The other night after an evening of reading the Survivor Forum and scanning the internet for ideas, I settled down for a good nights rest. My mind tossing around ideas of what I could do and how to do it.

Then an idea occurred that shook me up. What would I do if I had to bugout in 5 minutes? Really and truthfully, not a drill - full bugout in 5 minutes!

I'm laying in bed in my whitey-tightys, my jeans are on the chair across the room, shirt in the closet, socks in the dresser, shoes in the closet, cellphone on the night-stand. Medications are in my ditty-bag in the bathroom. Keys, wallet, FAK, BOB, DayTimer(calendar/phone#s), and FRS radios in my office (work from home). Sleeping bags & backpack (empty) in the closet. Cash in the freezer, camping Chuck-box and stove in the shop. No way I could be packed and rolling in 5 minutes. Not to mention the wife and boys.

What do you do every night when you are going to bed? Do you already have your clothing laid out for the next day? Is your equipment in place and ready to go? How much gas to you have in your Go-Mobile? (mine is never less than 1/2 tank)

Now if you will excuse me - I need to set out my clothes for tomorrow.

Ben

I would say, in all honesty, that if you have less than five minutes to get out, being dead hasn't caught up with you yet, or you have other things on your mind.

People like to watch things go from bad to worse. I take ten minutes when they are bad, and five minutes after I put my keys in the ignition, see the worse in the rear view. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

This question has been discussed here so many times before ... but I think you?ve checked the ets-archives, didn?t you? <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

To my personal handling of this theme I can tell you that I?ve storred several BOBs inside/outside the house, my office place, my car and even troughout the whole world (have to travel a lot).
I have some places to evacuate to if sh*** hits the fan and so on ...

In the ending I?ve to deal with a similar situation like you with your wife and the kids:
My wife didn?t care about it all. She?s a "sheep"! (But I love her soooo much!) <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> So I was forced to make grab-kits that hold permanantly anything needed for both of us.

So if I would have to evacuate in five minutes:
1. grab my wife (no matter how great her complaints about interrupting her sleep will be)
2a. grab the bag beneath my bag (contains cellphone, PDA, extended PSK and FAK, minimal clothings and a ditty bag with my wife?s "essentials")
2b. alarm those who live with us in our house (we have an internal alarm)
3. dress on with the clothings from the bag
4. leave the house
5. take the car or the motorbike or the bicycles or ...
6. head to one of our shelters

That all should take only a few minutes and we?re forced to proof it two years ago when a military hospital at close quarters where supposed to be target of terrorrist.

First off, let me say hello to everyone. I have lurked here for a couple of weeks, and I am impressed with the knowledge and tolerance that has been displayed by all.

Now, to the question at hand. To effectively bugout in five minutes is probably best illustrated by using a fire station as a model. Clothing ready by the bed, all persons ready and trained, and vehicle completely stocked and ready to go.

If an "incident" wakes you from a sound sleep, and you only have five minutes, you will not have the time or the mental alertness to start down a checklist of what to grab and where it is.

I have been in firehouses in the middle of the night when they have received a call. Getting the engine out of the barn is a group effort. Training and reflex get them on the engine. The group effort begins in the driveway. Do we go left or right?

I've done it in 10, 5 would be hard, particularly now that we have kids - some gear is always in the truck, shoes are right next to my desk, where my go bag is sitting, with the next days socks on top of it - jacket on hanger is in reach of the desk. Previous days pants and shirt go into the laundry in the MORNING - in the mean time, they are on the shelf next to the bed, with the pockets still loaded (flashlights, knife, keys, wallet, etc) - if I HAVE to go NOW, I'll put on the dirty clothes -wake my wife, pants on, shirt on, probably grab a spare pair of socks out of habit, grab my son or daughter, down the stairs, toss kids into truck, back into house, grab shoes, go bag, jacket - kids shoes and jacket. If I have time, grab cats - and I can go - notice something? I have not even bothered putting on my shoes and jacket - in a "get out in 5 minutes" deal - I figure I can put them on LATER - I have them, but

I do the same thing with the previous day's clothing. But since I live in earthquake country, I might have to get going in the dark, without power, while things are moving underfoot and falling over.

i keep my cloth's all set up boot's ,sock's ready to go.One pack by the bed upstair's and one down stair's by the front door. If fire and can't make it out the stair's{have fire exstingueser [SP] up stair's] it's out the window bag first.

<quote>I do the same thing with the previous day's clothing. But since I live in earthquake country, I might have to get going in the dark, without power, while things are moving underfoot and falling over.</quote>

The difference with living in earthquake country is that we can flee our homes, but then we're not going anywhere. When the big one happens, the bridges and overpasses will be down, plus land slides and traffic accidents will make all the other roads impassible. We and our neighbors will pretty much be standing in the street with our BOBs and asking ourselves WTF do we do now? Actually, this isn't really right, we'll be helping to rescue our neighbors. I just graduated from our local CERT/NERT and have been getting my neighbors organized. Still, I wonder about WTF we are going to do for shelter since we cannot plan on any particular buildings being inhabitable.

I can not agree more. Having been there - done that at a fire station. Having never done it at home, I am pretty sure that it could be done.

I have to admit old habits die hard - and I get up WELL before sun up. So I try to lay out my clothing for the next day (so as not to wake my bride -lest she loose the hounds upon me). So all I would really have to do is wake the wife [have her call off the hounds ;O)] , grab my boy, OUR BOBS get out.

As I wrote this I got to thinking that in a jumpsuit or coveralls for each of the family would not be a bad idea. You dont have find individual pieces of clothing and it could be "pre-packed" like BOB appearal. I think I just found my next "project" SWEET :OP EPI

Jumpsuits might work well. Lots of variables (weather, anticipated emergencies, local terrain, etc.) Jumpsuit with vest might be able to carry essentials, in case that is all you can get out. (Imagine a military pilot with his/her flight suit and survival vest.) Good footwear probably would be essential.

Jump suit, Tactical vest, Zipper style combat boots (HiTeks are my personal favorites). You could be "dressed" in less then 30 seconds. That would give you 4:30 to take care of "the rest"!

Good call

I honestly don't think I'd make it in 5 min. I keep FAK and BOBS (in my case their boxes not bags, family of 8) next to the bed , all my gear and gadgets are in trays on the night stand along with my wallet . My problem would be getting dressed. I too keep all of my next day clothing next to the bed as not to wake the lovely wife at 5 in the morning. I have sever back problems and it takes me at least 15 min. to get dressed. I hate to say it but i have to sit to put my draws and pants on , one leg at a time. I'd be toast. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
The winter is the worse for me. I spend a good portion of the day on a tractor and the cold just kills me. you don't do much to keep warm on a tractor.
So I'd get everyone up and out first . give the gear to the least paniced . i asume this is a crisis? MY gang is good ..but i know what they are capable of. Then i'd grab my clothes and follow them out and get dressed as soon as i could. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> . most likely cold wet and dirty

Ditto here, only mine's hips & knees, five minutes out the door, no way. As for the gear, there's backups/duplicates outside in the vehicles. The clothes are laid out, but the body just won't move that fast.

Troy

I could hit the road in about 5 minutes in most circumstances.

My BOB sits at the foot of my bed fully loaded. On top of it or sitting on a chair nearby are the clothes I will wear the next day. The pants are already threaded by a belt with my Charge Ti and flashlight attached. Beside the BOB lay my selection of shoes and boots. Next to my bed on the 'puter desk rests my PSK and my folders, wallet, keys and cell phone.

Now, if I think I will have time to fill my Thermobak I'll do so, but if not I'll grab a case of bottled water on the way out and worry about filling it until I have the time to spare.

If I can take my car, then that's a bonus. I have a second PSK in the glove box an extra first aid kit under the passenger seat, a cooler in the trunk with a roadside emergency kit in it, heavier emergency equipment attached to the trunk lid, smaller equipment behind one wheel well, collapsable water carriers in the other, and even a folding camp chair. (More than a few people have complained about my lack of trunk space when going on trips HAHAHA)

If I can't take the car I'll miss the extra equipment, but it's nothing I couldn't survive without.

I plan on getting a Mountain Bike and a Yak trailer for it soon, and when I do, having to load them up on the car will take a little time and effort of course.

On my way out, I'll try to call family and friends via cell. Hopefully I'll be able to get through to them.

We've worked it out like this:

In one minute, I can have the family out the door and loaded into the rig with their clothes changed and their BOBs with them.

In two minutes, I can include two grub boxes and a handful of firearms and ammunition.

In 5 minutes, I can include a chest freezer, a wall tent, 4 sleeping bags, a box of tools, my chainsaw, and additional food and clothing.

In ten minutes, I can be fully loaded, 5 miles down the road in any direction, and determining which destination is the most suitable for the situation (next nearest town, heading for the mountains on back roads, headed for open country away from the things of man, or at the airport to hop a private flight).

Exhilerating

At least you have some idea of where your stuff is located! Besides, you have cold cash <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
That is a good mental excercise, I know it would take me hours to get going! We probably could all use a better plan. Cheers!

Maybe I'm missing something here, but.... why is everyone wasting time getting dressed???

Toxic spill on the RR tracks, or fast-movng fire blowing my way, I'm out the door in my pajamas. I can get dressed later. Essentials first!

("These people are getting DRESSED in an emergency! What are they thinking of..." she mutters.)

And for those of us in rock&roll country, if you don't have a decent-sized tent, maybe you should think about getting one. Or at least a big tarp & some rope.

It was told that a young woman who was in the shower when the '64 Anchorage earthquake hit ran down the stairs of her apartment building stark naked. A calmer gentleman ahemed and asked her if she hadn't forgotten something. And she suddenly remembered: "Ye gods! My purse!" <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Sue

Well, Susan, not everyone wears pajamas to bed. Perhaps that should be considered part of being prepared?

As far as getting dressed goes, it might be considered a "public service"? <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Let's see... three nights ago it was about 10 below here, and we have about two feet of snow on the ground

in the thirty minutes it would take the fire department to spool up, frost bite is real easy

I've seen me naked - trust me - clothes are a must. Toxic fumes blowing past me - I could be turning orange with purple polka dots and seasoned care givers would tell me to "put SOMETHING on!"

I have to admit that in 5 minutes I'd have no hope of bugging out, nor do I really intend to learn. But I will say this: if there were an emergency so dire that I felt that five minutes were all I could spare to get out of my house with all the necessary survival equipment, the very last thing I'd want to be wearing would be a jump suit and tactical vest. I think I'd be going for the most normal, bland, "nothing to see here" clothes I had.

I am about in the same boat you are. I know about where my stuff is. The problem is getting to it. Mine is in the back of the garage! Not totally inaccessible but it is hard to get to.



I will agree to that 100%!!


Don?t know what that is <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
My nephew just started Boy Scouts. He needs about everything. I had some plastic left over from a project and I printed out tarp-shelters.pdf file. I figure any shelter he would need is there.( Printed it from work?. shh.)

Emotional survival.

That about sums it up for me and my wife. We were deeply affected by the Katrina, and the predicament faced by the pets left behind. We talked it over and decided we could live without everything BUT our pets. They're our kids and our family.

My coat is always draped over the couch by the door, ready to pull on at a moment's notice. It contains my keys and an Inova XO3.

Having the coat out all the time can get on my wife's nerves, so we compromised. When we have company and all that, the coat gets hung up. At night, before we turn in, the coat comes out in READY position.

Other than that, we try to keep the cars gassed up. I have a set of clothes to jump into.

The rule is, my wife and I grab each other, and then we grab all three pets. The dog, the cat, and the box turtle. The fact that the dog and cat hate each other would make for an interesting evacuation, but as long as they're alive and well and in the car with us, we can live with it! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

-- Craig

I dunno... throw in a Fritz helmet and a flak jacket, and most folks'll probably JUMP out of your way <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Troy

I personally wear a pair of gym shorts to bed and have a shirt next to the bed that I grab when I get up (other than to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night). But I know that I'm one of those people that should not be going naked. (6'3 and 300+).

Besides, I know I wouldn't want my "flak" bouncing around, otherwise people would get out of my way. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Just a cheesehead displaced in DC. Go Packers!!

Well, I just had a near-bugout experience, a few hours ago. I was sitting at the computer when I smelled plastic burning. Did I leave the stove on? I checked and I hadn't. Could it be the lady in the apartment next to mine? I went out in the hall and the smell was stronger near her apartment, but less strong near the building entrance. I was debating whether to knock on her door when someone else came out into the hall from another apt. I asked if he smelled anything and he said there was a building fire down the street. I went outside and sure enough, there was a big blaze, about half a block away. Lots of cops and fire trucks were already there. It looked like they'd be able to contain the fire but the smoke was pretty bad. People standing on the sidewalk were wondering if an evac had been ordered, but as far as I know, none was.

I decided to not stay around despite no evac order, and even 4 blocks away I could still smell the smoke. I was hungry so I went into a restaurant and had a meal to pass the time. Other people in the restaurant were aware of the fire and I showed them some digicam shots I'd taken when I'd been near it. When I got back, the fire was out or under control, the smoke wasn't so bad any more, though there were still PD and FD around and the street was taped off to traffic. It probably helped that it was raining slightly.

Anyway, I think this situation could have been a "5 minute bugout" if the fire had been a bit closer, or a "zero minute bugout" if it was in my building. But not a "survival" bugout or an area disaster--at most a few blocks were affected. During the restaurant meal I kept worrying what if the fire did spread, maybe I should have taken a few valuables, etc. Survival gear was not needed at all--at worst I could have gone to a friend's house or checked into a hotel. But there's stuff in my apartment that I wouldn't have wanted to needlessly lose, like my laptop, passport, etc. In an urban environment like mine, a checklist of stuff like that might make more sense than a survival-type BOB.

The building with the fire was still standing when I got back, but I'm sure it's pretty trashed inside. I hope no one was hurt. I'll go back during the day and take another look. Xmas eve is sure a lousy time to have a fire and I feel sorry for whoever's apt. it was. I can't help wondering if they had an accident with candles or something like that.

Anyway, that's my "survival story" for tonight.

For me, for the fastest practical exit, I'd wrap myself in my duvet then climb out of the window. Given a few seconds more I'd put on a pair of shoes and grab my keyring and torch from my bedside table. A few seconds more, I'd grab my bug-out bag (which is on the landing) and throw it out the window first. My BOB includes spare clothing so I could dress outside.

I live alone, and my dirty clothes are just dumped on the floor, so given time to dress inside it wouldn't take any extra time to find them. I agree with Susan that getting dressed might not be the best use of time. I'd rather take another minute to locate my phone and waist-pack and tent. Then again, some of my EDC I keep in pockets so putting on yesterday's trousers and a jacket would provide me with some gear as well - it's not just about modesty. As far as cold is concerned, I only sleep naked when the weather is warm. And I'd have the duvet.