Keeping people in the dark will not help. What will help is blending into the background. How a person blends in will relate directly to their surroundings. If you are in an environment where everyone wears a suit and tie then a suit and tie are a must for your survival preparation.

Jeanette Isabelle

I put together survival kits, spend time reading books and blogs and forums (fori?) about survival. It gives me comfort to do so. It gives me the illusion of control. Control is in fact an illusion. Disasters are chaotic, and chaos theory indicates that survival of any individual in chaos is determined in large part by chance. The strongest, best equipped and trained survivalist will not survive being hit by a tornado-tossed truck. Archeology, anthropology and Heinlein indicate that the minimum unit of survival is the village. The village can be autonomous, the individual, in the long run, cannot. Well thought out survival strategies involve a group: a neighborhood, a congregation, a scout troop-whatever. It is much easier to plan on individual survival, but that simply means that you will have to build your village on the run.

I couldnt disagree more with Nursemike

Control is not an illusion. It is a necessity. Planning for survival is part of being human. Abandoning myself to fate just isnt in my nature, I suppose. The utility of preparing has been proven to me again and again.The fact I am still alive is no illusion.

The minimum unit of survival in a catastrophic event is the individual. WHat happens when the people you were going to survive with are killed or severely injured during the hypothetical catastrophe? What if YOU are injured and cannot get to the rendezvous point? Yes, it is nice to have company but not at the expense of ignoring the basic premise: you and yours must survive.

I couldn't agree more with DBA...were we in a discussion on The Survival Forum. In the short term, survival is all about individual performance, and all of your points are accurate and well-stated.

This venue is all about long term survival, and long term survival is all about groups.

it depends on the reason you are having to 'bug-out.' And on the reason you feel you may need to bug out. In my own bag, I carry "hippie" looking clothing, and my bag is a Northface Scarab, as I want to look like a hippie hiker to any helicopters that may spot me. I plan on cacheing mil-spec gear though, but I want to look like a hippie for a few days after I vanish.