[Skybird]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

BTW, since you all got me started on the subject, here are some quick observations I've stacked up over the years:

My folk's house (in northern Maine) always had a wood stove which looked quaint but we all hated it. Burning wood is a solid pain in the ###, even if you're used to it. Its a pain to find the right wood, its a pain to chop the wood into usable pieces, its a pain to store the wood you've chopped so it ages properly and doesn't get too wet. Its a pain to deal with the critters who enjoy living in the wood you chopped, etc, etc, etc.
Its also a pain in learning how to build the fire and its a REAL pain learning how clean your chimney so it (and the house) doesn't burn down.

So, we converted the house to run on oil heat and the old wood stove went that-a-way.

Which was just fine and dandy. Until we got nailed by a bad ice storm in the middle of winter and lost power for two days.

If you want to see modern people freak the #### out, take away their electricity for more than two hours. A modern house without electricity is worse than a car with an automatic transmission and a dead starter (think about it for a minute).

So, what to do, what to do??

Maybe mooch an old camp stove off a neighbor? Nope, believe me, the LAST thing your neighbors want to see is anyone mooching for anything that involves fire wood, gasoline, or food and doesn't involve their kids. They have their own problems to deal with, thank you, and even Mother Theresa would turn you away. Remember, humans can panic and they LOVE to panic when the lights go out.

So, what could we do? Well, there were two cars in the driveway and we had keys to both of them. There was no where to go, the roads were in pretty bad shape, but at least we could stay warm.

What else did we need? Hmm, how about flushing a toilet when the water pressure in the pipes goes to zero? I know, its a trick question as long as you have access to *some* standing water, like in a bathtub, but you'd be amazed how many people stop thinking when the #### hits the fan.

What about drinking water? We were standing in it up to our knees, as long as we could melt some of it, it wasn't an issue.

How about a radio that worked off batteries (or a hand crank)? How about batteries that weren't eight years old to run the radio?

So, hopefully you're getting the idea. Don't just buy a crutch, learn how to think this stuff through, 99% of your possessions will be worth ###-all to you in a real emergency. Its better to make sure that the 1% that can help you still works.

Don't assume you'll figure it out when the time's right. Having a wall of canned food doesn't mean jack if you have no way to open the cans. Think about it NOW and come up with a workable plan. Practice your plan NOW (or at least think it through) so you'll find the 8,000 things you didn't consider.

Amen to all of that! Nothing of it contradicts what I said.

I would add: practice certain things that need practice to function properly. I can make fire with a lens, I can make fire with a steel and stone, even a wood and a cord, but especially the latter was not easy to get too, and it has the right wood as a preconditiion. Better to have a lighter with you! Assuming that you coulkd dare to make an open fire, which is no certainty in a public emergency (I would prefer to stay in stealth mode and eat my can cold, its the same calories). How to span up a tarp in various setups? How to arrange a camp site with strong winds, and what works best inside a bivy bag with very limited space if you need to use both a winter sleeping bag and a thick isolation mat? That gets crowded, I tell you. Not to mention how to get used to the feel of claustrophobia that can come over you inside such a sleeping place. My first such night had me kind of panicking repeatedly in a closed bag. It takes time to get used to that. How to do good knots with a cord, for what purpose. And so forth.

For heaven's sake, guys, your equipment is only as good as your experince with making good use of it. So while you have time: practice! I do it severla times, now in our garden behidn the house. Just for fun. Peopel are maused, come and tlak. I explain, and else do my thing. I knwo why I do it, and whetehr they care for it or not, does not really interest me. After all, I share property rights in this place and have a right to use the place. End of message.

The best equipment there is is always the one you have with you. Because its the only equipment that in case of emergency is available to you its the one that you have with you, and no other. The thoughts on putting a Rucksack together - must have been spent BEFORE you stumble into an emergency situation. Lets say there is an industrial desaster, with or without controlled management by the state authorities. Wind plays a role, and the expectation of escaping either into an urban or a natural environment. How do you move? Car? Public transportaiton? Bike? On foot? What equipment will you pick? That are questions you should spend time on BEFORe an emergency breaks out and you are running thin on time. Will you need a multitool in the forest? No. Do you take a chainsaw, a foldable pocket saw, or a small axe? One of them, but which one, and why? All three is too heavy. Or is it just your all-purprose knife (no foldables, please)? You can expect to bring it to good use in the forest maybe. But if you escape into an urban environment, I would immediately trade any of them for a multi-waterkey and a tong with cable scissors: the city has no trees, but many fences, wire fences, loicks on public doors, water dwells and so forth. What do you need in a medikit? And so forth and so on. In emergency, you do not have the time nor the mental calm to think all this through thoroughly, you must have done it in advance. Finally, can you expect to find shelter and friendly help at the destination where you plan to flee to, or do you need to expect that other humans will compete with you for ressources? - Thats why I have more items and equipment than I do expect to bring to use, in fact I hope I never will use anything of it at all. My Rucksack is mostkly ready-packe,d but a few items are niot included, since they muust be choosen for the scneario then being actual. Weight is an issue to monitor, just packing in evertyhing is no option just because the individual thing weighs just 200 gr. Five such pieces make one 1 kg, and there you go, Superman! Suddenly you feel the difference. Also, I do not grow younger. At some time you have to realise that fleeing is no option for you anymore, and you are left to "stationary defence".



And the Rucksack itself: do not make it military-looking, you raise attention when moving in a city. Do not use neon colours, you stand out rreom the backgorudn if moving in nature. Make it a simple green or brownish colour, that is modest, dark not bright. somethign that raises no interest and no attention in any envrionment. I even use a dark blue and medium grea one, 45-55 liters, modular. Very good fit, poriginally a women'S model, since I have a narrower chest, the SL (=slim) verison matched my anatomy perfectly. As a male, do not be shy to check women backbacks as well! I am not kidding.


And do not underestimate the burden of weight. The military may find it a good idea letting its soldiers running around with 25 kilograms plus weapons and ammo, but for untrained, civilians not used to daily exercises I consider that to be a an excess that will cost you: in range, in speed, in endurance and in water consummation.. Idal would be 10-12 kg, my limit to which I pack is 15 kg max, but I try to stay below that value significantly, which includes two packs of NRG-5 (1kg, 2x 2300 calories), and 3 liters of water, tarp 3x3m, sleeping bag, isolation mat (both of best quality: the mat is ultra-isolating and reflecting, I have two sleeping bags, ultralight but still extremely warm, or medium warm: one for winter conditions of down to -6°C in transition zone, and one for all other times of the year, transition zone I thionk +4 or +2°). A good, comfortable Rucksack with strapü mounts that match your chest width. Mind you, many of us are not training everyday anymore, we are not used to physical stress anymore every day. There is no point in overestimating your own physical training status.

Why I come from stationary preparation to bagging out all the time? Because the transition is fluent. When your reserves run thin, you must turn mobile, and you better do that while you still have the resources, both materially and physically. And for both scenarios there is one basic truth. While you spend a weekend in the woods to practice this and that survival skill, its all just a game. Its hobby, and not even a bad one. But when it is a real emergency, then it is fight: fight for survival, and fight against other humans wanting to take from you what you have.

And that are two totally different kinds of party. Just mastering skills will not prepare you for that. You need to find another way to prepare for that. I give you a hint: you must unlearn to be a too civilised being. It's a thing of mental attitude. Killing technically is not difficult. The issue is those hurdles people have inside their head.

Did you know that most people who ran through self-defence courses of any kind and later become victims of a crime, say assault or rape, nevertheless fail to defend themselves although having the technical skill to do so and to inflict pain and injury on their attacker? The problem is their head. One needs to find a way to work on that.


Finally, saying that with all caution: in case of such emergency scenarios, with state order collapsing: for heavens sake, try to get armed with a firegun, preferred a small one that you can hide away (pistol over rifle, you do not intend to start a war, do you). No matter the legal situation and claims by your place's laws: if somebody tries to kill you to rob your food, water, equipment, being legal in your means of self defence will not help you. So in these circumstances: get a gun if only you can.