>If you are depending on a weapon to keep yourself alive, for whatever reason, and you don't have a way to keep it well maintained, your asking for an unfortunate end to your existance.<br><br>