Posts Tagged bug out bag
Bugging out to the wilderness
There is a theory that has been going around the survival community for decades, and at one time I subscribed to it, but not any more. The theory goes like this – if there is some kind of wide spread disaster, I’am just going to grab my bug out bag, and bug out to the wilderness. From there, my family and I will live in peace as society falls apart. When everything has passed, my family and I will return and help re-build.
Here are some of the reasons why I no longer subscribe to the bug out to the wilderness theory:
Ehrlichiosis
Lyme Disease
Rocky Mountain spotted fever
Tularemia
E. Coli
Cryptosporidium
Dysentery
Vitamin Deficiencies
Culture Shock – that may not be the correct term, but its going to be used anyway
Frost Bite
Heat Stroke
Heat Exhaustion
Only to name a few,,,,,,,,,.
One thing that I have noticed, people who subscribe to the “bug out to the wilderness” theory, usually do not have a grasp on wilderness diseases and how their spread.
All it takes is one tick bite, and the person can contract a number of tick borne infections.
All it takes is one sip of contaminated water, and the victim has some kind of water borne infection.
You can not take someone (like a teenager) out of their comfort zone, take them out to the wilderness, put them in a tent, and expect them to be happy – its not going to happy. The only thing that situation will do, is make matters worse.
On July 16 – 17, 2010, my son, my son-in-law and I went on a camping trip along the Angelina River – which is close to Jasper, Texas. The day time temps were in the mid – upper 90s, with night time temps in the mid 80s. At one point the heat got so bad that I was getting disoriented. Thank goodness the river was right there – so all 3 of us jumped in and cooled off. The question is, what if there was no river too cool off in? With little to no shade, and no way to cool off, heat related problems can be a real issue.
Lets say that you have a nice bug out location picked out – its close to water, has lots of wilderness for hunting and foraging – keep in mind that primitive man did not stay in one location year round. The life of a hunter-gather revolves around being able to move from one location to another. Staying in one location for very long will deplete your sources of roots, berries and wild foods. Even if you are on a river, man can not live on fish alone. Sooner or later, your going to have to relocate to find new food sources.
At least with staying at home, survivalist can stockpile supplies – food, water, water filters, first aid supplies, stockpile seeeds, have a garden, stay in touch with friends and family members, sleep in your own bed,,,.
Real survival plans should start with a realistic approach, and a realistic plan.
Think about you plans, talk to your friends and family members about their plans, and how your plans and their plans can work together.
What kind of disaster are you planning for – hurricane, wildfire, plague, earthquake,,,,,, or something else?
Instead of trying to find the solution here, real through this list of forum threads about Bug Out Plans, and go from there.
MOLLE Pack VS ALICE Pack
“which one should I buy, an ALICE Pack or a MOLLE Pack?” – that is one of the questions that I see a lot of on the forum. The answer is not a simple one. Before you can answer a question, sometimes you have to ask a few questions.
How much room do you need
How rugged do you need the frame? – the MOLLE pack has a plastic frame, ALICE has a metal frame
A couple of weeks ago my son, nephew and I went on a boating / camping trip. We loaded up the gear, launched the boat and headed out to a camping spot on the river. While we were there, I decided to put together a video about the packs and do a little comparison.
My first exposure to the ALICE pack was way back in either 1992 or 1993. One of my good buddies had just came back from the first Persian gulf conflict, and one of the first things he did was buy himself a medium ALICE pack to replace the one he had been using in the ARMY. I liked the pack so much, I bought myself one. The difference between my buddies pack and mine – my pack was woodland camo, while my buddies pack was olive drab. After using the medium ALICE for a few years, I found it was a little so, so I bought a large ALICE pack in olive green.
My first exposure to the MOLLE pack was a couple of months ago after I bought 3 packs off ebay.
The three packs that my son, nephew and I brought on the camping included – Large MOLLE with internal sleep system, MOLLE with external sleep system and medium ALICE pack.
Large MOLLE pack with internal sleep system compartment – digital camo, internal sleep system compartment, plastic frame, no external pouches or internal pouches, map case in top flap, no radio pouch inside of pack, no hydration pocket for water bladder. The shoulder straps and waist belt are desert camo because I bought 2 desert camo packs off ebay, and used one set of straps and waist belt on my large molle. I would really like to replace the desert camo stuff with woodland green, but woodland green MOLLE stuff is a little difficult to find on ebay. Also, the military is supposed to be releasing its new camo to the troops pretty soon. This might cause the price of digital camo items to drop.
One of the things that I really liked about the large MOLLE is how much webbing it has. The pack also has webbing on the bottom of the pack to strap a sleeping bag, tent, tarp or anything else.
One of the things that I did not like about the large MOLLE – it did not have a radio pouch inside the pack like the alice pack does. Nor does the pack have pouches on the outside of the pack. The plastic frame is also a draw back. Nor do I like having to use the pack with a frame – if the frame breaks your just out of luck.
Large ALICE VS Large MOLLE – If I had to pick between the Large ALICE and the Large MOLLE, to me there is no real comparison – Large MOLLE all the way.
When the Large ALICE is loaded, it seems to “fat”, and sticks too far off my back. The makes me have to lean forward to off set the weight sticking off my back.
The Large ALICE does not have any compression straps around the pack – this might be one reason why it seems too fat. Once th pack is loaded up, there is no way to take the slack out, because there are no compression straps. With the Large MOLLE pack on the other hand, it has a couple of straps where you can cinch it down nice and tight. So if your carrying a large load, it can be cinched up so that its close to your body.
The Large ALICE pack has 6 external pouches – 3 large and 3 small, while the Large MOLLE has none. This has its pros and cons. The small pouches on the Large ALICE are almost to small to store anything but small items. The larger pouches are big enough to store rain gear, and a 1 pound propane bottle will fit just right.
The Large ALICE pack has a radio pouch inside the pack, the Large MOLLE Pack does not. This may not seem like a big deal – but I like a place to store my smaller items, like bug spray, small flashlight, small muti-tool, bible, FM-2176, personal hygiene kit, camera and camera case along with spare batteries,,,,,, stuff like that.
MOLLE with external sleep system – lets just call this one the Medium MOLLE pack – desert camo, external sleep system compartment, claymore pouch on outside, no internal pouches or compartments, plastic frame, map case in top flap – but has plastic on one side of the map case so you can see the map without having to take the map out.
Overall, I view this pack as the least flexible – it has only a few webbing around the pack, none that wrap around the entire pack, and no webbing on the bottom of the pack. has very little webbing on it, no pouch on the inside and only one pouch on the outside of the pack.
Without the external sleep system compartment attached, and with something in it – the pack would not stand up on its own. It had to be leaned against a tree or something else in order for it to stand up. Its nice when you can drop and pack, and it stands up so you can dig through it.
Medium MOLLE VS Medium ALICE – If I had to pick between the Medium ALICE and the Medium MOLLE, I would have to pick the Medium ALICE.
The Medium MOLLE does not have enough webbing – this makes attaching extra pouches nice and easy. So if you need a place to keep a canteen, just attach a canteen. If you need a first aid kit on the outside of you pack, just attach a first aid kit.
The Medium MOLLE does not even webbing on the bottom of the pack for lashing a tent, sleeping bag, tarp,,,, or anything else to it.
The Medium ALICE pack has 3 outside pouches – which are just the right size for storing rain gear and a 1 pound bottle of propane for a stove. There is also webbing that runs the circumference of the pack, which makes attaching more pouches easy. The Medium MOLLE does not have any external pouches, and with a lack of webbing, there is no way to attach extra pouches.
Neither the Medium ALICE nor the Medium MOLLE has a place for a hydration bladder. As long as you can carry plenty of canteens, this should not be a big deal. But one more thing but that webbing – or rather the lack of it on the Medium MOLLE- if you dont have the webbing, your no going to be able to attach canteens to the outside of the pack.
When the canteens were put in the top flap (map case) the pack became top heavy. On the camping trip my son used the Medium MOLLE, and noted that it was top heavy because of where we had to put the canteens.
Review:
If I had to re-buy any or all of the packs in this article, it would be in this order:
1. Large Molle – Well designed pack, the few things I do not like about this pack can be easily fixed with a few add-on pouches. I still wish it had a metal frame instead of that junk plastic.
2. Medium ALICE – Battle proven through military use for around 40 years. Metal frame, lots of webbing,,,. The only draw back is that its a little heavy.
3. Large ALICE – Lots of room, but when fully loaded can be un-comfortable to carry. The lack of compression straps makes this pack too fat.
4. Medium Molle – I dont know if I would even buy this pack again. For something that supposed to be used by the military, I’am really disappointed in it.
Post your comments in this forum thread – comparing the MOLLE and ALICE Packs.
Related Articles:
ALICE, MOLLE II or Maxpedition backpack for a 2 day trip
Internal vs external frame backpacks
Maxpedition Kodiak Gearslinger Review
Maxpedition Falcon-II and Pygmy Falcon-II
Maxpedition Sitka Gearslinger Review
Related Forum Post:
Alice Packs
Molle packs
Backpacks
One man tent for a bug out bag
There has been ideology going around the survivalist circle for the past couple of decades – if some kind of end of the world event happens, I’ll just load up my Bug Out Bag and head to the hills. If you go to just about any survival forum, there will be dozens, if not hundreds, or even thousands of threads about what kind of back pack would make a good bug out bag. One of the next most popular questions is – what kind of one man tent would be good for a bug out bag.
Here are some of the things I look for in a tent
Weight – how much does the tent weigh? The more the tent weighs, something else has be be removed from the pack to keep the overall weight down.
1, 2, 3 or 4 season tent – where are you going to be using the tent, will it be for hot weather, cold weather, wet weather, or something else? If you live along the gulf cost where it rarely snows, do you really need a 4 season tent? If you mostly go hiking / camping in hot weather, you want to make sure the tent breathes well.
Most of my hiking / camping is done in hot weather – so I look for a tent with a removable rain fly, and mosquito netting across the top of the tent. This allows a cross breeze to go across the person in the tent, and helps with the removal of collected body heat inside the tent.
Assembly time – how long does it take to put the tent up? Is the tent overly complex to assemble?
1, 2, 3 or more person tent – how many people are going to be using the tent? Since this article is about 1 person tents, lets just leave it at that.
Lets take a look at some one person tents
Wenzel Starlite Biker Tent – I have owned one of these tents for about 15 years. Its lightweight, compact, easy to carry and fits into the bottom of an alice pack just right. The problem is, its a single layer tent. Because of this reason it might not be a good choice for blowing rain. If the rain is coming from the side, instead of straight down, this tent might not be a good choice.
The Wenzel Starlite is what you call a tube tent – one end opens up and you crawl inside.
This video was a couple of years ago while my son and I were on a camping trip. Sorry for the poor video quality, it was before I got a good grasp of the video editing software.
No Limits Sunlight Peak One Man Tent – I bought one of these tents from Academy Sports and Outdoors in Beaumont, Texas – one of the tent poles broke the first time it was used on a camping trip, so it was returned to the store and exchanged.
Overall, I liked the tent – it does not have a lot of spare room, the vestibule is a little small – its just big enough to fit a pack about 2,500 cubic inches in it, its a little heavy weighing in at over pounds, and it took about 10 minutes to put up. The tent poles have to be put in in a certain way, or they will not fit.
A review of the No Limits Sunlight Peak One Man Tent was posted in the forum back on April 18, 2010
Eureka Solitaire Tent – Eureka is famous for making top quality tents, and the Eureka Solitaire holds up to that reputation. It seems well built, was somewhat easy to setup, weighs less then the No Limits tent and has a rain fly for improved rain protection. This is a tube tent design, but has an added feature of having a zipper in the mosquito netting.
This Eureka Solitaire has not been subjected to an in-the-field test – but it has been setup in the yard next to the house while some rain was falling. After sitting in the rain for a few hours, only a couple of drops got though the rain fly.
Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight 2 – The next tent I’am looking at buying is the Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight 2 – 2 man tent. The problem with a one man tent, a lot of them do not leave you with any extra room. So sometimes its better to go with a lightweight 2 man tent. Where the other person would sleep in the tent – that is where you have room to store your gear.
Please post your comments in this forum thread – suggest a good on man tent for a bug out bag.
Related Forum Post:
Bug out bags
One person tent
Bug out bag contents
No bug out bag for me thank you
From what I see, most of the people that talk about “bug out bags” have never faced a “real” disaster. But lets not group everyone together – I’am sure some of them have.
Personally, I do not subscribe to the “Bug Out Bag” train of thought. I have had to bug out / evacuate in the face of too many hurricanes, and like to think I know the difference between reality and myth.
Keep in mind, I keep my camping backpack ready to go. It usually has 2 – 3 days worth of food in it, and most of my camping stuff in it.
If anyone has ever evacuated in the face of a real disaster, then you know what its like. You just dont load up a “bag” – you load up the whole truck. I take my computer, my guns, family pictures that can never be replaced, clothes, pets, back up drives for the computer, important papers, titles, insurance papers,,,,,,,,,,. By the time I’am done, the extended part of my cab is full. Then off to the shelter my wife and I go.
Why did I leave my house? Because we had massive hurricanes heading towards us at the time. My house has 2 large – 100 feet tall oak trees right next to it. Inside the house is not where you want to be if one of those trees decides to uproot in 100+ mile per hour winds.
If you live next to a chemical plant or next to a nuclear power plant, then yes, you might want to keep a bug out bag handy. But even then, authorities will probably tell you to shelter in place. Depending on what was leaking from the chemical plant, the direction of the wind and how fast the traffic was moving, hundreds or even thousands of people could die in their cars trying to leave.
What was interesting to see, was when Houston, Texas evacuated for Hurricane Rita. People were sitting in their cars for hours, and only moving a couple of miles. People were running out of gas on the side of the road, sleeping in their cars, running up credit cards to stay in a hotel,,,,,. When my parents left Bridge City, Texas in the face of Rita, what normally took them 1.25 hours to drive, took 9 hours. But at least they had somewhere to go.
My opinion, survivalist are divided into 2 groups – those that have a realistic point of view and plan. And those that have an unrealistic point of view and plan.
Realistic point of view and plan – built on real life experiences, military training
Unrealistic point of view and plan – watched too many movies and tv shows
Post your comments in this forum thread about Bug Out Bags.
Types of Survivalist
After watching the types of people that join the Survivalist Forum, there seems to be at least 4 different groups:
Hoarders – the people that stock up on everything – food, water, canned goods, beans, rice, MREs,,,. These are the people that have hundreds or even thousands of canned or dried food products.
Some of the plans that hoarders have may include storing several years worth of food. Some of those plans seem to go like this – vacuum seal food products, such as flour, rice, beans, wheat,,,, and then put the packages into 5 gallon buckets, or into air tight containers.
Gardeners – the people that have gardens. People in this type of group usually stock up on seeds, garden tools, books on gardening and fertilizer.
This group includes the organic gardener and the person who uses commercial fertilizer.
Combination of the two – People that stock up on prepared foods, but also have garden.
On a personal note, I consider a combination of the hoarder and gardener to be the best prepared. They have enough food stocks to respond to an immediate need. And then they have access to a renewable food source – their garden and extra seeds.
Some people find comfort knowing that they have a zillion cans of spam. Others find comfort knowing they have enough seeds for at least 3 years of gardens. And some people find comfort somewhere been the two.
And lastly, there is the militant survivalist. Their comfort is that they have an AR15 or AK47 and several cases of ammo. This is probably the least prepared group.
Most (not all) of these people envision hordes of looters swarming the streets after society breaks down. People in this group may even subscribe to the “Backpack” or “Bug Out Bag” type of mind set. If there is an outbreak of some kind of plague, some of the people in this group plan on grabbing their family, “heading to the hills” and living a primitive life style.
Large ALICE Packs
The All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (also know as “ALICE Pack“), was first introduced by United States Army in 1974. The ALICE pack was intended as a replacement to the aging M-1956 Load-Carrying Equipment [LCE] and M-1967 Modernized Load-Carrying Equipment.
The ALICE pack has become popular with the players of airsoft and paintball. The popularity of the ALICE pack is due to the quality of the materials it is made out of, its easy to customize, and the packs area easy to find in most military surplus stores.
This video gives a description of the large and medium ALICE packs. After watching the video, be sure to visit the forum. More information can be found there on gear like the ALICE pack.
The ALICE pack in the video is about 12 to 13 years old, and has been on more hiking and trips then I care to count. The overall comfort of the pack is a little lacking, but its designed for military service, not the civilian market. If you are looking for a go anywhere and do anything pack, its going to be hard to beat an ALICE pack.