Over the last few weeks, there have been some very important questions and comments posted on the ETS Bulletin Board providing some excellent “Food for Thought”.

Because of these questions and comments (and a great deal of thought), I have come to the following conclusions irt my own situation in the event that Bugging Out became necessary:
A) TEOTWAWKI has arrived when all Electronics die and communications with my home/family and with my employer have been lost, along with all active and passive communications (T.V, commercial radio stations, Marine VHF-FM communications, GPS, AIS, SatCom, etc.) capabilities that are on my vessel.
B) I will not be leaving my vessel unless a TEOTWAWKI event occurred.
C) I am getting too old and broken down to attempt trying to march approximately 250 miles with 59 LBS of gear on anything but a good trail, roadway, or Railroad track.

Other factors to now be considered
A) I learned yesterday that I'm transferring to a line boat that runs from the Mississippi River to Corpus Christi, Tx. If TSHTF while I'm on the east end of our run, less distance to be covered but with major obstacles; but if TSHTF while I'm on the west end of the run, then I have a lot more miles, with many more, lesser obstacles in the way.
B) These obstacles could include: the largest swamp in the US, vast stretches of marshland, vast areas of flat plains, the largest river in the US, numerous smaller rivers, bayous, and coulees, hills, radiologically hot areas, and hostiles of several different kinds and flavors.

I have started thinking back to the days of the Civil War and what and how the average infantryman carried his equipment. I am primarily thinking of the Confederate Infantryman (lesser equipped) and he traveled lightly. He carried the following to the best of my incomplete knowledge:

A)A blanket(s) rolled up lengthwise over his left shoulder with the blanket ends tied together.
B)A “possibles bag” (if he possibly had it, it was possibly in there),(over his right shoulder) with weapons maintenance equipment, sewing kit, toiletries (not that they used as much as we do now), etc.
C)A 2 qt canteen.
D)A small rucksack with writing supplies, rations, Bible, messkit, spare set of clothes, poncho, etc.
E)A cartridge box
F)Hat and bandanna
G)Belt with bayonet, pistol (sometimes), perhaps a leather pouch tied to it, and gloves.

This has me thinking about reducing my load to the following:

A)Blanket rolled up lengthwise over my left shoulder with the blanket ends tied together and containing:
1) My pillow,
2) spare clothes
3) Baja jacket

B)My Israeli Parachute Messenger Bag (over my right shoulder) with my:
1) Log Book/Licenses,
2) 5 water bottles,
3) Signal mirror,
4) Medicine Bag,
5) FAK,
a) 1 pkg-Aleve pain reliever
b) 1 pkg-assorted Bandaids
c) 10 ea-moist towelettes
d) 18 doses-Amodium A-D
e) 6 doses-Tylenol Sinus
f) 2 pkg-Theraflu
g) 1 pkg-Q-Tips
h) 6 tablets-Bayer Aspirin
i) 24 tablets-Water Purification
j) 1 ea-Ace Bandage
k) 2 ea-OB pads
l) 1 bt-Tylenol & Tylenol PM (mixed)
m) 1 bt-Prescription-Augmentin (1,000mg)
6) Messkit
a) 6 ea-Triox tablets
b) 1 bt-strike anywhere matches
c) 3 ea-SOS pads
d) 1 ea-metal spoon
e) Combo-knife,corkscrew, bottle opener
7) Condiments:
a) 19 pks-Sugar
b) 9 pks-salt
c) 9 pks-pepper
8) Paracord/pigeon string,
9) Poncho,
10) 55gal garbage bag,
11) 3 bandannas,
12) Bic lighters,
13) 1 bt-Aleve
14) 1 pr-Eyeglasses
15) 1 pr-Sunglasses

C)My food Tube (4”x2’ PVC sealed)
1) 6 pkg-Swiss Miss Instant Chocolate
2) 1 pkg-Mixed Nuts
3) 7 pks-Instant Grits
4) 5 bx-Raisins
5) 8 ea-Slim Jims
6) ½ lb-Buffalo Jerky
7) 5 ea-Beef Bouillion cubes
8) 5 ea-Chicken Bouillion cubes
9) 20 ea-dark chocolate mini’s
10) 10 ea-Tea Bags
11) 3 ea-Granola Bars
12) 2 ea-Chocolate Brownies

D) A very small rucksack with”
1) 4 MRE’s,
2) 1 rl-duct tape
3) 2 ea-space blankets
4) 1 pkg-baby wipes
5) 1 rl-duct tape
6) 2 ea-space blankets
7) 1 pkg-baby wipes
8) Zip ties
9) 5 pk-Raman Noodles (assorted)
10) 1 cn-Mosquito repellant (spray)
11) 1 ea-Coughlin Survival Kit in a Can
12) 1 ea-Magnetic Compass
13) P-38 & handcuff key
14) Toilet Paper
15) Coins ($)
16) clip on hat brim light/laser
17) Written Bug Out Plan
18) BOB inventory
19) Maps

E) Hanging on shoulder sling:
1) Brown Shaving Kit
a) 1 bx-Tylenol Cold Medicine
b) 1 bx-Amodium A-D
c) 1 bt-Vitamin C
d) 1 pkg-Assorted Bandaids
e) 1 bt-Prescription Clarinex
f) 1 bt-Prescription Alegra
g) 1 bt-Multi Vitamins
h) 2 pkg-Ear Plugs
i) 1 bt-Desinex Foot Powder
j) 1 bt-Fish Oil Capsules (1000mg)
k) 1 bt-Glucosomine Chondroitin
l) 1 bt-Baby Aspirin
2) Black shaving kit
a) 2 ea-spare Halogen Bulbs
b) 2 spools-brown/white thread
c) 1 pk-sewing needles
d) 1 pk-eyeglass repair kit
e) 1 ea-spare button

F)Hat

G)Belt with:
1) Survival knife,
2) Buck 110 and Leatherman in 1 pouch,
3) Mini Mag flashlight,
4) Radio Pouch
a) Spare batteries,
b) 8” crescent wrench,
c) flashlight,
d) 1 ea-Magnesium Fire Starter
e) 1 ea-spare halogen bulb
5) 1 pr-Binoculars/camara w/belt pouch

I’ve been working on this posting for a couple of days and it is bordering on still being too heavy. I would appreciate any and all input from all of you ETS members who care to make any. I would also like comments on my mode of thinking as far as trying to go lightweight in order to conserve strength and increase my daily mileage. The rucksack is extremely small and I believe I will be forced to cull more stuff from it’s list. I think this will be a normal process as I start putting this altogether.

"...Blanket rolled up lengthwise over my left shoulder...
Messenger Bag (over my right shoulder)...A very small rucksack...
Hanging on shoulder sling...My food Tube"

I think you are going to need more shoulders than you have. I am trying to visualize carrying a rucksack and a rolled up blanket over one shoulder, let alone the other stuff, and can't. My guess would be that if you are going to carry all that stuff, you would be better off with a larger backpack to carry most, if not all, of it in...

Hi Wildman800,

The solution for your 250 mile TEOTWAWKI trek would be a good touring bicycle. With a little bit of effort you should be able to easily cover that distance in about 3 days (some good cyclists would be able to do it in about 18hrs if they attempt it in one cycle ride) averaging a reasonably easy 12 miles/hour with lots of breaks. There are lots of good flat roads from Corpus Christi to the Mississippi. Total BOB gear carried on panniers should exceed no more than 12Kg excluding food and water. Throw in a couple of Brit Ration packs will give you about 8000 calories. More than enough for the effort required. The heat shouldn't really be a problem either when cycling, 12mph is enough to keep you air cooled.

Small suggestion - skip the pillow. Use spare clothes in the torso of a shirt/fleece as a makeshift pillow. Not much weight saved as pillows are fairly light, but bulk for sure, and the more you can dual purpose the better.

Myself, I'd also skip the combined camera and binoculars and opt for a monocular or small single purpose (non-electronic) set of binoculars. I wouldn't care for taking photos, and insurance claim documentation stuff should be taken care of before the incident.

I'd also go LED flashlights...extra battery life, and no bulbs.

Duct tape is listed 2x

To one and all, one very small item that you all should include is a STICK OF HOT GLUE, with this you can temp fix your shoes, tent, raincoat, air matress and so on.

Wildman,

You've proven yourself to be a real asset to this group. With that in mind if the SHTF I open my house to you. It's on the north side of Houston but I'm optimistic it won't be a smoking ruin too quickly if things ever turn real bad.

I'll PM you later tonight with address and contact info.

-Blast

p.s. The offer also stands if you have a weekend free and beer and steaks.

I'll pass some info when I rcve your PM. Thanks

Maybe upgrade to a larger food tube? That would let you use it as the core of your blanket roll and allow you to carry some of your gear dry within it, along with the shoulder bag. Ever since you mentioned your food tube, I've been reminded of something that Eric Stoskopf has set up, I think he's tied in with the Woods somehow, either as a student or faculty. His set up is here:

http://www.woodsdrummer.com/trailtube.html

In any case, maybe rewrap your duct tape on your food tube, along with your cordage.

I would scrap the pillow. Maybe stuff spare clothes in a cloth bag to use as such?

That being said, I'm not sure how much you want to strip out. At the far end of that distance, you've got a long haul.

IMHO, you've got a LOT of redundancy. Not necessarily a bad thing, but if you've got to move that distance, perhaps it's best to skip some:
-Ditch the pillow. Attatch the blanket roll to the bottom of your bag. Might make for a more comfortable set-up.
- 5 water bottles? Might be lighter to buy bigger volume bottles (a 2-qt is probably lighter than 2 1-qt bottles)
- Aspirin, Tylenol, AND Aleve? They're all essentially the same thing. Slight chemical differences, similar indication for use. You also have more Aleve in your mess kit. Tylenol in your shave kit. Aspirin in your shave kit.
- Theraflu AND Tylenol Sinus? Ditto above.
- Q-tips? Nice, light, I'd ditch, but not big enough to argue if you like them.
- Just out of curiousity, how'd you come up with the numbers for condiments (19 sugar, 9 salt and pepper)?
- Moist towlettes in your messenger bag, and baby wipes in your ruck. You might be able to get away with one or the other.
- Rucksack, # 5,6,7 are repeats of #2,3,4.
- Your shaving kit is essentially a FAK. Do you need all of it again? Is shaving your first priority? Vitamin C, Chondroiton, multi-vitamins? Drop the baby Aspirin (unless you take daily!!!) and use regular aspirin. Or ditch the regular, and take 4 baby's to make the same dose.
- Clarinix and Alegra are both allergy pills. Why need both?
-How many spare batteries and bulbs do you need? You didn't mention size, which affects weight. If you go with an LED light, you can skip spare bulbs, and get away with minimal batteries.
- Ditto the monocular in place of binoculars. I'd probaby leave the camera too, unless it's really small.

So my suggestions probably don't cut much on weight, but maybe clear some space and lighten you a few pounds. Hope I'm not offending, but these are the first thoughts.

Wildman:
You and Blast meet me at Spring Creek rally point with beer and steaks, I'll bring moonshine and fire!!!
kmat