WHAT THEY SAY YOU NEED VERSUS WHAT YOU REALLY NEED – A QUICK AND DIRTY GUIDE TO GO-BAGS

A Go Bag has everything you need in case you need to leave home in a hurry. Every household member should have one, including kids. What will you pack?
– Nonperishable snacks
– Bottled water
– Copies of important documents
For more ideas, visit: https://t.co/Wgc9eiJRqf pic.twitter.com/igzdlTHbvF

— NYC Emergency Management (@nycemergencymgt) July 26, 2022

As per the usual, an idiotic and poorly run government institution giving poor, idiotic advice to would-be government dependents. Imagine that. Everything listed here can be worn on the body, including the copies of documents in digital form. Its not what you need in a bag that you very well may have to live from.

I know, I know, its no shock to those who’ve been paying attention, but then again, it bears saying yet again. Equally important is knowing what you actually need versus packing everything including the kitchen sink. The task is getting out of a bad situation alive. That’s not living in the woods comfortably, bushcrafting, or any other thing than exactly what it states at face value – staying alive.

Back in Radio Contra 174, K of Combat Studies Group and I talk about a realistic go-bag in the event of a quick egress out of a city. Realistically, having a go-bag is a standard practice for anyone operating in non-permissive environments and a very strong case can be made that most, if not all major municipalities in the US can be labeled exactly that, absent the drama of a major catastrophe.

That aside, the top rule of thumb I employ is keeping it light – this is not a kit to keep you comfortable, its a kit to keep you alive. Simultaneously its also not exactly tactically oriented. If you’re egressing a city, you want to look as ‘normal’ as possible, or at least as close to it given the circumstances. So those sweet tactical nylon bags with the molle webbing might not be as solid a choice as something more oriented to students and travelers.

And while we’re on the topic of bags, I’m also not dumping a ton of money into them- everything in the kit itself might have to be dumped. Back in Afghanistan we planned on a destruction plan in case of compromise, which included piling our rucks and demoing them with a claymore after pulling out a smaller bag with a few simple items for personal and team survival. We called them drop bags. Putting that into a civilian context, whatever is in your go-bag is there to sustain life for a certain amount of time until personnel recovery can occur. Its not a perfect reflection of life as a potential refugee, but some of the same principles are certainly shared.

I’m a big fan of Ozark Trail bags from Wal Mart. They’re decently made for the intended purpose and while they wouldn’t be my first choice for a week on the AT, it’ll get me where I need to go with everything I need to be carrying in a low profile way. And if I need to ditch it, I’m not out much money.

Let’s talk loadout. The first priority in any situation is water procurement and storage. Personally I carry a stainless steel water bottle. Its solid, easy to keep clean, and allows me to treat water inside it as well as monitor how much water I’m carrying – all a plus. I’m not as big a fan of Nalgene bottles, as they’re not as rugged or utilitarian in my experience, but they’ll work as a container alone. I also strongly suggest carrying chlor-floc tablets. While there’s a ton of products on the market for water purification, chlor-floc and boiling has never given me dysentery – and once you’ve had dysentery, you never, ever want it again.

Second only to water is the ability to make fire both for purification and for thermal regulation. I carry a small amount of tinder in a waterproof container and there’s a bunch of great ways to do this, but Vaseline on cotton balls is a sure bet for getting a small fire going. I carry a Bic lighter on my body as a force of habit anyway, and having a waterproofed spare in a small ziploc bag takes no room or weight. Sure, there’s ferro rods and magnesium bars if you want to do it the hard core survivalist way, but when you’re simply wanting to get warm or boil some water…hard don’t get it for this guy.

Next comes shelter. There’s three items that no go bag should be without and I always carry – a grommeted thermal blanket a snugpak jungle blanket and a large contractor grade trash bag. I’ve slept with these first two down below freezing, and while I wasn’t what I’d call perfectly comfortable, I also was in no danger of hypothermia. Having a trash bag allows me to waterproof everything in a hurry. The items weigh very little and pack down to almost nothing (the snugpak comes with its own compression sack that can fit in your palm). Having those corner grommets on the thermal blanket allows me to make a quick shelter – keep it suspended low to the ground for maximum heat reflection but open and higher on one end for condensation to run away from your body. With the thermal blanket I also carry a cheap set of small bungees and tent stakes to make setting it up quick and easy. Cordage is fine but bungees are fast up and down with no cutting necessary.

Understand that shelter begins with your base layers of clothing. It might sound strange in the southeast but even during the summer months I carry a very old wool knit sweater. Wool retains much of its R-value even when wet, is naturally anti-microbial, and can serve in place of blanket for keeping your core body temp up when there’s a swing in temperatures from day to night. Personally I’ve slept outdoors in it with the thermal blanket as an overhead cover and slept fairly well.

On the topic of clothes, having a spare shirt in muted neutral colors, absent any outward messages, is a good idea when on the move. Grey, green or or light brown is good, and few will remember you. A hat to provide shadow on the face is a good idea as well – both will serve to obscure positive identification (PID) should that be a concern. I always consider that a concern. Understand that we all dress for a role, and those outward roles, whether you are aware of it or not, tells a story and a level of importance to others that will be watching you. If you look homeless or otherwise poor, you’re more likely to be left alone. Dressing with high end clothes and gear means you have money and makes a worthy target to opportunists.

That brings us to personal defense. All the would-be experts probably have their opinions on this, but your best bet in no certain terms is to avoid conflict under all circumstances. Your role here is surviving, escaping a bad situation, not making one worse. No matter how badass you think you are, getting into a scuffle is guaranteed to end bad and very likely for you. A homeless guy with a screwdriver is pretty damn dangerous, as is a budding gang member armed with a kitchen paring knife. I carry a Winkler Operator knife for personal defense inside close quarters, but it also serves as a functional blade for every other task. Its small enough to hide and remain low profile but perfectly functional for any task that arises. I also carry an Al Mar SERE 2020 as a sturdy folder. Plenty of other cutting tools work just well, many of which you can find in a Harbor Freight or Dollar Store on the run – as I said, screwdrivers and kitchen knives with a duck tape and cardboard sheath make pretty damn effective disposable self defense tools among people on the street.

A few tools are an absolute must have as well – I carry a Gerber muti-tool that I’ve had for about 15 years now, but Leatherman and SOG also make good ones. Having several tools built in along with a set of pliers and a can opener is a no-brainer. A roll of duck tape and a small tube of gorilla glue comes in handy as well for repairs or even small wound closure in a pinch.

I know, I know… I forgot about dem gunz. But its important to know handguns may or may not be an option – and while I’m always carrying concealed, that’s also not always an option for folks on the move out of a bad situation, for a lot of reasons. The last thing you want to do is flag yourself when carrying, and shooting someone, even if forced in the situation, is going to preclude your urban egress. It can be argued that any defensive encounter that ends with a use of force might, but a lot more people get stabbed quietly and left for dead than the drama and attention that gunshots generate. One time, as a teen, I saw a friend of mine get stabbed from a distance. He was in a scuffle with another guy over a girl, and before we knew it he was stabbed multiple times in the lower abdomen. It happened so fast that the victim thought he had only been punched until he fell over from shock, and we didn’t know he had been stabbed until we saw the blood – it was late fall and he was wearing dark clothes at night. The guy got out of there and was gone before any of us could grab him. If we hadn’t known who he was, there was no way he would have been caught. Its reality. Had he used a gun it would have been a whole different animal.

What about food? This is America, and we like to eat. Carrying a few things on the go is always a great idea if no other reason than comfort, but don’t go crazy with it. Even in a collapse there’s still likely to be canned food you can find on the fly in the early stages of drama. Hitting up the dollar store (I didn’t say make purchases, here…morality of a situation often precludes hunger) will get you a quick fix of high fat, high energy snacks on the go. Pork n’ beans and potted meat, Shasta 2 liters. Maybe not Michelin Star worthy, but its a white trash brunch that you can find on the fly. Even in Iraq there were small bodegas in a lot of places that had packaged comfort foods for quick calories and comfort.

Last, its important to carry a couple of items I consider situational awareness tools. The first is a Baofeng UV-5R, not as a outward communications device, but as a monitor. Check out radio reference for the active analog frequencies in your area, from public safety to amateur radio repeaters, and write them on a small card you can duck tape to the back of the radio. You could do this with a scanner, but the Baofeng is a multi-purpose tool that allows us to communicate if necessary as well. But it also receives the local FM radio stations and NOAA broadcasts, each of which will be transmitting coordinating emergency information you’ll want regarding the governmental response. The second tool I consider a must have is a small set of binos or a monocular. Observe something before walking into it – you have the rest of your life to make a decision on route selections or scenarios you’re walking into. On that note, better keep that laminated road map handy and have a compass on hand. My choice goes to Suunto.

Last and certainly not least it bears pointing out again – if you’re relying on a city management that’s responsible for some of the most reckless and self-destructive policies in the US (and that’s really saying something) you’re already behind. Be proactive. So-called emergency managers (NOT the First Responders) are typically people who can’t get hired doing anything else, public or private sector. This is genuine government response, folks…they’re incapable of competently managing themselves now, just wait till it gets bad.