The Bug Out Bag ( BOB )
Preppers have a bunch of acronyms for stuff they carry around, including Everyday Carry (EDC), Get Home Bag (GHB), I’m Never Coming Home Bag (INCH) and the most common term, Bug Out Bag (BOB). I am going to use the term BOB for all of these bags, rather than getting hung up on jargon. If you are into using all these terms, please bear with me.
I previously wrote about Cheap BOBs, to be used by folks who showed up without a BOB, for caches, and any other situation where you might need an extra BOB. I also wrote about what I carry when commuting by mass transit in Escape from New York.
Merman wrote about Get Home Bags. However, I never wrote about what should go into a primary BOB. A primary BOB is one that is fully equipped, and that you spare no expense on. It’s the one bag you think of when you think of your “BOB”.
One reason for not writing about primary BOBs until now is I truly believe BOBs should be customized to your situation. For instance, in my area we get snow, sometimes lots of snow, so I pack a set of long underwear in my BOB. In Florida I would consider that pretty foolish.
Because situations vary so much, it is impossible to say “this is what you should carry”. Instead I’ll tell you what I carry, in the hope of triggering some ideas that you might want to include in your BOB.
My Circumstances
While I often commute into New York by mass transit, if I am not going into New York for work, or I am just going about local errands, I keep a BOB in the trunk of my car, as well as a couple “kits”. The kits include a car kit with a few tools, flashers that are used as modern road flares, etc.
This kit is simply to be used in the event of a car breakdown. It includes a folding shovel, particularly for Blizzards. I also have a first aid kit. I keep these kits outside the BOB, so they can be easily accessed in the event of an automobile accident or breakdown. If I were to leave the car carrying the BOB, I would toss the first aid kit into the BOB before leaving the car.
I also carry a case of bottled water in the car. Sometimes I tap into the water, simply because I want a bottle of water while driving. If the case gets down to about half full, I replace it. This insures some rotation of the water as well as having something to enjoy in the car. If I were to leave the car taking my BOB, I would use the case of water to fill any water bottles in the BOB, toss in a few more bottles to have a good supply, and be on my way.
I should also point out one thing I do not carry, which is a firearm. I live in the People’s Republic of New Jersey, one of the most anti-gun states in the country. Carrying a gun is highly illegal, carry permits are impossible to get, and I don’t want to spend years in jail.
There are even state restrictions on transporting a gun, so you can’t just drive around with a firearm locked in your trunk. If you live in a “free” state, by all means get a carry permit and carry a firearm in the manner you think appropriate. Besides, why would I want to carry around a stripped lower? 😊
What is in the Bag?
To figure out what to put in the BOB, I again use my Supply Categories.
- Water: I keep a case of bottled water, as discussed above, in my car. I also carry water purification tablets in the BOB, and a Sport Berkey water bottle. In the disasters I have actually experienced, not to mention my Escapes from New York, water has been a clear necessity.
- Food: For such a short period of time, (3 days) I don’t worry about a balanced diet. Instead I just use food bars such as Datrex, MayDay, or Millennium bars. This approach also eliminates the need for a mess kit or utensils.
- Hygiene: I carry a complete toilet kit, a roll of toilet paper, and several garbage bags. Remember “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and don’t forget a towel! 😊
- First Aid: A first aid kit for accidents is in the trunk, but kept outside the BOB, keeping it handy in case of an auto accident.
- Energy: A fire starter kit and some batteries are in the BOB.
- Clothing: My BOB contains a complete change of clothing and boots, hat, gloves, etc. and a poncho. Don’t forget extra socks! 😊
- Shelter: I favor Tube Tents. They are light, and are good enough for a couple days. I also have a bivy sack in each bag. These are made of space blanket material and keep you surprisingly warm. Both are negligible in weight.
- Transportation: With the car broken down, I would be on foot, unless I can find an alternate means of transportation. Maps can be taken from the car and a compass is in the BOB, as are quality boots. If I had any balance, I could add a skateboard. 😊 Unfortunately, coordination is not on my list of superior attributes. ☹
- Communications: I carry a cell phone, and the BOB contains a wind-up radio and an FRS/GMRS radio. I also carry a pen and paper. 😊
- Tools: In addition to the car repair kit, the BOB contains a multi-tool and a Swiss Army knife. I also carry flashlights, paracord, and other miscellaneous items.
- Library: While I don’t carry an obvious library in my BOB, there is a Kindle app on my phone, and copies of important documents in the bag.
Summary
I’ve probably forgotten something as I have described my primary bag. It mostly functions as a GHB, but can be rapidly expanded or shrunk as needs become apparent. I also have my Cheap BOBs and Escape from New York bags, so with a little luck I will be with the best possible bag when disaster strikes.
A good entrenching tool with a sharpened edges makes a very good self defense weapon
Sharpening the edges also makes clear that you intend to use it for something other than digging. Here in the People’s Republic of New Jersey, anything that is clearly a weapon is illegal. I do carry a folding shovel for digging out of the snow if caught in a blizzard away from home.
If a firearm was buried in your get home back how would it be discovered? And it seems that the slim chance you’d ever need to actually use the bag to walk home would mean that in that situation the risk of getting caught with it would be overridden by the need for personal protection during that trip.
It probably would not be, but if it was discovered it would be 7-10 years in prison and permanent loss of gun rights.
You’re from jersey??? Which exit??? 8a then 9 here,currently in florida. Before i moved i had several 4 inch knives in my bob. I also used and still use a poncho and liner (military surplus) for my shelter plus a casualty blanket. It’s like a tarp and a space blanket it one.
Those sound like good suggestions. I have a poncho in each bag, albeit not the military style.
you carry a cell phone. i have a compass app on mine. i carry a real compass also. if i still have the use of my phone, why not have a compass app on it as well
Thank you for your comments!
Personally, I carry a smartphone and it has a compass app on it. It’s really neat, when everything is working it overlays the compass right on top of the terrain I am on.
To me, however, as a prepper… the key words in my statement above is “when everything is working”. The reason I will always carry an analog compass is the same reason that I always have a manual air gauge on my tanks when I dive… sure, those nifty computers that tell you how much air you have left are really neat, but electronics fail, and regular air gauges? I suppose one could fail, but I’ve never seen a broken one that started out working on a dive… Dive computers that died? I’ve seen a TON of those.
Electronics are great until they stop working… then they are just so much extra weight to carry around.
Interesting choice for the contents of a BOB. Like you I have several. There is one in the hall closet and another one in the car. Being up her in the great white north (Canada) I understand why you don’t carry a firearm in your BOB.
Since you go into NYC on a regular basis, have you considered finding and renting a long term storage locker somewhere near where you regularly visit for stashing gear you don’t want to be caught with? It would give you a location to store things like a firearm. This is something I did before I retired. I had a very cheap gym membership ($10 per month including locker rental) at a place in the big city. Once a month after work I’d drop in, work out, use the hot tub and check my gear. I did this for 11 years and had no problems. Just a thought…
Having a firearm in NYC is highly illegal without extremely expensive and hard to get permits no matter where you store your firearm. Anything else can go in a desk drawer.
Wow, and here I thought our laws were silly. For us under the firearms act, if the firearm is non restricted then so long as it’s under lock and key it can be kept anywhere. I kept an AR-7, ammo, some emergency cash and a few other items that I figured I would need at the gym. The plan was to stop by on the way out of the city and add the stuff to my bug out bag.
I would have kept the stuff in my work locker but if my employer had found out, I would have been terminated. That was why I had the gym membership. I just kept the fact that I had a firearm and a few other items in my locker with my gym stuff to myself. When I left the gym after I retired, I cleaned out the locker, took everything home and nobody was ever the wiser.
Sounds like you are in Canada? Here in the US the federal rules are rather limited and easy enough to follow, but state laws are widely variable to the point of being impossible to follow if you move from state to state. NY and NJ have some of the worst state level laws.
Interesting article, but do you think if things go south. That you walking around with a backpack will not draw attention? If it is SHTF, someone or some crowd will take it from you. Unless you have a weapon to defend yourself. But I understand that you cannot carry one where you live… So why live where you cannot defend yourself?
While there are only a few states that have onerous gun laws, they happen to be the most populous (urban) states. About half of the US population lives in such areas. Consider that NYC, LA, and Chicago are the three largest cities in the US and all have onerous gun laws. My career opportunities have always been in urban areas.
There’s also a question of timing. If I use the bag in my car, it will be to head home as soon as the problem develops. In the early stages of any disaster, many people haven’t shifted their thinking and behavior from normal times. I suspect neither opportunism nor desperation will have advanced very far by then.