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BugOutBag or GetHomeBag...?

2K views 28 replies 14 participants last post by  fasteddie565 
#1 ·
Wifey and I are trying to make realistic prepping decisions. My question is since we do not have a bunker off the grid to go to for SHTF doesn't it make more sense to have a GetHomeBag in our cars instead of a BugOutBag? What is your wisdom....?!
 
#2 ·
Hey man,

I typed out a long reply to your question you posted about the bugout bag, but when i hit Submit, it turns out that the forum you posted in is restricted and I can't post there. Since I wrote out a mini novel, it would be a shame for it to go to waste, so I'm sending it to you here as a PM.

FYI there is only one person who has permission to respond to your thread, so nothing will happen until he gets around to it. If you like my response, feel free to copy and paste it and post it in your thread for other people to read. Anyway, here is what I tried to respond:

Regards,
Clang Clang



Let's be realistic. The odds of needing a bunker are roughly zero. The odds of society devolving to the point where we need everything in our gun safe and a plate carrier are also zero. It's pure fantasy for guys who never enlisted and now regret it, or watched too much Walking Dead.

Bugging out has nothing to do with SHTF or zombies, but far more likely, a flood/fire/natural disaster. Or region-wide power outage. Prep for realistic events. WW3 isn't going to happen on American soil any time soon.

That said, you should have both bags. A GHB in the car and a BOB at home.

You can find much more comprehensive lists with 30 seconds of googling, but basically, for your car, you need:
  • extra credit card, ID, and $200 cash in small bills
  • full change of season appropriate clothes, socks and sturdy footwear,
  • 1000-2000 calories of non-perishable easy to consume food, 2-4L of water (more if you live in Phoenix),
  • tools to fix common car issues, work gloves, headlamp, jumper cables, a .5L MSR fuel bottle containing gas (optional - it's juuuust enough to get you to a gas station if you're dumbass and run out),
  • Have you confirmed that your spare tire is fully inflated and your jack is operational?
  • maybe a spare mag for your CCW if it makes you feel better.
  • You can add more things like road flares, wool blanket, fire starters, shovel, sand/salt, etc as necessary depending on the season and the terrain where you live (big city vs suburbs vs mountains/rural).
  • Remember that these items can be split up into multiple bags. I keep all the personal items in a backpack and the rest of the emergency gear in a duffel bag. If I had to separate from my car, I wouldn't want to be carrying 40-50 lbs. Just essentials.

For the house, it's different. Evacuating is ALMOST ALWAYS a last ditch effort. Especially if you don't have a bunker. The only reason I could see leaving my house would be fire, flood, or hurricane. I had to evacuate once as a kid - 95' oak tree fell on our house in a storm. Fire Dept wouldn't let us back in the house for ~3 days, IIRC. We stayed with neighbors. Bought new changes of clothing at walmart, everything else was luckily provided by friends. So if you do leave under those circumstances, you'll probably have just a couple hours of prep time, or maybe only seconds. So you need to have the irreplaceable items all ready to go at a moment's notice.

  • Paper copies of all important ID, passports, social security cards, etc. Copies of all your insurance cards and policies. Titles for your house, car, etc.
  • Encrypted USB key with the same documents above, and anything sensitive (photos of all your credit cards, medical records, bank accounts or even better, a pdf copy of your recent bank statements, etc)
  • Excel spreadsheet with a list of all the contents of your home for insurance purposes. If you don't have the time to do that, at least take a video walking around your house showing all the items and narrating the brand/cost/specs of each. This is ESSENTIAL to maximizing your reimbursement on a major homeowner's claim.
  • A document with EVERY important phone number: insurance, banks, credit cards, family members, friends, local emergency services, etc
  • Spare charger and battery bank for cell phone
  • 1-2 weeks of all Rx and OTC meds
  • 2L water
  • jacket, hat, sunglasses, change of clothes, socks, sturdy footwear
  • multi-tool
  • Other small stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting

Remember that you're gonna have to carry these bags. Are you fit? Can you walk 5 miles? How about 15? How about 15 miles with a heavy pack? The items listed above ar already 25 lbs easily. How much more do you plan on carrying? When it comes to a bag, less is more. Being able to improvise goes a long way. Stockpiling at home is a different issue - stockpile to your heart's content. But if you're evacuating, it's because your life is at risk, and you aren't going to be carrying your stockpile with you anyway.

Consider that if you actually evacuate, you might very well not have a home to return to. So you need everything that will help you rebuild your life. Documents, contact info, etc. You don't need a camping shelter, 4 guns, 6 knives, etc. Lots of youtube dorks love to show off their massive BOBs with all the tacticool ****, but it's obvious that they couldn't walk around the block with their bag without getting winded and needing a donut.

I could write a book on this topic, but that's it for now. Time to go to sleep :)
 
#4 ·
There are scenarios where you may have to bug out even if you don't have a personal bug out location. The examples I usually use are if you live near a nuke plant or a hurricane comes... think Chernobyl and Katrina. It's good to have some basics to get you through at least a few days without having to rely on the Gubbermint.
 
#5 ·
Wifey and I are trying to make realistic prepping decisions. My question is since we do not have a bunker off the grid to go to for SHTF doesn't it make more sense to have a GetHomeBag in our cars instead of a BugOutBag? What is your wisdom....?!
I agree with this point, in fact that is what I have, is an EDC/get home bag with me. http://3vgear.com/index.php/packs-and-bags/posse-edc-sling-pack.html
Best all-around pack that you can buy! small enough to carry just about everywhere, yet with tons of pockets to stash plenty of items if you are on foot for a day or two.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I agree with this point, in fact that is what I have, is an EDC/get home bag with me. http://3vgear.com/index.php/packs-and-bags/posse-edc-sling-pack.html
Best all-around pack that you can buy! small enough to carry just about everywhere, yet with tons of pockets to stash plenty of items if you are on foot for a day or two.
That looks to be an awfully small bag and I don't see any specs for it. I guess it would be ok for a couple of bottles of water and a small amount of food but forget about extra clothing or shelter or anything bulky at all. OTOH, small means you may have it on you all the time, right?

If we're talking about a bag to keep in the vehicle then there is no reason not to go larger. It's also a good idea to keep a spare smaller bag that you can either give to someone to split the load or carry additional stuff.
 
#9 · (Edited)
That looks to be an awfully small bag and I don't see any specs for it. I guess it would be ok for a couple of bottles of water and a small amount of food but forget about extra clothing or shelter or anything bulky at all. OTOH, small means you may have it on you all the time, right?
If we're talking about a bag to keep in the vehicle then there is no reason not to go larger. It's also a good idea to keep a spare smaller bag that you can either give to someone to split the load or carry additional stuff.
With discussions I have had, seems like quite a few people seem to be confused aboutan emergency get home or perhaps have a "need" to bring too much in a get home bag.
The 3-VGear bag I have measures 13"x9"x6", in it I have;
1 bottle of water, 4 cliff bars
1 pair of Mechanix ware gloves
1 "Mad Dasher" adjustable, hooded poncho
1 package of "SE" 12pc compressed towels
1 package of Purell (36 count) Sanitizing wipes
1 package of "Hot Sac" instant hand warmer
1 pack of "toasti-toes" self activation foot warmer
2 packs of Off brand "Deep Woods" toweletties
1 pack of assorted size bandages/sterial pads
1 small tube of Aquaphor
1 small package of White Petrolaum
Small plastic container of Advil/Tylenol
Small plastic pill container with two days supply of my meds
small tube of of Neosporin
1 small Oral-B dental floss - mint flavored mind you!
1 small wired pad with pencil & pen
1 pair of reading glasses in nylon case
1 "Leatherman"Juice S2" tool kit
1 streamlight 66318 MicroStream C4 LED Pen Flashlight w/ extra batteries
empty plastic bag - for whatever
1 MORA knife in plastic sheath
1 small packet of Grabber Outdoon solid fuel tablets
1 bic liter/pack of stick matches
$20 and about $5 in change
Finally my Glock G26 w/extended +2 mag & 1 in the chamber = 13 rounds

All of this barley come to 7 lbs. and if this can't get me home on a one or two day walk... than i'm in real deep do-do before I even begin.
 
#7 ·
To me it is semantics. As long as you have a bag with the contents needed to get from point A to what you consider your strong point, who cares what the name is.

The distance cover to get from point a to your strong point will determine what you need to carry as well as the time of year. The gear to be carried will determine the size/type of the bag needed.
 
#8 ·
To me it is semantics. As long as you have a bag with the contents needed to get from point A to what you consider your strong point, who cares what the name is.

The distance cover to get from point a to your strong point will determine what you need to carry as well as the time of year. The gear to be carried will determine the size/type of the bag needed.
+1. I carry what I label as my "get home" stuff, but it would work equally well if I were AT home and had to bail due to whatever reason (chemical-truck accident, whatever). Since it's already in the vehicle, it's ready to serve whether I'm trying to "get home" or needing to get away from home suddenly.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I am of the opinion that a bag of stuff is .. is a bag of stuff. Maybe you can simply go home, maybe you cant. No matter what you prefer to do, you may have to do something completely different. I think its more prudent to plan around the universal 72 hour basic survival needs for your region and not worry about what you call your bag. Build a get home bag is you want but being prepared to simply go home is a relatively low preparedness level.

Food/Water:

64 oz of canteen water which will have to be replenished by way of a Katadyn water filter. If I am able to stay with or have access to my vehicle (another 2.5 gallon aqua tainer).

Food is limited to (1) Datrex food brick (16 bars), unsalted peanuts, vitamins and purhaps a couple of cliff bars.



Shelter:

French Shelter Half

2 emergency blankets

plenty of 550 cordage



First Aid:

Compression bandages

3m Wound strips

tourniquet

self adhering gauze

assorted boo-boo items



Fire making:

Cotton balls

bic lighters

mischmetal



Self Defense:

personal firearm of choice

1 extra magazine



Tools:

folding pocket knife

fixed blade knife

leatherman squirt

spetznaz shovel

2 led flashlights (extra batteries)

canteen cup w/ integral stove

6" spork

p38 can opener

3 feet of speed tape

USAF sewing kit

dummy line (decoy line)



Utility (other)

eton radio

$200 cash

extra clothing (season specific)

Well broken in 6" boot

Hat

Gloves

2 cotton bandanna's

poncho

N95 filter mask

eye protection



Hygene:

Warrior wipes
 
#12 ·
A "get home bag" is a very specialized usage. There are two scenarios, you have your vehicle or you don't. Presumably you are far enough from home that you can't walk there in a hour or few, otherwise you wouldn't need anything but the clothes on your back. If you have your vehicle, size and weight of the bag is irrelevant. If you do not and you are walking, how long a period of time are we talking about? That would dictate what you need. Is it going to take 12 hours to get home or three days?
 
#13 · (Edited)
It doesn't really matter how far from home a person is.. what matters is what has happened and what is happening. A 20 minute trip by car in normal conditions may take 2 days during a disaster or even longer on foot. If you are injured it may be a lot longer than that.

If you are planning to potentially deal with a fast moving crisis, you probably shouldn't make plans around the hope that its going to be a predictable stroll down a butterfly trail.

I subscribe to the idea that 72hrs is the universal kit duration for good reason. If I don't think I need something, I'll leave it in the car. My bag is loaded with bare essentials at 12 lbs (quick-kit) and the second module is more of a "pick what I need" unit. If all my gear is bagged and carried, its 27 lbs. Realistically if I am uninjured and confident that I can just walk home without much concern, I would probably just put my ccw in the secondary pouch of my camelbak since I wouldn't want to leave it in the car and just get to hoofing it.

a basic kit should likely be able to mitigate:

Dehydration
Hunger
Personal injury
Danger from exposure ( heat / cold)
Danger from criminal attack

It should probably:

Foster the ability to dig, cut, cord
Foster the ability to make fire
Foster the ability to signal or communicate
Foster the ability to create usable light in the darkness
Foster the ability to transport water and make it safe
 
#14 ·
I think there is a difference between a Get Home Bag and a Bug Out Bag.

In my mind, a GHB is something kept in one's vehicle or office which provides a day or two of supplies in case one gets delayed or stranded. I always think of it as juiced up overnight bag. In other words, if the SHTF you need to get home to get your BOB.

A BOB is something that has essentials of surviving at least 72 hours. It is typically much larger than a GHB.

Also consider that while the likelihood of having to bug out is not high, it does occasionally happen. It might be a flood, a chemical spill/fire, nuke plant accident or something else but one rarely can predict such things. It is always better to be prepared just in case.

In regard to Bugging Out. You may not have a bunker or survival retreat to run to but you should have a destination i.e, a place in mind to go to if the SHTF. It could be a friend or relative's house or some other place that you've scouted and planned for. It could just be place you are familiar with, maybe spent summer vacations there or camped often and are familiar with the area. You should have places in mind in different directions.

I am not advocating having supply caches in those places, though that's not a bad idea.
 
#15 · (Edited)
sure they are very different and the point I am offering is that anything less that a 72hr is impractical. I don't plan to mitigate a hindrance, I plan to mitigate a crisis and if what I face is less than a crisis, great! Planning to mitigate a hindrance does not put me in a very good place when a crisis is what actually occurs.

My kit is simply a lifeboat.. it is intended to offer me basic needs over the course of 3 days while I shelter in place or while I am trying to get someplace safer than where I am. Where I go [if I go] will be dictated by what has happened and what is happening.

I read these threads about GHB's and all I can think about it that is sounds like a pocket dump and not a plan. If a plan is what you want to make, I vote for making it robust in a hope that you don't need it. All I really need to get home during anything considered a hindrance, would be a bottle of water and good shoes.

When people ask me about GHB vs BOB, I usually tell them to forget about multi bags and focus on building a emergency kit in the spirit of the universal 72. If you don't need it, great and if you do.. at least you are starting from universally accepted minimum platform.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Several clips of M1 ball ammo are all you need to get home.

Why play drag-the-bag with a Get-Homey-Bag if you don't have to?

If you're stuck somewhere when the SHTF and the ballon goes up, just pull your M1 buddy outta your trunk and start heading the f--k home.

You'll be just fine.
 
#17 ·
Several clips of M1 ball ammo are all you need to get home.

Why play drag-the-bag with a Get-Homey-Bag if you don't have to?

If you're stuck somewhere when the SHTF and the ballon goes up, just pull your M1 buddy outta your trunk and start heading the f--k home.

You'll be just fine.
I suspect that at some point, a bottle of water might be worth having...
 
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#18 ·
Yes, a container or canteen of water is good.

One can get pretty thirsty piling up the urban zombies on the long trek back to momma's house in the suburbs.
 
#19 ·
Understand that EVERYONE'S situation is different and that one size does not fit all.

I think many of you folk are going waaaaay light on cash on hand. I don't leave home for work with less than $3K in my bag and a CC with a $20K limit. Plenty of states I travel to are the communist firearm restricted ones, even though I have the Utah NR permit. So for those states, it is a canister of streaming pepper spray. My bag has all the essentials necessary to get thru a few days without a hotel.

Last winter I got stranded for 24 hr in a winter storm on a freeway out in the middle of no where. I knew this was a possibility, packed accordingly and the only thing that did not work out at all was a place to sleep. I had protected space(luggage bay of a commercial bus) but did not have a sleeping bag or pad. So it would have been a cold hard floor. I laid out sort of across the drivers seat and the aisle, very uncomfortable. I could have went to the bay as I was wearing ski pants and a hooded parka, grabbed a roll of paper towels to use as a pillow. But did not know when the impasse was going to break so I stayed put. I had a small Coleman dual fuel stove with me that I broke out and cooked up a freeze dried meal. Plenty of snow so plenty of water, but I think I had plenty of bottled water with me. The bag in paragraph 2 almost played no role in the "survival" of the snow storm. I knew the storm was coming, my charter were dumbasses and decided they wanted to go anyway, so I packed enough stuff for me to be stranded for a week, food and water wise. I'm not heavily medicated, I had an extra day of meds in my personal luggage.

I also have a hand held radio that is a multi band and a ham radio in my GO bag, am not licensed to transmit and need to dig into further it's limitations and uses. I so far have used it to listen to FM radio, it has good reception.
 
#20 · (Edited)
I think many of you folk are going waaaaay light on cash on hand. I don't leave home for work with less than $3K in my bag and a CC with a $20K limit.
If money will solve your problem.. you aint in SHTF. If money will fix it, that's called an inconvenience.
 
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#22 ·
I think many of you folk are going waaaaay light on cash on hand. I don't leave home for work with less than $3K in my bag and a CC with a $20K limit.

If money will solve your problem.. you aint in SHTF. If money will fix it, that's called an inconvenience.
Your comment reminds me of the whiney millenial that posted on this same subject a few weeks ago. Lives in the city environment, can't imagine the ATMs not working in a crisis, therefore why would he need to have cash. Money makes the world go round playa. If I can buy my way out of a situation and it solves the immediate problem I need solved in a SHTF situation, how does it matter if cash solved the problem vs say a bottle of water. Save your false bravado for someone else. Those of us on this forum with the experience know most of the time what it takes to extract ourselves from situations. How don't matter.
 
#21 ·
I never got the whole bugging out thing. Unless you have a farm/acreage/old missile silo to go to, I think most people are better off getting home if it's possible. I get that doesn't work for Fukushima or Katrina, but I think it does for most things. If you're concerned about SHTF, there's going to be strength in numbers. Get to know you're neighbors now. Figure out what kind of skills they could bring to the party as well as yours. Start now to figure out how you'd protect your neighborhood from looting, what you'd do for food, etc.

Here's why I rather stay home...
1) Most of the stuff you need is at your home. If you bug out, you won't be taking it with you.

2) Instead of being surrounded by neighbors that can work together to protect each other and help each other out, you'll be pretty much on your own surrounded by people you don't know.

3) Where I live, during a bad snow storm or if there's an accident on the interstate on college football weekend, you can be sitting there for quite a while. What do you think getting out of town will be like if you have a few hundred thousand of your neighbors all trying to exit at the same time.

4) I grew up in a small town on the edge of farm country. Farmers where never very kind to trespassers. Had relatives (long deceased) that had no choice but to "bug out" from Oklahoma to California during the dust bowl. No one treated them very kindly (might want to read/re-read the Grapes of Wrath to see how that worked out).

My vote is "get home" if at all possible.
 
#24 ·
Yes. As someone wrote, every situation is different. If I have to go from home to Kaiser on Sunset Blvd., it takes me 1 full hour to drive the 13 miles. And, this would be during the off hours.

There probably is one trouble maker per block. So the total is 130 trouble makers, assuming everyone else is law abiding, waits their turns at non functioning stop lights, and so forth.

No go home bag. No bug out bag. Just a lot of gear anchored in the trunk. If shtf, a subterranean parking garage is just fine until things cool down.

Last week, I drove out to the San Fernando Valley on a freeway that was 6 lanes wide at 6:30 am. Everything was jammed up for miles! Why? One stalled car in the number two lane.

Of course the decathlon athletes who intend to bug out and live off the land or dash home could pass on having anything with them except a good pair of tennis shoes, running shorts, a Garand and enough 8 round en bloc clips to handle 130 people.

Good luck, Walter Mitty types!
 
#25 · (Edited)
I am not sure how our quotes got combined but I think that ARP misses the point. I will try and clarify.

If money in your pocket will solve your crisis.. your crisis is not likely anything that resembles a [heck hit the fan] situation. Money is the last thing I consider as a necessary part of a survival system. .It doesn't mean that I think that ATMs will be working..LOL If you want to run around with a sack full of cash.. great. I will do something else entirely.

for the record, I assumed that a theoretical crisis would generally include a suspension of all public services.. that includes ATMs haha
 
#28 ·
The bag that is with me all the time covers the basics, water purification, first aid, clothes, some food, some small tools, protection(state dependant), pcord, hygene, flashlight, and cash with a CC. Of all the items in that bag, I'll list the top three that I have used most often for the 2 years it has traveled with me. First aid stuff, cash, and the tools. It is a messenger over the shoulder bag that keeps my hands free while still having access to the bag with both hands.

Also have a more advanced pack with more stuff that bolsters the smaller bag. It might get taken with me as weather gets worse.

Last time I got into a so called dire situation and had to rely on my bags for aid was last winter, got stranded on the PA turnpike for 24hrs in my bus. Knew the situation was coming, was fairly well prepared, a few additional items would have made the experience much more "enjoyable". If I would have brought a sleep pad and bag, I could have stretched out in my luggage bay and slept, vs laying across a seat and floor and getting all stiff and a sore back from the bad position I had available to me. Cash was of no use on that crisis, out in the middle of nowhere, just had to wait it out.

Oh and it's not a "sack full of cash", it is neatly stacked and clipped bills of varying denominations that has the height of an entire 1/8th inch. Cash is King in a crisis situation, everyone accepts it, just have to negotiate that price. If it is an urban setting it will command a higher value priority, rural setting little value. It is just a part of the kit, I think everyone has it with them, most IMO, do not have enough with them. Some of you guys watching too many survival reality TV shows.
 
#27 ·
"Yes. As someone wrote, every situation is different. If I have to go from home to Kaiser on Sunset Blvd., it takes me 1 full hour to drive the 13 miles. And, this would be during the off hours.
There probably is one trouble maker per block. So the total is 130 trouble makers, assuming everyone else is law abiding, waits their turns at non functioning stop lights, and so forth.
No go home bag. No bug out bag. Just a lot of gear anchored in the trunk. If shtf, a subterranean parking garage is just fine until things cool down.
Last week, I drove out to the San Fernando Valley on a freeway that was 6 lanes wide at 6:30 am. Everything was jammed up for miles! Why? One stalled car in the number two lane.
Of course the decathlon athletes who intend to bug out and live off the land or dash home could pass on having anything with them except a good pair of tennis shoes, running shorts, a Garand and enough 8 round en bloc clips to handle 130 people.
Good luck, Walter Mitty types!"
Every situation is truly different. I live in N.E. Ohio, and when I look out my back yard and see 20 acres of a corn field. Yesterday I had to travel 45 miles south on the main highway and it took me about 45-50 min., partially during "rush hour". Not the mass congestion of people as in some other parts of this country. This gives me (not necessarily better but) different things to contend with in a SHTF situation.

At least you have "...alot of gear anchored in the trunk.", that prep alone could save your bacon and whether you call it "get home or bug out", at least you are prepared in the SHTF.

Only in case of a natural disaster would I fore-see the need to "bug out", all other cases I am staying right at my home. All my security & supplies are there, so if my car breaks down or by some other means, I become stranded on the highway, my first priority is to get home.

As is the plea from almost everyone these days, just do something! Don't get caught with your pants around your ankles - :shame: - so to speak...
 
#29 ·
The "Stuff" you pack in each bag is specific to your situation. How far do you work from home? How many people must you provide for etc.

My general precept for the difference in the two is that a GHB in my car has the exact things I need TO GET HOME, actual food and water , vs food and water procurement. Good shoes and climate protection while walking as well as lights, extra batteries and basic first aid items for blisters, injuries, sun exposure etc.

My BOB, which is a last ditch effort as I live in my BO Location, has those things I need to PROCURE food and water (Along with some actual food and water). It also has more advanced first aid, a long gun and pistol, chest rig for the same and a shelter for 2. More advanced tools such as a small ax, saw, fixed blade knife etc.

Your actual items will vary, but look at its purpose to determine the TYPE of things each bag needs.
 
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