Gotta get the S/p going on in this forum, but how?

[callahan318]

That is the question.

[GLOCKENNBOOMER]

What would you put in them?

[callahan318]

well...that depends...what are you doing first is the question.

Are you leaving the city? How long are you going to be gone?

If you have never built a BOB, start small.

Say, something for your car. This I can almost promise you will use in the DAILY course of your life if you travel. More on what to put in it later...

[Rowdy]

Having a BOB is good, but having a plan of action to go with it is even better. Knowing where you will be going/what you will be doing makes packing a BOB a bit more simple. In the event of BadTimes, do you plan on staying in place for awhile? Do you have some sort of rally point to meet up with family? A safer place to head to if the BadTimes are more of a local thing? Having answers for these things will make it eaiser to tailor your BOB to the situation.

What to put in it?

Besides all of the taticool survivalist toys and the five ammo cans and six weapons of choice, look at the things you depend on everyday. Such as:

If you are on critical meds, that means rotating a supply of them through your BOB, not just trying to stash some in the BOB that may be expired, moldy, ruined, etc before you need them.

If you have small children that means adding a few things the single people on this forum might not think about. If you have older children, that means being sure each kid has a small BOB of their own.

Make sure you pack some knowledge. Sure, you claim you will be living off of the land while sitting on you arse watching TV, but when is the last time you actually built a snare? What did you catch with it? If that is your plan for food, then get out there and practice. If your plan is to pick up your BOB and disappear into the wilderness, pick up that 150lbs BOB and see if you can carry it around the block. If you cannot, then you need to change your plan, change your BOB, or change your strength/stamina. When the world is falling apart is not the time to go on a weight loss/strength building program. Do you know how to use every single thing in your BOB? Can you use it in the dark, rain, snow, under stress, while hurt, hungry, thirsty, while hiding? The time to read the instructions is when you are packing the BOB, not when you need it.

As for the bag itself... Take that OD Green ALICE pack you are using now and use it as a range bag, a bean bag chair, or just sell the damn thing. Go to REI, Walmart, Academy, where ever, and buy the sturdiest, yuppiest looking backpack you can find. You are looking for colors like red, purple, blue, NOT OD Green, Realtree, etc. Whenever someone sees your BOB, you want them to think that it is filled with granola and PETA propaganda, NOT that you are some survivalist crazy that might be dangerous, (or worse yet, that you have stuff they need.)



Personally, while I have a BOB in the closet, I am becoming tied to my land for various homesteading type reasons. So I guess you could say I'm doing my BOB work on the Geocacheing plan. Lengths of 4" PVC pipe filled with goodies scattered around. The caches are buried vertically, with a normal cap on the bottom, but a screw on cap on the top, so I can access my stuff without digging up and exposing my cache.



Of course the first rules of prep is to not say too much about your prep, and since at least one person on the forum has been to my place, I'm already screwing up.

[thorn]

My BOB is a suitcase, and the contents are rather similar to what i normally carry on an airplane. Some ammo and a couple of weapons would be added... throw in the backseat the car and I'm off to a city/state where S did not HTF.

Backup plan: use a backpack instead of suitcase and pack lighter. Ride the motorcycle if I cannot take the car.

thorn

[creekwalker]

We keep basic BOB gear in our vehicles and a larger set up at the house. Overall our plan is enough to carry us through about 2 to 3 days in the vehicles and 4-5 days at home should we have to relocate. It's not a lot of stuff when you slect and pack smart.
cw

[mitchshrader]

i've quit worrying so much about 'flee' and started worrying a lot more about 'endure'.

far as i'm concerned, we're in it. survival is a work in progress, with a guaranteed failure rate approaching 100%.

it's about how long you beat the odds, not about winning. ya ain't gonna.

losing very SLOWLY is the goal.

to that end, in my opinion, proper appreciation of threats and risks is necessary, and warnings taken from areas more affected by negative factors.

such as, defunct 'for sale' neighborhoods. count on more, don't be in one.

such as, bank failures.. don't be vulnerable to one. or two. or three.

such as, overemphasis on defense, and underemphasis on cash flow. cash flow matters, and so does a cash cushion.. and Non-Liquid investments *may* be worthless in a crisis, ymmv.

IN MY OPINION< we're in it. waiting for a sign from heaven it sucks ain't the smart move. let your conscience and experience be your guide, or, at least, that's how *I* am playing it.