Old 03-28-2010, 12:20   #31
Axe
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Clothing stored in a Bugout Bag can be greatly reduced in bulk by vacuum sealing them using a home vacuum sealer.

I have a parka, gloves, hat, and socks sealed in separate bags. They take up approximately 25-30% of the space that they did when unpackaged but tightly rolled.

The parka required the use of a continuous roll of sealing material rather than an individual bag. The parka was just a bit too bulky to be able to fit into the largest individual bag that would fit the vacuum sealer I have.

The XXL parka, which was probably 24"X 30" before packaging, is now 8.5" X 20". It looks like a sausage.

As a side benefit, the items are waterproofed as well. As inexpensive as the seal-a-meal material is, I won't think twice about opening them if I need them.
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Old 04-21-2010, 12:45   #32
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Just be sure you haven't destroyed the loft in these items by permanently crushing the fill. Flat for packing is cool, flat for wearing...not so much.
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Old 04-24-2010, 12:41   #33
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Putting my kit together and just had a couple of questions...

What type of Personal Information would you think necessary to put in your BOB if any? Would you put in originals or copies? How much money, if any?
Is having a storage container or some sort of lock box with more supplies in it worth it?

I live in semi-dense populated area here at school, if something were to happen I would head southeast towards the parents place/girlfriends family. The area at home is mostly rural.
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Old 04-24-2010, 13:00   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peregrino View Post
The Mormons moved an entire "society" (in several waves) with hand carts. It's all a matter of motivation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sten View Post
And smart packing.
And a better understanding of needs/wants/necessities. Coupled with more practical skills than most people have today - though the people on this board undoubtedly have more skills available.

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Old 04-24-2010, 13:08   #35
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Off the top of my head, here's what I'd have:

Passport
Certified copy of birth certificates of all family members
Certified copy of your and spouse's last will and testimate
Certified copy of any medical advanced directives or living will
Copies of insurance policies
Copies of deeds or other documents related to properties
Copies of immunization records

I also have about $750 dollars in cash (if there's a general breakdown, or if there's something catastrophic, my debit/credit cards will be worthless)

I also have $3000 in French Rooster gold coins (by weight, not face value) that we'll take along

Each family member has their own backpack. (I also keep a 72 hour kit at work) The above stuff is kept separate from the individual kits.
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Old 04-24-2010, 13:53   #36
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The Mormons moved an entire "society" (in several waves) with hand carts. It's all a matter of motivation.
The later companies had handcarts, but those who were thrown out of Nauvoo, IL by the Illinois militia had wagons. But they were prepared.

Their leaders had told them that they would probably be forced out. They began the year before building one wagon per family. They built them day and night for quite some time. Individual families began putting aside what they could as far as provisions. It was a great deal more difficult then than now - nothing was really packaged and the wagon boxes were small.

The local paper recommended the following for each family:

2 to 3 yoke of oxen, 2 milk cows, other livestock, arms and ammunition, 15 lb of iron, pulleys and ropes, fishing gear, farming and mechanical equipment, cooking equipment and at least 1000 pounds of flour plus assorted other foodstuffs.

In February 1846, at the point of a state bayonet, they lined up their wagons and crossed the frozen Mississippi River with only hours notice. They camped on the other side in Iowa for a brief time, and then headed for the west, spending the next winter on the banks of the Missouri River after growing enough food for the rest of the journey and leaving planted crops for the follow-on companies of pioneers.

Mormons have two levels of preparedness. The first level is the 72-hour kit for each family. The second level is a year's supply of food storage for each member of the family to be used in case of unemployment or disaster. There is actually a third level, that being limit debt to cars and homes as much as possible as well as having six months to a year of salary put aside in case employment goes away.

It makes pretty good sense to prepare now. Just as the SOF Truth says: Competent Special Operations Forces cannot be created after emergencies occur, same goes with providing for the inevitable hard time that will come in everyone's lives.
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Old 04-24-2010, 18:57   #37
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Originally Posted by fng13 View Post
Putting my kit together and just had a couple of questions...

What type of Personal Information would you think necessary to put in your BOB if any? Would you put in originals or copies? How much money, if any?
Is having a storage container or some sort of lock box with more supplies in it worth it?

I live in semi-dense populated area here at school, if something were to happen I would head southeast towards the parents place/girlfriends family. The area at home is mostly rural.
I would photocopy all of my important docs (license, passport, SS card, credit cards, birth certificate, wedding and divorce papers, insurance policies, etc., if the bag was going to be relatively secure) and put them in a waterproof bag. Then conceal the docs as best you can in your BOB.

Just my .02, YMMV.

TR
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Old 05-01-2010, 12:31   #38
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I need the help of those wiser than myself, as I am unsure on how to handle one possible contingency...

I am still Active Duty (as I am sure many here are), and the most likely outcome I can think of in the event of everything from a natural disaster to a zombie uprising is that I get recalled and set out to react to whatever plague has come. I think packing a bag with everything I would need to walk off into the woods and survive for a while is the easy part, but what do I do in that event is what is puzzling me.

If I get recalled, what I would want to do would be to pack my dog and girlfriend up and bring them to the shop and make camp in the flight office or something, and actually I think this would be worth bringing up with the chain- If the SHTF, is this a viable option? If taking refuge on base is an option, then a BOB would need to contain important documents and cash and such, but maybe a hundred hollow points becomes less important. If the disaster/uprising causes the base to not be there anymore, I have a hard time believing that I would even be around, but if I was, then the survival tools become necessary.

Now I'm basically thinking out loud, but I am hoping somebody will jump in with some ideas.

Last edited by J8127; 05-01-2010 at 12:40.
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Old 05-01-2010, 15:34   #39
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Almost afraid to post this, being the old fashioned fart that I am.

First of all, I'm not wiser than you, just older.

FWIW, here's the issues I confronted when on AD (which BTW was back when your dad was probably just a kid...so take this for what it's worth).

I was concerned that during deployment or extended time away from home there would be a major emergency that would put my wife/kids in jeopardy. I emphasized to the wife that under such a circumstance to get to the nearest military base or Reserve Center. All had dependent ID cards and all vehicles had AD mil stickers. This in itself doesn't guarantee anything, but it was the only thing I could suggest to reassure the wife and myself. This would not necessarily be "THE SOP", but a contingency, an option she could have available to her if she chose.

In '89 I was serving aboard a cruiser that was in port SF for a port visit when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit San Francisco. We had just shifted berths from Fisherman's Wharf area to Treasure Island (about in the middle of SF harbor). Soon as it hit we went to GQ. In the CIC (Combat Info Center) of the ship we had HF comms up with all the USN and Allied ships that were in the operating area. We were relaying messages as we could. All the ships called us because they knew we were there. Each one asked us for a status of various military housing areas, and other neighborhoods where their families and homes were located. We gave them the best info we could. Some we knew were OK and others we didn't.

This is just one old sailors' opinion, and I'll bet this isn't the first time you've heard it. If she's your girlfriend and you care about what happens to her when you're away then marry the woman. Sometimes that Military Dependent's ID Card can open doors for her, especially when she's by herself. No moralizing intended, soldier, but that's what I'd do.

God bless and thanks for your service. Good luck.
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Old 05-01-2010, 16:35   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Reaper View Post
I would photocopy all of my important docs (license, passport, SS card, credit cards, birth certificate, wedding and divorce papers, insurance policies, etc., if the bag was going to be relatively secure) and put them in a waterproof bag. Then conceal the docs as best you can in your BOB.

Just my .02, YMMV.

TR
For anyone who doesn't know about this product--

They do make a thing called https://www.ironkey.com/products which is an encrypted USB drive. You could make super high quality scans of your docs and put them on there.

This way if you do you lose or damage your originals, you'll at least have the information.

Put that ironkey in a tiny pelican case and you'll have a pretty secure backup of your important docs.
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Old 05-01-2010, 18:33   #41
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For anyone who doesn't know about this product--

They do make a thing called https://www.ironkey.com/products which is an encrypted USB drive. You could make super high quality scans of your docs and put them on there.

This way if you do you lose or damage your originals, you'll at least have the information.

Put that ironkey in a tiny pelican case and you'll have a pretty secure backup of your important docs.
Only if you still have a computer, the internet, and a printer.

Not a high probability in many of the scenarios.

TR
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Old 05-02-2010, 08:56   #42
Axe
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Just be sure you haven't destroyed the loft in these items by permanently crushing the fill. Flat for packing is cool, flat for wearing...not so much.
Very good point, Razor. I failed to mention that the items I have packed use Thinsulate, which was chosen for several reasons, including low cost due to length of time on market, efficiency, and 3M's stated ability of basic Thinsulate to withstand compression.

Before I vacuum packed the clothing, I called and spoke with a 3M Product Representative for the Thinsulate material to check if compression was an issue. I was told that basic Thinsulate can be vacuum compressed and should not lose it's insulation "clo value".

I also learned that some of the other 8 types of Thinsulate, such as Thinsulate LiteLoft, will reacquire its clo value after being compressed, but requires 24 hours to do so after being opened.

You definitely want to know the properties of the insulation material you are working with.
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Old 05-02-2010, 13:22   #43
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Originally Posted by ReefBlue View Post
They do make a thing called https://www.ironkey.com/products which is an encrypted USB drive. You could make super high quality scans of your docs and put them on there.
I have a couple of these, which include hi-res scans of all ID's, insurance policies, legal documents, medical records, critical work docs, etc. Some subset of those are in a dry pak pouch, but I keep one Ironkey in the BOB and another in the stock of my carbine (the last thing I'm likely to lose).
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Old 05-02-2010, 15:33   #44
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I keep a large internal-frame backpack full of stuff in my car.
Also a few other things that i'd need if the car broke down in the winter far away from civilization.
I live in northern Sweden, so. Guess what, it can be quite cold.

In my dear bag:

- First Aid kit and some other stuff for paramedical situations
- paper plates
- cutlery
- a few lighters and sealed storm matches
- a few dry emergency rations and chocolate
- couple of cans of sausage
- Gerber Suspension multitool
- Small knife
- Bowie knife
- hand axe
- Sleeping pad
- Muurrikka (Finnish. Basically a frying pan with feet that you can place over a fire)
- Small bottle of charcoal lighter fluid (hey, I don't normally use it, but sometimes you need fire pronto.)
- Small kettle
- Water purification tablets
- 6 m Paracord
Edit, I forgot one thing:
- Cantine, 1 Liter.

In my car:

- Large axe (yeah, you probably get it by now, I love axes)
- Incredibly warm jacket with a hood and fur lining
- 2 Blankets
- A couple of more cans of food for some reason
- Another first aid kit
- Needle & Threads
- Fishing hooks + float + line in a small box

+ All the stuff you need in case of battery dying, a tire going pop or someone needing towing.

What I don't keep in my car:

- Guns, ammo

It's illegal to just keep it in the car, so I have it in my gun safe.
If i'm heading out to the range or such, I carry them in a Versipack Fatboy.
And yes, we're talking about puny little handguns now.
They're my main interest nowadays.
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Old 05-03-2010, 09:36   #45
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- Small bottle of charcoal lighter fluid (hey, I don't normally use it, but sometimes you need fire pronto.)
Very true. Have you considered using petroleum jelly instead? It has many more uses than liquid fuel, is less likely to spill and contaminate your other items, and can provide a sustained flame vs. the flash of a volatile fluid. Don't forget the road flares in your trunk for emergency signaling produce a pretty good flame, too.
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