Long story short, guy went out for a ride in a remote area and wrecked in a ravine. He survived the plunge, but nearly died over the next few days because he hadn't taken any water, survival or self-rescue equipment with him.
The money quote from the story is this one:
"When you're an extreme snowmobiler and you get lost, you're usually dead," Barry Sadler told KECI-TV. "You're going places where people won't go -- where people shouldn't go."
The 54-year-old Mullan, Idaho, man said part of his extreme mindset was to ride without survival gear or water.
Some people are alive today because Darwin was apparently asleep or in the can when their moment came. Barry Sadler (not the former Greet Beret) is clearly one of them.
Sadler suffered some broken bones in his hands and had frostbite.
Two sheriff's deputies involved in the search scolded Sadler for riding by himself and without survival gear, an avalanche beacon or a satellite locator.
Gee, all that's missing here is for Red Forman to walk in and call him a dumbass.
The safe is open, the roads are blocked and you’re going to be walking…
For miles… Just you, your BOB (50ish lbs without ammo), and whatever you pick out of the safe…
Which pair do you pick?
You get to choose which two guns you would be walking out with, leaving any others behind. He had some interesting choices on his post, and I tried not to duplicate them as I sorted through my own collection. What would I take? What would I leave? What would YOU take?
#1. Springfield Armory M-1A and Springfield Armory 1911A1.
#2. AR-15A1 and Smith and Wesson Model 66.
#3. 9" bbl .300AAC AR with suppressor and Glock 19
4. AK-47 and Glock 23.
5. Marlin Model 1894 .357 Magnum rifle and Smith and Wesson Model 19 .357 pistol.
Taking a break in my gun room with the dogs tonight, I decided to check over some of my gear, just for the heck of it. In so doing, I happened to spy some Ruger Mini-14 magazines that I'd bought a year or so back, just as the big panic was setting in. (Got them at pre-panic prices, too...thanks Brownells!) These magazines, Ruger original equipment, were still in the factory packaging. And a close look at them through the clear plastic revealed that they were RUSTING inside that sealed factory packaging. Four of the six has small surface rust spots on them even though they'd never been out of the plastic.
Needless to say, all six were unwrapped. The rust spots were removed with steel wool and oil and the mags were wiped down with a handy RIG rag before being re-packaged, this time in a six-mag carrier that will be marked "Mini-14 only" to keep it from being mixed in with similar carriers containing AR mags and picked up by mistake in a non-training event should one occur. (Why couldn't Bill Ruger use AR mags...grumble, grumble...)
Moral of the story: Just because your survival gear is brand new and still in the packaging, that doesn't mean that you can forego checking it regularly just like the rest of your gear. Remember, if it's sitting, it's probably rusting or rotting. Check it and fix that stuff. And have you checked the batteries in your weapon lights lately? One of the Surefire-equipped long guns in my gun safe had batteries so flat that I'd be lucky to be able to find other batteries with it much less light up a room with it. So now as of tonight, the gun safe has a label inside the door listing the dates that batteries are changed and lights are tested.
It's little things, but come the bad times, it's those little things that just might get you.
In light of my generator's difficulties during the last power failure, difficulties which were attributed to poor maintenance by me, I hauled it out and gave it a test-run today. It was a bit slow to start until I treated it to a taste of starting fluid, and then it fired right up and ran without a hiccup for fifteen minutes. At the end of the test, I shut it down by turning off the fuel flow from the tank, starving it out and ensuring that the carburetor float bowl doesn't wind up full of gas or that the gas doesn't trickle down through the carb into the cylinder and eventually into the oil sump as happened before when I left the fuel flow open and let it set for several months. No gas in the oil this time though, and it started and ran great. This is supposed to be a cold, hard winter per the weather experts, and I for one don't plan to get caught powerless if and when the electric goes out courtesy of the first ice storm that comes along.
How about you, fellow generator owners? When's the last time that you ran yours up, either to use it or just to make sure that it still starts? Test them now, or roll the dice later...
It was the early 1990's, and I'd gone up into Michigan's Upper Peninsula for a bit of backpack camping and free-range shooting.
All was well the first day, as I drove up, parked my truck, took up my pack and rifle, and headed off down the trails towards my intended campsite that night.
The next morning, I awoke with an overall case of the blahs, and with a headache coming on that was getting progressively worse. Fellow hard-core coffee drinkers will be able to relate to this. You see, I routinely drank as much coffee as I could get my mitts on back then. I worked the night shift as a fire department paramedic and I practically mainlined the stuff between calls, usually adding ice to my cup so I could drink it down faster and have another one before heading back out. Over time, I'd developed a caffeine addiction. I functioned just fine if I kept my level up, but when all of a sudden I didn't have any more--like on the first morning out on this trip--I quickly became borderline non-functional. Laugh all you like, but the headaches were real and debilitating.
Now my truck was several miles away. My pack had no coffee, instant or otherwise. (See the lesson looming, kids? Murphy's Law is learning something here.) And on this beautiful morning, I felt like total hell and my head was pounding.
I broke camp and headed cross-country via compass towards a rural highway intersection about a mile and a half away where I knew there to be a small country store. (And yay for me, I hit the highway just a couple hundred yards from that intersection. Map-and-compass practice pays off!) I walked into this little store just as it was opening, and I was a sight I'm sure as I was decked out in my camouflage BDUs, complete with 782-gear ALICE pack and LBE suspenders and a short CAR-15 rifle slung around my neck. (The M-4/M-Forgery craze was several years away yet.) I walked in, located a small jar of instant coffee. (Maxwell House--I'll never forget it's blue twist-off top.) I took this jar of coffee over to the cooler where the bottled water was, took out a bottle of water, and looked for something to mix my coffee in. Seeing nothing, I took a map from my pocket, made a funnel, and poured the coffee crystals into the water bottle. I shook it well, then guzzled the whole bottle, not even minding the gritty feel of the coffee crystals between my teeth as I knew that caffeine salvation was just seconds away.
Sure enough, the headache and listlessness disappeared right then and there, and I was ready to go by the time I got to the counter and set the two empty containers down in front of the cashier, who'd been watching me the whole time with undisguised amazement.
Lesson learned: Caffeine withdrawal can seriously affect your ability to think clearly and operate at high speed in an emergency. So if possible, taper off caffeine use before going into situations where if might not be available, and always have a ready back-up supply, even if it's instant coffee mixed with cold water. And should we find ourselves in a survival situation, whether bugging out or hunkering down in your place and maybe hosting others, a source of caffeine should not be overlooked, either for yourself, those in your party who need it, or as a barter good if it comes to that.
So since Friday night, when the big storm came and knocked us back to the 19th century by taking away the electricity and running water, Murphy and I have been practicing our emergency operating plan and surviving quite nicely.
I've said before that it's actually good for the power to go out for a day or two once a year or so, just to keep the preparedness skills sharp. And this storm, while validating my preparations and past practice sessions, still proved the need over here.
The lights went out around 10:45pm I used my cell phone light to find an emergency flashlight, none of which were where they were supposed to be. (-1 point). Fortunately I remembered nearly tripping over one such mis-placed light in the kitchen not long ago, so I found that one and used it to go down the basement to get to the stash of white gas and propane lanterns that I have there. I never leave one behind if I find one at a garage sale. No matter how junky or neglected they are, they can easily be repaired. One lantern, fueled and manteled, was ready to go and it lit right up. I had light (+1 point).
Then there was a massive bang outside, and I looked out the window and saw leaves where no leaves should have been. A tree of substantial size had crashed down, just missing the house. I stepped outside to make sure that it had in fact missed the house, and then went back in before another one came down. The winds were off the scale at this time.
I grabbed my NOAA weather radio, but the local weather station in Cumberland, MD was off the air. The one in Sterling, VA, well past me storm-wise, was already warning local residents of the pounding that I was getting, so I knew then that it was big.
Murphy was calm, so that was a help. Lagniappe, bless his soul, would have been off his cams in a storm like this. The winds were howling, the thunder roaring, and the lightning was arcing everywhere. We actually went out on the upstairs deck--the one above the falling-tree danger line--to watch. It was a spectacular show.
The storm passed pretty quickly, and didn't even drop much rain. After it was gone, I went outside to survey the yard. Power lines were all intact, and save for the big tree on the ground in my back yard, life was good. Even Murphy's run survived without a tree-hit for once. So with nothing more to do, I poured myself a drink then went to bed.
The next day, I got up early because it was already getting hot. I drove into town and found tree and power lines down everywhere. Most of Charles Town was dark, although a few scattered areas still had electricity somehow. Fortunately, I had a full tank of gas because I never put my vehicle up without at least half a tank. (+10 points...and Nyah at Nicki. Hee.) Then I drove out to the airport to check on my plane. It had survived just fine, but the airport was without power except for the control tower radio system, which was operating on generator. AWOS was down, but there were no clouds and no wind so I took the plane up and checked the area. You could kind of tell who had power and who did not by the number of cars in business parking lots. Restaurants with no power don't have customers, but those who had it...their lots were swarmed. Traffic lights were out over most of the area, and wrecks were occurring as people were too stupid or too impatient to treat the intersections as 4-way stops, especially as it got hotter. The worst roadblock, however, was on Route 51 just west of town. A train had come to a stop across the road last night per one of my neighbors, and as I flew over at about 11AM, it was still there, completely cutting one of the two major roads into and out of town to the west. And as I circled it, I could see that the engine's lights were on--it was running. However it was stopped at a signal tower which appeared to be dead so doubtless the highly-paid union rail-crew had decided not to move the train forward until they could get a signal and be assured of a clear track ahead. And I'm fine with that, however had they just backed the damned train up 200 yards, they could have cleared the intersection. As it was though, they were still sitting there hours later, and the road remained closed. I sure hope nobody out that way needed and ambulance or a fire truck.
I logged an hour of flight time sightseeing at 1200 feet AGL and then put the plane away and drove home. Chik-fil-a had power, so I stopped for lunch. (They also had air conditioning and wi-fi!)
Went home, decided that the power was not coming back on any time soon, and dragged out the generator. However I had not been maintaining it, so it did not start (-10 points). Drove to Home Depot, got a new spark plug and 5 gallons of high-octane gasoline from a station that was open, (No waiting. Hee at Nicki again.) then stopped at the grocery store and bought a huge rib-eye steak for dinner. Went home, drained the old bad gas from the generator and put new good stuff in, replaced the plug, and fired it up with a healthy does of starting fluid. Yay! Power! Ran a cord to the refrigerator/freezer and celebrated by drinking some cold beer shortly thereafter. Then I took Murphy down to the river to swim him, and I brought my shower kit with soap and shampoo, and he got cool while I got clean. Returning home, I cooked the steak on the gas grill outside. I have plenty of drinking water set aside, but wash water and water for the toilets came from the rain barrel (+5).
In the spirit of neighborliness, I offered the cat lady next door some surplus power for her freezer but all she wanted power for was her air conditioner (for her cats) and I didn't have that much to spare. So she declined my offer and went back to--I kid you not--wrapping her cats in wet towels to keep them cool.
I did find some extra power for the TV and DVD player, so I watched Tales of the Gold Monkey (Thanks, Aaron!) while I ate what had to be one of the best steaks ever.
Next I took a walk about the neighborhood to see how audible my generator was (not very, since I'd put it behind the house), and to see how many other people had lights and what sort. Generators were running at quite a few homes, and others seemed to be lit by battery or gas lanterns, candles, or not at all. Then I read for a bit and went to sleep.
I awoke to power. It came on about 5:00AM here. Welcome back, internet and civilization!
Lesson learned: Pay more routine attention to emergency equipment. Lanterns and flashlights were out of place and some were inoperable due to neglect. Generator should not have been down, either. Had this been a real emergency and Home Depot been closed, I'd have been hosed. Gotta keep this stuff checked and running in between outages from now on. Other than that, we did good. How'd you do if you were affected?
Brigid posed a great question yesterday. It was a question that I answered in her comment section, but on further reflection, I thought that it deserved more. So here's her question again:
"If you could only take what you could load in your arms, in your car, in the event of a disaster what would it be?"
What would you take with you if you only had a minute or two to gather up as much as you could carry in one trip, knowing that once you passed out your door, there was no going back for anything else, what would you take?
For me it was surprisingly simple. Going up to my gun safe, I would remove a small fireproof box that has all of my crucial documents: birth certificate, professional license documentation, and bank account info; stuff that I'll need to prove that I am who I am and allow me to access off-site funds. There's also enough cash in that box to keep me going for a while in an emergency. That's what that cash is for.
Next, from that gunsafe, I'd grab my favorite rifle and pistol and the loaded magazines for each which are in the gun safe, ready and waiting. nearby is a belt and Load Bearing vest with a holster for that pistol and mag pouches for both weapons. Those pouches contain loaded magazines already, just waiting for such a grab-and-go situation. There are also three small pistols in that safe. These are my back-up or "hide-out" pistols. They fit in my pockets so I'd take those, too. Who knows, but I may get to a point where I need something good to barter for something else. Finally, I'd probably scoop up my Uzi, the loaded magazine for it that's in the safe, and it's shoulder pouch containing six additional loaded 32rd. magazines. By now I'm moving out the door with about 40lbs. of weaponry, a quantity of cash and all of my essential documents. I'm good to go now, because with one more exception, everything else I'll need is already in my vehicle.
Come on, Murphy. Let's go for a ride. Load up. Murphy loves to ride, and he'll be in the vehicle in a flash.
I could close the door on everything else, knowing that I was never going to see it again. It's all just stuff, and stuff can be replaced. That's why we have insurance.
Now in my vehicle, I still have my emergency "bug out" bag. With this and the above items, I'm good to go. My vehicle never--ever--has less than half a tank of gas in it due to my work's on-call requirement, and even if I can't buy any more gas, I can get a couple hundred miles out of that half a tank. I now have mobility and range and enough firepower to get me out of any trouble that I can't otherwise avoid. I may lose my house and everything left behind in it but Murph and I will be safe and well-fed for a few days and we can always start again someplace else, come what may.
So how about you? What would you take if you could only make one trip out your door, and would it be enough? Could you leave everything else that you've ever acquired?
1. Be more diligent about oiling the hinges in the chimney flue. It was a royal bitch to get it open.
2. Batteries in the primary emergency lantern were dead. Spares had been used for something else and not replaced. That was just plain unacceptable.
3. Propane bottles for camp stove. They'd been in the same spot for years, until they were moved a few months ago. Where to? Took a while to remember, didn't it? Meanwhile, padding around in basement looking for them in the dark (because the above-mentioned lantern wasn't working) taught us another lesson, namely if you're going to be in the basement barefoot, do a better job of keeping stray pistol brass policed up. Stepping on that .45 case hurt like a bitch, didn't it? So keep basement cleaner, wear a shoe down there when it's dark, and don't move emergency supplies unless you make an effort to re-train yourself as to their new location.
Otherwise, This exercise was graded "Fully Successful".
Bonus points for having gone grocery shopping the day before, and for having bought a few dried foods just for an "eventual" outage just like this one. So "Yay me!" for that. The tea and instant chicken noodle soup were a nice morale booster. Now get more.
Just back from the grocery store today, and I figured I'd post a thought about preparedness on a subject that frequently gets overlooked, at least among many of the people that I talk to. That subject is water.
Now everyone with half a brain is putting up a bit of food for possible emergencies. You don't even need to buy all of the exotic dehydrated foods or MREs. It's really just as simple as buying a few extra bags of rice or cans of meat with long shelf lives every time you get to the store, and rotating them out into your normal panty stock as you get newer stuff on each trip. Anyone can do it, and most people I know do practice at least some form of emergency food storage or surplus set-aside.
But water's the big one that most people tend to ignore, probably because it's so prevalent in our everyday lives. You turn on a tap and there it is, right? It's always been that way. But what happens when that tap no longer works because the municipal provider is off-line and/or your well pump falters for lack of electricity? (Even generators run out of gas eventually.) There's still water to be obtained, be it from local streams (if you live near any) or rainwater or a variety of other sources, but it's going to need to be treated before it can be consumed. Boiling is good, but it takes heat and time and reduces much of your water to steam that evaporates away if you're not careful. Various chemicals can be used, including household bleach with sodium hypochlorate (4-5 drops per gallon, more if the water's cloudy) but even 4-5 drops of bleach per gallon is going to leave that water tasting pretty bad. And while it's still better than no water at all, why stress yourself and bring morale down even more by having to drink foul-tasting water whenever you're thirsty? And if you've got kids, good luck getting them to drink that stuff.
That's why I stockpile quantities of instant tea, both iced and hot varieties. If you make iced tea out of that bleachy or iodine-flavored water, you barely notice the chemical taste. Got kids? Kool-aid works just as well. In fact, any flavor additive that can be mixed into your emergency drinking water is going to make it a lot more palatable and help you drink enough to stay effective. As such, every preparedness stash should have some. Murphy and I have many gallons of bottled water set aside (and rotated for freshness just like the foodstuffs) but it's not a finite supply and it doesn't mean that I'll be in a hurry to dump my full rain barrels absent some sort of radiological event upwind. That water too may wind up in use and if push comes to shove, we've got plenty of instant iced tea mix and bouillon cubes here. Murphy doesn't mind drinking out of puddles but me, I want something that at least doesn't taste like rain water off my roof, even if that's what it is.
This comic reminded me of my own neighbor, a redneck who has boasted that his "survival plan" for bad times is to walk up on other people with a .25 automatic pistol hidden in his hand with the intent of coming away with their survival supplies.
Yep. He's actually said it, and he's joked about it a couple of times since in my hearing as he and his drinking buddies hoot and holler and swill cheap beer out on his driveway every Friday night.
He's also asked me what my plans are on at least one occasion, and I've told him that I don't worry about such things.
Of course I don't worry because I have plenty of food, water, batteries, bottled gas and other things stockpiled in a rotation system that keeps them from going bad. I also don't worry about him because now that I know of his plans, I have a range card made up for my M60 that will put rounds right on the only path through the woods between his property and mine. Another neighbor just down the road--a squared-away friend whom I trust enough to discuss such matters with--also now has the redneck's house covered as well as the road between the redneck's place and his number one pal's house. Should an actual emergency survival situation occur, the moment that either one of them appears with anything in their hands more menacing than a bouquet of flowers will be an interesting and noisy moment indeed here in Upper Dogpatch.
Now that's not to say that I or my "normal neighbor" as (I like to call him) are averse to visitors or loathe to help our decent neighbors in bad times. To the contrary, several of you who read this know where I live and are welcome here and encouraged to stop by if times get that bad. However, the point cannot be overlooked that, in bad times, there really are those who plan to do you and I and everyone else harm, either because it's easier than making their own preparations or because they're just bad people. Consequently, part of any proper survival plan should include contingency plans for dealing with such people when and if they appear, as they undoubtedly will, given enough time. This should include getting at least a rough idea as to who your neighbors are and who else might wind up in your neighborhood if and when things get too bad in their own. And you should also make it a point to stay low profile. Other than my blog readers--most of whom don't know where I live--very few people know what I have in my gun room. The rednecks definitely don't know and hopefully never will. This means having to forego firing a belt of tracer ammo into the sky in New Years Eve, but better that then telling every neighbor for two miles that I have that sort of firepower here, including the 20 year old punk down the street who is known to be a burglar and a thief even when times are good. It also means not advertising the fact that I have enough food and supplies to keep me and my dog and an invited guest or two fed and warm for a couple of months if need be. If people don't know that you have it, they won't be begging you for it or trying to take it once the lights go out and the stores are empty.
Fresh stock of groceries in...check. SUV gas tank full...check. SUV under cover to avoid being iced over...check. 25 lbs of ice melt purchased...check. Generator tires inflated and it's gas tank topped off...check. Extra gasoline jugs filled...check. firewood brought in for wood stove and fireplace...check. Two propane lanterns prepared with fresh tanks and new mantles...check. Flashlights set out around house with fresh batteries...check. Empty water jugs filled to provide toilet-flush water...check. Ample supply of beer, chips coffee and dog biscuits acquired...check. Stack of DVDs and books selected...check.
Weatherman says it's coming. Not much snow, but a ton of ice. Murphy and I say "Bring it!" We're going to hang out until the power goes out, and then we're going to hang out some more. We'll be on line so long as we've got power, but knowing Allegheny Power the way that I do, I'm not thinking that it's going to be for much longer. Y'all take care out there now.
So what's it like when everyone in the Washington DC area tries to get home at the same time on roads that are impassable? Well from where I sat last night, caught up in that mess, it was a lot like one of those "Day After" post-nuclear attack scenarios, with hundreds of thousands of people trapped on every outgoing road. Most of us wound up being trapped--repeatedly and for prolonged periods--not by the actual event but due to the careless, selfish or downright irrational actions of a relatively small number of other people. First a bit of background. For those of you not caught in it, the whole Washington DC metro area got hit with a winter storm that brought down 6-8 inches of wet, heavy snow in a fairly short period of time. There was even more to the north and west--by the time I got back here to the safety and security of the Lair, there was over a foot on the ground. Fortunately by then, most of the weak were already off the roads and out of the way.
The snow started coming down heavy a bit before the normal rush hour kicked off. Almost immediately, car crashes began to pile up all over the area because people weren't exercising common sense in the weather. By the time I was able to conclude my business and attempt to escape, it was 6PM and there were a couple of inches of wet snow down. naturally, every road going over a bridge out of the District was a solid ribbon of red tail lights, none of which were moving. The crashes that were occurring and blocking the roads were mostly all very minor ones--people sliding into each other or into guard rails at very low speeds--but a lot of these people appear to have been stuck in "dependent lemming" mode because they were leaving their cars right where they were and waiting on the police to respond and take reports. When I got to the first of many that I encountered, it was a full-size SUV up against a guard rail at about a 45-degree angle, with it's tail end projecting out into the roadway, blocking one lane of the traffic and bottle-necking the bridge as people were trying to get around it. It had some front quarter damage but I suspect that it was still drivable. I saw it's operator standing by with his phone and called to him to move his truck. He angrily called back that he was waiting for a police report. Since I was literally stuck there by the traffic, I told him to go home and call the insurance company in the morning or at least get out of everyone's way. His response: "No, I want them to come out and see it just like it happened!"
So he was the first one of a fair number of people that I briefly contemplated shooting, just as my gift to the gene pool. Because his dumb, selfish ass could not drive, he's going to remain as an obstruction and mess things up for everyone else so that a police officer can come and see his truck after a one-car crash that was 100% his fault anyway. The only thing is, the police, like the rest of the area government, were overwhelmed and not responding to minor crashes, and even if they'd wanted to they could not get to them due to butt-heads like this guy blocking up most of the other roads on the way to this one.
And the local government was paralyzed, just like the rest of us. No disrespect intended to all of the police and fire folks who were out there trying to do what they could, but they were in the same boat. I saw several police cars that had slid into snowbanks or ditches and become stuck right alongside the motorists that they were trying to held. I saw ambulances and fire trucks sitting with their lights all flashing just ahead of or behind me in the same gridlock, taking 20 minutes to move a block because people would not and usually could not move out of their way. Then power lines and trees started coming down, the latter blocking part of roads or whole roads, and the former knocking out lights and traffic signals over large areas. And of course the tree crews and utility workers could not get out and reach the trouble spots any more than the police officers ambulances, tow trucks or snow plows could. It was chaos, and I was reminded of this quote from the movie Full Metal Jacket that described it perfectly: (Link) View more Full Metal Jacket Quotes and Sound Clips Now during my efforts to "Escape from DC", I saw some of the best as well as the worst of people. I saw people banding together to push stuck cars out of the snow or off of the icy patches that many were sitting on with their (typically) one little wheel spinning. I saw locals out with snow shovels walking up and down the roads digging random cars out. I saw a couple of SUV drivers who had tried using tow straps to pull others out of ditches only to torque themselves into the ditches too because they apparently lacked a basic understanding of the physics surrounding objects at rest and the problems of frictionless surfaces such as the ones that their vehicles were sitting on when they applied power. And I saw government incompetence repeatedly in the form of bus after bus after freaking city or county bus, all stuck in the snow and blocking major roads. I'm sorry, but we all saw this storm coming. Who was the gutless wonder that refused to cancel these buses or call them back in off the roads when it became apparent that they weren't going to be able to get through? I saw well over a dozen just on my route, which suggests that there were probably hundreds of them out there across the whole area, all sitting empty with their "not in service" lights flashing as they blocked a lane or an intersection. Fucking thanks for that, eh?
Worse though were the jackwagons who, as soon as they found their little yuppie one-wheel-drive car bogged down on the road (or in a highway center lane), abandoned those cars and walked away, leaving thousands of obstacles in the pathways of all of the rest of us. I quickly lost track of the number of times that I had to maneuver around what appeared to be a perfectly fine car that was just sitting in the middle of the road for no apparent reason. Next time, I'll have a long-handled hammer in my vehicle that I can reach out with and whack a dent into each one as I pass it. Those cars really made a bad situation worse for a lot of the rest of us who were still moving.
And then there were the lines and the open fighting at the gas stations. People stuck in traffic for many hours were running low on gas and it seemed as if they were all trying to shoe-horn into the same gas stations that still had power. There were lines backing up into traffic lanes, much horn-blowing, and not a few unkind words being yelled back and forth as I passed some of these gas stations. Could you imagine these people if it was really an emergency, like a nuclear evacuation or the re-election of Nancy Pelosi to Speaker of the House? I could see shots being fired, especially later when many of the gas stations began to run out of gas. As for me, I'm thankful for a longstanding, unbreakable policy that I follow under which I never, ever head downtown without an ample fuel reserve. I didn't have a full tank when I went down yesterday, but I had more than enough to get me back home without the need to fight for a refuel, even with all of the extra idling and detouring that I had to do. I was also grateful for my emergency Bug Out Pack that I knew was in the back of my vehicle. I knew that if things got worse, I had what I'd need to wait things out for a bit or even walk home if I'd had to. And of course I was armed, and the presence of that firearm and it's extra ammo was an added reassurance more than once as I had to thread through crowds of newly-minted pedestrians or locals out for a lark. (Yeah, I had a firearm with me in Washington, DC. Sue me.)
I also had a real 4x4--a no-nonsense full-size SUV with high ground clearance, a powerful engine, and tires appropriate for the weather and terrain. Many of my peers and neighbors have mocked it over the years for it's less-than-stellar gas mileage compared to their little yuppie-mobiles and hybrids, but that machine was sure-footed and had what it needed to claw over, around or through whatever it needed to, and it needed to do a lot of that stuff on the trip. Of course it helps that I know how to operate a 4x4 effectively and don't mistake it for a "go-anywhere, do anything" wonder machine. Even my 4x4 has it's limitations and I know and respect them. That's why I got home and didn't wind up in the ditches like so many other trucks and SUVs that I passed in the night.
But more important than the SUV, the survival gear and the gun, I had the survivor mindset. I quickly realized that this was going to take a while, so I put time-frames out of my head. My only goal was to get home, period. I also realized that I was responsible for my own progress and that I could not depend on the government to get me out. This point was driven home in spades as I found myself stuck on one roadway for nearly two hours, blocked in on all sides by other motorists and moving so sporadically than many times I shut my vehicle off to conserve my fuel. When I finally met up with a police officer who was manning a barricade to keep us from another road that was blocked by a stuck tour bus across both lanes, he told me that they were still waiting on tow trucks for the bus and a few other stuck cars. "Where are those tow trucks?" I asked. "Behind you, about four miles or so. They can't get here because of the traffic jam." So the only trucks able to free up traffic were stuck in the traffic that they were sent to un-stick. Wonderful. And when I pointed out that his bosses clearly knew that this roadway was impassable but had declined to block several of the the ramps leading to it and countless more cars were trying to merge in, adding to the problem and finding themselves also now trapped unnecessarily, he just shrugged.
That road was blocked for most of the night, and many thousands of people were trapped for several hours. I might still be stuck there too except that I'm not a lemming. I respect the law, but sometimes when I have to, I'm willing to override it. I used my 4x4 to get up out of that mess by crossing a median, driving on a shoulder, and going the wrong way up a ramp that had actually been cut at the top, exchanging friendly waves with the guy manning the closure barricade at the top. He obviously understood. And I did this despite the horn-honking and light-flashing of several other lemmings who just sat there waiting for "the authorities" to re-open the road. For all I know, they're still there waiting. If, instead of a snowstorm, it was the threat of a mushroom cloud rising over the National Mall, I suspect that archeologists would find their remains centuries later after the area cooled down, still sitting in the remains of their cars, waiting forever.
Still, the prize for planned incompetence had to be the brain trust in charge of the Dulles Toll Road, who, when faced with a loss of power at their automated toll gates, decided to just funnel everyone through one or two lanes that actually had human toll-takers instead of just opening the other eight gates and letting traffic flow free for a few hours. They even reportedly held gates closed when someone got to one with no cash and made that person fill out the "promise to pay" collection form while everyone else waited in line behind him or her. Needless to say, the back-up caused by that bone-headed move was epic.
I admit right now that I committed numerous traffic violations getting out of that mess. I drove into oncoming lanes where there was no traffic, I drove where there were no lanes. I cruised through intersections with red lights where there was no cross-traffic, exchanging stares with sheep sitting at those lights who didn't comprehend that everyone driving now on this road is going the same way, and that by sitting through whole cycles of red lights, they were just slowing everyone more. In short, without taking undue risks or subjecting anyone else to risks of my own causation, I did what I had to do to get home, including whipping out the map book that I always keep in the truck and plotting new routes when the ones that I usually use (like the Dulles Toll Road) were stalled. And I eventually managed to get here at 2:30AM, just EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS after leaving on a trip that should normally have taken no more than an hour, or an hour and a half in average traffic.
Ironically, after all of that, I was almost ditched twice in the last half-mile by two local idiots who each abandoned their vehicles partially blocking the small, steep and un-plowed one-lane dirt roads that I live off of. If I wound up stuck within sight of my house after all of that, I'd have snapped, of that I'm certain. One is a neighbor that I know to be old and in poor health. I went down this morning to help dig his vehicle out. The other...It was gone when I got there, otherwise I might have just completely buried it in snow out of spite. And of course I had to walk up my drive, get a snow shovel, and carve out a niche at the end of my driveway for my SUV to fit into. Then I had to play with Murphy for a bit. I felt bad getting back so late, especially after watching him pee for almost a minute solid, but not bad enough to resist tossing a shovel-full of snow on him. Big mistake. He dropped right into that "play crouch" and I knew it was on "full-contact" even before he leaped onto me with his whole eighty-plus pounds and knocked me down into a snowdrift for some wrestling. But I didn't mind a bit. After all that I'd been through, it was just good to be home with my friend.
So tonight, as I sit on my deck cleaning my pistol after today's range session, I cannot help but overhear my neighbor and his drinking buddies as they loudly talk amongst themselves out in his yard. They're talking about what they plan to do in a SHTF scenario. (for those of you unfamiliar, that mean "when the Shit Hits The Fan"--in other words, what they plan to do when revolution, nuclear attack, alien invasion, zombie attack, etc., comes along.
Apparently they plan to band together, which is fine. However, it sounds like they'll all be gathering at my neighbor's house. WTF? Why can't they go gather at one of the other guys' houses? These hillbillies are annoying enough in the best of times.
It's interesting to listen to them, though. They admit to themselves--and to me and Lagniappe--that they don't have much stockpiled in the way of foodstuffs and other supplies.
Lagniappe and I have plenty, BTW, but I make it a point not to advertise.
Then the one starts in on how he's got everything that he needs in the form of four boxes of .25 ammo, because his .25 pistol is so small that he can "walk right up on anyone and then POW!"
Uh-huh. I don't advertise because I don't want people who think like that to know that I've got anything that they might want.
They talk for a bit, then start pontificating on what sort of food that a mutual neighbor nearby has in his house. They all hate this guy--and he hates them--and they decide that he has "hippie food" and announce that come the day, they'll be eating hippie food, the implication being that they plan on helping themselves to whatever the "hippie" neighbor has.
Now I've talked to that neighbor plenty and he really is an aging hippie. He and his wife are also strongly anti-gun and he's told me several times that they won't have one in their house.
So right next door I actually have the redneck posse planning armed assault on the home of the resident (unarmed) leftist pacifist as soon as society breaks down. Very interesting.
Note to self: If the S does HTF, immediately shoot the redneck neighbors as soon as they approach the property line. For all I know, I may be on their list, too. Fortunately my house is not within .25 range of theirs, however all of their land is well within the effective range of my Browning .30 MG...the one that my would-be freebooter neighbors don't even know that I have.
I guess it's time to make up a new range card for the Browning.
Lessons to take away from this tale: 1. If you have supplies set in for bad times, keep it to yourself. 2. Bad guys really are out there, and in a crisis, they may be people that you know. 3. Have a gun and know how to use it.
At this point, I'm guessing that many of my regular readers will nod and say "yep, sure do." A few others will claim that they meant to put one together, or used to have one (get it in gear, slappies...) and the remaining few will ask "what's a bug-out bag?"
Simply put, a Bug-out bag, or BOB, is a day-pack filled with 72 hours' worth of supplies--food, water, medicine, basic of shelter, and whatever environmental gear that you need for your unique operating environment. Small enough to pack in your car or stash at your workplace, it has one purpose--to help get you out of Dodge when things go bad. These "bad times" may come in the form of a severe storm, a major power outage, or what some idiots like to refer to as a "man-caused disaster (terrorist incident). Basically the power's out, your car's not running or the roads are all shut down, and you're either stranded waiting for things to improve, or else you're a refugee on the road. In any case, in times like that, it's nice (crucial, actually) to have access to a few days' worth of nutritional food, clean water, and other essential items that might mean the difference between you making it through the crisis or not.
My own pack is a simple enough one, but it serves as a good example of what you might want to consider in yours, assuming that you don't already have one. For food, I have six Mountain Home dried meals--just add boiling water and I have lasagna, beef stew, or spaghetti. I also use MRE entrees when I can get them--ideally the food should be compact, light, yet high in useful calories. 1800-2000 calories a day is a good guide. Remember, you may be walking a lot. I also have some beef jerky, some hard candy, and some oatmeal, all of which is light, stores for a long time, and serves as a good tummy filler to supplement and stretch out the basic meals.
My bag is built around a worst-case scenario in which bad things happen while I'm away at one of a couple of places that I regularly have to go, each of which is roughly sixty miles from the Lair. If I can't drive home, and if I can't acquire a bike, I plan on walking it and based on a realistic assessment that I can make roughly 20 miles per day, I should be home in three days' max. Ideally Lagniappe will be holding the fort and protecting my main store of supplies and life'll be good for a few months once I get back there.
So I have my food. I also have basic cooking/eating utensils, an Esbit folding stove and heat tabs, and a small single-burner Coleman Peak One stove with a full tank of white gas that will last me for several hours' use. It's heavy, but if the weather's bad or I have to boil more than a cup of water, it'll be worth it. I also have waterproof/windproof matches and a magnesium bar for back-up. I WILL have fire and heat, no matter the conditions.
Speaking of weather, I have shelter in the form of a GI rain poncho (which doubles as a shelter half), a nice poncho liner (makes a great light sleeping bag) and a disposable rain suit folded into a pack smaller than a deck of cards. Being wet sucks. I plan to stay as dry as possible, whether I'm hunkered down or on the move.
There's a pretty decent first aid kit in a pocket of the pack, too. It has gauze pads, assorted bandages for dressings, slings, splints, etc., gauze rolls, tape, trauma shears...even a couple of occlusive dressings and a few trauma pads. I've also packed an epi pen since I'm allergic to things that sting, and some pain meds--aspirin and something a bit stronger courtesy of one of my surgeon friends. Bad times often bring both increased risk of injury and decreased access to medical treatment so you need to be ready to treat yourself or someone else. I'm ready.
There's a Sawyer water filter in the bag (and a camelback which will let me carry 3 quarts) and chemical tabs which will remove the viruses from water that the filter won't get. Face it--you can't carry three days' worth of water (at least I can't, not at a gallon+ a day minimum) so you need to be able to treat and use any water that you come across. And remember--just because it looks clean, that doesn't mean that it is. Treat it, unless you want to go down with a stomach virus.
Finally, there are the misc. items--solid knife (A K-BAR), a small sharp knife, a compass, a whistle, a flashlight, a small hand-cranked radio, 50' of 550 cord, and for me, one set of replacement liners and socks for my leg to replace damaged ones or to quickly rebuild it before setting out on a sixty-mile hike. I keep some ready cash in my bag, too. Just in case.
This pack all weighs less than 12lbs and fits nicely in a medium daypack in the back of my vehicle. Sitting alongside it is a duffle bag with a change of practical clothing, since I never know what I might be wearing when the time comes. Some nylon BDUs and a change of underwear and clean socks are a bare minimum, and this bag can be re-parked as the climate changes to add cold weather/thermal gear, extra rain protection, and other seasonal items. Snugged in between the two bags: a small free-standing two-person dome tent that I can secure to the pack.
This set-up puts anything that I could possibly need no farther away than my vehicle, with one exception of course: defensive armaments. I did not pack weapons into this kit because I don't like to leave such things in my vehicle unattended, and there are times when I have to turn my vehicle over to others--sch as a mechanic or a valet. Besides, I almost always carry a handgun and extra ammo on my person, so one in the bag would be redundant anyway. And whenever I travel long distances or the threat level is high, there's usually a long rifle temporarily added to the vehicle's storage area. A 1911 or a .357 revolver are handy, but not nearly as handy in some situations as an AR-15 or a FAL. Just know that there could come a situation where you wind up walking away from your vehicle but can't carry a rifle openly. In that case, be prepared to disable that weapon by removing the bolt or some other component to prevent someone else from taking possession of it--it would suck royally to wind up on the wrong end of your own hastily-abandoned rifle, wouldn't it?
Above all, and perhaps the most important thing to have with you, is the survivors' mindset. Without that, all the gear in the world is useless. You have to know without a doubt that no matter what happens, you're going to make it. "Do or do not--there is no try." Truer words were never spoken by any muppet.
Now get out there, build up a bag (or check over the one you've got), and prepare yourself mentally to use it. Sad to say, but with Obama and his band of looters running our country into the ground, we may all need such packs one day soon.
