How did you guys get interested in Survial Kits?

Since I asked the question, I will go first.

For the past 10 years or so my wife and I have been going to Colorado for a weeks vacation in the summer. I usually do day hikes and shoot air rifles while my wife sits in the cabin or on the patio reading or watching movies. The first year or two, I didn't carry any gear except for a day pack with an extra jacket and hat and some water.

One day, I was about 3 hours from the car and the sole on my hiking shoes busted all the stitches back to the heal. I didn't have anyway to secure the sole to the boot. I had to raise my foot and let the sole flop forward before putting my foot down. I got pretty sore from the odd movement before I got back to the car. The second event happened later that year when our family went for only a 30 minute or so hike at a state park. My two or three year old daughter fell and scrapped her knee and I didn't have any way to patch it up. We were lucky to pass some Boy Scouts who were prepared and gave us a bandaid.

Those two events made me realize that I needed to do better than that. Once I started doing some internet searching, I found several sites that steered me in the right direction.

Now, I tend to take too much gear plus I make my girls who now hike with me each carry their own gear.

How did you guys get started?

David Enoch

I just always felt the need from 8 years old and since, to be able to grab my backpack and be ready to head out the back door when a threat appears.

It started to crystallize with the TV show MacGyver. I had a reputation for doing the same sort of things and being "prepared" more than most. Next thing you know I had a SAK and the rest is history.

When I was about 8 years old or so I can remember asking my grandfather what the little thing he carried on his keychain was. He explained that is was a pocketknife and proceeded to take it off the keychain and give me a quick little safety lesson with it. He then told me I could keep it so long as I don't tell my mother.

That moment, combined with the rest of my youth spent in scouting, pretty much solidified my interest in 'survival gear' and whatnot.

It also helped that my father was a diesel mechanic, so I grew up learning the value of good tools and equipment. He was the type of person that, if a tool didn't work the way it should, he would run it over with his D6 bulldozer and then go buy a better one.

Tornados in Alabama, Blizzards in Vermont and them riding out Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans did it for me.

I was a boy scout, then an airborne infantryman. The Scouts taught me how to live in the woods, and to carry certain items at all times. Even back then I had a small kit made up.

The infantry taught me how to make do with what I had and still be comfortable, but again, to always have certain items handy. Many of my skills from the scouts led me to be a little more comfortable in the weeds than the other guy. Again, one item that stayed with me was a personal survival kit.

I could take nothing, cobble it into a something, and make do with anything. Still can.

I started after I became a gun owner about 5 years ago in my early thirties. Since then, I've been steadily transforming myself into being more self-sufficient for survival purposes. I read a lot about cases where I'm thinking, "But for the grace of God, there go I."

A little about my background, I was not a Boy Scout. My dad is an accountant and not a handyman. I did attend a top engineering school for undergrad and did well. However, school is mostly theory. After college, the Boy Scout inside me did not emerge until more than 10 years later in my early thirties.

I started carrying a small kit back in college when I became an EMT. I would have hated to be the guy with the know-how to help someone, but be unable to do so because I didn't have a bandage or pocket mask.

However, this fell by the wayside after graduating, and I worked for seven years in Manhattan, as oblivious and unprepared as the next guy.

Then one day some guys decided to drive airplanes into a building I happened to be in at the time. My world changed.

I realized that help would not always be on the way. I realized that I was vulnerable. I realized there was something I could do about it.

I now try to have gear to either shelter-in-place or make my way home in relative comfort, wherever I may be. It's still a work in progress, and I've spent money on many useful things, and many more that seemed useful at the time, but proved to be not so useful with use.

My most extravagant purchase was LASIK for my eyes. I lost my glasses while evacuating on 9/11/01 (actually, while diving under a car for cover) and I never wanted to experience having my most important sense degraded when I needed it most, ever again.

I also became an EMT again, and volunteering with my local squad has been incredibly rewarding.

started in Scouts, and was fortunate to be old enough to have two Scoutmasters that were WWII combat vets (Marine and Army/OSS)....I live on the west coast of Florida so hurricanes became a summer event...my first major storm was hurricane "Donna" in I think 1962, we had only a day or so warning with lots of street flooding and power/telephone outage...a couple of typhoons and earthquakes stationed in the Far East..I started practical shooting about the time I started teaching (1981).... I had used a "bug out" scenario in a variety of guises as critical thinking, problem-solution set skills with my students, and was introduced to the 72 hour "go bucket" by a fellow teacher, a member of LDS...I helped pilot a Health and Human Services Learning Comminity within the county, and we adopted "survival" as our over all topic for integrated lessons.....the 72 hour bucket exercise became a true lab in a series, along with a land navigation, home made MRE, and EMT presentation for Great American Teach In...articles by Jeff Randall in Tactical Knives got me to the EDC stage

I've had a "Be Prepared" attitude since Boy Scouts. However, I really got serious about an EDC survival kit after 9/11. That incident made me think about how important it is to have whistle, light, knife, first aid supplies, etc. with you ALL the time.

Survival kits? Not really. Making a dedicated survival kit was quite a bit of a stretch for me because there was absolutely no way to cram the survival item I consider most important into one: A shelter. I avoided the survival-in-a-tin-can concept for years, it didn't fit the way I did things.


That doesn't mean I wasn't prepared going outdoors. In between boy scouting, our own wilderness family trips (day hiking, day skiing) and most importantly: The mountain code which has been repeated on national public television ever since I was born. For years, I've been carrying a bivy bag and similar stuff around whenever I'm off the pavement.


Fitting the PSK into my mode of operation was quite a journey, but I finally got there. You can follow the process starting here (PSK sharing thread), with additional posts later in that thread. Come to think of it, I should make some updates to that thread, it doesn't deserve to die.

I still carry the same emergency stuff as before, but now in a much more organized manner. In particular, my small and large PSK is a huge improvement in my ability to repair and improvise stuff. And it is valuable backup for some vital items. And it makes packing for a trip much easier: It's much easier to remember PSK (big or small) than the sum of individual items.

Funny thing is, I carry less than before. Being more organized means I'm better at cutting away stuff that isn't really needed.

I can't remember a time where I wasn't interested in pocketknives, tools, and being able to fix things. As a handyman and a technologist, I'm keenly aware of needing certain tools to be able to get things done. Knowing how to do something but lacking the tools is a feeling I hate. Self-sufficiency is just something I've always tried to do.

I've read voraciously since First Grade. I read _The Hardy Boys Handbook: Seven Stories of Survival_ when it came out in 1980, and that led me into thinking about carrying tools not just to fix stuff, but to survive.

I was looking for knife reviews because I wanted to buy a good folder on the net and google came back with ETS, I started reading the articles on Doug's site and that was where I decided that I needed to be prepared for emergencies.

I was never a Boy Scout, though I am called that plenty of times each week.

I loved adventure movies in my youth (still do) and of course they always had exactly what they need exactly when they need it. Or they had a tool to make exactly what they needed. So I started packing items in my backpack like zippos, pocket knives, cordage, etc.

The military instilled in me, doing everything with nothing. Nothing is actually what you can tuck in your ruck between 40 lbs of ammo, 45lbs of water, 5 lbs of gummi bears and beef jerky and two pairs of socks.

Equipped.org taught me everything else.

I guess it started in Boy Scouts with me too... started... but I think the religion came in college, when we were on a "day hike" in spring up along the Presidential range in NH, and ended up spending a pretty cold night out in near zero visibility hunkered down with a lot less than a respectable Boy Scout should have had. It was humbling, and from that point, I have had the Be Prepared motto implanted in my head. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right:-)

My grandfather worked in Africa, so my mother basically grew up on an "American reservation" and from the time she was 8 she had a bug out bag, and plans for being alone and not alone, and what to do if she couldn't get to the beach (where the US and UK Marines would be landing). There was a grab and go bag for as long as I can remember, and when I was 8 or 9 my grandfather (who insisted I always carry a bag with water, socks, hat, jacket and a whistle when we were in the woods) showed me what could go into such a bag and helped me build my own. I was maintaining my own a few years latter, and now....

*giggles* I don't suffer from this insanity- I enjoy every minute of it. And I will, right until I turn into the smartest, sanest, wisest guy in the room according to the people who think this is a "morbid hobby".

Camping and hiking got me acquainted with the "Ten Essentials" in the 1990s.

A lengthy ice storm power outage and 9/11 caused me to focus more on preparedness -- for which the camping and hiking gear and experiences are handy.

Welcome to ETS!

I have been a "Be Prepared" type of fellow, but the scouts had nothing to do with that.

Being tossed out of a UH-60 Blackhawk (December 1989, look it up) into the wrong patch of Panama with only what was in my pockets and my combat harness / butt pack helped also.

My vehicle (with my ruck sack and all) was deposited in the proper LZ. About a week later, my spotter and I made it to our originally advertised destination on foot. We had each lost about 25 - 30 lbs and were a might dehydrated. I grew tired of bad water, bad substitute toilet paper, and bad folks who did not like my tourist plans.

I was later sent to SERE school, and it was a walk in the park by way of comparison.

I have since worked in environments that are distant from help, and obliged to make life difficult. I have yet to be as uncomfortable as I was in Panama, and I have no intention of being that poorly prepared again.

It was an effective weight loss program though....

I transferred as a sophomore to the University of Arizona after growing up in various parts of the flat midwest. I became quite fascinated with climbing mountains and the great outdoors of Arizona. As I read about climbing, i realized that nearly everyone spent an unplanned night out and that certain key items made the experience much more endurable.

As my trips grew longer, in due course, I had some unplanned overnight adventures. During my senior year in college, I experienced my first mountain rescue, a life changing experience. During a career in the National Park Service, I came to realize how important it was to practice preparedness at all levels. I and my family were sometimes one hundred miles from the nearest decent grocery store, and we had to be prepared to take care not just ourselves, but others as well.

There were several times when I realized that if you didn't have the required item on your person, you effectively didn't have it at all. I have tweaked my EDC for years.

I took my first survival course in the '70's while on active duty but that only trained me in the use of items in my kit. Typhoons in the '70's and hurricanes in the '80's got me thinking about preparedness (power outages and empty store shelves).

During all those years, kits and preparedness in general was sporadic; it wasn't until I got to California and was introduced to earthquakes (where you get zero warning) that I formalized kits rather than just stocking extra food and batteries.

Now it's multiple kits with each having its own purpose: Kits in the home, kit in the truck for daily local drives, a different kit for the truck on road trips, first aid kits inside the other kits as well as stand-alone FAK's. My flight bag is much like always, except now it has my PLB and Laser-flare as well as an FAK; however, a flight kit should be in a vest and that upgrade is imminent. I hope to get a Switlik vest soon which will become part of the truck kit and also go with me when I fly.

Scouts,about 1958-59.we were not to call them survival kits but Lost Kits..here is a repro of mine i made a few years ago with a few of the original items.

we really got into it,the needle in the can top has been made into a compass with the red bit being north..the dime? well you never knew where you might find a phone booth in those days!

Boy Scouts (circa 60's) planted the seed. Decades in the woods sprouted and grew. 9/11 fertilized.

After moving to Colorado in my teens (1975) I enjoyed backpacking. At the time Backpacker’s Journal was still being published along with the original Complete Walker by Colin Fletcher, where I learned about the Ten Essentials. Later in the Air Force I started reading military novels and became fascinated with the SAS Survival Tin. It was not until coming to Afghanistan last year, as a contractor, that I assembled an Altoids Tin Kit base on the Ritter Mini Survival Knife and have carried it everyday since.

Cheers,
W-W

I grew up in a Military oriented, Hunting/Fishing/Camping Family!I've alway's loved The Great Outdoors & Would carry Alot of crap with me in a Pack,Over the yrs. I found way's to carry less,& less. but still couldn't break it down enough to Feel confident,Should I be in a SHTF predicament! Friends built me a Computer/got me On-line in '99,Started finding many sites about wilderness survival & Lurked around for many yrs.,Built smaller/smaller kits,& Found Doug's Kits in '07,Bought 10 of them,Gave some away as presents,Fortified the daylight's outa'em,& These Will be My PSK's,I'll have on me,99.9% of The Time! Thank You-Doug Ritter & John McCann!

Started out hiking with the ten essentials, which were later expanded by various emergencies on the trail (snakes, ticks, disintergrating boots). The Wilderness Basics Course (Sierra Club) I attended a couple of years later refined it and added some skillsets (off trail navigation, flora/fauna, cold weather, and basic tracking). After I had to evacuate in 2007 because of the wildfires, I started thinking about kits for home and car use as well.

Same here then around 25 I went through a phase where I was less prepared than usual as I was confident nothing could go wrong. Being on ground zero on 9/11 very quickly snapped me back to the reality of what a big difference a little bit of preparedness makes.

Back when dirt was new, the adult leaders of my Boy Scout troop put a couple of camping trips together. Looking back I am sure they did the best they could.

But we were always missing items essemtial to comfort, hygiene, eating well, etcetera. I decided then to study up, make lists, and always bring a full kit. I can remember several times when I was the only one with a match, a piece of rope, a knife, salt & pepper, tea, etcetera. I shared of course.

Later I decided to graduate myself from Scouts and to hike and camp in Califria's Sierra Nevada mountains, often solo. My survival, first aid, and everyday kits kept growing.

Yeah, if you were the only one with a match I'd say the Scoutmaster was a bit lacking!

I have always been ready (mostly because the adults around me were totally unprepared) as I grew up MacGyver was huge and well he just kept the ball rolling.

Moving to Alaska to do SAR only added to my need to be ready for anything to this day I am never without my essentials and my truck is always overly prepared.

Much like all of you 9/11 and some ice storms in Atlanta reminded me to keep up the preparedness.

I became a knife knutt and a survival kit/gear junkie via the same avenue. I know I am going to hate myself in the morning for admitting this in a public forum: Rambo. As an impressionable 12 year old when I first saw the original First Blood movie I figured all I needed to survive was a hollow handle knife with a few items stashed inside the handle. Of course I had my fair share of camping trips as a kid, but surprisingly no scouting. Not sure how that happened but such is life. Anyway years progressed and as a kid all I could afford to purchase were the cheapo hollow handle knives that were useless junk. And the kits contained in the handles were just as useless. Thus began a journey to find a quality hollow-handled knife with a useful kit in the handle. As a kid the idea of building a kit myself never dawned on me. And since dad didn’t share my fascination with the hollow handled-knives and the kits inside the handle I was basically on my own. I also can't explain why I thought the kit had to be in the knife handle and couldn't go in my pockets instead. I can only attribute it to young and stupid. Just before I started college I was able to spring for a 2 for $30 knife deal. That was a LOT of money for me at the time. The knives were big and awesome looking (again young and stupid) but of course they proved to be as useless as any others I had bought or received as gifts in the past. College life kind of took over and knives and survival kits took a back seat to girls, parties and cramming for exams. In 1991 my college sweatheart and I got married. With more than just myself to think about, my attitude about knives and kits changed a bit. Of course during this time all the knife magazines were dismissing the hollow handles (except for the really good ones of course, some of which are still available today) so this also changed my thinking about knives and survival kits. The knife would be a full tang, non-hollow handled design. So where would my kit items go? My solution at the time was into an old used nato surplus rucksack. And the items I chose to include were only marginally useful as I learned later on. Because we traveled a lot to visit my family back home, with long barren stretches of road, I was also looking at kits for the cars, which ventured away from the basics of personal survival and instead focused on fixing the car and getting it back on the road. Thus the car kit consisted of a basic tool kit, extra battery connector, assorted wire connectors, fuses and hose clamps, fix-a-flat, a gallon of antifreeze, and other vital fluids. Things like shelter, fire, water, and food never entered my mind for some reason. I guess I just assumed that the car would be our shelter. We usually carried food and drinks in the car as well (not enough to last more than a few hours though) and we could run the car to keep warm if needed. Anyway, by this time my knife interests had moved well away from the hollow handled pieces of junk and into solid, full tang knives. My first big knife purchase was a Cold Steel Recon Scout which I purchased for a canoe/camping trip my wife and I took in the early 90s. The trip proved to be less “wild” than I thought it might be but I was still glad to have the knife with me. I have purchased many more similar knives since, and I even bought a Cold Steel hollow handled bushman several years ago (I simply could not resist the urge). So the knife department was covered but I still did not have a good idea of what a good kit consisted of. Over the years I played around with items like I remembered were included in the hollow handled junk knives: fishing gear, needles and thread, matches and so on. I had purchased some of the space blankets early on and added other items to my pack like a folding saw, cordage, matches and candles. These were based on some recommendations on what to carry in your car for winter travel (from my mom no less). More recently my son has become involved in scouting. We had been thinking about taking some impromptu hikes in the woods but I wanted to wait until we could put together a good PSK so I really began thinking more about what each of us might need in a survival situation. I don’t know why I had not thought along these lines before. Or perhaps I had and figured a knife and folding saw and matches was all we would really need (after all that was all Rambo needed, right?). However, I didn’t want these PSKs to be another useless hollow handled knife kit; I wanted them to be really useful in a survival situation AND be items my son or wife could use right out of the kit. Since I was not involved in scouting as a kid, things like the 10 essential items were unknown to me. When we were on a vacation in Pigeon Forge, TN I purchased some additional items I found on clearance: whistles, mag bars, and compasses. However, it wasn’t until a bad snowstorm was predicted for our area that I realized how poorly we were prepared. Since the storm would hit on the way to and from work I needed to split up what survival items we had so there would be one kit in each car. When I did this I realized just how short on personal survival supplies we actually were. Each kit at that time had 2 of those space blankets I mentioned earlier, one of the whistles with an additional space blanket, one of the mag bars, a compass, a folding saw, some candles, matches, cordage, and some other items. I was really thinking about what we might need personally to stay warm, to survive until help arrived should the car run off the road or break down. Fortunately nothing happened but I vowed to myself not to be caught short again. Thus began my search for survival kits online, which led me here. Now each of us has a kit of our own stocked with quality items and that addresses all the basic necessities. They are still works in progress but compared to 3 years ago, we are in much better shape now. This is my first post in a while. Many thanks to everyone on ETS for their help shaping our PSKs and getting me on the right track to being prepared.

I was a girl in the seventies so couldn't join Scouts no matter how badly I wanted to!

My parents weren't preppers but they were campers who grew up in the country with parents that survived the depression and WW2. My mom was the last in a long line of nurses, and my dad once survived a cave-in in a mine. I have a very vivid childhood memory of bugging-out during a train detrailment and subsequent propane spill. My mom took her own BOB and went to work while Dad bugged-out with us to my grandparents. I was just little, and I know they had very short notice, but it seemed to me that those bags were already packed and pulled out from under the bed.

We always had first aid supplies on-hand and a full panty and deep freeze. The camping stuff was always packed and ready to go, and there were always kits and blankets in the cars. Mom always made us take an extra sweater or jacket for "just in case", and Dad always made us keep our snowsuits on in the car in the winter because we had to "dress to survive not just to arrive." He gave me my first SAK when I took my first solo camping trip at the end of high school. He told me to always keep it in my pocket. I thought he only meant while I was camping.

I've always been a gadget girl but I never took these lessons to heart until the East Coast blackout of 2003. I was home in our 24th floor apartment with our newborn. He wasn't breast-feeding and I didn't have any water to make formula. I wasn't physically able to make it down the stairs to go look for some. My husband walked for hours to get home, wearing dress shoes and without water. He then had to climb those stairs three times to find out we didn't have water and then to go get some.

I couldn't take care of my child. That did it for me! 9/11 spooked me but this time I had someone else to take care of. I started google-ing, found ETS and never looked back.

I think I had to opposite problem Tyber. The adults around me seemed prepared for everything so I never gave it much thought as a kid.

I can relate. Back when I backpacked, I was often the only one with a full set of prepped (declination lines, location of basecamp, etc) 7.5 minute topos, a decent compass, and duck tape.

All my life, thanks to my dad.

Back in 2005 he and mom were down from Minnesota visiting me in Texas. Their car got rear-ended and totalled. The wrecker driver watched in amazement as dad transfered to my car wool blankets, tool kit, fire extinguisher(s), tow ropes, hatchet, crow bar, winter clothing, MREs, toilet paper, bottled water, emergency flares, buck saw, first aid kit, flashlights, CB radio, folding shovel, umbrella(s), ponchos, space blankets, Fix-A-Flat, fishing gear, spare walking shoes for him and mom, and assorted other survival gear that had been neatly hidden throughout their car.

I wish I could find my pictures of this car when they drove from Minnesota to Nome, Alaska. It looked like something out of "The Road Warrior". He had several spare tires and gas cans straped to the roof, the headlights were covered in chicken wire for protection, and he made his own brushguards for it (Subaru Outback). They were planning on taking "the scenic route" rather than the Alaskan Highway. They were both 68 years old at the time. They made it there and back with only three flat tires and a cracked windshield. Dad figures next time he'll figure out how to put chicken wire over the windshield too. He's 75 now.

I don't remember there ever being a time when I wasn't expected to have a knife, matches (occasionally taken away from me!), and some string on me at all times.

-Blast

Three things; becoming a father, working as a first responder (I kinda happened into that job) and living in the PNW (where we will, sooner or later get a CSZ caused Earthquake).

-Gary Paulsen's "Hatchet" and the subsequent sequels for kits.
-"The Hobbit" for EDC.
-(more recently)Burt Gummer for full-blown, in-home preps.
-This site was the first time i heard the idea of a compact, pocket-sized kit.

Amazingly, my dad and Boy Scouts. When I had my 6th birthday my dad took me camping to Hinnager Flats (sp?) in the foothills of Pasadena, CA, where he had camped a lot growing up. I got a SAK Classic as my first knife (and or course, promplty lost it). That was my first "keep with me" gear. A few years later I joined boy scouts. Initially my 10 Essentials were in my backpack, and occasionally put in my pockets for scurrying around our campsites. A little after that (11 or 12?) I finally put it in a dedicated, surplus Army canvas pouch.

Around that same time, Boys Life (The BSA monthly newsletter) had an article about "make your own survival kit." It was based on a 35mm film can, and was way cool! I made one, had about 10 meters of fishing line, a few weights and sinkers, some matches, a razor blade, and my own innovation, morse code and the ground-to-air sympols written and taped with packing tape (so it's waterproof!) on the outside of the can. Carried that lil bugger everywhere.

I kind of stagnated through college, carrying basically a knife only, usually in my backpack, often just a SAK. But when I went to grad school I found a Pelican M6 and was super impressed by it's brightness and size! Henceforth, a flashlight was in my bag. It didn't help I got my first mugging in Philly, so the knife was dual purpose (in my mind).

After the Kim family got lost in Oregon I got real interested again. I found this site in a knife magazine (I get Tactical Knives at airports) and loved it! I had just moved to Missouri, out in what was relatively isolated farmland, and had started dating a new girl. Her Xmas present was a car-kit, made from locally available stuff, in a walmart plastic tool box. She put up with my quirks enough to marry me 2 months ago, and the kit is still in her trunk. There's also a wool blanket and 3 MRE's that have migrated there.

With that tragedy, I found ETS, had a mad flurry of making Stacy's kit, my car kit (a poor affair that was my first post) and a house kit. It was fun! Then I made a small altoid can kit as my second try at a small kit, which is still sealed and in my camping supplies. I made a small belt kit for day to day (which is now in my car... not on me... mainly work uniform restrictions). Funny, but I'm essentially back at a flashlight and knife daily. My car has a lot of cubbies, which are chock full of stuff. Being a truck, there's a large FAK and 2 wool blankets in the truck box too.

Long winded, but not sure which you'd consider my real "trigger" to start this mad affair.

Working 3 years in a Natural Gas Plant in the peruvian jungle.
(11 50 26.25 S 72 56 46.31 O)with frecuent helo flights and river navigation

Like many of you, my dad was the real start. He was a WWII pilot and had to walk home a few times. He was well prepared from growing up in a rural town. Living on a working ranch in the mountains with him out of town a lot (field work in the oil business) sharpened the interest and gave me a good guide. Got into SAR at 13 (Civil Air Patrol), the local fire department at 16. Started to fly in the rockies about that time, for transportation and search. At 18 I joined a mountain rescue group. I also worked for the local ambulance company and police department in college. A trip to the Antarctic for field work brought some new experience and training. A stint in the Army added to my training in jungle survival and interest in staying alive. It also introduced me to some of the world's heaviest and least useful commercial kits. Some 45 years of field geology and geophysics around the world, particularly in the arctic. LOTS of time as pilot or passenger in helo's and small airplanes over REALLY remote areas has kept up my interest. Many chances to "try out" various kits, sometimes even for fun, let me know what I was doing right (and wrong :-(.

All these things got me going and kept up my interest. I have only made a few hundred survival kits and bought as many more. I am still looking for the right one, though I now start with a Ritter PSK for small ones. First time I bought a kit I would willingly carry. Thanks Doug. Thanks to those of you here (the new ones thanks in advance) for helping me improve my kits. Like most of you I have a number of kits - Hurricane kit, house kit, car kits, bug out kits, aviation kits, field kits for different situations, rescue kits, etc. This site has helped me improve all of them.

Thanks to all,

Jerry

Years ago, spent 2 days up a mountain waiting out a bad storm. It did not take long to find out that the 10 essentials is not adequate enough gear for all circumstances.

Skip forward some years and after spending most of my life outdoors whether it be mountain climbing, short and long distance hiking, camping, fishing etc, my interest in outdoor survival gear has grown exponentially to fit whatever venture I was/am involved in to the point of having almost too much survival gear as evidenced by the growing pile in the living room corner..

I was always interested but didnt get hit with a situation where I was unprepared when I was driving the 3.5 hours from VA Beach to my home in NC and I was stuck for about 4 hours 15 miles from home and my infant daughter was in the car and I had no water to mix her formula. 9-11 and Katrina firmed up my interest. My dad has always been a hunter and fisherman and outdoorsman. I joke that if anything ever happens I am heading down to my parents house.

I found this site after a little episode whitewater kayaking, and googled survival kits. My story is here:
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=57319#Post57319

My interest in being prepared came from many sources and more than likely was stimulated by the desire for adventure. Being in Cub Scouts, reading books such as the Hardy Boys and Tin-Tin, magazines like Boy’s Life, Popular Science, Field and Stream and Argosy, watching TV shows like Johnny Quest and Gilligan’s Island and my love for gadgets from the Bond and In Like Flint movies.
My Dad was pretty much a city boy, but somehow I still developed an interest in hunting, fishing, camping and self-reliance. My hoarding tendencies (to be honest it is far more than just a tendency) came from my Mom, who was mastered the art.

Pete

Pete, me and you are much alike! Mom is almost spot on, but dad was a short lived boonie kid, from 14 to around 18 he lived in BFE Arkansas, and that was a big change for him, I picked up a gradual liking to different things, "I want a flashlight that can do whatever, I want a small but bright flashlight, I want a Mag block, I want to get this kit...'Google', find ETS and then things really started to turn!"

I’d credit my father who grew up in a rural area and then served in WWII. I grew up with horses and you really have to be prepared for emergencies with horses as there is often a wait for a vet in the case of an injury or colic. Once horse vets get to know and trust their clients they usually readily help the client prepare in the event of a delay of getting professional help. So being prepared with supplies and medications became a way of life for me. Then I did a lot of trail riding in the back country and thankfully was never separated from a horse, but that did get me thinking about what I actually had on my person as well as how to carry supplies so they didn’t present a further hazard in the event of a fall.

I don’t do that much back country riding anymore, but do lots of day hikes with my dogs as well as living on acreage and still having a couple of horses. My kits vary but even just out on my own place with my dogs, I always have some first aid supplies in a small pocket kit as well as a cell, bandanna, multi tool, knife, light and in the winter months usually a heat sheet. When I leave the pavement for hikes I always carry a pack with supplies as well as Doug’s kit souped up, a small FAK, and tools in my pockets.

With all that said, it still takes practice and training. So get first aid training, practice fire building in less than desirable conditions, learn reading a map and navigating with a compass. If you have animals get first aid training for them too, dog clubs and horse clubs often offer seminars for a very minimal cost. Camping is a great way to practice and figure out what works or doesn't work for you.

Living in earthquake country I’m in the process of making a small urban kit to keep in my purse sort of Doug’s kit minus some of the wilderness items like the fishing kit, signal mirror, and compass. This site has some great ideas and expertise.

My interest probably came from camping. My visits to the local hardware/camping stores/Canadian Tires, etc while I was outfitting myself for backcountry use. Started out as a car camper and then I ventured further out with less and less of a parachute.

One of the books I read early on was from the old man himself - Lefty Wiseman and started to build my own survival kit. Then I came across Coughlins' joke of a survival kit and I knew there had to be something better out there. I eventually found this website and came to re-evaluate my needs and my kits.

As an Emergency Preparedness Specialist for my church I've always "been prepared", from scouts as a kid to "scout" as an adult and then finding Equipped To Survive was my "ace in the hole"

Been here for a long time though not as long as some, always find new and exciting challenges to try.

Mike