Red Teaming Your Bug-out Bag - Hack3rCon^4

Editor's Notes

• #2: These rules of 3 will impact how your Bug-out or Get-home bag will be set up. If your Get-home bag is set up for 3 days, then you don’t need to necessarily worry about food, but if you can fit it, it would be considered a luxury item. Air on the other hand would be an important consideration when putting together your bag. Even the inclusion of a cheap 3M respirator mask could mean the difference between life and death.
• #7: There are big differences between a Bug-out bag and a Get-home bag. 2 weeks vs. 72 hours. Tools vs. supplies The likelihood of having a need for your Bug-Out bag while you are at home, and have the luxury of just grabbing it and going is not necessarily a practical situation. You need to prepare to have something with you so that if less-than-ideal situations present themselves, you have the supplies needed in order to make the trek back home from your current location, possibly work. For this, you need to have with you what some would refer to as a Get-Home Bag. A true Bug-out Bag is a bag that should sustain you for a term no less than 2 weeks and should provide you with the tools and equipment that would be necessary for you to set up a new established base of operations with sustainability. A use-case scenario for a Bug-Out bag, is that for some reason or another, you have decided that your current base of operations is no longer suitable or a viable option for your survival.
• #11: Cutting instrument can be anything from a pocket knife to an axe. A cutting tool is one of the most useful survival tools, but also one of the most difficult to produce from raw materials. Your situation will dictate what you may need within that spectrum and how many of these that you may have. For your Get-home bag, 1 or 2 cutting devices could be sufficient. For your Bug-out bag, always remember that 2 is 1 and 1 is None. Also keep in mind, that these tools will have to fill varied roles, so a varied assortment of tools is suggested. Axes can split wood better than a saw. A saw can fall and process timber more efficiently than an axe. And neither of these tools is useful for processing game and other intricate tasks.
• #12: Depending on your environment, you may need to take into consideration cover from the elements. Your first layer of cover would be the clothes on your back. The next layer would be any jacket or outer-wear. If you typically wear slacks, a dress shirt, and dress shoes to work, you might consider putting a pair of tennis shoes, jeans, a t-shirt and several pairs of socks in your Get-home bag. If your environment, or the season you are in, dictate specific clothing requirements, do not forget to take these items into consideration. The next layer of cover could be as simple as a trash bag, or as intricate as a tent and sleeping bag system. Again, your situation and requirements will dictate what you have allotted space for in either of your bags.
• #13: It’s difficult to make a container that you can boil and store water in. Thats pretty much all that needs to be said about a container.
• #14: Depending on your environment, making a fire may or may not be the most important consideration for your survival. Keeping warm, cooking food, providing light, and purifying water are the key uses of building a fire. If none of these items are important to you, then combustion materials may not be necessary, but are still recommended.
• #15: Another difficult-to-reproduce item with infinite uses is your cordage. Even though you might be able to find or make cordage, to do so is significantly time-consuming. Two suggestions for cordage would be 550 cord and jute twine. 550 cord has infinite uses that I could devote an entire talk on, but it is very versatile. Jute twine is less versatile but is a natural fiber with different uses some directly related to our next topic.
• #19: The bag needs to be something is functional, but that you aren’t going to miss. This is a bag that should be set aside for a purpose. Not raided at a whim. Keeping a low profile is important during a crisis, so where you would not want to be running around with a neon pink bag, you may also not want to have something military in appearance which could potentially make you a target. The size of the bag should not necessarily be set by what you are going to carry, but the bag should dictate what items you carry.
• #20: You can survive for 3 min without air. You can survive for 3 hours in extreme environments without adequate shelter. You can survive for 3 days without water. You can survive for 3 weeks without food. Based on the Rules of 3, your first consideration would be air. This seems like a no-brainer, but until you are in a fire, sand storm, building collapse, a nuclear, biological, or chemical environment, you don’t realize how important air is. Based on the likelihood of what you might encounter, tailor your kit accordingly. As a minimum, it is a good idea to have some 3M paper filter masks on-hand.
• #21: Most of us carry some sort of pocket knife or small blade. For most 72 hour scenarios, this will suffice. However something that will give you a lot more utility, in addition to being a back-up knife, is a good quality multi-tool. Some key items on this multi-tool would be good precise pliers, a saw, a can opener, and a blade. Screw-drivers and other du-dads are great, but are completely optional based on your situation.
• #22: Along with the clothes on your back, and your situation-specific clothes in your pack, you may need an additional sleep system and or rain-gear. One item can function as both rain cover and rain gear while traveling, a USGI poncho. As far as a sleep system, if you think that you can get by with a mylar space blanket for an outdoor overnight stay… go try it! Then go buy a compact quality sleeping bag. If you are in a warm climate, it may not be necessary, though a compact fleece sleeping bag could off-set the chill during a freak cold night. But if you are in a cold environment you need a compact and effective sleep system that will protect you from the climate. In a worst-case scenario, 2 drum liners and dry leaves packed between them as insulation, you can stave off hypothermia through the course of the night.
• #23: In addition to your bag, as a container, some sort of a water bottle, whether it be stainless or nalgene etc., are recommended but not always recommended for a 72-hour bag. You can get by with very minimal water, but three 16oz bottles of water not only give you 16oz of water for consumption per day, but also give you a container to collect new water in. A back-up for your 3 bottles of water, and something that I would recommend would be a Life Straw. You just put one end in the dirty water, and drink clean water through the other end. There are a lot of other good options for water purification systems, but this is simple, light-weight, and works. If you do not have water, and find a water source that may be ok, and you are close to your destination, and have a good water source there, it takes a week on average for most microbes and bacteria such as cryptosporidium and giardia to gestate and affect you.
• #24: Whether your situation requires combustion or not, it is recommended to at least have a couple of ways to make fire. If fire is a necessity, then this should be reflected in the amount of combustion items that you carry. BIC lighters are great, and can be made waterproof through creative use of old inner tubes.(alt cordage) A ferrocerium rod is another good combustion device which is completely waterproof and will work thousands of times regardless of conditions if you have dry tinder.
• #25: The recommended cordage for your 72-hour bag would be paracord or 550 cord. It has thousands of uses, don’t take my word for it, YouTube it! I would recommend taking at least 100ft for use in everything from setting up shelter to fire-making.
• #26: Based on our rules of 3, food is not necessary in a 72-hour bag, but you will function more efficiently with some sort of nutrient-dense food in you. Protein-rich food such as beef jerky is great, but should be combined with carb-dense foods such as cliff bars or granola bars. If you have the weight and space to carry MRE’s then great, but by now your bag should be busting at the seams. My recommended item for your 72-hour bag based on its 10 year shelf life, and size to calorie ratio, would be lifeboat rations.
• #27: Based on our rules of 3, food is not necessary in a 72-hour bag, but you will function more efficiently with some sort of nutrient-dense food in you. Protein-rich food such as beef jerky is great, but should be combined with carb-dense foods such as cliff bars or granola bars. If you have the weight and space to carry MRE’s then great, but by now your bag should be busting at the seams. My recommended item for your 72-hour bag based on its 10 year shelf life, and size to calorie ratio, would be lifeboat rations.
• #28: Ruger 22/45 Mark III 22LR 5.5" Blued ADJUSTABLE SIGHTS ~$300 CCI Mini-Mag 22LR 36 Grain – 375 – Choot Em! – 2.2lbs
• #29: Ruger 22/45 Mark III 22LR 5.5" Blued ADJUSTABLE SIGHTS ~$300 CCI Mini-Mag 22LR 36 Grain – 375 – Choot Em! – 2.2lbs
• #30: Ruger 22/45 Mark III 22LR 5.5" Blued ADJUSTABLE SIGHTS ~$300 CCI Mini-Mag 22LR 36 Grain – 375 – Choot Em! – 2.2lbs
• #33: Based on our rules of 3, food is not necessary in a 72-hour bag, but you will function more efficiently with some sort of nutrient-dense food in you. Protein-rich food such as beef jerky is great, but should be combined with carb-dense foods such as cliff bars or granola bars. If you have the weight and space to carry MRE’s then great, but by now your bag should be busting at the seams. My recommended item for your 72-hour bag based on its 10 year shelf life, and size to calorie ratio, would be lifeboat rations.
• #34: Based on our rules of 3, food is not necessary in a 72-hour bag, but you will function more efficiently with some sort of nutrient-dense food in you. Protein-rich food such as beef jerky is great, but should be combined with carb-dense foods such as cliff bars or granola bars. If you have the weight and space to carry MRE’s then great, but by now your bag should be busting at the seams. My recommended item for your 72-hour bag based on its 10 year shelf life, and size to calorie ratio, would be lifeboat rations.