Bob/Edc Challenge!!

After reading a lot of interesting posts here and on similar boards I started to think about an universal bob/edc setup.

The challenge is to create a small package with the tools and necessities to survive for 72 hours in as wide a range of environments and situations as possible.

Small means about half an average daypack of equipment, not including water.

The equipment has to be both for urban and wilderness area's, usable in cold and warm weather, at sea, in the mountains, dessert and (tropical) forests.

One of my favorite expressions and some keywords;

Keep it simple!
• Durable
• Lightweight!
• Compact
• Water/weather proof
• Hard to improvise
• Multi function

Regards,

B.

That's a pretty broad range. You definitely want shelter, water, water purification, some sort of way to cook, knife, multi-tool, saw, warm clothing, means to signal, communication gear, navigation gear, first aid, light, fire-building, etc.

I think comparing it to a load someone would go backpacking with over a weekend would work well. You're already carrying a sleeping bag, tent, ground pad, warm clothes, food, water, stove, clothing, and emergency equipment.

Cedfire, thanks for your imput.

The small size/broad range is what makes it challenging.

I agree that a weekend backpacking load would be an excellent choice but it probably would be over the size limit.

The question would be how to downsize while still keeping most of the functionality.

Regards,

B.

I don't get the "Hard to improvise" one.

You want it to be able to fit into something like this (15" x 13" x 10", 854 cu. in.)?
Include food and a means to carry/purify water, or ignore food/water?
Assume you'll be wearing proper clothing for night time temp/season conditions in whatever environment you'll be droped in, or assume you'll be useing foliage?

I think if you start with the presumption of having clothing appropriate for the season you could add a tarp and/or bivvy sack for shelter, 50' of para cord, Katadyn MP-1 tabs for water and a canteen with cup and canteen stove, a GI spoon, some trioxane fuel tabs, 4 dehydrated meals, several high-energy bars, a Doug Ritter Personal Survival Kit, a had crank AM/FM/Shortwave palm sized radio, a Freedom II Photon flashlight, a survival knife of choice, a multi tool of choice, a wire saw, a good compass with map of area, and a decent Small sized FAK and you'd be back three or four days from now.

Some other things might be nice if space allowed: a better flashlight, extra batteries, more food, a Gerber folding shovel, and the list goes on ........

Re: massacre
With "hard to improvise" I meant trying to include items which are hard to improvise in challenging situations like lights and knives.

Re: Excomantia
Spot on for size! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Clothing appropriate for the expected conditions, but I would ask myself if the space taken by food could not be better used for harder to improvise gear.

Re: bassnbear
This seems like a good basic setup. I'm just wondering why one of your choices(more space allowing) would be a folding shovel. Is this not something that can be improvised more easily? No criticism, just curious about the motivation.

Regards,

B.

Tmpx - it was just a thought that hit me at that moment for "an extra" - probably because I'm trying to buy one right now. Certainly there are other more important items and YES, you're right, it is something that's easily improvised.

When I teach wilderness survival I always start by asking students (and discussing with them) what some early woodsmen carried. I use the pioneers and Indigenous Peoples as examples. Native peoples generally carried a cutting tool, means for fire, tinder, supplemental food and weapons. Clothing appropriate to the climate and weather expectations. Pretty simple, right? But they had extensive KNOWLEDGE!! Trained from childhood. In other words knowledge can reduce the load!

Pioneers: carried firearms and ammunition, firemaking equipment, tinder, supplemental food, a cloth tarp, fixed blade knife and ax. A saw was a luxury item. They conquered the NA continent without much else. The steel tools were the biggest improvement over the Native equipment. Note: these were the first items that Natives tried to acquire from Europeans! Smart! Note also that in both cases hunting tools substituted for more food. Today - not the case.

So, there's my input to solving your problem - think like a Native or a pioneer - add what you can from the thousand modern choices - then gain knowledge - then reduce the load!

Cheers!

You can fit everything you need in a tactical vest. So easy to carry that you don't need to carry it - you wear it.

As a minimum, these are just a few items that I would carry for a universal setup. I actually carry most of this stuff anyway as a basic setup, and just add different items depending if I'm going to go hiking or go on a road trip.

Multitool (more versatile than a knife)
Large Garbage bags (could be used as shelter, water collection, makeshift poncho, etc)
Bandana (for first aid, cleaning, headband, etc)
Flashlight (no, make that a headlamp)
Lighter
Dental floss (for string)
Duct tape
cellphone
very basic first Aid kit
Small button compass (very useful in the forest or coming out of a subway)
extra clothing (probably a windbreaker or sweater)
TP (useful no matter where you are!)
Lip Balm (could be used as a firestarter, sunscreen, or for lip balm)
Snacks
Extra Money(I could improvise anything in the city with enough cash <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />, or could be used as a firestarter <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />)

These are things I chose that could be used in both situations, whether in the city or the forest. I know a lot of stuff isn't ideal, but I think the point is to have something that is general works for either one?

There are a lot of things I would have listed, but the reason I didn't include them were because they would be of limited to no use in one of the environments. For example, I listed a multi tool instead of a fixed blade knife because I would rather have to use my multitool as a knife than use a knife as a poor substitue for pliers or screwdriver. I also left out a dedicated shelter because I see that as being more specific for the wilderness, same thing with an ax or saw. Similarly, i dont' think cooking gear would have much use in the city. I know with a knife (and enough time) I could probably improvise fire (replace lighter) or light (replace flashlight), but I'd rather not. I think those two items are important enough in either situation to have their own stuff.

Also, I didn't include any type of water purification, because if it's only for 72 hours, I would risk the chance of getting sick in the wilderness, you probably aren't gonna die from drinking polluted water. If the water is polluted in the city, a filter isn't going to be of much help anyway.

I'd like to see what everyone else thinks. One thing I'm not clear on, are you talking about a normal urban environment, or like a city after a natural disaster type environment? If that's the case, then most of the stuff becomes geared torwards wilderness equipment.

BTW Tmpx, you know what your name sounds like if you try and say it outloud?

This is the bag I carry, And all of that is in there. 2 knifes,stove, food, water,shelter, signal material and light. this if my BOB/EDC.

Let me get this straight- part of this is to make BOB part of your EDC? OK, how long do you want to bug for, and what is your environment, including your socioeconomic one (humping a pack in a 3-peice suit is a bit... eccentric)? What issues could force you to bug with only your EDC? What issues do you want to be prepaired for? What is your destination in a bug out, and how far are you from it? And how "real world" do you want us to be?

The reason why I ask these questions is because BOB is about the last stage in the escalation of preparedness, while EDC is the first. There is a few steps between the two.

I think what he is wanting is a 'drop me anywhere, any time, any season kit' that will fit in aprox 15" x 13" x 10", 854 cu. in. that you can 'survive' with.
Other then the very basics of a survival kit, you'd have to try to address the issues of desert, mountain, both temperate tropical forest, swamp, savana, oceanic, extreme high altitude, major urban, minor urban, etc in both the height of summer and the depth of winter, the thaw of spring and the frost of fall, through earthquake, tornado, hurricane, flood, storm surge, and blizzard, while avoiding and protecting yourself from crazed rioters, rabid bears, clutches(?) of baby rattle snakes, swarms of killer bees and malaria mosquitos with west niles, all while keeping yourself from bleeding out from a broken bone sticking out of your skin.
Man, that sounds like it should be pretty easy...
Sould fallout be in there? Everything else is so.. Add something for radioactive fallout too..

That was kind of my point. Anytime-anyplace works great if you've got logistical support; not so much if its just you, yourself and thou, and thus the need for clarification.

Personally, I am one of those that have come to believe that practical experience coupled with extensive knowledge goes an interminable ways towards eliminating extraneous equipment in any given circumstance. I do acknowledge though that there are those circumstances that you cannot easily acquire any practical experience.

I think the best approach is to build a core supply list, then augment or change as the needs change. You simply can't build a kit that is universal, because needs change enough from one situation to the next that comprehensivity is not a practical objective.

That said, my core kit includes an FAK with some Ibuprofren, Aceteminophen,aspirin, bandaids of various sizes, feminine pads, latex sports tape, disinfectant, antibiotic, and some wipes. Then I pack a leatherman wave tool, a magnesium/flint striker, a butane windproof lighter, a bivy sack, a couple plastic trash bags, some ziplocs, some water treatment pills, a sewing kit, a tongue depressor with electrical tape, duct tape and 120 lb dacron fishing line wrapped around it, a fox micro plastic whistle, a map compass, some paracord, a few tea bags, some HD aluminum foil, and some Couglans cotton tinder. I'll augment that with everything from water ration to food to a Glock 21 and a BAK to clothing etc... it depends on the situation(s) I am likely to encounter.

All the core kit fits into two small nylon padded satchels with good strong zippers. Each satchel measures 6" x 2.5" x 2.5", and were acquired while flying business class to and from Baghdad last year. I can load these satchels in the front pocket of my SAK business bag, which holds my laptop and a few other business and personal items, or I can put them in my Camelbak Motherlode BOB, or I can load them in the cargo pockets of my REI expedition pants, or I can attach them to my belt when I wear my jeans.

Doug's Ultimate Aviation Survival Pack could function as a good universal BOB.

He must wander with us in Arizona! <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />