Rural Revolutions Bug out bag

From Rural Revolution
http://www.rural-revolution.com/2010/12/bug-out-bags.html
Here's what our Bug-Out Bags contain (click to enlarge photo):

1. Sleeping bag.

2. Standard military hard foam pad. Good for a dry spot in wet conditions and as a fairly good "door" in an improvised shelter. Marginal for actually sleeping on, but hey, better than nothing.

3. 8 x 10 nylon camo tarp. A waterproof wrap for the sleeping bag/ground cloth/improvised tent or a camo cover. Has grommets but can be "up-graded” with item #18.

4. Ziplock bag containing copies of birth certificates, plasticized maps, immunization records, insurance records, title insurances, contact info for friends and relatives, etc. Each pack contains a complete set for the entire family.

5. New Testament. We will all need support in trying times.

6. Wash cloth/utility cloth.

7. Two bandanas (earth-tone). Nothing is more useful than a bandana. It can be used as a tourniquet, pot holder, sun block, sling, sweat band, extra pocket, gun swab, head cover, dust mask, and of course blowing one’s nose. The list is huge. Ask a cowboy.

8. Duct tape. As the saying goes, duct tape is like The Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it binds the universe together. With duct tape and two bandanas, the world is your oyster.

9. Mosquito netting. Good for bugs, filtration, camo (make sure to get an earth-tone color).

10. Gloves leather or synthetic working gloves with Thinsulite lining.

11. Light shoes (in this case, moccasins with rubberized soles). Wet feet suck. You can wear these while your boots are drying.

12. Medium ALICE pack with frame.

13. Knit watch cap (preferably with knit face mask)

14. Poncho Good also as a quick tent/shelter. Don't pack a rain coat. You want something that can easily cover the pack on your back.

15. 100 feet of paracord. Make sure you get the kind with either a five or seven strand interior. The strands can be separated and used for hundreds of things. (One time, while part of a group of pretty savvy survival types, I was asked to name the one thing I would have with me if dropped in the middle of nowhere. My answer was rope. Think about it.)

16. Spare ALICE pouch for things that should be close at hand.

17. Two canteens and ALICE attach-covers. Don't forget to fill (and change often) these with water the moment you have your kit done. It won't do you a bit of good to run out of the burning house with empty canteens.

18. Plastic snap together grommets. Excellent and easy ways to re-enforce a tarp, fabric, or blanket. Not as strong as metal grommets to be sure, but a lot easier to install in troubled times.

19. Food. Since food is usually one of the bulkiest items in a backpack, we purchased a 3600 calorie ration bar with a five-year shelf life. Supposedly this is a three day supply. Perhaps not, but it’s better than nothing and only weighs two pounds. You'll still be alive after three days but probably pretty hungry. (This ain't Lembas, folks.)

20. Toilet paper. (Hey, I’ve got three females in the family.)

21. Dental floss. This has many uses and is very tough.

22. Cash. This will also include some coinage. Might still be working phone booths somewhere.

23. First aid kit. The best compact first-aid kit I could find was $14 from the Red Cross. I upgraded it with Tylenol, Imodium, and Benadryl. A more extensive kit will travel with me.

24. Space blanket bag. This is like your standard space blanket, but formed into a bag suitable as a bivvy sack for outside your sleeping bag (a big multiplier for heat retention as long as you recognize its limitations).

25. Bar soap. Good for washing everything as well as finding water leaks in pipes, unsticking zippers, and lubricating saw blades and screws.

26. Two space blankets. Good for signaling, ground clothes, heat retention, etc. These can be duct-taped together for a tent, grommeted, used as a sun-shade, game-wrap, or (of course) a blanket.

27. Sewing kit.

28. Flashlight. This is an LED flood and single-point light with a strong rare-earth magnet and a hanging hook. (Spare batteries are not shown but we have them packed.)

29. Four ratchet type tarp holders. These make great clamps and tie-downs.

30. Clothing. One shirt, pants, two pairs of underwear, three pair of socks. The outerwear is in dark earth-tones or camo.

31. Matches, match cases, and a Bic lighter.

32. Florescent plastic survey tape. Each family member gets a different color.

33. Comb

34. Sun-block SPF 50

35. Sharpie, two pens and pad of paper.

36. A Leatherman-style tool: pliers, knife, awl, etc. with case.

37. Toothbrush and toothpaste. Sure you can make it three days without brushing. But why? I can tell you that a good tooth brushing will make you feel better no matter how bad a night you've had.

[It is mentioned to add Safty Sun Glasses] -Viscount

(Not shown: small mirror, compass, AM/FM radio, long johns, water treatment pills and hexamine fire starters.)

"The Gun Is Civilization" by Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)

"The Gun Is Civilization" by Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.

The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed.

People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.

People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.

The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation... and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret.)