Daily preparedness, part 3

This post is all about my bugout bag. I sorta have two, the first one being my tactical vest described in an earlier post. This one is the one I will more likely end up using. Ideally I would be at home when the shit hits the fan, as this is where my rifle and most of my gear is stored. The reality is that I'm out of the house a minimum of 50 hours a week, and that's if I only go to work. So I've decided to put together a more comprehensive bag for the Jeep. This is alot more involved than the survival tin, as its made with the idea of keeping you alive for about three days.

Start off by thinking,what's the bare minimum I would need for a weekend trip? Now going from there scale down the clothing and add food and water and you're pretty close. Make sure you consider things like medications, contact lenses, glasses etc. I wont get into all that sorta thing as everyone has different needs in those areas.

The basics aside from meds and toiletries I keep in my truck are as follows.
-Three days food and water, taking into acoount my girlfriend and the dog
-Basic first aid kit, be sure to include splints and trauma gear, I will get into first aid a little later, maybe my next post
-2 gas masks and spare filters (cheaperthandirt.com)
-7 day course Iosat radiation tablets for two
-50' paracord
-Cleaning kits for any firearms I may be carrying
-KA-BAR, I went with a tanto tip in black
-Multitool, I use a Colorado river Zillatool
-3a rated concealable body armor, not really a necessity but nice to have if things get really bad, check local laws on that one as well.
-MSR camp stove and three cans of fuel, Jetboil is a good brand too
-Minimum 2 flashlights, I use a maglight aa led, and a Streamlight Stinger led rechargeable (the Streamlight is cool because you can charge it through the cigarette lighter)
-Flint, matches, lighters
-Canteen and Steel canteen cup for boiling
-Iodine tablets for water purification
-Either a small tent or tarp for shelter in case you need to abandon the vehicle
-Collapsible shovel or entrenching tool, just a good idea to have in the car anyway
-1 pair of boots, decent hiking boots are a good idea
-Gas can, I just have a 2 gallon one for space but bigger is probably better
-I also recently added a small sterno stove and 6 cans of fuel in addition to my msr, this will mostly be for melting snow.


These are pretty much the basics, obviously your region and potential threats can change this kit drastically. Being that I live just north of the Indian point nuclear power plant I feel the iosat and gas masks are an absolute necessity, if you live in Canada lets say, warm clothing would be much more important.

Daily Preparedness part 2

Survival Tin



This is something I got from the SAS Survival Guide. The idea is that you take this little tin with you wherever you go. Very easy to do if you get into the habit. I find its just easier to make one for each of your vehicles. This one is gonna go on my bike, and then next I'll make one for my girlfriends car. Start off with something like a tobacco tin, maybe 5 by 6 inches and a couple inches deep. I used the plastic case my handgun light came in.

-4 razor blades
-Pocket knife, lockback to save room
-Multitool, I went with a bit of a cheap one this time, it will get replaced eventually.
-Lighter
-Magnesium firestarter, will go with a standard flint, just gotta pick one up.
-Matches, waterproof strike anywhere are best, but you can dip regular wooden ones in wax to waterproof.
-Iodine tablets for water sterilization
-2 day course Iosat radiation tablets
-2 muscle relaxers
-2 percocets
-6 feet of paracord (broken down that's 96 feet of cordage)
-3 Fishhooks and a length of line
-3 Adhesive bandages
-6 Butterfly closures
-Ampule of iodine
-Thread and 3 needles of varying sizes
-Sreamlight LED keychain light


Obviously this wont be everything you'd ever need in any given situation, but sometimes even just a knife could be the difference between life and death. In my opinion a sharp knife and a flashlight are the most important things in a survival situation. A cell phone could be used as a light source if needed, but its just not gonna work as well as a penlight. You can go bigger or smaller with this kit, totally up to you.

In my next post I'll be descibing my bugout bag, and as always your suggestions are welcome.

"A good plan executed violently now is better than perfect plan executed next week" -George S. Patton

Daily preparedness

This post is all about being prepared at all times. Or at least as prepared as possible. There really is no way to be prepared for any situation that may arise 24 hours a day, but there's a lot of little things you can do to improve your chances. I'll start off with everything I carry on my person at all times, then in my next post, a description of my survival tin, and finally my go bag I keep in the car.

First and foremost, carry cash. I know that can be tough, being a young guy myself there's been plenty of times that my entire paycheck has been spent by Sunday. If there is some sort of disaster or major terrorist attack, you may not be able to use credit or debit cards. I'm not saying to carry around a thousand bucks or anything, but 100 is very feasible to carry around all the time.

Secondly, I carry a handgun. This is not for everyone I understand, but if you do choose to carry, do your research and do it legally. As I mentioned in the previous post I carry a Springfield Armory XD in .40 caliber. Great self defense gun, a little big for daily concealed carry, but I manage ok with it. It may be a good idea to go with at least a 4 inch barrel, as this helps accuracy and muzzle rise for follow up shots. I carry two extra clips, so with the magazine in the gun that gives me 31 rounds of hornady tap hollowpoints.

Carry a good knife or multitool, and make sure it's sharp. I carry a Colorado river knife and tool company (CRKT) lockback, great knife, retails about 60 bucks. Got mine at eastern mountain sports. The coolest feature is it has two locks so it can't fold up on you while you're using it. Another one I recommend is the zillatool from the same company.

Lighting, if you carry a handgun a railed light can be good if you can conceal it. I don't carry one all the time, but I always carry at least one penlight. Streamlight stylus pro led lights are my favorite, very bright and run forever on two aaa batteries. Streamlight also has some pretty cool keychain lights that are really bright and very cheap as well.

Cell phone, duh.

Wristwatch, if you go digital buy one with a compass. I prefer analog. To use an analog watch to tell direction point the hour hand at the sun, half way between there and 12 on the watch face points south. Check out Casio gshock

At least two forms of picture id, just a good idea.

Shoelaces, might sound silly but bear with me. I replaced all my shoelaces in all my boots and sneakers with 550 cord. This is a really heavy duty cord used for parachutes. Inside the main sleeve of the cord are 7 strands of smaller cord. So now at any given time I have over ten feet of cordage to build a shelter or whatever. You can get 100 feet through us cavalry for about 50 bucks.

Lastly I carry a Flint on my keychain. I know it would probably just be easier to carry a lighter, but at least the flint wont ever break and will even work soaking wet.

That's it for what I carry around all day, makes me wish it was socially acceptable for me to carry a purse.