I went to the gym and ate some chow and you guys are already ahead of me!! here's what I've written so far. I'll continue in a while.

There seems to be quite a bit of discussion about “bugging out” and what kit to carry. There are plenty of options out there but one question that continues to come up is how to stay “the grey man” and still carry a long gun. I think we need to take a hard look at our situation, the circumstances we might find ourselves in, and what to do about that long gun. Because we need to have some context to our situation we’ll try to paint in broad strokes, and add specifics as necessary. To be honest, if we keep things realistic I think we’ll find most decisions won’t be too different no matter the circumstances.

By definition “bugging out” means we are moving. We want to move from point A to point B. What are our points??? Our home?? Work? A vehicle? A public forum? A predetermined “safe” house or sight?? A hasty hide or building to occupy?? By definition we are trying to get somewhere of lesser advantage to a place of better advantage. The exception would be moving to SOMEONE, like our family or friends in need, someone in trouble or disabled, etc.

Regardless of why we are leaving we have determined that we need to be somewhere else. Inherently that means we have a purpose and to move accordingly. I can’t think of a single reason to move and not have a destination and not be highly motivated to get there. Even if you don’t have a specific location and only know the place you’re at is sucking, you still probably aren’t going to move like it’s a Sunday drive. Speed becomes a factor.

For this discussion we’re going to talk about moving on foot. If we have a vehicle then the point is almost moot. Believe me, if I’m alamo’ing up or moving in a vehicle then the gear I chose and the time and distance I can cover are a different discussion.

So if we’re moving on foot we need to be VERY conscious of what we carry. There are tons of discussions about what and how people will carry life saving equipment and comfort items. We can talk about that too, but the one item that continues to arise is that pesky long gun. Do we need it?? Should we take it?? How? What if we don’t take it?? What are we going to do with it??

Answering some of these questions and coming up with some solutions might help us in the rest of our loadout. Determining what we carry and how we carry it also determines what we can accomplish. Things like where we can go and how far we can travel are directly related to the solutions above.

Simple math tells us we can go farther without a long gun. If I fore go a long gun (in this case an M4 carbine) that means I don’t have a 7-10 pound rifle and 3-10 pounds of ammo (one mag weighs approximately 1 pound). Can you move farther with 10-20 pounds less?? I think I can.

What do we consider in making that determination? Now things get somewhat tricky. Each person envisions different situations. I think the biggest consideration is the geographic location we find ourselves in as well as the circumstances that have made us move. Let’s run down a few somewhat generic situations and make some decisions from there.