My Urban Survival Pack: improvement suggestions sought!

Wow, I'm not used to seeing posts from 5 months ago. .how far do you all dig for this stuff??

Being on a disaster response team, I get a smidgen of benefit to seeing how you all think about this stuff. It's fun to compair what you carry to what I carry, as I've been there and done that before so I've gotten to play this game. There's a lot of good ideas throughout this thread, really, with the only things that irk me being those that miss the idea of time (ie using a flashlight with an hour or two runtime on a set of batteries) and those that focus highly on stuff that may not be legal to carry anyway (ie. handguns). Don't get me wrong, these things have their place, but for me they'd be in the shelter-in-place kit. Many of the places I visit won't let me carry a weapon period, so there's even times that I'm without a knife (which physically makes me sick to my stomach). But anyway, let me work backwards toward you guys.

Generally, when the SHTF I'm going to have the following resources; me, my senses, and hopefully my pants, which have my BM910, wallet, mini-LED flashlight, whistle and my basic first-aid kit. Remembering Trauma 101, all of that golden-hour stuff, means that if I've got a basic FAK and there's a ton of trauma, people are gonna die. No way around it, really. The basic FAK is there to protect me, then maybe help others. There will probably be tons of people that "Could've been saved", but while I was working on that one how many others might die from something far less serious?? That's all triage, it gets sorta complex but you get the point.

From there, my next step is to find my rescue bag. Mine lives in my car, but I've got backups in the other vehicles and in the house. There I'm going to have my full PPE, tools, food, water, stuff like that. I'm prepaired to spend at least 72 hours before real help arrives, which probably wouldn't be too likely in my area, but anything is possible. This is where my disagreement with the ultra-bright, low runtime lights comes in. I've spent 12 hours in relative darkness searching for people, and something that dies every couple of hours doesn't do me any good at all. I practice a lot, so my eyes adjust to darkness pretty quickly. In most cases, I can navagate without any external lighting at all, other than moon/star/etc light. For the slightest touch of lighting I use the CMG Ultra-G, it gives me just enough to help. Just don't point into the eyes, as that'll kill of the night vision quickly. If I really need light, I can go with a 3-LED headlamp, but it's overkill for me anymore. Both of these solutions will let me run on AA batteries, which I can literally find anywhere, and they run for a long time, well over 12 hours. In a true disaster, most shopkeepers will be more than willing to donate stuff to me, as a responder to the emergency. Plus, I wouldn't feel bad about borrowing anything I need, either. That's the big reason why I like to stick to AA batteries, because I can find them anywhere. Heck, I'll borrow them from a remote if I have to, it'll at least give me a little bit more light than I had before. .

Othen than, that, everything looks pretty good on this post. Again, these are just my opinions, on the other side of the fence from most of you. I'm the one going to rescue the ones who weren't ready. I don't remember who said it, but I agree with the idea of testing this stuff out. Start at the office or whatever on Friday when you get off work, take your BOB, and go try it out. See what you need, and see what you never touch. It'll help you make decisions, I know it did for me. Plus, unless you somehow forget to bring air, you should be okay, and you always have the option of aborting the game if you forget something essential, like water or something. .

Well, there's my .02, times 5, so have a dime on me, everybody!!
 
The thread here has given me a few good ideas which have been incorporated into my kit(s). Other ideas came from Ron Hood's/Hoods Woods "Woodsmaster" video's, Doug Ritter's Equipped to Survive and other BB threads through the years. I applaud all who have contributed to this thread because the simple act of writing out your thoughts and thinking through your situation is a good first step in being prepared to face it. Knowing your limitations, you can either eliminate them or work around them.

As with others, my Survival Kit also lives in my truck. "Lives" is an important term; the kit isn't stagnant, it's always being upgraded and freshened (batteries, water, food et al). The truck is never far away and rather than specifying a situation, its kit is an all inclusive urban/wilderness kit. I really don't know where I'll be when a situation arises, (downtown San Diego or 25 miles into the Cascade Mountains of Washington State) but the truck will be nearby.

A quick inventory of the truck would find a number of bags/containers which would include:
Two first aid kits (one for small cuts and a big one with wraps for more serious injuries), a minimum of one gallon of water, water purification stuff, 3-D Maglight (w/ additional batteries), a fleece blanket, USGI wool blanket, an OD space blanket, tube tent, camping cook set and utensils, large garbage bags, small garbage bags, face masks, leather gloves, ball cap and overalls. In addition to the truck's radio, there's a small Walkman AM/FM w/ headset in the kit which runs on AAA batteries. If I'm far from home I will also have my larger mapping GPS powered by the car's 12V system on the dashboard and a road map.
Food includes a couple freeze dried dinners; I will be adding some food items that don't require water and that I can eat right out of the can. For getting cooking and heating in the great outdoors, in addition to matches, there's sparking equipment, magnesium, both cotton and steel wool tinder, and trioxane fuel tabs. The great outdoors will supply the rest of the fuel. In addition, there are two 100' lengths of 550 para-cord in the truck's kit. Tools include a Doug Ritter Griptillian, Benchmade Rescue Hook and SAK in the console, Leatherman in the glove box, a high quality fixed blade knife, a small shovel, small axe, and tool box in the bed w/ screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, et al. All the above really doesn't take up a lot of space or weigh much. In a truck it's relatively unobtrusive.
On a road trip there will be additional bags with clothes, more food in a larger cooler, a real camping tent, a sleeping bag, a kerosene stove, my range bag with a couple handguns and ammo, and a rifle/shotgun and ammo.

In addition to the cell phone and EDC knife that I always carry, my EDC backpack has a quart of water in an outside pocket. My Sebenza, a couple power bars, two 20' lengths of 550 para-cord in a freezer bag, a couple large zip-ties, a good compass, my small handheld GPS (Geko 301 with extra AAA's), a AAA maglight (same batteries as GPS and Walkman in the truck) and a Doug Ritter designed "Pocket Survival Pak" (available online from Adventure Medical Kits, which is a nice pocket sized kit worth the $27.50 IMO) goes into the smaller secondary compartment -- the main compartment is virtually empty (and the entire space is available for stuff from the truck's kit if I need to take a long walk). My workout (black fingerless) gloves hang on the outside. My current backpack is limited on water carry. I have a Camelback MULE with 100 oz bladder, but it can't carry much gear. So I'm currently looking at hydration packs that can carry more gear; many better hydration bags are available. The whole idea is to have enough to get me by until I can get to my truck -- normally that would take all of 5 minutes, but it could take longer and it's best to have more than you need. Besides the water in this pack is what I drink during the day, having more is a good thing.

Once back to the truck, depending on the roads, I make a decision to either drive home, sit tight and stay with the truck, or repack my backpack with other stuff from the truck (that empty main compartment) and start walking -- leaving the truck in a hopefully secure location (last option). Staying put is a real option; in fact waiting out the initial systemic stress may be the best option. If a disaster hit while I was at work, as a minimum I'd probably wait until the traffic cleared. I work on a military base and would feel quite secure staying put. I work out regularly and can hike a pretty good distance but I'd rather drive. Even though I stay in good shape and maintain my weight, the 25 mile walk home would be a test.
 
i know ron hood is going to be releasing a new set of videos called the urbanmaster. knowing how good the woodsmaster stuff is i bet this will be well worth the price. can't wait :D
 
PVC electrical tape... Known to fix radiator hoses, immitate snapped fan belts, and fix wiring insulation nightmares. :D
 
ACMarina,
You make some good points and yet somewaht miss the point. The original point was about an URBAN SURVIVAL PACK a pack designed to get you from work back home in case of an emergency.
I too spent quite a few years in SAR and have spent many a night looking for people in the dark. In that environ I would not want my Sure-Fire flashlight. In an office building whose lights have gone out it would be my first choice. Small,lightweight, extremely bright. Perfect for inclusion in a small pack.
Your RESCUE BAG seems well thought out and perfect for your needs as a DIASTER RESPONDER. Just understand your requirements for responding to a disaster are different than the office worker who wants to survive a disaster and get home.
ALLAN
 
longbow50 said:
Another item that hit my kit is the Doc Allen's Versatool. It's a cool little belt carry stainless steel tool kit that can add significant versatility to your kit along with your SAK or leatherman tool.
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Wow, that looks great. How did you find out about it?
 
SurviveAl, you might have misunderstood what I was getting at. I won't disagree with the fact that the lithium-powered retina burners have some awesome power. In a blackout situation, where the only real problem to be delt with was the lack of lighting, then the Surefire lights would do rather well getting you out of the building. In Ron's original post, he said that he lives 26 miles from where he works. To me, that's enough to disqualify most of the SF lights, unless the disaster hits at like 9am. I'd figure with all of the people going nuts, it's going to be a chore to keep a 2mph pace. That's 13 hours until I can walk all the way home. Stopping every hour or so to change batteries just wouldn't do it for me. The LED SF models are an option, like the L1, with the option of using a half-bright mode for increased runtime, although they're not going to be as bright as the incandescent SF when you max them out. Plus you won't be able to swap batteries with other devices, other than some cameras I guess. .

Like I said, too, these are just my opinions, looking from the other side of the equation. If I had to hunker down and stay where I was, I've got enough AA batteries in my backpack alone to give me at least a week's worth of lighting at night in my Ultra-G. I guess it really depends on how intensive you want to go. Finances and storage space seem to be the problem I've always had when building my kits. To walk home in a disaster, you really don't need anything more than what's required to sustain life. If there's enough dust to choke you, then you need a dust mask, and so on. What if you end up stuck someplace for a month?? Nobody's got that many batteries, unless they've got a solar charger or something. And with the different resources in every city around the world, there really isn't one specific way that things should be done. What works for you might not work for me, and vice versa. The main idea here is to give and get ideas. I gave mine, which are really pretty different being on the rescuer side rather than the getting out of the situation side. If an ultra-bright light works for you, use it! I'm just saying that it wouldn't work for me, at least not in a survival situation . .
 
This doesn't need to be an either or situation. If you can afford a Surefire light you can afford one of the many LED models currently available -- both have their role in some scenarios. A bright light to get out of the building and then an LED to supplement the light outside. Once your eyes adjust to the conditions, the bright light may not be necessary; going from a bright area to a very dark area is where the SF lights really come in handy.

In my situation there is a Surefire 6P available in the truck and also a 6R with an LED head. The 6R doesn't work well for storage because the NiCad battery drains out naturally and when I need it it's always run down. However, I can pull the LED head off and put it on the 6P; then I have a lithium powered LED if it's needed. For my backpack I chose to go with a 2 cell AAA Maglight because it's small enough to fit in in one of the pen slots.

Lots of options for lots of equipment. There is no ONE correct answer.
 
OH!

You need a map of the area, and a compass.

That way if routes are blocked you can still get to where you want to go.

A topo map is probably overkill for the city though, a road map would do nicely. :D
 
I have a streamlight twin task single cell flashlight. It has 3 LEDs that last for 9 hours on one batter. It also has a halogen bulb that will last for 1.5 hours.
 
ras, what's your guess on the runtime of the LED SF?? It's not as short as the incan, I'd guess, but how much better is it??
 
Runtime: 19 lumens max output for 4.25 hours, followed by 4.75 hours of moderate output, followed by over 50 hours of minimum output.
KL3 LED Conversion Head When I put this head on my 6R the NiCad was totally out and would not light the regular bulb. I put the LED head on an immediately lit up the room. It works real well on a battery that's "dead".
 
About the intense/brief vs minimal/long duration flashlight issue, I would tend to have a slightly different take.

I have been a volunteer firefighter for 14 years. I have minimal experience with major disasters, but have participated in civilian evacuations (floods) and have been in quite a few places that occupants have had cause to leave under duress.

First, the night is only so long, and you only have to get so far to get out of harm's way. Even in ouchicutmyself's Kobe earthquake early in this thread, relative safety could be found within a few blocks.

Second, conditions typically involve dust or smoke. You need either a very tight beam or a real blaster of a light to do any navigating or searching in that kind of environment. A low-powered light will merely illuminate an opaque wall of suspended particulates.

Third, my experience is that emergency scenes have extremely variable lighting at night: pitch black and quiet to very bright and busy. I can never count on my night vision on scene. Trying to navigate with a dim flashlight in these circumstances is a great way to injure yourself on an obstacle.

I have two Princeton Tec Impact II LED flashlights -- one in my uniform coat, the other clipped to my bunker coat. LEDs allow both a reasonably bright, penetrating spot and long battery life (with standard batteries :) ) in a small package. They also will withstand quite a knock, unlike incandescents.

So, I would prefer a Sure-Fire to a mini-LED for emergency egress, but neither would be my first choice. My first choice, both as a rescuer and as a regular citizen, is a bright LED with a good spot that gets at least a full night's use with a set of batteries. The spot is the critical thing. Too many tasks simply cannot be done without some reaching out or penetrating power.

Scott
 
Scott, I've also found that LEDs cut through smoke/dust/fog/etc better than incandescent. I've got my share of PT lights :) I'm suprised the Impact II is holding up in heat, though. I was looking to replace my SuperSabrelite with the Luxeon version for HAZMAT, (Which I'll still do sooner or later), but if you're having luck that good with the Impact II I might pick up another one of those. .
 
"I'm suprised the Impact II is holding up in heat, though. . . ."

It is made of polycarbonate, which is pretty heat resistant. It is clipped at xiphoid level on my chest, so if my flashlight starts suffering from heat, I am probably not making real effective use of my nozzle. :)

It is not the best smoke cutter in the world, so I will sometimes grab a stronger light off the engine. The great thing about the Impact II is that it is always clipped right there on my chest. I turn it on when I get to a scene, and leave it on if I am busy. Then whenever I need to do some work bent over, like changing a bottle or preparing a power tool, it automatically aims more or less where I am working. It points at the ground when I am standing, great for when I am carrying things in both hands. It won't smack me in the chin or interfere with an air mask hanging around my neck either.

There are more intense lights with allnight battery life available now that weren't when I purchased my Impact IIs. Another thing to consider if you are doing a lot of rescue work separate from firefighting is a headlamp. Quite a few have dual capability, with separate bright spot and dim flood functions. They have gotten brighter in the last year, but still have amazing battery life.

I grew up on angle-head military surplus lights and 4-D cell headlamps with separate battery packs. I thought having 24 hours (!) of light all at once was pretty heavy duty. This new fangled LED stuff continually amazes me.

Scott
 
Yeah, the more I think about it like 95% of the turnout gear lights are poly. I guess I just associated it with diving, as I know some of their lights run so hot they almost have to be run underwater, otherwise they'll overheat and burn out. That probably doesn't apply too much to the handheld ones, though. .
 
Check out CountyComm's web site for their titanium pry-bars. Not a bad idea to add to you list if you have room. Good for prying, evac, etc.

good list and good idea to be prepared...

David
 
cardimon said:
Wow, that looks great. How did you find out about it?
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Cardimon, I first found out about it while browsing posts at Plainsmans cabin. I replaced the original pouch with something a little more durable and have used it on some minor chores around the house. It holds it's own.
 
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