I was just involved in the Noncombatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) exercise in Seoul a couple of weeks ago. The military practices this every year to prepare for potential emergencies, not any specific emergency (It was however planned to jack with the third weekend for me that month. Field recovery and soldiers doing stupid mangled the other two). Emergencies including not just all out war, but any large scale threat that might endanger the large numbers of families and not uniformed people who work for the military or embassy here. On a wider scale, it may be expanded to include all US civilians living in Korea. Some of the information I learned applies only to a military NEO evacuation overseas, some of it applies equally well to an evacuation in the US.

First, you're going more trouble evacuating if you don't have your passport, birth certificate or other proof of citizenship with you when you go to the evacuation center. Everything else is optional, food, clothes, everything, but if you leave your house with nothing else take your passport with you. On that, copies work too. Keep a copy of your passport on you at all times. doesn't matter how long you've lived there. Likewise, the passport card for travel in the North American continent is an excellent back up. It won't let you travel, but it will let you evacuate. Its also waterproof and fits in your wallet.

Second, packing for an evacuation is a very careful balance. A soldier's wife and two kids evacuating have to carry clothes, toiletries, blankets and food and water for three days (that's on the NEO checklist). They're authorized 66 pounds per person. Now, theoretically that wife can pack almost 200 pounds for her and her two small children. However, there are no baggage carts or bellhops in an evacuation. She has to carry it all herself. She also has to keep an eye on it herself to protect against it getting lost or stolen. That 200 pounds is a straight up impossibility. In other words, if you own it expect to leave it behind. You should be carrying only what you need to keep you alive and the documents you need to establish a new life and that's it. Everything else is gravy.

Once you're packed take it for a one-mile walk. If you're dead tired at the end, find a better bag or drop some stuff or both. Enough toiletries for three days is only a few ounces. Most of those toiletries are optional. Toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, comb are what you really need. At the same time, invest money and weight in waterproof bags and pack everything in them. They'll protect your stuff from water, sand and bugs. Pack for disparate environments. You don't have to be prepared for desert and arctic. But light clothes with sweaters and rain gear. Be prepared to sleep on a floor, in a chair or on a bus. If you smoke, pack nicotine gum. Get used to spending a few days getting your hit from that instead of cigarettes. The army suggests packing sixty days of medications if you take any. Sounds like solid advice to me.

When you evacuate, there will almost certainly be a security checkpoint. They won't be as strict as the TSA, but they're looking for the same kinds of things. Go along with it, they're there to keep everyone inside the evacuation center safe. They might let a pocket knife slide, but don't get angry if they don't. If it really bothers you, I recommend dropping a red scaled, non-locking swiss army knife into your bag next to your flashlight and AM/FM radio. Its the least threatening and most likely to be overlooked way to keep a knife. But again, if they confiscate it, they confiscate it. In a real military evacuation, they're the guys with the M-16s and the stars and stripes on their shoulders, they're trying to stop they guys on the outside with the IEDs and AKs. OR they're the National Guard and the waters are starting rise over your head. Humor them.

If you have pets, you need to have a plan for them. Buy an FAA approved kennel for each pet. Label it with your name and address, your point of contact in another state or in the US and the animal's name. Put the label in a ziplock bag and tape it to the kennel. Make sure you have ten days of food set aside in a tuperware container for your animal labeled with the same info and how much food to feed it. If you aren't willing to do what it takes to evacuate your animal, get rid of it now. I'll say that again, if you can't or won't evacuate your animal(s) get rid of them now. They'll starve and die on their own or, they'll pack up and become a threat to people left behind.

If you have children, you need to keep track of them and keep them calm and under control. The best way of course is good self-discipline. But there's always an age between when they learn to walk and when they learn not to walk. Team up with a neighbor and evacuate together. Have them watch the kids while you inprocess, then watch the kids while they inprocess. Make sure the kids understand what's happening and why. Take them on a run through. Kids understand very well, and they're more resilient then people give them credit for. They just have to understand and be made comfortable with what's happening. Even for children, being afraid doesn't mean being out of control. Comfort food, or comfort items (stuft animal or the like) may help you keep them calm. Have a plan for if you get separated. "We will meet here, you will find a soldier/aid worker/police man and give him my name and make them understand you're lost, or mommie will be wearing a bright blue jacket."

If you're overseas and they have an exercise, take full advantage of it. If not, stage your own exercise. Take your kids, pets and bags with you and see how much you can handle. Do you kids run off? How do you carry an animal in a kennel and your bag and keep your kids from running away? Go through all the optional stations. Read all the material and take notes, keep the notes in your binder with your documents. Know the right answer to questions that don't seem to apply to you. They might apply later or you knowing the answer might help someone else (which helps everyone).

Finally, eat whenever and whatever you can, sleep whenever you can and use the restroom whenever you can, the last one particularly before getting on any vehicle. Buses will be sitting in traffic. Planes will probably be sitting on the tarmac. If you're told you have ten hours to get to the evacuation center, spend half of one of them eating a hot meal. If you're single and you don't have anyone else to evacuate, spend half an hour eating a hot meal and half an hour showering and changing into clean clothes. If everything is packed and ready to go, routes planned, its the most productive thing you can do. It might sound ridiculous, but you don't know when you'll get another hot meal or hot shower. Then walk around your house, make sure windows are closed, lights are out and faucets are off. It might not be that bad, you might be coming back to all your "nice, neat flaming possessions". Hate to come back and find out the toilet overflowed and flooded your living room.