I have to admit my family has no bug-out-bags. Everyone has a CamelBack that has PSK items. They do not have water in them if we are not out hiking or camping. If we had to evacuate we would need to pull together clothes, food, water, and any camping gear that might seem appropriate at the moment. I’m working on getting everyone a duffle bag to put their clothes and things in when we go camping. That would be their individual bug-out-bag.

It takes us at least 4 hours to pull out, stage, and pack our car for camping. Then we need to run to the store for all the little missing items. I know we should have bug-out-bags, ready to go, but I can’t get my wife to go along with it. If we have to evacuate we will be at the end of the line of cars heading out of Phoenix. All the stores and gas stations will picked clean by the time we need anything.

Some kind of dirty bomb or nuke seems like the most likely scenario here in Phoenix. It is like LA, it is just too big of an area to destroy with a localized event. We have houses spread out as far as the eye can see.

OK, Right now...not later.. BugOUT!...
It will only take "30 seconds", so practice it RIGHT NOW!!!!

NO not later...NOW

See how you feel about it after you have done it.

Nomad

For my own research (to understand those who do not prepare in advance) and for my friends benefit I conducted the following study:

I selected 18 people at random (of those friends I felt wouldn't freak out) and offered them $50 for a maximum of one hour work. All of them set aside an hour and I came over to their houses/apartments. I then said the following to them:

"An emergency has occurred that requires you to evacuate as soon as possible. You are to take the items you feel you would need to survive outside of the city. You may not be able to return to a functioning city. Do not expect to be rescued. Begin now. You are being timed."

None of the participants were serious survivalists at the time.

Ages were from 23-40 years old

The following was observed:

1) Not one person had a kit ready to go.
2) All of them were thinking out loud as they prepared their kits for their families. The thinking did not follow a logical order.
3) Everyone chose some type of backpack for their gear.
4) Not one had ALL of the following: A knife, A means to start fire, A pot to boil water.
5) 8 people after the exercise created a bug out pack for future use.
6) One year after the exercise only 1 person had a bug out pack. The others had used pack items and would have to reassemble the kit.
7) All participants learned A GREAT deal! Every one of them felt they'd do better the next time. Of the 3 people retested all 3 had all the critical items and more (although they had to assemble a kit from scratch)
8) Although there was no specific time limit other than to evacuate 'as soon as possible' the mean time was 14 minutes until they were out the door. The shortest was 2 minutes the longest 23 minutes.
9) Everyone was very stressed while running the test. Oddly, they all had emotional reactions like it was somewhat real. Including yelling at each other to hurry or yelling angrily to get certain items.
10) All of them found it fun. This may have been the most surprising thing for me. I suspect a great portion of that was due to the fact that they thought they'd have to work to make the $50 each. This could also explain why they took it emotionally seriously.
11) All of them forgot to take RX meds including antibiotics they were on and birth control. Some even forgot needed eye glasses. Only 4 took their wallets/ID.

During the initial exercise most didn't have any knives (some had flimsy $1 kitchen knives with a serrated edge). Fire starters were lighters or paper matches. Clothing was almost all cotton. Every one forgot to take water (although some had canned goods with high water content). As stated earlier Not one had ALL of the following: A knife, A means to start fire, A pot to boil water.

I created lists of what people took. Some items were rather amusing.

What I learned:

1) The average person in an evacuation will likely forget key survival items.
2) They will take about 14 minutes to evacuate IF they feel some sort of time pressure.
3) Anyone who takes this test is changed long term. In the event they have to evacuate they will make far better choices. Yay! Humans can learn!
4) Without further encouragement sloth and habit will degrade most material benefits. Packs were canablized for camping and daily use. The need to maintain said packs was overridden by convenience.


Of the three who were retested two were given a call in the middle of the night to evacuate (I was outside their door with a cellphone) They had no prior warning (these friends were obviously closer to me. I felt comfortable that they wouldn't be upset by the request and since they direly needed money at the time they were actually quite happy about it.

Something to think about anyway. If you ever want to teach non-survivalists to think correctly in an evacuation run this test on them.

-NIM

Excellent Post

May I also openly admin that I am Guilty as charged too.

Although I am guilt of ratting my stash. I have evolved a system where things are in reach and labled ready to go, With the basic kit already packed.
So I would put myself in the 2 to 5 minute range.

That's why I drill on building my BOB.

I'm lucky my roommate thinks like I do, otherwise, he'd think I'm nuts.

Good point -- Its one thing to plan a saturday afternoon rehersal and a whole other to wake up at three am with no electricity and try and get organized...

I plan to drill myself every now and then, on a quiet day when I am the only one home and no one can make fun of me. <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Now that I've read other people's responses on the forum, I've changed my mind about a BOB. I was going to save it until my EDC, PSK, and Shelter-In supplies were all complete. But now I think I'll just go ahead and set aside a few small things that won't be missed in my day to day life. That backpack I'm not using, spare clothes, the toothbrush and toothpaste samples I got from my last visit to the dentist, a few other things. Although redundancy is good and all that, I can't afford to buy two or three of every survival item, so I'll have to make my BOB with the idea that my EDC and PSK are coming along with me when I Bug-Out.

Thanks for the thought provoking thread!

I think the ETS Homepage somes it up best.
"Chance favors only the prepared and equipped"

Which leaves the next question:
What is chance and how do we prepare and equip for it?

The fact that you are reading these forums, and visiting the ETS homepage suggests that SOME of these questions are being asked and answered for you/us/me.

We all read these treads, and have our thoughts provoked. Subconsiously we evaluate what suits us, and what can we do better. (and say I wish I had the money for that)

So am I prepared for everything ..... A: No
Am I prepared for something ...........A: Yes

Its a start and I"m happy with what I've done so far. But within myself I like to improve.
I have researched my area and found some of the threats. I have researched my workplace and ocupation and found some of the threats.
I have looked into other industries, ocupations, hobbies, here etc for ideas how they deal with threats/situations.

Gone are my younger days when I was indistructable and knew it all. Chance let me survive those, but as I learn from seeing others who didn't (Or almost didnt)
I've made the decision to take charge of surviving the rest.
What I've discovered is its not just preparing, its a lifestyle.

What I or others say you should do, will only be effective if it suits your situation, abilities and commitment, or the right variety of chance comes around.

So look, listen, read and evalate what you think suits you best.
But when the chance hits the fan, its your decisions made now which might save you.

I can empathize with the lack of funds for a fully stocked BOB. I can't fully stock mine 24/7 either, but I have it mostly packed. In a backpack I have the basic things and detail things - things that I can afford to set aside - a metal cup, a first aid kit, a knife, stuff for fire, a heavy duty sportsman's survival blanket - some food / water. A wool hat, gloves, 550 cord, flashlight - you get the picture. I don't have clothes or shoes in the BOB because I can't aford an extra set or two. I don't have my tent or sleeping bag in the bob - the bag because I use it as a blanket and the tent because it will go into a second pack - with clothes tossed when it's time to go. These are the only missing items though. If I have time to grab more stuff - more food, more water etc - fine - but if not - the back pack will suffice and I won't have to think about whether or not I tossed in the matches yet - it's all there. To each his own, though. THis works for me. YMMV.

I don't have a BOB. I do have some overnight stuff in my regular daypack in case I spend the night away from home, a fairly routine thing for me. It has toothbrush, toothpaste, a few meds, SAK, a change of socks and UW, sunglasses, etc. I don't know what I'd add to it in a bugout except maybe a few extra waterbottles (0.5 liter) and possibly some canned food. There's no knife except the SAK. So I think I'd be out within 1 or 2 minutes. I don't feel a need for a more serious knife and it would probably just cause trouble (urban environment). One item not mentioned is a radio. I have a tiny earpiece one that was $5 at Walgreens. It wouldn't occur to me to bring a cooking pot or firestarter or fishing gear or anything like that. The city is not going to suddenly turn into Gilligan's Island. I guess I'd bring my 440 mhz ham HT just because I have it, but wouldn't buy one for a BOB (some cheap FRS radios maybe).

I do have some supplies in my car (a couple dozen 0.5L waterbottles, FRS radios, a few other things) that I might try to snag even if the roads are unusable. I'd figure on total traffic hell and might try to exit by mountain bike rather than by car. A motor bike would be even better but in other regards is not really my style so I can't see buying one.

Computer: yeah, maybe I'd bring it (small laptop) or at least its hard drive. I do have off-site backups but they're way out of date. If I had my act together I'd update the backups more often (everyone should do that). I'll do that "soon" and may also post a thread with some ideas about how to do it.

Copies of documents (fireproof box?!): I'm having trouble figuring out what docs this could be. What docs would I need during a bugout? Drivers license, passport: originals are needed, not copies. Important business/legal papers: that should all be scanned into a computer and backed up remotely, or stored in a safe deposit box, not stuck in a bugout bag. Photos: digital rules, 'nuff said.