Bug in or bug out?

Which is your primary planned response?
(and why?)

In.

With 2 small children, it is almost always going to be the best option. We have a few weeks of supplies (water food, diapers, etc.) at home, and aside from spoiled food we would be OK for some time without electricity. In a long-term emergency, or one that requires evacuation, we would load up the van and drive the 150 miles to the in-laws.

Bugging out is always a last resort option. The variables are usually in your favor on your home turf unless the threat is going to directly reduce the probability of survival at your location (e.g. Major hurricane, fire, chemical spill, etc.).

Making that judgement call can be difficult in some grey scenarios. Can anyone think of a good example of a "grey" scenario where it would be difficult to judge evacuation decisions?

If our P/U and home on wheels can make it out, then out we will go.

If not, in we will stay...

Bugging in is always preferred since that is where my preps are.

Bugging out is planned for when the home position is no longer viable in the face of an expected or unexpected threat level (hurricane Cat IV or bigger, HazMat incident just upwind, etc.)

In. I have more useful stuff at home than I could get into my vehicle.

Sue

I keep seeing the "I'm going to bug in" response to every thread about bugging out, but in real life there are situations where bugging out could still be the best option and the same gear used to bug out can be used to bug in.
To be prepared you need to plan for both.

Depends on the situation for me. If it's a chemical spill, rioting or something of that nature, I'm going to get away from it, as far away as my Jeep will get me. Anything that's not location oriented like that, I'd stay in. My BOB is in the house whenever I am anyway.

I can still outwalk my wife. But I won't. So we will stay in if we can't drive away...

In- I'm too old sleep in the dirt.

Of course, that is my preference. Were I am, no power means we will be bailing out in a few days. So beat the rush, leave town early. Hopefully the car plays nice and I'm able to drive all the way to my BOLs.

In. Being a refugee doesn't look like fun. However you can't choose your crisis and when its time to go, its time to go.

My planned response to what?

The situation will dictate the strategy. Approaching the issue any other way (IMO) is fatally flawed.

In the end each individual is going to have to make a (hopefully enlightened) decision that fits their particular scenario. The right decision for me might not be the same as my neighbor.

Yes, and when people start preparing for an event they tend to give one option preference and prepare for that option much more than other options.
Sometimes it is to the point where they actually lose the secondary option.
One of the results might be that they are be totally stocked to survive a year in their home but not have any real plans or equipment to evacuate if they had to, or they might be the exact opposite.
Hopefully most of us have a sense of balance and keep more than one option open.

I'll sleep in the mud and snow if I have to. It is nice, dry, warm dirt I don't like. *laughs* It is one of those things were I'll do, but usually grumble about. Which is why I have at least a ground sheet to put under me. Worst part is when an ant tries to investigate my nostrils...

I whole heartedly agree! Assess the situation before you do anything. I am not going to run out of my house if it is safer to stay in it. But when staying put creates more of a liability, then you leave. Each persons' desision will be different based on their assessment. Rantor and I as well as our loved ones have a plan. And we have a back up plan as well as a back up plan for our back up plan. If all those fail or are unfeasable, we have both been in emergency services long enough that we can think and run at the same time (works running toward or away from situations). I say assess - assess - assess then continue to assess through out the crisis / situation. Rememeber that the only thing constnat is change.

Bugging in is much easier. You don't have to carry stuff.

When bugging out you have to decide where to go. I guess if you have two homes, then in a crisis you might prefer to be in the other one. If I'm at work I'll probably want to go home, which is a 3-mile walk.

If I'm at home, then I'll only want to relocate if I have no choice, and then I'd hopefully have more information. A lot depends on how many other people are affected. A tornado here is liable to affect fewer than 50 houses, so I can just move into a hotel if mine is one of them. With a national disaster, anywhere I could reach would already be full of other refugees. Britain is a small country; it's not like America or Europe where it seems you have unlimited land you can walk to.

Leaving this island by boat, plane or chunnel would have to be done well in advance to avoid the crowds.

Too vague of a question and too many variables / scenarios to warrant a detailed response...but bugging in is a generic answer for me.

For the majority of situations, in is preferably planned. On those instances where leaving would be better, I have a few places here and there to head to that are reasonably well equipped, and enough to keep me reasonably secure till I can get there, more or less.

No plan is foolproof, which is why the best thing I can do is gather intelligence and have the right mindset.

Preferably in...I dont really have a BOL (nothing beyond 30 miles away if I need to G.O.O.D) to go to and would most likely have to set up camp wherever I could, which would be an absolute last resort. I also have a father in poor health and my 95 year-old grandfather that I couldn't leave behind.

Depends on the situation. Plan to be ready to do both. Personally I'd prefer to bug in as I have more supplies than I can easily take with me and I know the area very will.

I agree that many will have a preference of one over the other that many will heavily bias there planning in one direction or the other. It seems like a lot of folks want a one size fits all answer to tuck away and make themselves feel better. I think most of us here are not part of that crowd.

From the extremely brief original post I wasn't sure how the question was being asked. I now understand that you were posting the question as a conversation starter and not someone looking for a one size fits all answer.

The original question reminded me of a question a business partner once asked me.

A friend and I were preparing for a two week backpacking and canyoneering trip in northern Arizona and southern Utah. I am a competitive runner and (former) adventure racer with a WFR certification & my friend is a surgical nurse and runs and cycles competitively. Although we were both in very good shape we had significantly different physical abilities. We both also had a significant amount of mountaineering and backpacking experience.

A business parter wanted to know what our plan was if one of us broke a leg. When I asked for specific circumstances he threw the question back at me. His premise was that we should have a plan regardless of circumstances. I guess I could have regurgitated the traditional wisdom of "stay with your partner and signal for help" but there are many circumstances where this would not be the appropriate response.

Yes indeed.
My own preference is to bug out early if I have advance warning that it will be bad.
To me stuff is just stuff and I value life much more highly.
I would rather be replacing stuff than get killed trying to safeguard it.

Without warning, in a temporary emergency or if travel is not possible I have enough to be self sufficient for a reasonable time frame. More than 2 months would be tough, but 1 month would be easy.
Most road closures are less than a week, power outages are usually less than 3 days.
(Basic rural route facts of life.)

A lot of the places I have lived are pretty rural so snowmobiles, small boats and ATVs have often been part of the plan for getting out to help if somebody was injured.
Those plans were mostly concerning snow storms, forest fires or spring flooding.

All depends. What has gone wrong, when did it happen, what are my chances of getting out, what are my chances of surviving if I stay? Every event that would cause one to think of either bugging in or out requires this kind of calculation.

If possible we'll bug in. We have been evacuated before, and there's no way to load up and carry all the supplies we have at home. We can take care of ourselves for about two years at home. IF we can stay, we will. If we HAVE to leave, we have a BOT, a trailer, that we can quickly hook up and go with. It will keep us going OK for about 6 months with judicial use of supplies.