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After the Fall
What to do with your survival kit
In my last article, I talked about a realistic bugout bag, one based on experience and weight. Weight is your enemy on foot, so have a look.
Now, we’re going to look at actually bugging out. Cuz your gear don’t mean shit if you’re dead. Or imprisoned.
If you’re dealing with a breakdown of society necessitating a sudden escape, you do not want to be around other people at first. Obviously, this doesn’t include your family, and perhaps a few close and competent friends, but as a general rule when you bug out, you want to go to the places difficult to approach on foot and impossible in a vehicle. This will improve your chances of not being killed or screwed up by the “survivalists” who will be adding to your problems at every opportunity.
Further, if you’re planning in advance (which you damn well should be), all who are going to join you should have at least two rally points. And if you’re using GPS coordinates or any other easily readable thing, those should be written in a code understood by you and your cohorts and no one else.
You want to choose a place with water and a lot of hard cover. Caves, even shallow ones, are nice shelters, plus if your bag is set up proper you’ll have tents. Tents don’t keep the rain out if it’s heavy, but they help.
A side note on that, because it’s illustrative. I’ve been a guide for hunters. It was a job that paid well monetarily and was not worth the pay. Because the people who pay guides don’t listen, have no experience, and do not respect the wilderness.
They grew up and lived pretty exclusively in cities, and their idea of wilderness is a nice, manicured park. Nature is not that dangerous if you are alert, aware, and respectful. If you’re an arrogant idiot with a metric ton of useless gear, it can and will eat you. A guide’s primary job, despite the name, is babysitter. To privileged, legally adult toddlers. Don’t be that guy or gal.
Why is this political?
Two reasons.
First, we live in perilous times. More so than at any time in my life, society actually looks like it may break down in the United States of America. This is frightening. From a purely survival…
