Survival Pack

[Dirty Dog]

My biggest concern is that I injure myself and can’t get help.

My wife has pretty much the same training and experience I do, so I've got that covered too.

My second concern is being able and ready to assist others in that situation. I don’t really believe in the whole SHTF/apocalypse scenario prepping.

Neither do I. But we do a lot of bouncing around the back country in the Jeeps, and things do happen.

I’m sure he would be very gentle.

I have local anesthetics.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

I am going to take this opportunity to engage in one of my favorite rants. Please know I mean nothing personal by it. I just like doing stuff like this.

Ahem.

Your situation may be different, given your proximity to belligerents of various types and your history. I won't presume to understand your situation.

In the USA, we have 'preppers' who believe that soon we will experience SHTF, and who gather together online to endlessly discuss various prepper things, including things labeled 'tactical' and 'Bug Out Bags' and 'EDC' firearms and knives, and geek out endlessly over brand names and celebrity endorsements. And of course, every six months, the fashionable prepper must throw it all away and start over, as the various items they've purchased have fallen out of fashion and will just never do.

So.

I consider 'prepping' in a generic sense to be self-defense adjacent. That is, if I drew a Venn diagram labeled 'Self Defense', martial arts and physical conditioning would be overlapping bubbles, as would emergency preparedness, which is the rational and sane side of 'prepping'.

Getting to your question, a survival pack would include things tangible and intangible such as skills. Skills in doing such things as training on how to exit your home in an emergency (like a fire or other natural disaster), how to regroup and account for the family (rally point), use a fire extinguisher and first aid kit (not a good time to learn how to deal with a sucking chest wound when you open the packet), and etc. How to recognize cloud formations that are likely to produce dangerous weather conditions.

Having plans matters as well. Like where to go once you've left your home. How to get there. How to pay for things when your credit cards no longer work. Where is your medication and how much of it have you stockpiled? Where are the pets to go and how will they be looked after? Children? Family? Neighbors?

I say this because natural emergencies are MUCH MORE LIKELY to occur than some national leader popping his cork, despite what the news talkers would tell us. Look to the insurance companies. They have to pay out, so they know what the risks are. In the USA, the most likely dangerous situations to occur are Floods, Storms, Fires (forest and kitchen), Tornadoes, Earthquakes, and then such things as drought and sea level rise. No men with guns or bombs making things messy in the USA. Not that they aren't a threat, they're just not a big threat.

The rational thinking person would take stock of their own circumstances. Where they live, what natural disasters are most likely? Prepare for those. Having a source of clean water is good. Having the ability to make electricity is good. Having necessary medications and medical devices (glasses, hearing aid batteries, etc) is good. Knowing where to get fuel is good. Having cash is good. Having working, tested, fire / smoke / carbon monoxide detectors is good. Knowing how to get out of your house in an emergency such as a fire is good. Knowing how to account for the family once having exited the domicile is good (people die every year rushing back into burning buildings to find family or pets who have already left). Having a first aid kit and knowing how to use it is good.

That is really what I call self-defense. That's what I call preparedness. It's reality-based. But it's boring. It's not sexy. It doesn't require gathering together to display one's latest penile-enhancing purchases (look at my new EDC, ooh ahh). The latter is what I refer to as 'tacticool macho BS' and yeah, I laugh and say it to their faces when I have the opportunity.

I am more concerned with the possibility of a grease fire in the kitchen or a flood in the basement (already had one of those) than I am with people dropping bombs or storming the homefront or whatnot. Yeah, those things could happen. But it's highly unlikely in the list of threats to myself and my family.

I give this rant every few years. No one listens, because it's not cool. I get it. But I feel compelled to pass it along anyway, because I care. Also I like to laugh at the preppers for their monster silliness.

EDIT: An addendum...I love to hear about my neighbors who have stashes of food, water, and firearms. They don't know how to use those firearms, so I'll be over directly to collect them in the case that I am wrong and the Russians *are* coming (old movie).

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Red Dawn… silly. I think a lot of preppers watched a lot of movies in the 80s. I always wonder how much money these guys spend on plate carriers or even nods that gather dust.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

My wife has pretty much the same training and experience I do, so I've got that covered too.

Neither do I. But we do a lot of bouncing around the back country in the Jeeps, and things do happen.

I have local anesthetics.

I was really thinking about if I’m alone. Otherwise yeah, I’ve got snacks and some basics meds in my kit to keep me busy while someone goes to get help. When I snowboard I always keep a dose of pain killers and muscle relaxers in my chest pocket. I watched my buddy take a long bumpy sled ride with ski patrol after a nasty open fracture. He screamed a lot on the way down. I resolved to be prepared for a more comfortable ride should I find myself in a similar plight.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Red Dawn… silly. I think a lot of preppers watched a lot of movies in the 80s. I always wonder how much money these guys spend on plate carriers or even nods that gather dust.

It's very easy to get silly with this stuff.
On the other hand, in case there IS a zombie apocalypse, there's a (still working) 19th Century prison 30 minutes from my house. The walls are 2'x3' cut stone blocks, 30' high...

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

You can get in to the weeds with these discussions.

You can get into your savings for a bunch of gear you may never need too.

 

[Gyakuto]

I’m not asking which items I might need for surviving a full thermonuclear war or Zombie apocalypse, just to get me through a slightly treacherous car journey to a point of government designated safety. I am fairly convinced that everyone would die eventually, I just don’t want to be the very first..or do I?

 

[Gyakuto]

I’m sure he would be very gentle.

Have you read his posts? He’d use his bare hands to remove the offending appendix! ‘Monkey steals the peach that’s a bit higher’.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I’m not asking which items I might need for surviving a full thermonuclear war or Zombie apocalypse, just to get me through a slightly treacherous car journey to a point of government designated safety. I am fairly convinced that everyone would die eventually, I just don’t want to be the very first..or do I?

Car keys and a full tank of gas.
Because most natural disasters are either predictable enough for you to get out of the way or do not result in the total and complete collapse of services even on a local level.
The book is fiction, but I've long thought that Lucifer's Hammer did a good job of portraying a post-apocalyptic world in a reasonable manner.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

It's very easy to get silly with this stuff.

True of many obsessions that many of us indulge in. From which motorcycle is best, to what audio cable sounds the most transparent, to what gi is superior, we can't just engage in the endeavor and leave the accoutrement alone, can we? No, we have to make it all a case of comparing business cards.

 

[Hot Lunch]

In the USA, the most likely dangerous situations to occur are Floods, Storms, Fires (forest and kitchen), Tornadoes, Earthquakes, and then such things as drought and sea level rise. No men with guns or bombs making things messy in the USA. Not that they aren't a threat, they're just not a big threat.

Most people understand this. However, the bigger concern is that natural disasters CAN cause "men with guns" to come out and prey on others. I remember a facebook discussion where one person stated that his guns and ammo is all the prep he needs, since he'll simply rob others ISHTF. So, even in natural disasters, you would still need to be armed in order to protect yourself from those types.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Car keys and a full tank of gas.
Because most natural disasters are either predictable enough for you to get out of the way or do not result in the total and complete collapse of services even on a local level.
The book is fiction, but I've long thought that Lucifer's Hammer did a good job of portraying a post-apocalyptic world in a reasonable manner.

Also Earth abides is a great read.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Red Dawn… silly. I think a lot of preppers watched a lot of movies in the 80s. I always wonder how much money these guys spend on plate carriers or even nods that gather dust.

The other day I watched in amusement as a bunch of preppers discussed which type of cooling fins on an AR15 barrel was best. Dude. You will never, on your longest imagined firefight, need cooling fins on your AR. Dear lord in heaven.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Most people understand this. However, the bigger concern is that natural disasters CAN cause "men with guns" to come out and prey on others. I remember a facebook discussion where one person stated that his guns and ammo is all the prep he needs, since he'll simply rob others ISHTF. So, even in natural disasters, you would still need to be armed in order to protect yourself from those types.

Hurricane Katrina and 1992 Los Angeles riots are good examples of this behavior.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Car keys and a full tank of gas.
Because most natural disasters are either predictable enough for you to get out of the way or do not result in the total and complete collapse of services even on a local level.
The book is fiction, but I've long thought that Lucifer's Hammer did a good job of portraying a post-apocalyptic world in a reasonable manner.

I'd add charged up cell phone and a road service membership, but yeah.

 

[Hot Lunch]

My prepping isn't for SHTF. It's mostly for being stranded up to 500 miles from home.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

The other day I watched in amusement as a bunch of preppers discussed which type of cooling fins on an AR15 barrel was best. Dude. You will never, on your longest imagined firefight, need cooling fins on your AR. Dear lord in heaven.

The damned thing will quit running because of a dry bolt before fins are needed.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Most people understand this. However, the bigger concern is that natural disasters CAN cause "men with guns" to come out and prey on others. I remember a facebook discussion where one person stated that his guns and ammo is all the prep he needs, since he'll simply rob others ISHTF. So, even in natural disasters, you would still need to be armed in order to protect yourself from those types.

Yes. Also training on said firearms and the laws pertaining to use of deadly force (because law will eventually return, and what you did will matter).

But before that, check your smoke detectors and buy a fire extinguisher. Much more likely to need those.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

My prepping isn't for SHTF. It's mostly for being stranded up to 500 miles from home.

Cell phone and a wallet full of credit cards. Done.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Hurricane Katrina and 1992 Los Angeles riots are good examples of this behavior.

They are also good examples that even in the worst breakdowns in civil society in the typical western industrialized world, law and order do return, and the rest of the world does not crumble in the face of local anarchy.

And at least Hurricane Katrina was another good example of why it's better to prepare for evacuating from a hurricane than preparing for war when one happens along.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Have you read his posts? He’d use his bare hands to remove the offending appendix! ‘Monkey steals the peach that’s a bit higher’.

He isn’t going to be so gentle if you keep referring to him as a thieving monkey. I’m sure he has gloves in his kit, medical people tend to be a little mysophobic.