The Laughing Wolf

Practical Preparedness: Snivel Gear For Bugging Out

Yesterday, I gave a quick overview on bugging out and the need to be prepared to do it in stages. There are many circumstances that can require one to abandon your vehicle, from it dying to officious orders. Be prepared for it, and be prepared to make the best of it no matter the circumstances.

A large part of my philosophy of life is not merely to survive, but to survive with comfort and style. Yes, I can still go out with very little and get by, but why do so if you can avoid it? Also, the fact is that if you are going out as a family that not all the family members are going to be able to handle that, especially children and the elderly. Think ahead a bit, and be prepared.

At a minimum, you are going to want shelter and warmth: some form of dining fly or cover that can be put up, a tent, a means of cooking, sleeping bags and ground cloths for all, and some food and water. This is indeed a lot, but there are ways to double things up a bit.

For example, that dining fly can be made out of one or more of the groundcloths. If you go for larger groundcloths, you can have just a couple handle the needs of all. You also can get five or more people in a three-person tent in an emergency.

On the tent, get a good one that is roomy, very light, and can be set-up with out stakes and such as needed. This lets you set-up anywhere from the fields to the floor of a gymnasium as needed. You cover all the bases, and ensure that you don’t have to accept official hospitality when that hospitality is a problem waiting to happen.

Individual sleeping bags are a must, in my opinion, though two can share one in a pinch. The other thing to consider with the bag is a self-inflating pad to go with it. Again, field or floor, it will provide some much needed comfort for little room and weight.

Cooking gear should be light, simple, and easy to fuel and use. Go to a good camping/hiking store and check the wide variety out. I actually have a couple of different systems that I have obtained over the years. My favorite is a two-burner system that lets me heat food and water at one time, yet you can use just one burner as needed. It is light, rugged, and reliable. I also have a single-burner system, and I even have my old-fashioned tripod stove, which uses standard propane torch cylinders both as fuel and one leg. I will bug out with all of them, but am prepared to stage down to just one of them as needed. The excess also gives me trade goods and bribes along the way.

I also have a set of light, rugged, and nice pots for use. I couldn’t quite afford to go all titanium, but was able to get some. I have a small set of cooking tools, again light and compact, and I have some other basic snivel gear that will help get me by.

Water is an important consideration, and I strongly recommend using some of the Camelback systems in addition to water bottles. Make at least one of your water bottles a water purification system, such as the Exstream systems, and I also carry a stand-alone water purification system. These are not just useful in the wilds, but, sadly, are often very much needed at refuge centers and the like as well.

I also keep on hand some camping food, so that I can eat without hunting or foraging as I go. If you are with a family or group, this is going to be a very important consideration. The newer freeze-dried and irradiated food will keep for years, so it is not a bad investment. The other thing I keep on hand, and eat and replace, are things like jerky. Allow me to also highly recommend the small bottles of tobasco and the like. Trust me on this, field or refugee center, the food will need all the help it can get.

This may seem like a lot to have, but remember that I also used to camp a good bit and want to get back to doing it again one day soon. Some of the gear is good to have no matter what.

There are two other important considerations to keep in mind.

One, have kids carry a pack with their own sleeping bag, a small first aid kit, some jerky and trail mix, and a small bottle of water. This will not be a problem for even small children, and may make a huge difference to them. It gives them a stake in things, a sense of responsibility, and it takes a load off you, literally. If you are in a group, spread the load as much as possible on the snivel gear.

Two, be prepared to cache things as you stage down, and if possible have pre-selected positions for such. You want to be able to hide valuables or other things you can’t take with you if you do stage down, so that if possible you can recover them later. Also, you are not going to be allowed to take anything that might conceivably be a weapon (nail clippers anyone?) into a refugee area and you sure don’t want to carry real valuables in either. If you turn them in to the authorities, I would not plan on getting them back, so think ahead and plan what and how you will do. Look at probable evacuation routes and figure where you might store things as needed.

For example, I know where nature or terror could take out two critical bridges on my prime paths out of here. I also have some idea where I might could cache some items for later use because I am familiar with those routes. Plan ahead just a bit, and it will make things much easier if you ever have to do them.

A final thought is that the snivel gear not only gives you comfort, it gives you trade items as well. You can trade parts of it for rides, for shelter, or more. If you have excess gear, you can and will find a use for it.

Going back to yesterday, another recommendation I will make is to look at Load Bearing Vests in addition to knapsacks and packs. These give you additional carrying capacity, and can keep truly critical items (ammo, medicine, emergency rations) on you no matter what. There are many around, and even sporting vests can serve for this in a pinch.

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and take what comes. Survival with style and comfort is the ultimate revenge against nature or man.