Is your Bug Out Bag Going to Get You Killed?

[PA PATRIOT]

I don't post here a lot, lurk mostly, but I have to make a comment on the 'homeless can survive' mentality....

If you have never been homeless, or if you do not work with/deal with the homeless on a regular basis such as those in LE/EMS/FIRE or the social services working daily at the shelters (not volunteering to serve food a couple of times a year), you have no clue concerning their 'ability' to survive.

Currently in the U.S. there may be a very small percentage of the homeless who are survivors, a very very small percentage.

Most are 'surviving' only with the support of the populace.

They go to shelters to sleep, or sleep in public areas with HVAC or other warming methods during the winter, during the summer they either go to shelters or have 'camps' with items that were provided to them or that they steal.

Even with that most have support in the form of social security or 'aid to indigent' so there is money, in most cases, to buy food and other items so there is no lack of the ability to obtain the items as in a disaster or SHTF.

The homeless in the U.S. live better than a lot of the rest of the world's 'non-homeless'.

Do not romanticize it and don't give them special powers or believe that they have learned the keys to success. The vast majority of Americans have no clue as to what is being provided to them daily or exactly how they 'survive'.

Simply they don't-they die on a regular basis either via disease or via violence, very few die from exposure or starvation due to the support services in place via the rest of society which will not exist in SHTF crisis.

Looking to the homeless as a beacon of how to survive is a recipe for 'all is not as it seems' thinking which will get you killed.

I totally agree!

[xjustintimex]

yea, I did 15 miles a few weeks ago carrying 60 lbs of gear and it sucked. I don't really have a BOB just my primitive camping pack and I need to cut weight big time.

[jmoney]

This is a classic example of the types of disasters and societal breakdown that we have been discussing. Say a prayer for the displaced and injured. Send water and hygiene supplies to the Red Cross.

I haven't noticed to many people with bug out bags then again I haven't had time to see much coverage. Seems to me that tornadoes would make having a bag or vehicle prepped a moot point. Once again, prayers for these people.

vehicle, yes. Bag, not at all. In OK very few places have storm shelters. During the second round of storms, after moore, when the tornado emergency was declared for the first time I had to spring my bug out plan into action. I grabbed the bag, the dog, and made it 5 miles down the road to the school that has a large underground area. considering the path of the storm I was expecting to emerge in total chaos and ready to start walking out of it. I placed the chance of having a working vehicle at under 30% after the storm passed.

Luckily for me, the storm swung back south almost towards Moore again a few miles from my location. It was definitely interesting having to actually put my plan into action. Also, luckily I no longer live in OK.

Have these people never heard of a basement or a storm shelter? If you live in tornado prone areas you'd think it would be common sense.

MM

you would think so, but still most houses don't have the shelters in the city. I tried for 2 years to have one installed but all of the companies were either fraudulent, or refused to give me an estimate. I had to pay them half and then wait for them to show up, whether or not it could actually be installed. Instead I sat down and realized I had a safe shelter right down the road and that was the best bet.

I think the soil may shift to much for basements. Droughts occur pretty regularly here in the southwest.

they use this logic all the time. Maybe 50 years ago they had a hard time building basements, but the fact is many people can and do get them now. It costs a bit of money, but they are well built, and well worth the investment. Especially in the south, all of the A/C is out of the attic and that will save you a fortune.