The Bug Out Bag Part I

The most important thing you have to have for z-poc prep is a plan. The second most important thing you can have is a bug out bag (BOB) or what some people call a go-bag. Third most important is…well, everything you put in that bag. What should you put into the bag? That all depends on your plan. Tonight I’d like to start discussing the go-bag, and this topic will stretch over several posts.

We’ve already discussed in a previous post that your most important thing to survive the initial outbreak is a weapon. If you can’t survive the first 24 hours, you don’t have to worry about dehydration, starving to death or any other normal survivalist problems. However, a tandem priority to having a weapon is being stealthy; this means having a place to hide out and a weapon that can kill zed without alerting every other zed in the area. Let’s list the weapons first.

Weapons

• Machete
• 6”-8” fixed blade knife
• 4” folding knife (open assist)
• Tactical tomahawk
• Tactical spear
• Pistol (9mm, .40, .45 – your preferred caliber, preferably suppressed – assume all firearms are better suppressed)
• Pistol (.22)
• Rifle (AR or similar platform)
• Rifle (.22 also suppressed)
• Basic firearm cleaning/maintenance kit
• Ammo for each

I realize this is a lot of equipment. You will have to determine what to have based on your plan. Are you bugging in or bugging out? Bugging out in a vehicle or on foot? What kind of vehicle? Motorcycle, SUV or pickup truck? All of these choices have an impact on what you’re going to need or be able to carry.

If you have multiple people, you may each have a large caliber pistol and a .22, but one person may have the .22 rifle and another the AR. I do recommend that you divide the ammo between the bags that each person in the party is carrying, plus any other bug out containers like the 5 gallon bucket (which I will discuss in a separate post). This way, if one of you has to ditch their bag, gets separated from the group, kidnapped by raiders or caught by zed, you haven’t lost all the ammo. This goes for food, water, matches, any other indispensable items. If they’re indispensable they should not be stored in one container.

Assuming you have survived the initial stage of the outbreak, your next concern is going to be water. The rule of thumb is that a person needs about a gallon water per day to survive. If that seems like a lot, that’s because most people drink less than half that amount; some additional water is gained from fruit, meat and other foods, but the fact is that most people are in a state of mild dehydration under the best, non-apocalyptic situations. In z-poc, everything about life is going to be more physical, and dehydration will kill you outright in about three days, or get you killed when you can’t escape, evade or exterminate zed. However, a gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds, requires a large container and takes up a lot of space in a back pack. Some people are going to bug in and may have water storage tanks in place, but even those stores will not last forever. Fortunately, water is abundant in nature. Unfortunately, most of it is not clean and will make you sick…and diarrhea will dehydrate you faster, leave you weakened and ripe for zed to have his way with you. For water filtration, I recommend a hierarchy of solutions since it is literally one thing you cannot live without.

Water Purification Solutions

• Water filter – there are numerous brands and you can spend anywhere from $30 to $300 and even more depending on your budget and the type of filter you need. If you can’t afford the top end filter, get a good middle ground filter and set aside money over time for the good one. Remember, your life depends on clean water. You’re going to want a filter that removes bacteria, protozoa, cysts, algae, spores, and sediments. Katadyn makes a highly rated pump filter for about $80, and a 2.5 gallon gravity filter (good for groups in a secure location) for about $70. A porcelain or ceramic filter can be cleaned and re-used which is a really nice feature, but these filters are more expensive.
• Back up solution #1 – a filtered bottle like the Ndur bottle ($40)
• Back up solution #2 – a product like the Life Straw ($24)
• Back up solution #3 – boil water (over a fire, over a stove, etc) for 10 minutes.
• Back up solution #4 – use water purification tablets (bleach or iodine or both)
• You can also improvise distilled water using two plastic bottles but this will not produce enough clean water for a long term solution and requires the kit to be in one stable location for several hours.
• If you have activated charcoal in your kit (another topic) you can improvise a gravity filter.
• Even the top end filters have a carbon element that will need replaced. Have extra filters/elements or pay the price when you get sick from polluted water.

Some other tips:

• Whenever possible, get your water from as clear a running stream as possible. Running water is going to have less chance for bacteria to grow and less sediment. Less sediment equates to longer filter element life in your water filter.
• If the water has a lot of sediment or debris, run it through a bandanna before filtering it. The bandanna will remove the larger pieces of sediment and again, this is easier on your filter.
• ALWAYS check up stream for a quarter mile (or as far as you can go) for any contaminants – particularly any zeds in the water. A fresh zed kill will still have the active virus in it and if it’s leaking fluid into the water (or if it’s in the water at all) you will want to use a different source. If there’s not another source, you’ll want to boil this water for 30 minutes to ensure you’ve killed the virus.

I’ll stop here for now. We’ll discuss more of the bug out bag needs in another post, and I’ll create and update a post with the BOB contents for reference. It’s my belief that there are no perfect solutions for the bug out bag; there are only solutions that are better or worse than others. Everyone’s opinion is valid and may be best for their situation, but not for someone else’s. I would love to hear your feedback and update the master list accordingly.

Until next time, better dead than zed!