| |
Additional BOB Items to Consider
In the previous two chapters, I discussed what I consider to be the most important and vital pieces of gear that you will need for a bug-out bag. I also mentioned that there are many additional items you should consider, depending on the geographical area you will be travelling and the time of year you are bugging out. There are also other considerations for those of you that live or travel far away from your retreat location. These same additional items should be included in your lone wolf packs that you have ready to go at a moment’s notice by the back door of your retreat. When looking at other people’s BOB lists, I typically see a lot of the items in this chapter. However, most of them are items you won’t need for a three to five day bugout and just add dead weight; only incorporate them if they apply to these special scenarios or a bug-out trip expected to last longer than 5 days.
But before we get into those, I want to mention an absolutely essential item for your BOB if you don’t have a specific location or retreat to bug-out to. If you haven’t had the time or the finances to fully prepare for a SHTF scenario before it happens, then you need to include a large quantity of survival seeds in your BOB. They will be vital if you are forced to look for a rural farmer, stay at a vacant rural cabin, or show up at a rural distant relative’s place to ride out the storm. Having a hundred thousand survival seeds in a Mylar pouch is a huge bargaining chip to trade for room and board and can be used to barter with the locals for supplies you may need (along with having proper weapons to provide security for the rural and elderly farmer’s property). Besides, survival seed is extremely cheap compared to most other things you’ll need to purchase for your long-term survival and it weighs very little in your BOB. On a side note, leave your gold bullion at home or stashed at your retreat. No one is going to trade food for your stockpiled silver and gold bullion (not to mention the significant amount of weight in your BOB) until a long time after the SHTF.
Two unnecessary items that I see a lot of people putting in their 3-day BOBs are fishing kits and snaring kits. The purpose of bugging out is to get out of town early and get to a safer location as quickly as possible before things start to fall apart. Taking time out of your day to fish or run a snare line is just silly. Those are items you will need if you were forced to live off the land, but they should be kept at your retreat or bug-out location packed inside your lone wolf pack, not adding needless weight to your BOB. For your lone wolf pack, I would suggest taking a very compact survival fishing kit with you, similar to the ones you see packed into a sardine can. Also, unless you are sure there is a fully stocked pond at your retreat, I wouldn’t spend much time fishing post-SHTF. Most rivers and streams will be “fished out” similar to most big game being killed off in the forests; there are a lot more productive things to do with your time. Fishing would be a good activity for early teens in your camp when they’re not doing chores, but be aware they’ll also wipe out the fish population in your neighboring stream or pond fairly quickly. One fishing item I would highly recommend is a mechanical Yo-Yo fishing reel. Yo-Yos are a spring-loaded fishing reel you hang from a branch over the edge of a creek or pond. This allows you to fish without actually being there. You set them and then check them once a day, similar to a snare line.
It’s hard to make a specific recommendation on the type and size snares you’ll need because it largely depends on the local game available in your geographical area. For a lone wolf pack, I recommend buying a small spool of Vietnam-era military trip wire which can be found on eBay. That will allow you to make snares for most small- to medium-sized game. For larger game, you’ll need to do some research on what local trappers are using in your area.
It’s important that you have a good survival manual with you when are forced to abandon your retreat location and lone wolf your survival for a time. While I may be somewhat partial because it was the book I was trained from in SERE, I believe the best survival manual available is the Air Force Survival Manual 64-4 which can be purchased on Amazon ($15). Unfortunately, it is over 600 pages long and weighs 3.5 pounds. If you are new to surviving in the wilderness, I would still pack it in a lone wolf pack as it will probably save your life at some point. I would wrap it in a good waterproof bag and then stash it at my campsite. If you already have a lot of wilderness skills, I would still consider a condensed survival manual like the SAS Survival Handbook, or better yet a used copy of AF Pamphlet 64-5 (just be sure to get the spiral-bound water resistant version). Other books I would recommend for a lone wolf pack would be an “edible plants” book for your specific geographical area and a compact bible to keep your spirits up. If you are traveling in a group, you can also consider a deck of playing cards for recreation.
For an extended bug out, you will need some personal hygiene items that you wouldn’t bother to pack in a 3-day BOB. First on the list would be a compact toothbrush and travel toothpaste. One of the worst things that you could encounter in a SHTF scenario is a tooth infection, especially with no dentists around. It is vital that you stay on top of your dental care pre-SHTF and maintain your dental hygiene afterwards. I would also carry some soap for washing and bathing. A lot of preppers push the “scentless” soaps, but I wouldn’t worry about that. Your clothes are likely going to stink regardless, and if a threat gets close enough to smell your cucumber-vanilla body wash, your OPSEC needs serious work. Look for an all-in-one shampoo and body wash as there is no reason to carry multiple bottles of various soaps. Two items I would consider mandatory are ChapStick and a good quality hand lotion, especially in the winter months when dry skin and cracked lips can become a serious issue. Along with these hygiene items you would pack for a longer bug-out, it’s important that you include a variety of medicines like Sudafed, cough medicine, anti-diarrheal, and a big supply of pain medicine like Tylenol.
A vital piece of gear needed for an extended outing is going to be a good quality knife sharpener. It’s important that you do a little research on knife “bevel angles” before you purchase a sharpener. For instance, most pocket knives will come with a 20-22-degree bevel angle from the factory. If you buy a compact hand sharpener made for standard kitchen knives or filet knives, they will typically come set at a bevel in the 18-degree range. Why does this matter? If you try to sharpen your knife with a shallower angled sharpener, you are going to literally spend hours grinding away at the sides of your 22-degree bevel until you’ve got it shaved down to an 18-degree bevel. Until you go through this work, the sharpener isn’t even making contact or having any effect on the knife’s cutting edge. You can do that; however, the shallower 18-degree bevel will not be as sturdy for the type of hard use a survival pocket knife gets and you’ll need to sharpen it more often.
Now that is an extreme example of different bevels, but even if the sharpener for your knife is only 1 degree off, it could mean hours of work to match your knife edge to the shape of the sharpening stones set in your sharpener. The time to figure this out is not when you are in the back country with a dull knife; it is when you first purchase the sharpener. Most quality knife manufacturers will tell you what bevel angle your specific knife has from the factory. I would use that information when purchasing a knife sharpener. There are many expensive options for the best knife sharpeners (like Lansky), but most would not be easy to pack in a lone wolf pack. On a budget, I would recommend the Smith’s 50264 manual knife sharpener which offers adjustments to set your bevel anywhere between 14 and 24 degrees.
Don’t forget that your bolt knife and pocket knife will likely have slightly different bevels. I would recommend setting both bevels to be sharpened from the same small travel sharpener or get the adjustable one like I mentioned above. You could also go the route of using a sharpening rod, a flat diamond stone sharpener, or a double-sided circular whetstone (my personal preference) to sharpen your knives in the field. However, sharpening a knife with one of these tools is an acquired skill requiring practice of holding your knife blade at the precise angle while you pass the blade along the stone or rod. Again, being on an extended outing is not the time to fumble through teaching yourself how to sharpen your knife with one of these methods.
An item that I pack in both my BOB and my lone wolf pack would be a section of mosquito netting. Mosquitos are my arch nemesis when I’m backpacking. My personal recommendation is to buy a full-sized mosquito net like the ones designed to go over your whole sleeping bag and cut a 3’x 3’ section out of it. I wear this over my boonie cap with the bottom of it tucked into the neck of my t-shirt during the day (when needed). At night I hang it from the ridge line of my poncho shelter with a piece of 550 cord so it hangs down over the head hole of my sleeping bag. I don’t see the necessity of purchasing a separate head net and a full sized mosquito net that needlessly covers the bottom half of my sleeping bag. If you have mosquitos in your area that can bite you through your sleeping bag, you need to find a new bug-out location....
Something to consider for an extended outing would be to have a writing utensil of some sort and a small notebook or tablet. Standard pens and pencils may not last long or allow you to write in damp conditions. My personal recommendation is to purchase what are known as “space pens.” A space pen will write at any angle, in extreme hot or cold weather conditions, and even in the rain. My personal favorite is the Fisher 400B Bullet Pen ($16). It’s all good to have a pen that will write in the rain, but only if you pair it with a tablet of paper that won’t disintegrate in wet conditions. I highly recommend the Rite in the Rain brand of notebooks that come in multiple shapes and sizes. I’ve used them for years and they have held up really well, even in pouring down rain.
There are a couple small items you should consider also. The first is camo face paint, especially if you are travelling a long distance where evasion will come into play. There are a plethora of face paint compacts that you can choose from and feel free to pick your favorite. Personally, I only carry a small tube of black liquid-style face paint. It’s much easier to apply in a hurry when needed and it comes off easily with a single baby wipe. The drawback is that the liquid-style camo face paint also comes off more easily in hard rain or if you are sweating profusely. Second, you should consider a signal mirror like the Cohglans 9900 series. While also useful as a personal hygiene tool, a signal mirror is great for communicating at a distance if needed; for instance, signaling your retreat’s watch tower upon approach or signaling between security team members while setting up an ambush or trying to by-pass one. You should also pack a couple black contractor bags, which is almost as universal an item as duct tape. There is an article by Survival Life online titled “30 Uses for Trash Bags in Your Bug-out Bag” that you should definitely read to learn more about their universal use.
A small item that you should include in a lone wolf pack would be a survival sewing kit. You never know when the stitching on your pack’s shoulder strap is going to tear free or a button on your pants is going to fall off. In fact, be sure to pay attention to the buttons on your clothes; if you find a loose one, fix it immediately before it falls off and is lost for good. You can easily find a compact sewing kit on eBay for under $10. Just be sure it includes a couple larger needles for heavier duty sewing as you can always sew little items with a big needle, but you can’t sew beefier material with a small needle. Last, be sure that your sewing kit includes a small assortment of buttons as well.
Depending on how long you plan to be away from your retreat, you will likely need a way to recharge your flashlight and radio batteries at some point. There are many companies that make small solar chargers for multiple devices, but this is another area where you shouldn’t skimp. Be sure you are buying from a reputable company as most of the off-brand solar chargers are made in China with very inferior panels and battery systems. For recharging AA and AAA batteries, I recommend the GoalZero Guide 10 Plus Solar Kit which also offers a port for recharging USB devices like phones and cameras. Coming in at only 19 ounces, it would fall in the middle-sized range of solar battery chargers and can be found on Amazon for around $80. There are a lot of other companies that may offer a similar product at a much higher cost; feel free to consider them if your budget allows. But for the price point, durability, and functionality, I don’t think you’ll find a better alternative for backpacking solar power than the GoalZero Guide 10 plus Solar Kit.
A similar item that I see a lot of people packing into their BOBs are hand-crank emergency radios. For a 3- to 5-day bug out, I don’t see the necessity of carrying the extra weight and bulk with you on your journey. Besides, I don’t know that I would trust the information being broadcast over emergency radio stations from the government. Their main objective after a societal collapse scenario is going to be preventing panic. Also, if you have packed an effective BOB, you shouldn’t need to hear NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather broadcasts, either. You should have the appropriate gear to deal with whatever adverse weather conditions may arise while on your trip. Keep in mind that in the event of a grid-down scenario, the NOAA and most other radio stations probably won’t be broadcasting anyway.
With that being said, in the event of a financial collapse or less severe SHTF scenario like a pandemic, a hand-crank radio could be useful. Even so, I still wouldn’t pack one in my regular BOB, but I may consider packing into my lone wolf pack at my retreat. If that’s the case, then I would recommend the Eton FRX5 radio ($80). It has multiple charging methods including a solar panel on the back which charges an internal lithium battery, a hand crank, and it accepts AA batteries. It can also charge external devices using a USB cable. Unfortunately, it does most of these charging jobs poorly when comparing it to the Goal Zero Guide 10 Solar Kit. You would literally have to spend hours cranking away before the internal battery was fully charged enough to “dump” even a partial charge via USB cable to an electronic device. Neither the solar panel nor the internal lithium battery in the FRX5 is very large or efficient. Maybe someday they will create a hand-crank radio that does multiple tasks well, but as yet, I haven’t discovered one.
It would be better to have the Goal Zero Guide 10 plus Solar kit paired with a portable handheld Ham radio transceiver or other communication device that receives emergency and NOAA weather channels. However, unless you are meeting up with other people in your retreat group at a rally point, I don’t see the necessity of carrying radios while bugging out. They are an essential item for your retreat or bug-out location, but I personally don’t carry a radio in my BOB. Don’t forget, in a grid-down scenario, the ham radio repeating towers likely won’t be operational and your handheld ham radio won’t function much better than traditional FRS walkie talkies (especially in hilly and heavily treed areas).
The subject of survival radio applications is way too convoluted to provide even basic advice in this limited space; it’s a whole topic in and of itself. There are many different frequencies like FRS, GMRS, MURS and Ham radio frequencies and pros and cons to each. The one point I want to make is that it will be vitally important to have some sort of radio communication after the SHTF. There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing a survival radio like frequencies, transmit distance, battery type and life, as well as being able to transmit on secure frequencies. It is not illegal to own the more powerful radios that transmit further distances, but it IS illegal to use them pre-SHTF without the proper licensing. Unfortunately, these complicated radios aren’t an item that you can just buy, store in a faraday cage, and bust out after the SHTF and expect to be able to figure out their operation. A lot of them require an operational computer and special software to program them. Like most of your survival knowledge, radio frequencies and ham radio operation is something you should get experience and practice with pre-SHTF.
I would actually recommend taking a ham radio operators class and getting licensed. Even if you don’t use the radios often before things go south, the knowledge you will gain from such a class will help you decide which type of survival communications will work best for your group, depending on its size and the geographical area in which you will be using the radios. If you have the financial resources, I would ultimately recommend having a large 100w ham radio base station at your retreat with the proper antenna tower to transmit and receive broadcasts from long distances away. Emergency radio transmissions from the government won’t be reliable and you’d be better off getting your information from the numerous survival ham radio groups that you could join online. You’ll also need some sort of smaller handheld radios that you can use while walking patrols on your property. Again, I can’t recommend specific radios because it depends on how large your property is and how hilly the terrain is.
The last item I would recommend in the communications department would be military surplus field phones. Having an actual “landline” set up between your watchtower, cabin, and LP/OPs would offer a lot more security than transmitting on standard frequencies that a looting force might be capable of intercepting. Don’t forget to purchase enough of the appropriate cable (wire) for your field phones to reach from your retreat to your LP/OP or other security watch location.
The big thing to remember with any additional accessories you pack into your lone wolf Pack is that you have to CARRY it all. Bringing everything and the kitchen sink will quickly take your pack upwards of 100 pounds and prevent you from being very mobile. Whatever you DO decide to pack, make sure you aren’t sacrificing food for equipment. You can’t eat your hand crank radio when you’re starving.
* Check the back of the book for multiple BOB checklists...