What is a BOB, GHB or EDC? What goes in one? And why the heck would I want one anyway?

Perhaps that’s the issue you’re not understanding? We’re not talking about everyday needs, though these types of kits/packs/bags can address a things with a few handy items. We’re discussing items to prevent or mitigate unexpected circumstances.

That’s good, it is a start. But there are many other situations that could arise while out-and-about that would be prudent to address.

It isn’t an issue as long as the electricity is still flowing and the water hasn’t been compromised. Dependance on the infrastructure however isn’t the first, best option.

With respect, I cannot agree with your conclusion(s). Your depending upon a system that is man-made and can and does fail. India was a good example just a short time ago when part of their power grid collapsed and 100 million were without power for an extended time period. Storms happen. Contamination of water supplies from a myriad of circumstances can and does occur. People have to evacuate their home or get stranded on the open road. Roads wash out or are filled with debris making them impassible for a period of time. In short, stuff happens beyond our control. Dependance upon technology or others to fulfill your needs isn’t a sound strategy. Nice to have, but they don’t trump self reliance and a sound game plan. BOB/GHB/EDC are needed every place and any place. But as the ole saying goes, ‘you can lead an elephant to water but you can’t push one in’.
:smiley:

An option is to buy or DIY your own solar powered generator that uses a deep cell marine battery. These can charge phones and batteries, run a computer, light or fan as well as radios etc.

Another option is to buy a power inverter to run from your car battery. More fuel efficient than a generator and much quieter.

Either or both can help you get through a shorter period of time without power and provide a level of comfort.

Thank you, glad you’ve enjoyed those threads. I agree. According to one report I’ve seen, less than 10% of folks are prepared for any sort of emergency situation. That is a pretty lousy statistic if true. But unfortunately I can see it being pretty close to being spot on accurate. Self reliance has given way in many cultures/countries to relying on others (usually a government) to supply all of the needs. Becoming a bit more prepared isn’t really all that difficult. Here is a thread that may be of interest to those that haven’t prepared for ‘stuff’ and really aren’t sure how:

Your advice to someone new to prepping

It’s important to note that I’m not talking about crazy stuff like aliens invading or zombies attacking. Storms happen. Wild fires happen. Mud slides and earthquakes and flat tires in the middle of nowhere happen. I usually suggest to folks to start simple. Play the ‘what if’ game;

What if…

  • The power goes out for a few days (for whatever reason i.e. storm, power plant malfunctions, earthquake busts up the lines or whatever). Happens to people all the time. So if the power was to go out for a few days…what would/could you do to make life a bit easier? If the power goes out then the water will eventually stop flowing. So do you have enough water to last a few days? Enough food? A way to prepare the food? A way to clean the dishes? A bit of light at night?
  • The car breaks down and you’re not close to any type of civilization? Cell phone is great, but what if you’re out of juice/phone breaks/phone is lost/no coverage? Could be something as simple as tossing a comfortable pair of shoes in the trunk and some socks in case you need to hoof it a mile or two (and your wearing high heels or dress shoes). Could be a bit of water to stay hydrated. Could be something as simple as a mylar space blanket if you’re in a colder climate to keep you warm till help arrives.

Doesn’t take tons of money or time and can actually be a fun family project to do some planning and preparing. And it gives you a nice sense of confidence. If you never need any of the stuff or planning then feel blessed. And if you do need it, you’ll be glad you had some stuff.
:slight_smile:

I’m a little more adventurous than some, and like to drive the back roads and explore, I would need my stuff if I lived where you live.

Here is an Australian prepper, I would love to totally redo his BOB for him, but at least he has something.

I’m happy to contribute to this debate.

India is perhaps the poorest example of why I should need emergency gear in Australia and not just because it’s an entirely different country. I was in India last year, spent a month there riding a motorbike through the Himalayas. Sub zero temps, ice, snow, mud, river crossings. Did I prep for that? Yep, I paid for a support van full of tools, water, beer, and food. Done deal. That’s all I needed. I didn’t need fire starters, water tablets, or any of that. I spent 2 weeks in Delhi too, power outages were common and expected. They have generators everywhere. If I needed anything I could pay a kid $1 to go get it for me. Anything was within an arm’s reach. They had some of the best guavas I’ve ever tasted there, pretty shit pizza, and forget about cleanliness. No matter what happens to the infrastructure in India, you can bet that there is someone within 10m who can offer you a solution if you pay them, and if not, there is someone within 20m who can take you to a solution.

But anyway, I don’t live there. Where I live, the longest my power has ever been out is 5 hours and I didn’t die of thirst, have a burning desire for a torch, or start to starve. The worst storm i’ve encountered in my life was hail that smashed the tiles on my roof - this was 20 years ago. It was cold, there was hail in my kitchen, but I stepped over it to reach the fridge. My water supply has never been contaminated, ever. My water has been safe to drink straight from the tap since forever. Roads have been flooded once or twice but you just pull over and relax until its gone. With infrastructure downtime of .00001%, I very well can rely on it.

This is my life, and the life of the majority of people in my city. I and my parents have lived like this for decades without issue. If you are telling me I still need these emergency supplies, then I respectfully tell you that you need to understand the principles of risk management. In short, _I don’t need to make preparations for an event that is extremely extremely unlikely to happen. You should focus more on risks that are more likely to happen.

Now Dave, you find it within yourself that you should prepare for these emergencies by prepping emergency bags, and I completely respect that because I don’t know your lifestyle. Please allow me to respectfully ask you a question. Have you prepared for the most likely scenarios which will kill you? Do you know what those scenarios are? It’s not natural disaster, flood, or any of that. More than half of deaths in America are from lifestyle diseases like cardiovascular disease and cancer. The top killers of Americans are things which can not be prevented by emergency gear. When a child is born, it’s basically a coin toss on whether or not it will die from health complications. Preventing these things should be your daily focus.

Even in the worst natural disaster/city meltdown possible, you are of no worth to anyone around you if you aren’t healthy enough to help yourself because you’ve got a diseased body.

LOL, who needs self sufficiency when they have a support van following them and eat their vegetables.

I don’t travel that way.

It really is a drug :slight_smile: GHB Drug: Effects, Hazards & Methods of Abuse - Drugs.com

I’m sorry you see this as a debate. It isn’t.

It seems you depend on others for quite a bit sir. Will this kid be there to fetch you things in an emergency situation? If you’re counting on that then, well…I don’t like your chances. I’m glad nothing has really happened to you in your life, hope that continues. But to depend on that is folly and I will submit, not a wise move.

I prefer to enjoy the benefits of technology, put have a sound back up plan with the knowledge, experience and gear to prevent or mitigate a situation should it happen. I like the idea of working toward self reliance and not having to depend on someone else to do something I really should have done myself. Or depending on them being there in a situation where frankly they won’t be there.

Actually, yes I have. In the majority of emergency situations the three most common means of death, beside the actual possible trauma of the event itself, are hypothermia, hyperthermia and dehydration. I have these three things covered in addition to other contingencies.

If you want to discuss health related matters, which isn’t part of the purpose of this or the other threads then you’re making an apple and oranges comparison. Personally, I work out, eat a good diet (which means I don’t drink sodas, don’t eat fried food or pork, don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t do drugs, don’t eat things with hydrogenated fats/trans fats, have my own fruit and vegetable garden and purify my water). Will everyone do so? Nope. Just as not everyone will prepare themselves for an emergency situation. Basically it is prudent life choices and not everyone will make them.

Emergency situations happen to real people, in real life on a daily basis. One can ignore that and depend on others to supply their needs or one can make a choice to have a basic plan in place. If one feels they don’t need to prepare then they simply don’t need to read and/or participate in the threads I’ve started or linked. It would be a pointless waste of their time since as I’ve mentioned, this isn’t a debate. It is information provided to those that are interested.

With respect. :slight_smile:

i have a pack with most of the above in it.
space blankets
energy granola bars.
2qt water bottle.
meds.my specific prescriptions and ibuprofen,diphenhydramine antihistamine,triple antibiotic,immodium,aspirin,iodine,ect.
3 assorted mre.
several swiss army/multitools
an arc-aaa and several energizer lithium aaa.
an arc-ls and 8 energizer lithium aa.
4 aaa and 8 aa eneloops.
55w folding solar panel.folds about 10”square.morningstar charge controller velcroed in the wrap.
7ah agm battery.
duracell 30 minute aaa aa charger.
12v cellphone charger.micro and mini usb cable.
an icom q7a 2m/70cm transciever.has general coverage recieve and can do frs,gmrs,murs as well as amateur.runs from 2 aa.
so same stash of batts serves it too.
a compass.
fire starter kit and several 35mm film cans of tinder and vasilene soaked cotton.a bic lighter to cheat.its still flint and steel ;-).
cheap raincoat that can fit in ones pocket.
now not everyone is going to want all this to carry in a pack but i have no problem.
only items here that need periodic attention is water,agm battery,and the energy bars.
rotate/recharge,refill as needed.i find that the water is ok if i add 2-3 drops of unscented bleach as i fill it.
energy bars are handy anyway and get grabbed regularly so replenished often.
every 2 months i plug the battery into the anderson powerpole outlet on my ups and let it float overnight.
these connectors are standard for ares/amateur radio emergency services.
all 12v stuff i own has these.

My post was sarcasm, i am a bit of a prepper as well, though ironically i moved into a new place, it was the beginning of winter and i thought about the biggest emergencies being no heat, no electricity and no water. I always have some potable water available, always have food, lights and laptop (and car) for electricity, but lighting is the most important, charcoal and natural gas for cooking (in winter though thats tough, i would avoid cooked food especially meat in an emergency because monoxide is deadly and cooking outside is too cold), food can be stored outside in animal safe locations so frozen food won’t spoil, but no backup for heat. 3 months later the furnace dies so the only thing i didn’t have a backup for was toast on the tail end of –30ºC.
Fortunately it was only about –10ºC for the 4 days it took to get it repaired. Heat in winter is a hard to store commodity.

I like your list. The fire starter kit caught my eye as that is an area I’m really drawn to. We do a lot of remote camping and I like to be really redundant in the area of fire starting and tinder. If it’s of any interest to you, our groups been using this for quite a while and it is outstanding:

DIY Firestarter Wafer - w/video

DIY Fuel Tabs - w/videos

And for the vasaline and cotton, here’s a neat idea that we also use that is a bit more compact than the film cans (which I use to use prior to these other ways).

DIY fire straws

:slight_smile:

I beg to differ. Emergency situations only happen to clueless people who refuse to consider Risk Assessments and wander past the “Here There Be Dragons” lines without paying attention to their surroundings or situation.

To the rest of us, Crisis Situations are merely entertaining diversions from the day-to-day drudgery of Life.

As for me, one of the most rewarding things I do is to take little buckaroos out & show them how to kill, cook and eat the dragons.

And why doesn’t anybody hear about us?? Because “… and then he solved all his problems with the stuff he had brought along ”just in case” & saved himself and his family” makes for a boring-ass news story!

But of course that just concurs with all you’ve said…

Not shilling, but consider making your lanyards, zipper pulls and key fobs out of Tarred Hemp, (or Tarred Cotton if you’re a hater and believe hemp is evil)…

It smells WONDERFUL and can be teased apart to make some very dandy Tinder…

Also, Rayon cloths (“dew-rags”) in your BOB make dandy fires, even though they suck at everything else you’d want a cloth for…

Just putting that out there…

Great idea. I always have a 100% cotton bandana in the EDC for just such a purpose as well. Plus it is multi-functional;

  • Head cover to keep cool.
  • Hygiene or simply to wipe away the sweat.
  • Used to filter the larger particulates out of water (not disinfect, just get some of the muck out prior to disinfection).
  • In the event of injury, can be used as a sling, bandage, tie a splint etc.
  • Signal for rescue i.e. color/movement/contrast, which is why it’s nice to have red or orange.

Survival Bandana : 40 Uses

Mine has a cotton bandanna as well. I finally got the whole thing documented and posted today. I’ve put a lot of time, effort and money into mine, so I welcome comments on my build.

Great work, Racer! Looks like you have all bases covered. When the zombie apocalypse comes, you’ll be ready! :wink:

Most excellent :slight_smile:

I see you’ve really put some thought into your pack. Couple of comments; I see where you’ve said you’ve tested most of the contents of your pack. Big thumbs up on that! That’s why I favor building a pack rather than just buying one premade. That way you’ve got experience with it and know exactly what’s in it. Last year our SEP group did a series of deep woods trips. First and foremost it was for fun, fellowship and just getting out in nature. But it also provided the opportunity to put our gear to the test and allowed us the opportunity to tweak the gear/contents when necessary. Many adjustments were made over the course of the fall/winter.

Secondly, I like your choice of Sawyer for filtration. I have several of their products such as the squeeze bottles and the plastic quart cup. You’re exactly right in your writing that water preps aren’t the sexiest prep, but right on top of the list of most important!

Link

Link

Thanks for the feedback, guys! My bag has been camping a couple times but the plans to strap it onto my back and do the final test of living off the bag for 72 hours has been foiled by my neck injury.

One thing I noticed taking it camping was that my camp mates were into the first aid kit every day at least. So I’ve been trying to buff out the medical supplies. It still has a little ways to go.

@DeputyDave: I will probably add a Katadyn hiking filter so that I can drink sludge if needed. The Sawyer filter assumes that I’ll be drinking mostly clear water since I live in the northwest. But for now I’m still good since I have water treatment tabs and I can boil, too.

Great discussion!

One of my buddies on the SEP board uses the Katadyn and speaks very highly of it.

Here are some folks EDC packs;

EDC packs

Looking on Ebay for different bags for my nephew at the moment. They have a TON of bags there of all different types at really great prices. I have several Maxpedition product, but also have ATG, Condor and other clone bags that frankly are just about as good. If Maxi is a 10 then these bags would be a 9 and for about a fourth of the price of a Maxi, well, I like to be frugal when possible. I have a bunch of them reviewed in this thread;

Review thread

Personally I’d say AA batteries are not the best choice, if there’s no power and it’s all gone to sh*t,every man and his dog will be after AA, C, D etc batteries

But one thing that suddenly wont be top of people’s get at any cost list is the now completely useless laptop computers.
an almost endless source of relatively high powered 18650 batteries that few people know about or have a torch (or 50 torches) that can utilise them, or the skill set to make them work in radio’s etc