What Items do you think are missing from most BOBs?

Discussion in 'Back to Basics' started by Witch Doctor 01, Aug 24, 2015.


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  1. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    Keys. You should have a key to every vehicle, every building, every lock you may have to access in need. You may not have the ability to reenter your house to retrieve what you may need, it could be watched or occupied.
    Or you may get where you are going and have no method to enter.
     
    Last edited: Aug 30, 2015
  2. Witch Doctor 01

    Witch Doctor 01 Mojo Maker

    Plus a four way Sillcock Key
     
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  3. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++

    @Witch Doctor 01. This post really got me thinking about what to do to help people with diarrhea or vomiting. I have been guilty of assuming emergency room but what if there was a hurricane or something and a child drank some bad water. What do I have in my arsenal of Herbs to help? You can die from dehydration from diarrhea pretty fast. So thanks for bringing this up.

    I like keep to have decent protection even with no pharmacy or ER. I will do some work and see what I can find. Charcoal, clay or slippery elm will absorb poisonous stuff but not sure how effective they would be amoebic dysentery
     
    Last edited: Oct 24, 2015
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  4. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    Water is the best treatment for the shits...It kills you by dehydration, and if your body has something in it that it needs out that bed, let it out if you can.
     
  5. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

    I think lock picks are missing most, too. Although, it will take skill and practice to use them, and until TSHTF, local laws still apply. For anybody bugging out from an urban location, I find it to be highly important to have a solid lockpick set. I will be posting my streamlined recommendations this week. Beginners can find a link to how to get started in the Bugout Master List, and a link is provided for advanced users to acquire an excellent lockpicking set I can recommend.
     
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  6. PLA

    PLA Monkey++

    I think most bags are devoted to adding things

    I think most people are buying a bag and then buying too much crap to put in them. Streamline, get light and go fast. Its not a race against anything but time. If your stuff is all in a bag at what point do you become a collector of stuff looking for more?

    Define what your purpose is, then define what you NEED, not want. There are things you should have with you all the time. A BOB/crutch is what you have in addition to it
     
  7. BlueDuck

    BlueDuck Monkey+++

    I keep my bag in the pickup. I put most everything in it I think I might need. Its more then I intend to take with me depending on the event. When the time comes and I know if its just a long walk home or something more serious, I plan to strip it down to the essentials for the task. Better to have it and not need it, then to not have a choice.
     
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  8. PLA

    PLA Monkey++

    My philosophy about the whole bag thing Ive beaten to death on my site
    It comes down to this.

    The bag and its contents are determined by the distance I am planning to go. Normal days, less than 30 miles Id rather hoof it home without an extras except water

    Farther, I tailor the bag to the distance. Its not hard, just divide contents into sub loads and ad or subtract as distance changes

    Most people are carrying to much crap, and it will bite them hard if they get on the wrong side of the curve
     
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  9. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++

    you maybe right on this point i think too many people just add to the bag. Hell my purse gets like thus as well. The point of the thread was to rethink your bag. Over and over. And keep asking 'what's missing and does this belong in this bag' like my purse, the b o b in the car carries alot of stuff. Could I fich it if I had too. In an instant! The point for me is not to have too.
     
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  10. PLA

    PLA Monkey++

    Well, I wrote a bunch about it on my site like I said

    Its great to take things out if you don't need them. That's awesome, dump gear you may need later to make life easier right now.

    Throwing away things you know you wont need to get home makes no sense. Why buy it to begin with?
    For example, I have a pack weighing in around 75lbs. Its a very specific use gear list and it stays in my pack rack at home. Why? Because there's not a thing in that bag I need to get from where I am 95% of the time to home. I bet there's an extensive amount of things in that bag, most carry in their BOB/crutch.

    Where you are going?
    What do you NEED, not want or what if?
    What you need, not what you want- Living in the Bush Pt 3 - The Quiet Survivalist

    If you are planning to abandon gear you are carrying too much crap, you are buying just to fill a bag not for what you need to get from point A to point B

    I do a lot of thinking and Ive found people I respect who do the same. I streamline my get home bag to only what I need. The what if and the wants are only because of fear. If you are confident in what you can do and how you are going to use your preplanned routes you need less and less.
     
  11. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++

    I get your point. Really I do. And I have a different philosophy.
     
  12. chelloveck

    chelloveck Diabolus Causidicus

    I tend to find that what is missing from my BOB is what I need but haven't packed :oops:

    I look upon the BOB as being a grab bag with a common core of minimalist essentials to enable survival in most credible scenarios. Beyond that, the bag is customised to the likely contingencies, giving regard to the mission, season, foreseeable weather conditions, distance to be travelled and duration of travel.

    If good judgement could be carried in a BOB, BOB's would be much lighter and more versatile. I guess that's what's missing from many BOBs. :(
     
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  13. Witch Doctor 01

    Witch Doctor 01 Mojo Maker

    It depends on your circumstances... I would rather be able to select items out of my vehicle "stash" to modify my BOB at the last minute due to changes in weather, rain, flood, snow etc. than to go with a minimalist bag... if I have to leave items I can cache them or lock them up until later... if I loose them but get home in one piece they have been worth while...

    YMMV
     
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  14. PLA

    PLA Monkey++

    The what if and the wants are only because of fear. If you are confident in what you can do and how you are going to use your preplanned routes you need less and less.

    Yup I imagine our milage will vary
     
  15. PLA

    PLA Monkey++

    Don't take that wrong

    Im not saying you are wrong

    What I am saying is suit up, pick it up and have someone drop you where you believe your scenario starts, and walk home.

    SEE what you need, see what you are just carrying and really look at all the stuff you packed and what use it is to you.
    The BOB is an idea, its born from online fiction of the lone survivor getting home to save the day

    What is really is? Its an oversized lunch box with a raincoat and extra socks. Anything more is a fantasy. I do this for a living, its not that complicated for real. Its a minimum to get from point a to point b. Not comfort or camping

    Your supplies are not on your back, they are at home where you need to be. If you are advancing into your supply chain, you don't need to carry much

    Years ago I thought the same, my truck can carry everything I need for any scenario

    But then I got older and I realized multiple redundancy was dumb if I was going to abandon it. I can repack a bag with modules based on weather and distance in 5 minutes max. Takes me longer to open it and close it than it does to add or take out items.
    And it sits home if I don't need it, because that's where Im going, and if the bag is for 3 days, I can go without comfort that long in order to get home where it will be when the weather or situation changes
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2015
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  16. chelloveck

    chelloveck Diabolus Causidicus

    The essence of a motor vehicle is that it provides the mobility that will take folk away from necessarily predictable pre-planned bug out routes that they may have factored for. The route from A - B may not begin from anticipated pre-planned starting points....emergent circumstances may require different, unanticipated routes...one starts with what one has...where one has it at the time that the crisis emerges. In that sense, if the motor vehicle has the capacity to carry more than what may fit in a BOB, and one doesn't much care that some items will not be selected, and may be lost, then that is the price of enjoying the flexibility to pick and choose what, under the circumstances, might be most necessary at the time for mission achievement.

    Each person will choose the course of action that they can happily live with. There is no one size fits all solution as far as I can tell. The proof of the chosen BOB pudding is whether it was, in the final analysis, adequate for achieving it's sustainment objectives: Which is probably a good reason to rehearse bugging out under as realistic conditions as one can.

    Insurance may seem to some, to be motivated by fear....to others, it represents prudence....yet each buys the particular policy that assuages those fears, or demonstrates prudential wisdom in facing the probable risks and hazards that one is likely to contend with.
     
  17. Motomom34

    Motomom34 Monkey+++

    Exactly. I did this yesterday. I dumped all the bags on the living room floor and started repacking. It is the change of seasons so I needed to winterize the packs that will be in the vehicles. My youngest wandered in and asked- "what is all that?" I replied that it was survival. I actually took into consideration the distances the different vehicles would be traveling. I know that one vehicle will be going further into more sever elements so I knew I had to pack that back with extra but light enough to carry it over more miles.

    So what do I think is missing from most BOB's? Logic & creativity but you cannot put that in there. Most people have everything they need to do what needs to be done, they just lack the ability to step back and use what they have to fulfill they needs they have. We live in a materialistic world thus our brains are programmed to think I need this when actually you probably have something that you could use but is not the specific item. Make sense?
     
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  18. PLA

    PLA Monkey++

    Chell,

    Keep track of where you go in your vehicle for a month. 90% of your travel will be in 3 general areas. Family and work, with food stops. Grocery store, relatives and your job.

    Pull your map and be real, what do you need to get from there to where you need to be.

    Im not making up a scenario, Im talking about daily life.

    Most of the doom and gloom goes away, reduce it to the lowest common denominator.

    Then factor your physical limits. everyone says they can maintain 4 mph on pavement with their pack. I call BS, but without physically seeing what they can do today is far different then 25 years ago, the fantasy continues.

    Every ounce matters when you don't move more than the parking lot to a desk daily. Im talking about your average poster who is a cubi clam at work, talks a good game but when it happens they are mouth breathing in the first mile.

    I am in really good shape for a late 40's male, but Im also honest about what weights I can carry today vs 10 years ago. And about pace and distance.

    Honesty with yourself, and responsibility to who you are taking care of comes first. Saying you will do whats necessary when it matters is just a fast track to a heart attack, not reality
     
  19. Motomom34

    Motomom34 Monkey+++

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  20. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    Our milage does vary...a lot.
    I drive anywhere from 2-5 hours everyday for work. I could be anywhere in the state (or beyond) when something happens.
    3 days could easily be 3 weeks.
    I could have no idea of the starting point, distance, route, or obstacles to be overcome.
    The only variables I do know, is end point, wieght limit, skills, and mother nature.
    The rest could be anything from a walk in the park, to enemy occupation.
     
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