Any fellow survivalists utilize their truck?

Number one thing everyone needs for proper preparedness. I cannot stress this enough. All the bags on here are great ideas until you put one on your back and walk cross country 12 hours a day. Better make sure you have a couple good pairs of broken in boots in those bags as well.

I tell people this all the time and no one listens. You can only move as fast as your slowest man.

I keep multiples of SOF tourniquets, quickclot and hemacon in the all the vehicles. I know first hand how fast people bleed out and it'll never be one of my family members while we wait on paramedics. Quicklot is pretty much idiot proof, hemacon requires a little more intelligence but not much.

Choose weapons with NATO rounds. There are stockpiles all over the world. 5.56mm, 7.62, and 9mm are the easiest. For if shit does get bad, those calibers will be widely available. Either through battlefield recovery or taking by force.

If I could sum this up based on actual experience of carrying 100lbs or more on my back for over 45 days at a time in hostile environments it'd be this, don't do it. It's a pain in the ass and there is a reason a very small percentage of the military actually do it.

Instead I'd recommend this:

PT. Not just going to the gym. Cardio, weight vests, etc. These endurance races are great to test your level. I recommend about an hour to an hour and a half daily. I highly recommend www.rosstraining.com. Guy has some great stuff. At 36, I completed the Tough Mudder in 11 degree weather in Feb. in Ga. Finished 12.5 miles with 25 obstacles in 2:07. Point is, just because you have a family and start pushing age you can still push your physical limits daily.

Stock up on stuff at home: food, water, multivitamins, protein powders, basic and advanced medical supplies, etc.

Keep a nice stock of ammunition and then set up reloading benches in those calibers with enough primers, powder and materials to reload what you shoot. This should include parts that are prone to wear and breakage on your equipment and weapons. For all the Berretta 92 lovers out there, stock up on locking blocks, they only last about 10k rounds and when they go you have to do a complete tear down to fix it. One of the main reasons I'll never carry one again.

Make a bag that's weight is no more than 30% of your body weight and keep that in the truck in case you have to abandon the truck and walk home. Then, one weekend have a friend drop you off about 45 or 50 miles from home and take that bag and walk with it. You'll see just how much you really need that extra knife and the weight that comes with it.

Leave home as a last resort, not a first. Make your home one giant ass BOB and you'll never want to leave it. If flash rioting happens in your neighborhood, it'll dissipate just as quickly when a few bodies fall.

That's my plan and I'm sticking to it.

 

Well thought out.

 

Ok, so I just got my new Maratac EOD bag in, could use some ideas of things to keep in it.

Basically I am going to take it with me in and out of my truck everyday. So far the list of items are as follows.

9mm and 3 spare mags
1 box of 50 rounds
550 paracord (50 ft)
small 1st aid kit
Folding knife
tactical flashlight
space blanket
few granola bars
small packet of wipes

Any other essential items you can think of would help.

I live in San Fran but work on the peninsula, my guns and bug out bag are at my brothers in Los Gatos (54 mi away from my place). So I have a max range of 54 miles to go if I need to go on foot. I wear hiking boots and rugged clothes every day for work so clothes arent a problem for that duration of a hike. Weight and speed are. I also have a large list of good gear already in my truck ICOS to select from. I just need it to get me to my brothers.

I basically never want to open the bag, it comes in the door with me and waits by it until I leave again.

Here is a link to the bag to give you an idea of size.
http://www.countycomm.com/minebag.html

I hope this isnt thread jacking either. Someone brought up the bag earlier in the thread and I couldnt help myself. Ordered it that day.

 

i always love reading in this thread, especially now that the new season of The Walking Dead is on!!

 

Can't ever be to careful.

 

I guess the shoulder strap could do in a pinch but I always get backpacks. Besides the fact of spreading the weight out and carrying it with the proper parts of your body, I'm very mindful of the fact that you're more then likely going to need your hands and arms. Whether it be to move shit out of your way, defend yourself or to take down a target on the move.

 

That bag is fine in size but those purse style bags are a pain in the ass to walk with. They'll either rub your shoulder wrong or it'll constantly be slapping into the side of your hip. It's a great bag to keep in the truck with a small amount of gear but moving long distances it'll get annoying, I know.

I recommend 3 day assault packs. I personally like tactical tailor, www.tacticaltailor.com they are expensive but you get what you pay for. They are rugged, have stood up to being drug all over Afghanistan and Iraq and come with a VS17 panel sewn in. They are made in the USA and come with a lifetime warranty which won't be worth much if the world craps out but if you're camping and your zipper breaks they'll fix it or replace it for free. I've got almost 8 years on their Malice pack and 2 on their assault packs and don't have any problems. I have the Extended Range Operator Pack, 3 day pack and I just purchased my son the Urban Operator pack for school and hiking.

Whichever pack you choose, make sure it can be carried comfortably on your back.

I know alot of guys like the man purse type and I have one of those too. The one I carry at work is the Maxpedition Last Resort Tactical Attache. It's a nice pack but is really meant as a quick bag for when your vehicle gets blown up and you need to move to a hard structure and hold down for just a little bit while your reaction team gets to you. Again running/walking with that bag with any amount of weight gets annoying fast.

FWIW, I've spent the last 10 years in all the shit countries in the world. Half of that in Special Forces, the other half as a private military contractor. All of our trucks have BOB in them and at one time or another I've had to grab a bag and move for awhile. Whether it was for a few hours in a city or a week in the Afghanistan mountains hunting. So speaking from experience, it sucks. It sucks even more when at the end of 7 or 8 days living out of the one bag you learn that you had too much of stuff that looked cool and was basically worthless and not enough of the stuff that you really needed.

It's those situations that very few get to actually experience. It's one thing to take your gear camping in the mountains knowing you parked your truck or hiked in and are 40 or 50 miles from civilization and "test" it. It's quite another to be dropped in by helo and have to move to a rally point knowing that there are other people out there hunting you as well and the only things that'll keep you alive are your gear, your PT and the men to the left and right of you. Any man that has served in an infantry unit over there, be it Marine or Army knows this and can relate.

 

I understand that, I spent 5 years bouncing the jungles of south america. Everything from webgear to full 5 day packs.
The hardest part is, I want a mini bag to get me from my house to my brothers, thats it. Once there I have a full on assault kit, AR to boots with more ammo than possible to carry. I live in SF so I dont want to look like a combat warrior walking to my truck every day and I cant leave my weapon in my truck. The taco is loaded with gear that is locked or hidden but the weapon never stays in there full time. So in an emergency I want the little bag to be loaded.

 

I understand that, I spent 5 years bouncing the jungles of south america. Everything from webgear to full 5 day packs.
The hardest part is, I want a mini bag to get me from my house to my brothers, thats it. Once there I have a full on assault kit, AR to boots with more ammo than possible to carry. I live in SF so I dont want to look like a combat warrior walking to my truck every day and I cant leave my weapon in my truck. The taco is loaded with gear that is locked or hidden but the weapon never stays in there full time. So in an emergency I want the little bag to be loaded.

Also to add to the list:
lighter
chapstick
sharpie (for notes to whom ever)
EPI pen

 

.22 and a 2 liter coke bottle. good for 1 shot. all you need

 

never enough socks. NEVER enough. I can tell you that i can go on wearing dirty clothes as long as my feet stay dry and nice. Nothing angers me more than when my feet get tore up. Also, i wish people would understand that there will be a time that batteries run out, and fancy scopes and flashlights dont work. Learn how to use Iron sights, a lymphatic compass, and read maps. learn the difference between a saddle and a ridge. He who knows, and perfects land nav will survive.

 

I have multiple go bags. The majority of them are 72hr packs and they are meant for me to get home if I can. Once home, that is where my BoB is. If I am able to set up shop at home for awhile than I will. I have plenty of ammo, food, supplies and I know the ins and outs of my AO. Besides having a 72hr pack in my truck, my parents house and couple of friends house I think I might try strategically place some ammo cans along well known wood trails, maybe in some pvc pipe. I could mark these both with GPS coords, but then back them up with traditional map coords in case the sats go out.

It is funny because once you are done or think you are done and have what you need it becomes a on going phase of your life. A lot of people think I am nuts and I get a lot of rolling eyes towards my way, but i am going to survive no matter what. If these non prepared people want to join me they can, but they will not touch my stuff and if they slow me down I am getting rid of them.

People joke around, but we must realize that it will be complete chaos and the natural instinct of survival of the fittest will kick in.

Im not a sheep, Im a wolf.

 

Dave,

Can you post up a good list of what you carry in your go bags? Thanks for your service too, and to everyone else...thank you.

 

The day after our zombie 5k my wife and I hit up our local off road trails and ran 4 miles. I do plan on getting out and walking/jogging the trails with packs on as well.

a way to start a fire.
good mechanic gloves
maybe a few cliff bars or similar
a couple water bottles. Nalgene bottles are suppose to be great.
change of socks and underwear
winter is coming up so dont forget about adding some cold weather gear, something to keep your head warm at the least.

great info! thanks for your sevice! and its good to have someone with actual experience here

as for quick clot, all the AF IFAKs have switched from the powdery form over to more of a compression gauze. Ive got a couple of each though.

Good info here as well. several months back I was getting obsessed with prepping and all that and I was getting depressed and stressed out. I took a break, chilled out, and I feel like I am more level headed now.

 

A good laminated 1:50,000 map with grease pencil
milspec compass
probable foot routes from work/house to the Bro's preplotted
Water filter
More food. 50 miles can be a long way, especially if you are stressed out.
wire cutters. Good ones that can cut holes in chain link fence. If you are on foot and have to navigate urban areas they are worth their weight in gold.

 

A map and compass wont do any good if you have never used one before.
food, yes. 50 miles is a long way on foot. how fast do people walk? maybe 4-5mph? thats around 10 hours to walk 50 miles without stopping for breaks.

 

what type of bag/container do yal use for first aid?
right now my first aid kit consists of:
Rubbing Alcohol
Hydrogen peroxide
Iodine
Calamine Lotion
bandaids
gauze
sterile pads
med. tape
tums
sunscreen
aloe vera
and a hand full of other small things, no trauma type stuff, just stuff for cuts, bruises, sprains, minor burns and aches/pains/fever

I am looking for a bag that can hold all the stuff without just tossing everything in there loosely. any ideas?

 

zip lock bag. I keep all my "like items" in separate zip locks in my back pack. if you wanted something a little more rugged look into a molle pouch, that way you could even store it on the outside of your pack to save space if you wanted.


something like this
http://www.amazon.com/Voodoo-Tactical-MOLLE-Compatible-First/dp/B003ELNC2U/ref=pd_sim_sbs_sg_6

 

ya that was the size of the first aid pouch i had when overseas, i have a bit more stuff now. but with a little searching im sure i could find one a few sizes bigger. Thanks!

 

Sure. I keep a ruck and not really a BOB. My ruck is pretty different than most of yours. It is in the bed secured to one of the bed tie downs. It contains:

extra pair of pants
shirt x 3
socks x 6
extra pair of boots
wubbie
puss pad
sleeping bag
wet wipes
MRE's x 3
2 gallons water
water purification
med kit
9mm x 50
45 x 50
5.56 x 60
550 cord
laminated 1:50k grid maps of SE United States (where I live)
compass
protactor with dry erase pens
garmin GPS
poncho
mechanics gloves
extra knife
deet
sunscreen
surefire x 2 and batteries
rain gear
firestarter

Ruck weighs in at almost 80 lbs. The gear changes with the seasons. Now that cold weather is upon us, my Marmot -10 degree bag goes in and the summer bag goes out. Also heavier jacket, thermals, masks, etc. all go in. It's a beast and the main reason I exercise. This is in my truck at all times.

If the wife and kids are with me then I also have a 3 day pack that has each of them a change of clothes, shoes and snacks. It weighs in about 30 lbs. This bag has came in handy on numerous occasions where we've gotten caught in rainstorms or kids spill stuff on their clothes in the vehicle. Again this bag changes with the seasons.

Med kits are specific to the bags and vehicles. Here's a break down:

Each vehicle has:
Hemacon/quick clot
Tourniquet x 4
18 gauge needles
Asherman
typical band aides, gauze and Neosporin
IB profin/aspirin
medical tape
medical scissors

My ruck has:
Hemacon/quick clot
tourniquet x 4
pain meds
18 gauge needle
Asherman
medical tape
snake bite kit
burn cream
various dressings
needle and thread
Zpack

3 day bag:
tourniquet x 4
band aides and dressings
pain meds
hemacon/quick clot

We also have one AED that I throw in the vehicle every time I walk out the door. It is positioned in a desk in our foyer where I charge my phones so it's easy to remember. The case has pads for children and adults.

I also keep an IFAK in my truck that was issued to me.

Most of my gear is to control breathing and airways. Unless you're instructed and then keep up with training though, alot of that gear is useless. 18 gauge needles are for needle decompression and ashermans are for sucking chest wounds. I just know how long it takes for someone to bleed out and I'd never forgive myself if the family was in an auto accident and after all this training I watched them bleed out waiting on paramedics. So I keep alot of things to control bleeding.

My ruck contains more stuff in case I'm stuck out in the wilderness for awhile. It's with me when I take the boyscouts camping and I usually load the AED in it just in case something happens and someone needs zapped. These things are literal lifesavers and are truly idiot proof.

When I get home this month I'll post up some pics so people can see how I set my things up.

Everyone has different needs based on their experience, strengths, weaknesses, budget and lifestyle. So I always recommend to tailor your bags according to this.

Hope this helps.