I say that it does not have to be on some massive level for you to be faced with a SHTF situation for you individually or you and your family. This is very evident from a story I read recently about a former Air Force guy out hiking in a park with his kids. They were ill prepared for the weather to get nasty that night, and they got lost. They died from exposure because they did not keep their body temperature regulated throughout the cold night.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/14/ai ... uri-trail/
Now I can tell you that if I let my kid die in a situation like that I could not, would not, live with myself. I prefer to plan for the worst and hope for the best, so I 'over pack' for even day trips like the one the guy did above. Perhaps it is a product of years of military missions where we always used the contingency plan and even made shit up as we went to complete the mission based on the ground commanders plan. Perhaps it was spending nearly two days in the middle of the desert in a storm with no way to contact anyone and only having what we brought with us that kick started me on the 'be prepared mindset'...not really sure. But, just like having a gun on me daily, I would rather carry it everywhere and not need it than to be stuck somewhere, need it, and watch as my family dies from exposure.
I have a Get Home Bag. Actually, the GHB is cross loaded into 3 bags, so on the very unlikely possibility that we are walking away from our vehicle we can each carry some basic stuff in accordance to priority and what weight we can each handle. I'll go into the some parts of the bag and plan I have (and it is constantly being revised) for my 3 day emergency kit (GHB) in the content below and how it can relate to little mini, local SHTF situations as we spend an awful lot of time thinking about the "big bang" SHTF scenarios. The good thing about those, though, is that if you are planning on an event like that the little mini-SHTF stuff should be well prepared for. The bad part is that if you plan for the big stuff the GHB tends to look more like a Bug Out Bag (refugee bag) and the more likely we are to over look some of the simple stuff. You can also pack it well beyond your ability to effectively carry it.
First and foremost on your mind should be regulating your body temperature. Keeping cool in the summer and warm in the winter. One of my employees drives 45 minutes to work each day. She has nothing for emergencies in her car (well maybe she does not that I put the fear of God in them all the other day). With it being 12 degrees today, if there were an issue, a single car accident on a back road down into a ditch where no passing cars see you... how long will you last if you can't contact anyone?
To regulate body temperature in the cold I have the following clothing items:
- Casualty blanket (not the cheap space blankets that Wally World sells)
Space Blanket tube shelters
The Wooby (poncho liner)
Poncho
XPS 2.0 under wear bottoms and top
Soft Shell jacket
Hand warmers (they have a few years of shelf life)
Frogg Toggs suit. They are light weight and keep you dry, a huge part of regulating body temp.
Two sets of clothes. One to wear and one to sleep in. 4 extra pairs of socks. Keep your feet dry.
gloves, two pair
mittens (shooters type that I can open up to use fingers)
Balaclava
Stocking cap (I have a hunter orange one... remember that you might not want to be stealthy)
scarf
Some of the items above have double duty. The poncho and the casualty blanket are used to help make shelters. The poncho above along with some foliage and the blanket below with some foliage for insulation between the ground and you. For those times that it is too dark for a shelter like this, the space tube (single person or one adult and small child) can be set up quickly and easily to use your own body heat. A caution with this though, if you have never used one: It will hold in the moisture from your breath. You can wake up soaking wet and that will not be good for the next day's foray into freezing temperatures.
For shelter making I have the following:
- heavy duty saw (folding or one of the good wire saws..don't go cheap on this and think you are covered)
BFK or a good, sharp hatchet (a utility one, SOG zombie stuff is cool to look at but for wood craft not so much. Go for the utilitarian aspect.) I prefer a big knife for the GHB. A good camp axe can't be beat for a lot of chores, but it is not feasible for the GHB to have one of these. I use the Gerber LMF II for this. Hammer, chopper, digging tool and cutting tool in an easy to carry package.
Paracord. A lot of it. it is woven into everything I can put it on. Don't go cheap on this either.
Get the 550lb stuff, not the look alikes.
Small bungee cords. very versatile and when using a poncho or something with eyelets makes for quick setup and take down.
100mph tape. I use the Gorilla brand.
A few of the big trash bags. These are multipurpose, but in shelter making they can be used to hold leaves and other stuff to cram in them to make a floor for your sleeping shelter. It puts insulation between you and the ground and if your only choice is wet leaves or pine straw then the plastic keeps it off of you.
So, you are out of the elements, mostly, and could use a fire. How are you going to start it?
- vasoline impregnated cotton balls, cotton rolls or even drier lint work great. I can cram quite a few of the cotton balls into one of those old film canisters. That is my preferred method. They burn plenty long enough to get a fire going as long as you have the tinder ready and will light even when wet.
matches
Lighter
some kind of striker/spark method
one of those big pencil sharpeners, like for the kindergartner fat pencils. They will sharpen small sticks as well as pencils and make some really nice tender while preserving the edge on your knife for other things.
a Fresnel lens
in a pinch you can burn hand sanitizer. remember, it is an alcohol gel. It burns real well.
Now the fuel tabs for heating water in a canteen cup, yeah I can see those. Those are for use in times when you don't want (or can't have) a full on fire but need to heat some water for food or drink. I have a few of those in the bag, but don't really intend on them to be used as fire starter generally.
Hygiene
Don't skimp on that just because you are in a survival situation. Why complicate a situation with problems (infections or stomach bugs) that could have been avoided. Here are the things I have for that:
- Hand sanitizer gel
Hand sanitizer wipes.
small tooth brush (for fingernails)
small bar of soap
Listerine (great antiseptic for cuts and abrasions)
Food stuffs.
Remember, you can survive several days with no food, but if you try to spend 3 days without water you are pushing the survival envelope. You have to figure less time than that if you are active.
for food I have long shelf life stuff, dried stuff. Not tasty but it'll keep you alive. I have a survival block that looks like sawdust was mashed together with glue. I forget the brand name, but it AIN'T tasty. What it is though is 6000 calories packed into something that goes easily in the bag and as long as it remains sealed will probably never go bad.
I also have:
- Trail mix (put in a Food Saver bag)
Cliff Bars
Tang
- 24 of the emergency water packets (1/8th qt per packet). If you can't move or need to be doing nothing BUT moving as fast as you can, then these are there to keep you alive until help arrives or you can stop to clean up some water. These things have a 5 year shelf life.
Life Straw or Katadyn Pocket Water Microfilter (nice but pricy with the silver in it). I have a Frontier Pro that I am going to try out too.
something to boil water in (think about something big enough to fill a canteen at once if you can fit it in the pack reasonably)
canteens to carry water in
aquamira water purification tabs
I have a lot more stuff in my GHB, but that can be a discussion for another day.