Bug Out Bags 101

[Danger Boy]

The best BOB I have found we off of eBay... They are forceprotector deployment bags...
All FPG Deployment Bags - Forceprotector Gear Store
I got mine with shipping for less than $100.... They have wheels and shoulder straps. This is my week plus BOB. My 3 day BOB is a camelbak motherload... Again off eBay $50.

 

[BiscuitNaBasket]

The best BOB I have found we off of eBay... They are forceprotector deployment bags...
All FPG Deployment Bags - Forceprotector Gear Store
I got mine with shipping for less than $100.... They have wheels and shoulder straps. This is my week plus BOB. My 3 day BOB is a camelbak motherload... Again off eBay $50.

Good buys, I couldn't pay full price for a bag like that. No way.

 

[Clarity]

Okay, I didn't see an answer to this. My 15 year old son lives with his flake mom and two sisters 60 miles away from me. He is aware that I prep, and worries about a SHTF event when at Mom's. I am thinking about a basic BOB for him. He has little to no training. What would you put in it?
Some food for sure, for him and his other family.
Some clothes for warmth.
A tarp, para cord, zip ties and some stakes, plus a blanket or bag.
A firesteel, tinder and a bic lighter.
A multitool.
Some cash.
TP, trash bags and ziplocks.
A water bottle, tabs and emergency filter.
An SAS survival guide.
A tomahawk, maybe, as tool and SD.
A wire saw.
A small first aid kit with guide.

What else?

 

[TheRude1]

More than 1 lighter
Flashlight
Knife, i know one is on the multi tool,im thinken fixed blade
Another SAS survival guide, so he can read threw it before its needed and you wont have to worry if he remembered/had time to put it back in the pack
Survival blanket for ea person
Baby wipes

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Okay, I didn't see an answer to this. My 15 year old son lives with his flake mom and two sisters 60 miles away from me. He is aware that I prep, and worries about a SHTF event when at Mom's. I am thinking about a basic BOB for him. He has little to no training. What would you put in it?
Some food for sure, for him and his other family.
Some clothes for warmth.
A tarp, para cord, zip ties and some stakes, plus a blanket or bag.
A firesteel, tinder and a bic lighter.
A multitool.
Some cash.
TP, trash bags and ziplocks.
A water bottle, tabs and emergency filter.
An SAS survival guide.
A tomahawk, maybe, as tool and SD.
A wire saw.
A small first aid kit with guide.

What else?

The SAS manual isn't a bad reference book, but it presumes a base of knowledge your son likely won't have. I'd suggest you research any Boy Scout camping publications or wilderness survival books that you could send him to give him a little more basic information. Even some of the NASAR publications (National Association for Search And Rescue) have some basic survival information that would be helpful.

If you're going to send him a wire saw, let me suggest you search for the "chain saw chain" type saws, which are, admittedly, heavier, but vastly more durable than any wire saw I've ever seen.

Instead of a tomahawk, I'd suggest you find a hunting knife/hatchet combination (I know Buck used to make some good ones and Gerber may be doing it nowadays). While a tomahawk may be a useful self-defense weapon to someone who has trained with it, it's probably not going to be very useful without that training. I noticed that you didn't include a sturdy fixed-blade knife in your suggestions, and I'd suggest that no BOB or survival kit should be without a sturdy fixed-blade knife.

I'd also suggest that you get him something much better than a basic first aid kit; at the least you should get him a wilderness first aid kit, which is going to have more than a few bandaids and aspirin, as well a likely having better instructions.

 

[Meister]

The SAS manual isn't a bad reference book, but it presumes a base of knowledge your son likely won't have. I'd suggest you research any Boy Scout camping publications or wilderness survival books that you could send him to give him a little more basic information. Even some of the NASAR publications (National Association for Search And Rescue) have some basic survival information that would be helpful.

If you're going to send him a wire saw, let me suggest you search for the "chain saw chain" type saws, which are, admittedly, heavier, but vastly more durable than any wire saw I've ever seen.

Instead of a tomahawk, I'd suggest you find a hunting knife/hatchet combination (I know Buck used to make some good ones and Gerber may be doing it nowadays). While a tomahawk may be a useful self-defense weapon to someone who has trained with it, it's probably not going to be very useful without that training. I noticed that you didn't include a sturdy fixed-blade knife in your suggestions, and I'd suggest that no BOB or survival kit should be without a sturdy fixed-blade knife.

I'd also suggest that you get him something much better than a basic first aid kit; at the least you should get him a wilderness first aid kit, which is going to have more than a few bandaids and aspirin, as well a likely having better instructions.

Once again, spot on!

You might buy you boy a nice folder to keep on him all the time except at school. I've found that I use my fixed blades far less than my folders. Beretta pocketlite for every day and a cold steel Spartan for woods and work. It's a big honker with an extremely strong lock, but you can use it for a machete in a pinch. Fixed blades I use are the blackhawk TaTang on the BOB and a KalistaII on the vest. Keep a fasthawk on the bob as well, I'd drop it and much more if I needed to hoof it.

 

[Danger Boy]

Pack & Re-pack... This is what I did today with my BOB... this simple exercise helps you to remember where things are... See what needs replacing.... Add items that you forgot to add the last time you did a re-pack. Moreover, you get an opportunity to look for more efficient and creative ways to save space or remove weight.

 

[Danger Boy]

Creative space savers.... My sawyer water purification kit comes in a box. I chucked the box... So I got a large food grade container (looks like the big whey protein container) cleaned it out... drilled a whole in the side for the filter hose... Then packed the entire sawyer system inside the container. This serves two purposes... protection/storage for filter kit and then the container can be filled up with unfiltered water.
Two purposes one container.

 

[Danger Boy]

My son had a great idea today for my BOB... Next time I pass a rest stop on the highway go in and get several maps - put one in the car, two in BOB, one in an additional pack.

 

[Hoosier45]

My son had a great idea today for my BOB... Next time I pass a rest stop on the highway go in and get several maps - put one in the car, two in BOB, one in an additional pack.

I just did that very thing this week.

 

[Danger Boy]

BOB... couple of things to remember before you really need BOB...
can everyone carry or lift BOB?
does BOB fit in your trunk/backseat ?
does BOB everyone know where BOB is?

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Pack & Re-pack... This is what I did today with my BOB... this simple exercise helps you to remember where things are... See what needs replacing.... Add items that you forgot to add the last time you did a re-pack. Moreover, you get an opportunity to look for more efficient and creative ways to save space or remove weight.

While this works for maybe most people, I've found that I need to pack my BOB and just leave it alone, or I find myself continually adding stuff to it.

 

[BuckSlayer86]

I love this post! I was wondering do you guys think that we will really need BOBS? I might need to prep a bag for my house!!!! Are there websites that show what you should put in a BOB?

 

[Meister]

I love this post! I was wondering do you guys think that we will really need BOBS? I might need to prep a bag for my house!!!! Are there websites that show what you should put in a BOB?

If I didn't think I needed one, I wouldn't have built one. I use mine regularly.

The posts here are fairly comprehensive on what's required.

 

[Hoosierkav]

Great, long-lasting thread!

Christmas is a good time to get the family up to speed on some essential prepping, or to get out-of-house friends/family in the right mindset.

Moore Medical has great prices on medical supplies; buy some 1x3" bandaids, 4x4s, 5x9s, and roller gauze/kling; put them in a ziploc baggie or find something more substantial. The bandaids are used all the time; the rest are for heavier trauma.

Keep an eye out for the various sales (including Amazon) for deals; on Black Friday, Menards had a six pack of LED flashlights for dirt cheap.

 

[DocEd]

Wanted to share a little trick we used in the army. We were always trying to reduce weight and space used. 4x4 and gauze rolls don't come in waterproof storage. So we would create bleeder packs, wich was usually 4 or so 4x4 a roll of Kerlex and an ace wrap. Take those items and put them in a heavy duty type vacume seal bag and voila you have created a compressed kit of waterproofed gauze. The nice thing about doing this is you only expose what you need instead of everything all at once.

 

[NomadS]

free kindle book (temporary) as of 12/18 [ame]http://www.amazon.com/The-Bug-Out-Book-ebook/dp/B0086RQFVC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356358863&sr=8-2&keywords=bug+out+bag+book[/ame] The Bug Out Bag Book - Create a Personalized Emergency Gear Kit [Kindle Edition]
Caleb Rogers (Author)

 

[10-32]

free kindle book (temporary) as of 12/18 The Bug Out Bag Book - Create a Personalized Emergency Gear Kit: Caleb Rogers: Amazon.com: Kindle Store The Bug Out Bag Book - Create a Personalized Emergency Gear Kit [Kindle Edition]
Caleb Rogers (Author)

Couldn't get the link to work but was able to find it with a quick search.
I kept getting this error

Looking for something?
We're sorry. The Web address you entered is not a functioning page on our site

Go to Amazon.com's Home Page



Here's another link to it.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/The-Bug-Out-Book-ebook/dp/B0086RQFVC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355801578&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Bug+Out+Bag+Book+-+Create+a+Personalized+Emergency+Gear+Kit]The Bug Out Bag Book - Create a Personalized Emergency Gear Kit: Caleb Rogers: Amazon.com: Kindle Store[/ame]

It's weird cause if I click your link in your post, I get the error. If I click your link from when I quoted you, your link works fine. Must be some freak thing with the Opera browser.

 

[mk2ja]

Couldn't get the link to work but was able to find it with a quick search.
I kept getting this error

Looking for something?
We're sorry. The Web address you entered is not a functioning page on our site

Go to Amazon.com's Home Page



Here's another link to it.

The Bug Out Bag Book - Create a Personalized Emergency Gear Kit: Caleb Rogers: Amazon.com: Kindle Store

It's weird cause if I click your link in your post, I get the error. If I click your link from when I quoted you, your link works fine. Must be some freak thing with the Opera browser.

And it looks like it's only a free rental for Amazon Prime users. Still not a bad price, though.

 

[poptab]

I added something to my gear after doing a 26 mile hike in 3 days in rough terrain.
knee braces.

If you plan on hoofing it somewhere far away and there are ups and downs you want some knee braces.