The Myth of the Perfect EDC and Bug Out Bag

[ATCclears]

The Myth of the Perfect EDC and Bug Out Bag - The Organic Prepper

a snippet:


It is good suggestion to have three (or at least two) levels of equipment on you.

In reality, it looks like this:

• Layer One: This is the equipment that will stay with you even in very extreme situations. It is equipment that is directly "on your body". It may be placed for example on paracord around your neck, or on your wrist.
• Layer Two: This is the equipment that is on your belt, inside your pockets, small waist bag or similar.
• Layer Three: This is the equipment that you carry actually inside your bug out bag.

• 
  

Read More

 

[Joe13]

Basically, you need to know how to survive without all your gear and have a ton of pockets .


I like my setup and it works for me. I add or subtract depending on the season but mostly I kept the same stuff year round with me.

 

[Colts4me]

Survival is about one thing, change. How you adapt to change will determine how long you live. Tools will help but still things will change and you prepare for the changes you see comming. Best tool you have is your brain, if it works well you have a good chance to survive. If it hasn't been used for a while you will be culled out by change. That's life.

 

[Ura-Ki]

The idea of layers in your system has been around for a very long time, and it makes perfect sence! Basically it all comes down to a few simple truths, what you have RIGHT NOW may be all you have going forward, make the best of it!
We would train with only the contents of our pocket kits, something I still enjoy doing today! The basic idea is that you some how loose all your other gear; accident, fire, bad jump from an aircraft, flooded river crossing, falling through ice, ect.........
Choosing what to have in that kit is the most imperative of all your gear, choose wisely!

 

[Joe13]

The idea of layers in your system has been around for a very long time, and it makes perfect sence! Basically it all comes down to a few simple truths, what you have RIGHT NOW may be all you have going forward, make the best of it!
We would train with only the contents of our pocket kits, something I still enjoy doing today! The basic idea is that you some how loose all your other gear; accident, fire, bad jump from an aircraft, flooded river crossing, falling through ice, ect.........
Choosing what to have in that kit is the most imperative of all your gear, choose wisely!

Did that many times in Boy Scouts.

Shelter, fire and water is really all you need (food is a big bonus though).

 

[HB of CJ]

Lots of added pockets on my jeans and cut off shorts. All kinds of stuff on my person. Don't laugh but this Old Coot has a mental check off list that must be carried out before leaving the front door. A over night pack filled with 25 pounds of stuff stays inside the front hallway closet ready to go instantly.

The HUGE heavy 5-7 day evac bag also remains inside the front closet. It has gotten too big to move easily. A huge duffel. A plan is in place to split the big bag into two or more smaller bags. That or strap attach used big skate boards to the bottom so it will roll. Also a used automotive crawler/creeper would work.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

"Perfect" is very subjective.
Whatever you use and how you carry items....make sure that they are as close to "perfect" for you and what you need...not what anyone else needs or thinks as "perfect".

Also try out your gear* before SHTF...so you know that what you have does indeed work...And you aren't fumbling around trying to see what is what with your gear , instead of , you know , surviving....

*By try out your gear....I am talking about more than just opening the package and hitting the "on" switch....
Take your gear and bag on a hike , over a dike...
Up a hill , and see if you spill...
In the rain , while suffering pain...
While its dark , for a lark....
( Dr. Seuss does SHTF...)
Andy

 

[Colts4me]

Gear comes and goes, work on you, test your self and build the confidence in you. The man makes the gear, the gear doesn't make a man. Think you are going to win a fight then go train and comepete in a fight to win. Think you will win in a gunfight then compete against like minded people in shooting matches. Think you can live off the land then go kill and prepare your own game, catch your own fish, grow your own food.

Tools make life better but it's the mind that will keep you alive during change. More you know about yourself the better your chances, being queer for gear makes you dependent on gear. Build a bug out brain.

 

[EPS]

"Perfect" is very subjective.
Whatever you use and how you carry items....make sure that they are as close to "perfect" for you and what you need...not what anyone else needs or thinks as "perfect".

Also try out your gear* before SHTF...so you know that what you have does indeed work...And you aren't fumbling around trying to see what is what with your gear , instead of , you know , surviving....

*By try out your gear....I am talking about more than just opening the package and hitting the "on" switch....
Take your gear and bag on a hike , over a dike...
Up a hill , and see if you spill...
In the rain , while suffering pain...
While its dark , for a lark....
( Dr. Seuss does SHTF...)
Andy

This is good I use flashlights and stuff at work all the time if I buy one.
And then use it at work .say putting chains on my Simi truck on Snoqumie pass and it's snowing like hell .
If that light or flashlight works good .
I go and buy 3 or 4 more

 

[EPS]

Some times those little cheaper lights that clip on the bill of you're hat are life saver man .
I use them duck hunting and at work

 

[41mag]

Eons ago--mid 60s-- I read a book about 3 people escaping from a gulag type confinement, in North Russia. Their trek south was without anything in pockets etc, just a journal of their journey. IIRC it took "18 months" (seems to stick in memory) to get down to the area close to the shipping lanes of South China Sea. Non fiction.

"The Longest Walk" (NOT the recent Steven King novel) was a real life report about people who only had unbreakable will to make their escape from their own example of 'SHTF' when totalitarian.gov stepped in.

One of their early realizations, was the likelihood of being caught with anything resembling 'survival gear' would mark them for sure. Close run-ins they had with periodic goon.gov had to be without any of the trappings of escaped prisoners.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

"The Longest Walk" (NOT the recent Steven King novel) was a real life report about people who only had unbreakable will to make their escape from their own example of 'SHTF' when totalitarian.gov stepped in.

The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
One of the best SHTF / Survival accounts I have ever read ...and I read a lot....
Andy

 

[EPS]

The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
One of the best SHTF / Survival accounts I have ever read ...and I read a lot....
Andy

Lol i been to @AndyinEverson house he is telling the truth when he says he has a room full of books

 

[41mag]

The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
One of the best SHTF / Survival accounts I have ever read

thanks for the details....how close to the nut was I on poorly recalled plot, etc?

 

[Andy54Hawken]

thanks for the details....how close to the nut was I on poorly recalled plot, etc?

Not to far off...six folks escape a gulag in Siberia and make their way to British held India...the cross the Himalayas where they claim to have seen a Yeti ...and then also cross the Gobi desert....
Andy

 

[41mag]

it was one of the most powerful books I had ever read, probably a half-century ago.

I've been surviving in my own Long Walk since the tips from that gem.