Durka-Durka~SPARTA~ Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Actually, with a lot of natural disasters happening here, and seeing how things have been really hard to come by in those areas close to me, I've decided to make a natural disaster/survival kit. I'm currently trying to put as much thought as possible in it, so if anyone has suggestions on what to add/subtract to make the perfect kit, post them here. I will start by putting down different categories... 1. G.O.O.D Bags (Or, Get Out Of Dodge Bags) - Could be any type of backpack, but my choice is the Army Rucksack. I have two. One large infantry pack with frame, and a smaller one for the wife. The things hold a ton of stuff, and the best thing is when you run out of room on the inside, you can attach anything on the outside due to all the loops and stuff. I typically put my sleeping bag and poncho and a couple other things on the outside. 2. First Aid. - This is where I struggle. I have bought the basic stuff like bandaids, gauze and neosporin at Walmart, but if I'm caught in a storm like was seen in Joplin, MO and Lower Tennessee, that stuff wouldn't cut it if I had to help myself or a neighbor. I'm sure Medic will be able to help out with this. I'm looking for something in between the Combat Lifesaver bags and the Johnson&Johnson Spongebob bandaids. I'm thinking something like this would be the best bet, especially since it can attach to my GOOD bag. That and it's cheap too! I also don't think I would leave home, especially in a nat'disaster, without an abdominal pad. 3. Protection - This is where the survivalist gun nuts go wild lol. But I got my shotgun but as we all know that wouldn't cut it for anything past 25yrds. If I gotta hunt or kill a wild dog, I'll want some type of rifle too, no? 4. Tools - What kind of tools would one need? A good knife is a given, and possibly a Gerber/Leatherman. Any suggestions? What else do you guys think? The rules are, you have to be able to carry it on your person or in a backpack, and it's gotta be practical/light as possible. 2012 is near! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee~SPARTA~ Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Oh boy you will have a large discussion over this one. I would say add some water purification/filtration system. Probably about 3-5 days worth of non-perishables (high good calorie stuff). I would say the biggest challenge will be balancing the weight to benefit of your pack. I would put all of the things you made need in one area and pack accordingly upon the disaster coming your way. Obviously for a flood your priority may not be so much ammo as water gear. On the other hand, ammo and food would be the priority for the zombie apocalypse. If you need first-aid, well you probably got bit and all you need is one in the chamber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PANiC Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 solar powered / wind up torch and radio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durka-Durka~SPARTA~ Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 Ahh, Water purification. Anyone know a good system for the money? I'd say keep it below $40? What are the benefits of water purification vs. boiling and drinking? Water gear is essential as well, which I would have covered in my clothing. I figured the pack would carry one good change of full-length clothes along with wet-weather gear and more socks than anything. Although, as with weight/benefit ratio, I would want socks that could last longer than normal. I've seen those waterproof socks before, anyone have experience with them? And as for a torch, I'm wondering if both matches and a lighter is the best thing, as a fail-safe that is. Oh, you meant flashlight! lol. I would think those wind-up flashlights better than solar powered ones, or at least more reliable. If you're stuck in a natural disaster, it's quite possible bad weather for a few days will not benefit anything solar-powered, or if you have to be under ground. (lots of caves here) Although the wind-up kind may not be reliable either, I dunno, never tried them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skaz~SPARTA~ Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 first off, dont live near a populated center, second, dont live in disaster zones (hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes". Pick a high place to set up your fort or home and establish escape zones, set up traps. A good place would be in the Rocky Mountains, where you could probably find a low peak with a water supply. thats were I would hang out if anything happened. definetely get an eletric car, and have your house on solar power 100%, enough for yourself and for ur car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skaz~SPARTA~ Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 remember also to carry seeds to plant and get food, especially corn! easiest to grow and needs little care. but you now, all of this stuff is theoretic, once the blood hits the fans trust your instincts and act fast to get yourself and your family out of harms way. (now doctors and army personel will want to kill me) NO LIFE IS MORE PRECIOUS THAN YOUR OWN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedicSN6 Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 We often joke around about the uses for our 'Zombie Apocalypse Kits' but to be honest, even though we joke about the use, kits such as the one Durka is putting together are invaluable if a life threatening situation occurs including natural disasters, man made disasters such as a terrorist attack, or during a nuclear/biological/chemical attack. In all honesty, I hope none of these potential situations ever occur, but if they do, I want to be prepared for them. I put together my first Bug Out Bag, which I now call a Shit Hits The Fan (SHTF) Bag because it encompasses all possibilities, a couple years ago. In today's reality it is VERY UNLIKELY that we would be thrust back into the stone age faster than we can compensate. Ideally, in a major SHTF situation you would want three things which are codependent on each other: 1. A plan. With any real military operation, a plan is designed and run through to work out kinks which may either get someone killed or result in mission failure. Civilian survival is no different. a. Communication may be unavailable during an emergency or natural disaster. You could invest in portable walkies, but most are fairly weak and may not travel long distances through many obstacles including city buildings. It is far better to have printed instructions as to where to go, how long to wait, etc. b. Second, as above, you need to decide where the rendezvous should be. Usually it is your home or that of a family member or a local friend. Most common emergencies such as a power outage or flash flooding are usually over within a short period of time. Selecting a safe rendezvous location is paramount for the emergency at hand. Try your best to simplify the variables. You should plan out primary, secondary, and tertiary routes for both driving and walking and the times and distances for each. If you have children, make sure you include the routes to and from their schools, day care centers, or wherever they may be. It may be more practical for one parent to pick the children up versus the other. Work these things out in advance. Escaping a situation is the first step to surviving. 2. Your main rendezvous location, which will likely be your home or the home of a family member is a key part of mid to long-term survival. Choose this location wisely. Characteristics of a good location include seclusion, structure type (bricks can stop gun-fire, large beams in the middle of the house or in the first floor may provide safety from structure collapse), farm-able land available at the location or near by, close to a water supply or has a well, enough room for however many people you plan to go to the location to live comfortably and storage for supplies and food. 3. A SHTF Bag to get you from point A to your main fall back location (point B ). A standard bag has a basic survival kit, an extra pair of clothes (extra socks), at least 3 Liters of H20, water purification tablets, rope, enough food for three days (3 MREs) and the ability to cook it, a shelter for one (backpacking tent works great), small sleeping bag in a compression sack, rain slick or poncho (old military poncho works great and is multi-use), a good knife and a couple throwaways, a good but not too bulky first aid kid for minor injuries like cuts and burns, some basic medicines like tylenol, ibuprofen, benadryl, anti-diarrhea to prevent dehydration, a roll of tums etc. etc. etc. Pack what you can comfortably carry. A good rule of thumb is that if it doesn't have more than two uses, then it is dead weight. For example Hot Hands, which can be used for warming of frostbite and counteract hypothermia in a pinch, can also be used to warm some food items or just act as hand warmers. A can of sterno can be used to cook food or help get a fire started. You get the idea. Put your extra clothes in a plastic bag, preferably an air tight or vacuum bag. This will keep them dry if you have to ditch in water or get caught in the rain or snow. Package your extra socks separately so you can use them without having to open your other clothing bags. Fire starting is the most basic and essential survival ability one can possess. It is also frequently one of the most challenging to adequately master. Depending on weather, tinder availability, and fuel availability a fire can be very easy to start or extremely time consuming. This is a skill that you should practice and not take for granted. You should carry some tinder with you in a sealed baggy to always have it available. We'll get to fire starters and the basic survival kit next. Most basic survival kits are actually fairly lack luster and a waste of time. Because the survival mentality has gone pseudo-mainstream, basic survivalist kits have become mass-produced, and as a result they lack the quality and reliability they deserve and ultimately require. You are better off to spend the extra cash to get quality components. Simply check out the average components and go to an outdoors store that specializes in camping, backpacking, hiking, etc. and buy the real deal hardware. As far as the bag itself goes, Durka mentioned a ruck sack. I use this as well, but I am seriously contemplating on a new bag which has a water reservoir. A backpack such as the Rush 72 by 5.11 is a very good solution for many reasons. First, it has a hydration pocket (you need to buy a bladder and tube kit which is pretty cheap), it has plenty of room and pockets for dividing gear, it has a modular system including Alice strips to attach gear to the outside of the bag (a perfect place for the tent and sleeping bag either below or above the bag), The bag is designed to be modular with other smaller bags in the same product line which might come in handy for organizing other gear such as a stand alone first aid/trauma kit or setting a bag up to only contain food which you might need to elevate in a tree for bear/raccoon defense depending on where you live, for example. Your options are pretty endless. The downside is the price. However when compared to a medium or large Alice pack or ruck sack, which run anywhere from $50-$90, the extra price of the bag is offset primarily by comfort during wear, and secondary with pockets and further customization such as color choice. The over all idea of a SHTF bag is to balance necessity, item uses, and weight. Never forget that you will have to carry what you put in your bag. Water is 8 pounds per gallon and you never skimp on water to save weight. It will be worth it. So, lay out your items, group them by function and get rid of anything that only has one use unless it is specific to survival, next look for items that overlap in usage. There is no point in carrying a can of Sterno if you have a light and dry tinder and MRE heaters. It is useless weight. Put the Sterno can with the survival food at your hold up location. When you pack your bag, place times in the bag in order of usefulness. There is no point in putting your knife in the bottom of the bag and your extra shoes on top. You are wasting time and you will show other people what you have when you dump your bag on the ground to find what you want. For the small stuff like matches, fire starter, tinder, survival kit components, any paperwork you have like maps,etc., you should purchase a medium sized watertight plastic container such as a Pelican case or dry bag. Put your stuff in a waterproof container of some type. If you have to go for a swim, you don't want to sacrifice your only set of gear or your weapon. Which brings us to security. In a survival situation, you are looking to get out of dodge in the quickest, safest way possible. This means that you are not going on the offense. A battle rifle is not the tool you want to carry through town because it isn't practical. A shotgun about the same. As far as deterrent, and going on the offensive where you might be searching for food or supplies, absolutely, but just getting out of dodge, a small magazine fed pistol such as a Ruger LCP in .380 is your best best. It is light weight and you can carry two or three magazines and not be burdened. As far as tools go, I have a hand axe (wood handle and a hammer/axe head (again, multi-use tool)), a Gerber multi-tool, and a small screwdriver kit. Don't forget to get a quality knife. The whole point is to get to where you need to be to be safe, whether it is for 5 minutes or for 5 years, you need to be sustainable, and safe. Once you have both of those, you need to be prepared to defend what you have. If you aren't prepared to defend your assets, then you might as well put a sign up that says, "Free food and guns, feel free to shoot us and take it." I hope this makes a bit of sense and helps you guys out. If you are thinking of prepping for SHTF, then you need to educate yourself and evaluate your assets and supplement as needed. Have fun learning, and stay safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel~Sparta~ Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 A good Machette is a must IMO. I prefer something weighted toward the tip of the blade... i have this one Bolo machetes are supposed to be good too. http://www.coldsteel.com/machetes.html http://www.gerbergear.com/index.php/product/id/151 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durka-Durka~SPARTA~ Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 Excellent posts so far Anti-Diharrea medicine.....a must for so many reasons. As for other pills, it depends on the situation but when I camp I always put mine in a plastic bag instead of the bottle to reduce noise. A set of screwdrivers, phillips and flat-head is an excellent idea. There are a thousand uses for each beyond screwing around. One thing I forgot all about is an e-tool. I can't tell you how many times I've used mine throughout the years, either camping, soldiering, or just general digging. (last time I used it was this spring to till the garden. It would've taken me 3 times longer if I had used anything else but a machine.) As for living places, I'm not going to uproot and move to some place totally different for fear I a possible natural disaster would happen. I live in probably the safest/mildest area of the nation, but anything can happen so I'm preparing my bag for something like 3-5 days. As for planting, not a bad idea if I was preparing for an all-out apocolypse. I wouldn't pick corn though unless I was using it as feed. Very little nutritional value to it. I wish I could get military-grade MREs. I tried a civilian one once and they suck balls. Considering machettes, it seems like they are best used in high-vegetation areas. I would prefer something like yours, with weight at the end, or it would be too much work. The hatchet I have works wonders. Anybody have experience with those hand-cranked flashlights (torches)? I wonder how well they work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedicSN6 Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 This is the flashlight/radio that I have in my kit. http://www.etoncorp.com/product_card/?p_ProductDbId=916255 Maybe tomorrow I will lay out my SHTF bag contents and take some photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donziboy2 Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 You guys have to much time on your hands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skaz~SPARTA~ Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 (edited) donzi would just get in his dodge with his 9mm and go shooting and running over the zombies.... Edited June 21, 2011 by Skazbr~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donziboy2 Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Sadly I traded the dodge in for a lil red sports car a few years ago 9mm??? hell no i got lotsa 7.62x39 for them zombie bastards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durka-Durka~SPARTA~ Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 You guys have to much time on your hands All I know is my friend lived through the tornados in Fayettville with his house destroyed. The storm hadn't even ended yet and he saw his SF neighbor running out to check on people. Cars and busses were turned over, and this guy saved who knows how many lives, even carried an elderly lady to the hospital since ambulances couldn't get through. Laugh if you want, but I have a family to protect, and I'll use that SF member as an example of how to do things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donziboy2 Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I was commenting more on your post title Remember I live down here in south Florida.... Only thing needed to make Florida a swamp is one big hurricane. Or turn it into a chain of islands..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedicSN6 Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I made a quick video of the contents of my SHTF bag. I am uploading it to YT now but it will take a while. I hope to post it by this evening. It isn't bad for a first time go through but I missed a couple items I had laid out. and I will mention those when I post the vid. Also, It will be private for the Spartan Community. You'll need the actual link to see it and it won't be search-able. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durka-Durka~SPARTA~ Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 I was commenting more on your post title Remember I live down here in south Florida.... Only thing needed to make Florida a swamp is one big hurricane. Or turn it into a chain of islands..... lol yah I tried to keep the title lighthearted in case somebody thought I was crazy What's the amount of water that would have to rise to put FL under water? I think I remember about 2ft, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedicSN6 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 I made a quick video of the contents of my SHTF bag. I am uploading it to YT now but it will take a while. I hope to post it by this evening. It isn't bad for a first time go through but I missed a couple items I had laid out. and I will mention those when I post the vid. Also, It will be private for the Spartan Community. You'll need the actual link to see it and it won't be search-able. Okay the video is posted. Best viewed without lag at 480p. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXqvQsWbFjs?hd=1 The things I omitted were the role of duct tape (90 MPH Tape) which can be re-rolled onto some type of permanent item in your kit such as a water bottle or can of deet bug spray to make it take up less space, you can always star it on itself and re-wrap it flat as well and only include however much you want to carry. I forgot to mention the water purification tablets. These are awesome but they can take 4-8 hours to finish working, so it is good to plan ahead and get your water strained, pre-filtered through cheese cloth or tight weave clothing and before you bed down for the night, drop a tablet in. I cut out the instruction for future use in case someone else needs to use them or I barter them at some point. Having a pair of radios the go together in your kit is probably a good idea because you might need to help out a friend or a friendly stranger that might need your help. If you get separated, you will be able to find each other again. I will be buying the back pack I mentioned above in the near future and I will probably do another video then. I plan to add a few things to the kit as well. I plan to add a rat trap for small game and a couple of packets of peanut butter along with it. Also to be added is a hygiene kit (Deodorant, real toothbrush and toothpaste, and some baby wipes). I know I kind of think and speak in Apocalypse terms in the video but I try to think of situations that are worst-case-scenario instead of best-case where you might be short on hardware or not prepared enough for a situation. I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. I hope this helps you guys out and maybe gets you thinking about planning ahead instead of relying on others to share their supplies with you in an emergency. It's not fair to your friends who have prepared ahead of time. Do the right thing and plan ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter~SPARTA~ Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Just thought you'd like to see what YT is recommending with your vid... - JHunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phisher~SPARTA~ Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 (edited) Very nice kit there Medic. I've got about 90% of the same items in mine, what's nice is almost everything is duel use for when I go backpacking. I'll try to get some pics up later in the week. Right now I've got a Mossberg 500 Persuader w/ Xenon flashlight mounted underneath. It fits nicely in a Black Scabbard attached to my backpack - really easy to "holster" and retrieve. The other addition I have is a Nylon Shoulder Bag that sits roughly on the hip. Inside are a lot of the easy-to-reach items like bear spray, a hatchet, walkie-talkies. I've also purchased a Tekkeon Battery Charger that I basically can fill up with high-capacity rechargeable AA's and then plug it into this Solar Pack. My Smart Phone is loaded up with offline-maps, survival books of all sorts, field guides, and an entire Wikipedia dump. It takes about 3-5 hours to juice up the AA's which gives my phone 5 complete charges. Other miscellaneous items include this Lock picking kit. Obviously, only use it on property that you own or your well being depends on getting access to it. But it's already come in handy for day-to-day use a few times. I also recommend this miniature gas stove. If you don't feel like using a match or flint, this is a great way to contain a fire to get water boiling or to heat up some soup. By the end of the year I'm hoping to purchase a Beretta PX4 for HD and carry. EDIT: Be careful at DealExtreme, your cart will be 30 items deep in an hour. Edited June 22, 2011 by Phisher~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durka-Durka~SPARTA~ Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 Damn Phish, you're really prepared. I'm going to look at the vid right now Medic, but just wanted to relay this story first: I was thinking about all of this and having a slow build-up over time of stuff, and yesterday we had a major windstorm. It only showed up on the radar as a minor severe thunderstorm that we get every other day in late-Spring. This one came with winds that completely knocked down dozens of trees in my neighborhood, not to mention all the branches that split everywhere. We were lucky in that the 8 trees on my 1/4 acre lot didn't even budge or lose a branch, but my neighbors all around weren't so lucky. Anyways, we were also lucky that we were only without power until about 4am this morning. Other people in the city aren't so lucky and a lot of areas estimate about 3 days to a week without power, it was that bad. The local power company said it was the single worst outage in their history, with 65% of the area without power. (that's about 200k people the news said) Even though we are a city, we still have mostly wooded areas all around, and roads are closed everywhere. I sat at my front door most of the night, and slept in the livingroom "just in case," and I thought I was being over-protective. Turns out a breakins were happening in the next neighborhood. Five min ago I got my cable/internet back and immediately thought of this threat lol. If I had a portable radio, I would've known all this as it was happening, but all I had was an MP3 player that got a few stations that I didn't listen to. I'm just lucky I live on the right side of my 'hood, because the other side is still without power and no signs of the power company coming to claim the huge tree that's split it. All I had was a small AA flashlight (torch) that was running out of batteries and my mp3 player. Now that I'm back online, I'm at least going to get the necessary stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedicSN6 Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 It is a tough and scary position to be in. Planning ahead and having the resources to be able to protect, provide and comfort your family and yourself should trump anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roach Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Be adaptable. Unpredictable. Bump n run ..pick up what you can Expect the worst. Hope for the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
custard~SPARTA~ Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 I have one of these wind up radios Durka its small light and even has a headphone socket and a small light I would have thought it ideal for you. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eco-Friendly-Wind-Up-Radio-LED-Torch/dp/B0043WAP6K/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1308818689&sr=8-16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durka-Durka~SPARTA~ Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 I have one of these wind up radios Durka its small light and even has a headphone socket and a small light I would have thought it ideal for you. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eco-Friendly-Wind-Up-Radio-LED-Torch/dp/B0043WAP6K/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1308818689&sr=8-16 Yeah those look awesome. I'm gonna get one today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts