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#199178 - 03/29/10 12:31 PM Confused about BOB
JBMat Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 03/03/09
Posts: 745
Loc: NC
After viewing several YouTube videos (I was bored admittedly) I'm confused over what the purpose of my BOB should be.

I figure if I have to beat feet, I grab my bag. In it I have items that will keep me comfortable for 4 days - if I am in a shelter; outside; moving from place to place; or holed up someplace. The ones I saw demonstrated were lightweight, but also lightweight on survival items or on comfort items. Good, you have a lot of ammo, but no cleaning kit, blanket, insect repellant or tp. Wiping your butt with 5.56 is contraindicated in most cases I would imagine.

I have some food, blanket, FAK, survival items, a cook kit, toilet kit, playing cards, and extra batteries. I can make a hootch with what I have, catch food with snares or fishing kit, start a fire, clean up, cook, purify water and play spades in my copious free time while I listen to what's going on over the small radio I have.

Just wondering what you all have packed, in a general sense.

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#199179 - 03/29/10 01:00 PM Re: Confused about BOB [Re: JBMat]
Am_Fear_Liath_Mor Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/03/07
Posts: 3078
Quote:
Wiping your butt with 5.56 is contraindicated in most cases I would imagine.


Thats why these folks will almost exclusively be carrying MREs (Meals refusing to Exit), hence no TP. wink

A full size down pillow (expensive but lightweight) with a down mattress from Exped ensures a comfy nights sleep. A good nights sleep is always underestimated in a crisis or survival situation simply because a relaxed brain is required to ensure the best decision making processes so as not to ensure that the crisis or survival situation doesn't get worse through poor thought and judgement processes. I've always wondered just how dangerous it would be hanging around these types of folks with their BOBs kitted out with 200 rounds of 5.56 and AR-15s who are constipated and haven't had more than 15 minutes sleep in the past 4 days really are. laugh

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#199185 - 03/29/10 01:56 PM Re: Confused about BOB [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
ILBob Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 02/05/10
Posts: 776
Loc: Northern IL
I sometimes mentally count up the weight in some of these supposed emergency kits, and 80 to 100 pounds is not unusual.

I am not opposed to having a firearm as part of your bug out equipment, but having 40 or 50 pounds of guns and ammo makes little sense to me.

Its not unusual for these bags to have 10-20 pounds of MREs, and 10 pounds of knives and axes and other tools.

I often wonder if these people even really have such a bag. Who is thinking that carrying 100 pounds of crap on your back makes any sense?

_________________________
Warning - I am not an expert on anything having to do with this forum, but that won't stop me from saying what I think. smile

Bob

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#199186 - 03/29/10 02:14 PM Re: Confused about BOB [Re: ILBob]
oldsoldier Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 11/25/06
Posts: 742
Loc: MA
Honestly, as someone who shoots alot, I wouldnt make room for extra bullets, at the expense of ditching other items.
I would offer this advice on carrying firearms; carry what you can COMFORTABLY. Me, I have a chest harness that carries 4 5.56 magazines, 3 pistol magazines, and a couple of small pouches for a flashlight, and notepad/small items. Loaded, this weighs maybe 4 lbs, give or take. IF there is an event that I would need to leave, and would consider my own personal safety, I would grab this & go. I keep them loaded, as I go shooting every weekend, just about. I also have a few additional rifle mags, that I could easily throw in a bag, no worries. But, I wouldnt carry anything more than that-you can get weighed down REAL quick carrying ammo-and, its for DEFENSE ONLY-you arent looking to ambush people, or anything like that. My loadout, when I have a hot mag in both a rifle in a pistol, is 40 rds of pistol, and 150 rds of rifle-that would see me through almost anything I can possible imagine.
MY BOB is scattered among several kits, often with redundancy. Between my normal hiking backpack, my work pack, my jeep, and my dayhiking pack, I have enough to cannibalize & make do at almost any time. None of them contain firearms though-as stated above, thats an entirely separate kit for me. My packs are designed for me to live, short term-be it moving to another, better location, or to survive a night or two without better equipment, or, when kayaking, to make camp wherever I end up in the event I separate from my boat.
Again, I am not against carrying a firearm with your BOB-I just think its a separate issue-I wouldnt dump gear to add ammo, nor would I carry a 75lb pack half filled with it. Firearms are defensive only in these cases-you arent in the military, so you arent expected to be in a prolonged firefight, if at all.
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my adventures

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#199247 - 03/30/10 01:54 PM Re: Confused about BOB [Re: oldsoldier]
saniterra Offline
Journeyman

Registered: 08/07/06
Posts: 68
Loc: Mebane, NC
I separate my emergency equipment into two basic categories. One, which would be a bailout bag, ditch bag, or grab and go bag. This bag would contain the essentials that would allow me three days of supplies, first aid, clothing, etc., and allow me to get home or cover me in an emergency of sort term duration. My bugout bag is a full size backpack that would last me from three days until at least seven days. Every item that I would put in a relatively small bailout bag would be found in my bug out bag (a full size extended range backpack), supplemented by items that allow additional flexibility and comfort - a more comprehensive FAK, food gathering equipment, sleeping bag and inflatable sleeping mat, a more permanent shelter (tent as opposed to disposable tube tent or tarp), bigger food supply, tools and cooking equipment, etc.

Both of my bags include firearms. The bailout bag with a single pistol with two additional mags of ammo. The bugout bag will provide a large caliber pistol (9mm, 357Sig or 40 S&W) with five spare mags. It will also carry a red dot type scoped .22 target type pistol with perhaps 200 rounds of ammo and either a larger caliber rifle or shotgun with 50-60 rounds of ammo, depending on where I'm bugging out to or the circumstances of the emergency at hand.

My bailout bag will contain 15-20 lbs of gear, my bugout bag perhaps in the 50-60 lb range, plus the weight of the large caliber rifle or shotgun.

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#199260 - 03/30/10 06:46 PM Re: Confused about BOB [Re: saniterra]
JBMat Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 03/03/09
Posts: 745
Loc: NC
Hey, I am not anti-gun. It's the lack of real tools and supplies that makes me wonder. Do they think to use the guns to take from others? Live off the land starting day 1 - ouch, too much work for me.

Yes, I will be packing weapons. 5 or more in the event I have a vehicle, 3 if we are on foot.

I merely wonder at the lack of intelligent preparedness on the part of some people.

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#199261 - 03/30/10 06:48 PM Re: Confused about BOB [Re: saniterra]
MDinana Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 03/08/07
Posts: 2208
Loc: Beer&Cheese country
My BOB is just that - a bag. Though admittedly, it's grown like some Hydra and comes with 2-3 other items now. One is a box of MRE's. Then there's some stashed food in the house that I could get if needed (assuming a car bug-out). I also have a plastic bin full of odds and ends (candles, matches, blankets, FAK, tampons, etc), again for a car situation.

But my actual backpack? No gun at all. Probably close to #30, none of that water, and a USGI gas-mask leg bag that's really a ditch kit in disguise (probably 2-3 more lbs).

Would I entertain a gun? I suppose circumstances dictate that. If it's a "every man for himself as aliens or zombies land" type of scenario, then probably a pistol of some sort. If it's a "civilization ending, make it to X, getting food as you go" then probably a rifle or shotgun. But a run of the mill hurricane evacuation or something? Nah...

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#199264 - 03/30/10 08:02 PM Re: Confused about BOB [Re: MDinana]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
My BOB is a truck and in the event it's needed and any time I'm on a road trip has a lot of gear.

My Get-Home-Bag is a 15# backpack-- no gun or ammo. Minimal gear to get me home in the local area walking.
_________________________
Better is the Enemy of Good Enough.
Okay, what’s your point??

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#199294 - 03/31/10 12:21 AM Re: Confused about BOB [Re: Russ]
Art_in_FL Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/01/07
Posts: 2432
IMHO the BOB, Bug-Out-Bag, was intended originally to just get you to a remote site or safe area. Presumably this is just a few days away and there is no need to bring supplies or materials because everything you need is already there.

It is to be assumed that the distance to the remote site is close enough, and/or transportation arranged in such a manner, that the trip will be relatively quick. Traveling in an emergency is always problematic. The amounts and types off supplies and the ability to set up and get rest are limited and problems multiply. The point is to get there in a timely manner not to undertake a pilgrimage.

With this in mind a lot depends on how you travel and what conditions your expecting. Traveling by truck allows you to carry more than humping everything in a pack. IMHO most people who are looking to live out of a pack would benefit from looking into hand-trucks, carts and bicycles.

Also, the sorts and proportions of what you pack is going to change if you are planning to be fleeing a hurricane, plan on two weeks of rain, or shooting your way out through waves of zombies. Rain and zombies would suck. Toss in fallout and an ever-present superbug and your into vast new horizons of suckage. Fortunately fiction often sucks more than reality and limiting yourself realistic scenarios simplifies things.

My strategy is to cover the known and expected. Worse case, graboids with AIDS and super volcanoes, I figure I'll have a leg up on that also.

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#199302 - 03/31/10 01:45 AM Re: Confused about BOB [Re: Art_in_FL]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
smile If I'm home bugging out is a last resort and walking is not an option -- you'll just die thirsty. A wildfire is about the only thing that would make me leave and in that case I'm taking the truck and it will have been packed for the evac.

Bugging out from SD there are limited options if traveling by foot in a mass evacuation. The vast LA metro area to the north; the desert to the east (some would consider the entire SW a desert), Mexico to the south and the Pacific to our west. I'm traveling by truck or not at all. Fuel had best be a reliable commodity, but during a mass evacuation that may very well not be the case.

My GHB is for walking home if I'm at work and a large shaker happens that makes roads impassable for vehicular traffic.
_________________________
Better is the Enemy of Good Enough.
Okay, what’s your point??

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