OK I was talking to a friend of mine on Facebook who lives in the DC area while the rainstorms and flooding was occurring. I think it's abating now, but it got me thinking. I've been putting this off for a while, but here is an overview of prepper supplies that you should have. This list is by no means complete, and you should build you own kits according to what you need. Don't but a pre-built kit made by someone else as you don't know what is in it, if everything works, or how to use some of it.
You should assemble you own stuff so that you know what you are putting in and it will be what you need. Also you will have a chance to try different things out to find out what works and what doesn't. Wind up flashlight for example; I've gone through three different kinds and haven't found one yet that works as advertised.
According to FEMA this is what they recommend for an Earthquake Kit. I use earthquakes because I'm in California (Sorry about our state) and that kinda the standard, but you will see that it's kind of universal, and will work for most disasters, but with everything, modify it to your needs.
http://www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/eq_before.shtm
4 Have Disaster Supplies on Hand
* Flashlight and extra batteries.
* Portable battery-operated radio and extra batteries.
* First aid kit and manual.
* Emergency food and water.
* Nonelectric can opener.
* Essential medicines.
* Cash and credit cards.
* Sturdy shoes.
Below is also some lists of relevant equipment. One of these days I will go through ans write down everything that I personally use or carry, but for now, these general list should do to start. Please keep the BOB Bags in your car. They don't do any good in the closet.
BOB Bag (Individual Adult)
General list, please customize to you and your child’s needs
Food and Water:
6 Boxes of Aqua Blox Water Boxes
6 - 400 Calorie Food Bars (2400 Calories)
10 Water Purification Tablets - each tablet purifies 1 liter of water
Water Filter
Light and Communication:
Am/FM Radio with Headphones and Batteries
Rechargeable Squeeze Flashlight
36 Hour Emergency Candle
Green Emergency Glow Stick 12 hour
5-in-1 Survival Whistle - compass, signal mirror, flint starter, waterproof container, lanyard, and shrill whistle
Shelter and Warmth:
Emergency Survival Sleeping Bag - Recommended over common "space blankets"
16-20 Hour Body Warmer - heat up in minutes with an average temperature of 130 degrees.
2-Person Tube Tent with Rope
Emergency Poncho with Hood
Fire Making Kit include water proof matches, lighter, magnifying lens, tinder in small film can
Tools:
Multi –Tool or Swiss Army Knife, Leather Palm Working Gloves, N95 Respirator Dust Mask - NIOSH approved or scarf, 50 Feet of 550 Cord
Hygiene and Sanitation:
toothbrush, toothpaste, wetnaps (Baby wipes), bar of soap, shampoo and conditioner, dental floss pick, deodorant, twin blade razor, comb or brush, 4 maxipads, and washcloth. 3 Tempo Pocket Tissue Packs
First Aid:
Portable First Aid Kit – Whatever you choose to put in here, double the amount of Band-Aids, and triple the number of 2 inch gauze pads.
Other:
Notepad Pencil Deck of Playing Cards for Entertainment, Infectious Waste Bag, Emergency Survival Kit Information
BOB Bag (Individual Child)
General list, please customize to you and your child’s needs
Food and Water:
6 Boxes of Aqua Blox Water Boxes
12 - 200 Calorie Food Bars (2400 calories)
Light and Communication:
Rechargeable Squeeze Flashlight
5-in-1 Survival Whistle
Compass
Signal mirror
Flint starter
Waterproof container
Lanyard and shrill whistle
3 Green Emergency Glow Sticks - lasts for 12 hours each
Shelter and Warmth:
Polar Fleece Blanket
Emergency Poncho for Children
16-20 Hour Body Warmer - heat up in minutes with an average temperature of 130 degrees.
Two changes of socks and underwear
Tools:
Warm Winter Gloves
Large Scarf to replace Dust mask or scarf
Hygiene and Sanitation:
Hygiene Kit - Includes soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, and 9 wet wipes. 3 Tempo Pocket Tissue Packs
First Aid:
(Sample-Please make your own) 42 Piece Pocket First Aid Kit - contains 42 pieces - 10 spot bandages, 10 sheer junior,5 sheer medium, 5 sheer strips, 2 antibacterial, 3 clear strips, 2 fabric strips, 1 extra-large, 2 alcohol pads, and 2 gauze pads
Entertainment:
Activity Coloring Book with Crayons - contains pictures to color and activities to help keep a child's mind occupied
Children’s Toys - jump rope, ball, and a jax set
Blackout Kit In case of power outages
(Not including your Food and Water storage)
Same as Bug Out Bag plus:
Cooking:
20-60lbs of Charcoal
Propane cans or tanks plus stove attachment
Cords of wood
Light:
Candles
Tea Lights
Large Target store candles but not the ones with 3 wicks
Citronella candles
Flashlights
Head lamp (for walking around hands free) at least one per person
Batteries
Storm Lanterns with fuel
Communication:
Windup radio
Entertainment:
Reading material
Board games
Power:
Generator/fuel
Showing posts with label bob bag. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bob bag. Show all posts
Oct 4, 2010
Jul 26, 2010
Lessons Learned - Field Training
Camping (as a form of field training)
Well this weekend was a good training exercise. The original intent was to go rafting, and the rest of the group was to camp for the night. Well here in Modesto it was about 500deg. (Ok 95+) Heat was a SERIOUS problem, especially for my kids. My mother went along as well, and she wasn’t doing so well either. In the beginning of the day, we arrived at a beach portion of a local state park and I let my kids play in the river, looking at the little fish swimming around, and picking up freshwater clam shells. It must be rich there as the sand was littered with them. Anyway, I stayed in the water with my kids as there were a few deep places, and even if the water was not running fast, it was stronger that a 3 year old who can’t swim (yet). I took the opportunity to show them the different kinds of life living around the river, and to not fear the water, but respect the power of it.
After a couple of hours I scouted around and found where my group was meeting and packed up my kids to move to the campground areas. This was about 11:20am
This is where the real learning begins.
The camp area was maybe 100-150 yards from the parking lot. The first load (let me remind you, I was only staying there with my kids for about 6 hours at this point) I took my 24hr kit, my kids BOB Bags, an Ice chest (Full), and my mother carried a large beach bag full of kids clothes and a folding chair. I was pouring sweat with just that tiny little walk and still had to keep up my strength to assist my kids getting there shoes on instead of flip flops, and my mother to set up her stuff. In the 6hrs that we were there, we move the positions of chairs at least 5 times to stay in the shade. 2 more trips were made to our vehicle for various items, but not much more that a bag or two worth of “stuff”.
Lessons learned:
Hats are a must. I don’t wear them, and my kids don’t like them, but every time I had to walk in the sun I flipped on the boonie hat I had brought along, and I swear, it felt like the temperature dropped 15 deg.
You cannot have too much to drink, and Ice was Stupid. I brought a large jug (1 liter I think) of juice, a six pack of bottled tea, various pouches of Capri-Sun and LOTS of water. By the time we were done there were 2 bottles of tea and about 20oz of juice remaining. I had to keep calling my kids to the side and making them drink, as they are not old enough yet to be responsible for their own health. And something I was grateful for out there, but in hindsight writing this in air conditioning, was that as a survival situation, Ice is just stupid. I mean seriously! If we had to bug out of our homes so far out that we were living in the woods, there certainly would not be someplace where we could get ice. At least not for the first few days of a crisis. If anyone went through Katrina or Haiti, please let me know how long it was before fresh water and ice became available.
Too much Crap. We were only there for a few hours, and yet it took three trips to the vehicle to get all of the comfort crap out. My friend who was camping overnight, with three kids (one being an infant) and his wife, had two tents, one or two folding chairs, and STILL managed to keep it down to (maybe) six trips to his vehicle. One the other hand, I was humping everything by hand, except for the Ice chest, which had wheels. He on the other had was using his baby’s stroller to maximize his carrying capacity. I know for a fact that if it were just me I could have had everything I needed for an overnight loaded into a single backpack (or pack-pack as my kids call them) so, add kids and elderly, and significantly increase the amount of crap you will need. No, you won’t need most of it, but like a teddy bear, some of it is just comfort items that make people happy that it’s there, whether useful or not, or used or not.
Cooking. To start our fire we used my little film can of tinder. This is a mulching of cotton balls, dryer lint and Vaseline. Several of us had heard of using petroleum jelly, but this was our first use of it. It took two(2) strikes with flint and steel, and WHOSH! we had fire. This works! What we didn't do properly was permit sufficient air flow in the kindling to get the fire burning properly. A little adjustment and it all worked fine. Also, having the basic BBQ tools are essential. The wire scrubby pad, tongs, and spatula are a minimum.
Bug/Sunscreen Spray. Something I learned the funny way. Spray on sunscreens and bug sprays are great for what they are, but, if you use them on kids in a dirt environment, you children will become mud monsters. The spray is like a dirt magnet, which of course increases the power of children’s natural dirt magnetism. I suppose as a parent, I should have been horrified by the amount of dirt suddenly coating every exposed surface of my 3 year old, but, as a survivalist, I figured that the dirt would probably act as a block for both sun and bugs, and she is always happiest covered in dirt anyway. If you all think I’m wrong, put a post in and please explain why, and as always, I prefer real world knowledge to something you read.
Well this weekend was a good training exercise. The original intent was to go rafting, and the rest of the group was to camp for the night. Well here in Modesto it was about 500deg. (Ok 95+) Heat was a SERIOUS problem, especially for my kids. My mother went along as well, and she wasn’t doing so well either. In the beginning of the day, we arrived at a beach portion of a local state park and I let my kids play in the river, looking at the little fish swimming around, and picking up freshwater clam shells. It must be rich there as the sand was littered with them. Anyway, I stayed in the water with my kids as there were a few deep places, and even if the water was not running fast, it was stronger that a 3 year old who can’t swim (yet). I took the opportunity to show them the different kinds of life living around the river, and to not fear the water, but respect the power of it.
After a couple of hours I scouted around and found where my group was meeting and packed up my kids to move to the campground areas. This was about 11:20am
This is where the real learning begins.
The camp area was maybe 100-150 yards from the parking lot. The first load (let me remind you, I was only staying there with my kids for about 6 hours at this point) I took my 24hr kit, my kids BOB Bags, an Ice chest (Full), and my mother carried a large beach bag full of kids clothes and a folding chair. I was pouring sweat with just that tiny little walk and still had to keep up my strength to assist my kids getting there shoes on instead of flip flops, and my mother to set up her stuff. In the 6hrs that we were there, we move the positions of chairs at least 5 times to stay in the shade. 2 more trips were made to our vehicle for various items, but not much more that a bag or two worth of “stuff”.
Lessons learned:
Hats are a must. I don’t wear them, and my kids don’t like them, but every time I had to walk in the sun I flipped on the boonie hat I had brought along, and I swear, it felt like the temperature dropped 15 deg.
You cannot have too much to drink, and Ice was Stupid. I brought a large jug (1 liter I think) of juice, a six pack of bottled tea, various pouches of Capri-Sun and LOTS of water. By the time we were done there were 2 bottles of tea and about 20oz of juice remaining. I had to keep calling my kids to the side and making them drink, as they are not old enough yet to be responsible for their own health. And something I was grateful for out there, but in hindsight writing this in air conditioning, was that as a survival situation, Ice is just stupid. I mean seriously! If we had to bug out of our homes so far out that we were living in the woods, there certainly would not be someplace where we could get ice. At least not for the first few days of a crisis. If anyone went through Katrina or Haiti, please let me know how long it was before fresh water and ice became available.
Too much Crap. We were only there for a few hours, and yet it took three trips to the vehicle to get all of the comfort crap out. My friend who was camping overnight, with three kids (one being an infant) and his wife, had two tents, one or two folding chairs, and STILL managed to keep it down to (maybe) six trips to his vehicle. One the other hand, I was humping everything by hand, except for the Ice chest, which had wheels. He on the other had was using his baby’s stroller to maximize his carrying capacity. I know for a fact that if it were just me I could have had everything I needed for an overnight loaded into a single backpack (or pack-pack as my kids call them) so, add kids and elderly, and significantly increase the amount of crap you will need. No, you won’t need most of it, but like a teddy bear, some of it is just comfort items that make people happy that it’s there, whether useful or not, or used or not.
Cooking. To start our fire we used my little film can of tinder. This is a mulching of cotton balls, dryer lint and Vaseline. Several of us had heard of using petroleum jelly, but this was our first use of it. It took two(2) strikes with flint and steel, and WHOSH! we had fire. This works! What we didn't do properly was permit sufficient air flow in the kindling to get the fire burning properly. A little adjustment and it all worked fine. Also, having the basic BBQ tools are essential. The wire scrubby pad, tongs, and spatula are a minimum.
Bug/Sunscreen Spray. Something I learned the funny way. Spray on sunscreens and bug sprays are great for what they are, but, if you use them on kids in a dirt environment, you children will become mud monsters. The spray is like a dirt magnet, which of course increases the power of children’s natural dirt magnetism. I suppose as a parent, I should have been horrified by the amount of dirt suddenly coating every exposed surface of my 3 year old, but, as a survivalist, I figured that the dirt would probably act as a block for both sun and bugs, and she is always happiest covered in dirt anyway. If you all think I’m wrong, put a post in and please explain why, and as always, I prefer real world knowledge to something you read.
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