BOBs -- why?

I am not familiar with the story you posted but, as the story says community groups and clubs gather round and support the needy.
Years ago I worked for a soft drink company and there were major bushfires blocking highways.
Volunteers from the company moved in and handed out drinks to people stuck in their cars for 2 days.
Thousands of cases of Pepsi were given for free, Clubs had people stay in their Auditoriums etc.
It was community helping each other.
No one had BOB's or Uzi's
 
tOk, hyperbole. Well, some of us prefer not to depend upon someone else to provide for us. Yes, I had friends who went to N.O. with boats to effect rescues, some were LEOs and some were wildlife officers. Tractor trailers were parked in many communities and filled with donations of food, water, clothing, and other needful things to support the relief effort. Even the Schrade Collector's forum here held a relief auction for the victims. Again, we are not as different as one might suppose. And anyone opposed to firearm ownership and posession is welcome to leave them out of their kit. Heck, a kit can just be some cash, spare glasses, needed medicines, and copies of important papers. Maybe your credit card is all the kit you need or want. That is fine too, as long as you can buy what you need with it. If you feel comfortable depending on someone else to come along and take care of your needs and provide you with sustanence, that is fine too. Comunities and businesses are well known for largess when disaster strikes. But still, many of us prefer to make our own preparations for the possibility that the cavelry won't arrive in a few hours.

Codger
 
Good on you Codger.
My BOB would be a plastic bag with some coupons to the local Pizza joint. A bottle of cheap Port or Scotch ( in case things got rough)
One or two dirty magazines in case my Female could not make it before my BOB.
One really big knife to scare other BOB carriers away that had used their coupons already or had designs on my personal porn collection.
 
Codger_64 said:
tOk, hyperbole. Well, some of us prefer not to depend upon someone else to provide for us. Yes, I had friends who went to N.O. with boats to effect rescues, some were LEOs and some were wildlife officers. Tractor trailers were parked in many communities and filled with donations of food, water, clothing, and other needful things to support the relief effort. Even the Schrade Collector's forum here held a relief auction for the victims. Again, we are not as different as one might suppose. And anyone opposed to firearm ownership and posession is welcome to leave them out of their kit. Heck, a kit can just be some cash, spare glasses, needed medicines, and copies of important papers. Maybe your credit card is all the kit you need or want. That is fine too, as long as you can buy what you need with it. If you feel comfortable depending on someone else to come along and take care of your needs and provide you with sustanence, that is fine too. Comunities and businesses are well known for largess when disaster strikes. But still, many of us prefer to make our own preparations for the possibility that the cavelry won't arrive in a few hours.

Codger
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You are not that Japanese chap that was pulled out of Borneo last year are you?
Lost track of time and thought that WWII was still going?
I am all for looking after myself without being extreme.
I can live off the land with a small pocket knife easily.
Do I want to? no not really, if pushed I would survive easily.
As a fisherman I can find bait and most of this bait is food.
I have hunted for most of my life, but if a storm hit home, and I had to hunt my neighbours Rabbit to get by then I would worry about some of the Admins looking after the crisis and their jobs long term
 
Danno4017 said:
You are not that Japanese chap that was pulled out of Borneo last year are you?
Lost track of time and thought that WWII was still going?
I am all for looking after myself without being extreme.
I can live off the land with a small pocket knife easily.
Do I want to? no not really, if pushed I would survive easily.
As a fisherman I can find bait and most of this bait is food.
I have hunted for most of my life, but if a storm hit home, and I had to hunt my neighbours Rabbit to get by then I would worry about some of the Admins looking after the crisis and their jobs long term
Click to expand...

Ah...more hyperbole. Where have you seen me suggest that a prepared person is required to own war weapons, huge honking knives? But from what you say now, you believe you will have fishing and hunting equipment in your pockets, and also a knife of the type you prefer, so you won't be caught unprepared to fend for yourself. Cool. All your chest beating is for naught then. You have prepared, and just differ in your choice of equipment. Again, not a thing wrong with that.

Michael
 
Boy Danno down there all smugly in the land down under, you have the entire USA figured out don't you.

The way you talk about the 3rd world response to Katrina one would think you were actually there instead of sitting on your ass drinking beer and watching a TV.

I don't need no stinking BOB mate, I can survive with the stuff in my pockets.:jerkit:
 
The Uk is the land of the wet and windy so often. Occasionally we get treated to storms and snows but nothing much to shout about. Being unprepared is mainly to invite inconveniance. At some stage or another every member of my immediate family has been involved in dealing with some stranger's crisis. We have all had the skills needed to help but spare equipment like first aid kits, warm and waterproof clothing and two man tents in every car have been very useful.
Fishing, camping, hiking, continental cycling, competative lifesaving and professional training all encourage thinking about what can be a useful set of tools to carry.
When any of us go anywhere for any reason there is a BOB or PPP in the same way a mechanic takes his toolkit.
A second bag would cover specifics for each trip.
But the first one's a toolkit and saves you from being without things you can be useful with.
A vehicle just expands the emergancy kit you can carry , so adds to the diversity of possible responses.
Doesn't mean you can do everything with or without it...my brain surgery is, frankly lousy.
 
I carry a packed Bergen in my car but dont really think of it as a BOB, more a large Survival Kit. Off the top of my head it contains:-

Tarp
Lots of cordage
Hiking Shelter
FAK
Fire extinguisher
SAS tin
Stove & Fuel
Mess tin & KFS
2 x British Army 24hr Ration Packs
2 x 2litre bottles of water
E-tool
Flashlight
Knife
Toilet Roll
Dust mask & Disposable over-suit
Crowbar
Small axe
Candles
Tealights
Blanket
This really isnt so much of a BOB but more for use IF I git stuck somewhere & either had to make my car into some sort of shelter (the tarp is big enough to cover my car AND the hiking shelter) or set up a shelter away from my car. I also carry a briefcase in the trunk as a kinda re-supply kit carrying duplicates of my EDC stuff & two (empty at the moment!) water cooler bottles that I er....."liberated" from work!
 
The notion that a BOB is some selfish way to avoid an end of the world event or some other extreme scenario is missing the point. Life is full of surprises. Being prepared is prudent. We heat with wood so we are particularly mindful of the possibility of a house fire. We have a set of warm clothes stashed in an outbuilding in case we have to leave fast in the cold. I am in the firewood business and spend days in the woods and fields. The kit in the truck is designed to allow me to survive being stranded in bad weather. This is the BOB mentality. It is not about extreme events, though one never knows. The BOB is about bad luck or the like in the most ordinary of circumstances.
 
woodsmoke said:
The notion that a BOB is some selfish way to avoid an end of the world event or some other extreme scenario is missing the point. Life is full of surprises. Being prepared is prudent. We heat with wood so we are particularly mindful of the possibility of a house fire. We have a set of warm clothes stashed in an outbuilding in case we have to leave fast in the cold. I am in the firewood business and spend days in the woods and fields. The kit in the truck is designed to allow me to survive being stranded in bad weather. This is the BOB mentality. It is not about extreme events, though one never knows. The BOB is about bad luck or the like in the most ordinary of circumstances.
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Very well said. A BoB is there in case it is needed and not the owners mentality of impending doom and chaos.

This past fall in Washington, we experienced large scale flooding, a major windstorm that left us without power for days (5 days for our town) and a couple of unexpectedly heavy snow/ice events that left a lot of people stranded on the highways.

I was on a trip during the flooding and my wife, son and mom-in-law ended up evacuating and the first thing my wife grabbed was our main BoB that would supplement the vehicle kits that are always in each of our SUV's. Then she packed the photos eextra clothes and the pooch just as planned.

On the most recent ice event, it took folks 7 - 8 hours to get from Seattle to the suburbs. Many cars abandoned because of icy hills and the lack of sense to keep tire chains in the car. Many had no provisions or enough gas to get home.

BoB's are just another item in a layered plan to keep fed, dry and independent.

hatchet-
 
I feel that Codger has a rational, realistic and common sense point of view. I agree with him totally. Other than for milk or bread etc. I do not go to the store every day, I stock up for a few weeks on payday. I do not get gas every day, I fill the tank until needed again. We tune our cars ahead of time to ensure that they will work when needed. These are simple, apparent, common and universal aspect to being prepared.....for life. We do this because then we KNOW that we have food to eat and gas in the car the next day and that your car wont crap out at 3am 20 miles out of town.
As Codger infered previously, this does not imply that we should live in caves, eating dried rats and salivating as we polish our knives. I would rather feel secure in the knowledge that I can take action in a crisis, as opposed to making passive and helpless victims of myself and loved ones.
 
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