Katrina changed your BoB philosophy?

K

kl101

Joined
Oct 4, 1999
Messages
119
today was the first time I've been on BF post Katrina. I expected tons of discussion about it. surprised there hasn't been more. Maybe i missed it already.

Anyway, have the pictures and reports changed your thoughts on what needs to be in your BoB?

Here is how mine has changed

Less concern about keeping it as light and small as possible.
Start out with more and you can discard if you need to move quickly

More food and water

More sanitation supplies.
Roll of TP and some soap

(heres the big one)
A weapon.
Never owned a handgun but I am going to get one ASAP now.
 
Don't forget the ammo:)...Water is a big one so may be a water filter and/or some purification tablets.
 
I have also been thinking about whether my BOB needs any modifications. One thing I learned from Katrina is that I will only bug out if that is my absolute only option. Hopefully I would have been able to evacuate the area before the catastrophe, but as we are learning that is not always possible. Some might say that bugging in makes no sense, but after watching the chaos in NO, it’s starting to make more sense to me. There are many examples to support this. People were told to do whatever they could to get to the convention center. Once they arrived, there was no support for them there. People were told to try to get to the Super Dome. Once people arrived, no support, no food, confusion, and frustration. People were told they could purchase tickets for bus rides out of the city. When they arrived at the pick up point, the buses never showed. All of these situations drained people’s energy, resources, and sanity.

Now consider the woman that was on the news this morning. She stayed in one of the hotels in NO instead of bugging out. To my knowledge, she and her mother were the only ones there. News reporters showed her room, full of supplies and food she had gathered from the hotel. They did not go out of their way to draw attention to themselves. They did not suffer the effects of having to deal with looters, rapists, and criminals. Clearly, they could survive there for weeks if they had to. Her example shows that remaining calm, using your brain, and bugging in can save your life.

Soup
 
Yeah, It's made me more inclined to get my gear more organized and squared away. It's also reinforced a philosophy I've held forever; Urban areas are not the place to be in a crisis. To many stupid, unprepared, panic prone people. If by some small chance I get stuck in one, and can't get out before TSHTF then I'm batoning down the hatchs in my own area and staying there. None of this gather w/ the masses (i.e. riot waiting to happen) sh-t. :thumbdn:
 
Not a BOB per se, but living around Tokyo we have upped our survival rations based on the FUBAR efforts in Kobe and now NO. I am looking for 2 weeks worth of food. I have a 500L water tank outside, so that isnt too much of an issue. My lanterns and stoves run on Kerosene instead of petrol/gas/Gas as its more stable and easier to store.
I have plenty of flashlights and batteries, Axes, pry bars and knives. I will probably add a large tarp and obviously include my tent and sllep gear.
 
Yes.

Gotta put one together that is mobile, not just having all the stuff around the house.
 
What I learned is that before I'll do any changing to my gear, I want to play a wait and see, as to what the authorities are going to do in response to the situations taking place right now. N.O. could well be their proving grounds too. They have certainly bungled it up to now and with so much world attention on what is actually taking place, the gov. is certain to take a hard stand and shift into high gear. Until we know how they will react to future events, adding weapons, even a large and visible knife, may be a big mistake.
 
with all that flooding i would have also thrown in a rubber raft. Here in idaho that would do me no good---to dry. hasn't rained all summer practically
 
My previous thinking was that I needed to prepare for 72 hours, after which relief would definitely roll in, or I would be able to roll out. Granted, the risk in my area is earthquake and not floods, and agencies here seem much better prepared than elsewhere in the country, but nevertheless I'm extending my kit and contingency plans for at least a week.

Overall strategy should be re-considered as well. For earthquakes, there's no advance warning. But in another area of the country, given advanced advice to bug out due to approaching storm, if I had the capability to do so (many in N.O didn't), I'm re-resolved to do so. If I didn't bug out and got caught, it's worth re-thinking whether you should assemble at the government-specified place (e.g., Superdome) or shelter in place if you're well-supplied. My wife was telling me about a couple that was interviewed in New Orleans who stuck tight to their house and had plenty of supplies... no question they were safer from disease, violence, and heat than the people who went to the superdome.
 
pastorsoup said:
Now consider the woman that was on the news this morning. She stayed in one of the hotels in NO instead of bugging out. To my knowledge, she and her mother were the only ones there. News reporters showed her room, full of supplies and food she had gathered from the hotel. They did not go out of their way to draw attention to themselves. They did not suffer the effects of having to deal with looters, rapists, and criminals. Clearly, they could survive there for weeks if they had to. Her example shows that remaining calm, using your brain, and bugging in can save your life.

Soup
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Don't hang your hat on this woman's example. She did a lot of things right, like not panicking and running, and making a plan based on her situation and what was available to her. But ultimately she is a guest on someone else's property, and in a disaster area a guest can turn into a vagrant really quick. IMO she was really pressing her luck that FEMA didn't requisition the hotel and turn it into another festering human warehouse just like the Thunderdome--er, Superdome. She could just as likely have been sharing her hotel room with 10-20 desperate strangers. It may have simply been that the hotel was her only option at the time.

The biggest lessons I see out of this are:
- If you don't live in NO, be thankful. And if you do or did live there, take your home insurance check and build or buy a home somewhere else that's not below sea level.
- This should dispell any delusions people still cling to that their gov is going to be there for them if/when a major disaster strikes, be it natural or man-made. Is it not insanity to believe that somehow our government is going to be any more efficient in disaster relief than they are in delivering the mail, or screening passengers at airports?

As for weapons, the NO flooding situation is only the latest example of the need for them. kl101, I think you're wise to finally see the importance of a defensive weapon but I have to ask, what was different about the looting and violence in NO that convinced you of the need for a firearm, that the LA riots over the Rodney King verdict didn't convince you at the time? I mean, the gov didn't provide any personal or private property protection then, either.
 
In New Orleans, the law abiding citizen's contract with society broke down. Just as it did during the Rodney King riots fourteen years ago when law enforcement was nowhere to be found. Cold hard facts. Liberals are attempting to legislate away a citizens right to self-protection. I suspect that most of those liberal lawmakers own personal weapons - just as hollywood celebrities do. They pander to their elitist, liberal constituents who simply don't care about you or your dead family.

Once again, Americans will be expected to buy into all of the tired, aged exuses, rhetoric and lies regarding the underlying causes of this violence. Regardless of where you live, its painfully clear that individuals must take responsibility for their own safety and not rely on a government that is striving to deprive you of that capability.
 
longbow50 said:
Until we know how they will react to future events, adding weapons, even a large and visible knife, may be a big mistake.
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I wonder if the women in the Superdome--and elsewhere around the city--who got raped would agree with you. Not practical advice IMO. Better to have and not need than to need and not have. You can always hide it or get rid of it whenever you want. Besides, if you're in place guarding your own property the worst the gov will do is confiscate it--unless if you aim it at them or something stupid like that.

NO has (HAD) strict gun laws--specifically hand gun laws--did they not? NO residents have been told they don't need guns; that there is no justification for having them. Yet when disaster strikes, looters and gangs run amok doing what they do best, and the police/military presence is insufficient to stop even a fraction of it.

Besides, any cop or soldier who isn't power tripping will be glad to see some common-law abiding citizens who are well armed in his area, because he will know that these are the people he can come to for help when HE is outnumbered or overwhelmed, and that they will make his job--and everyone's lives--easier by taking out a lot of the "trash" themselves (less criminals for him to have to deal with). Among other possibilities, he could deputize armed volunteers and organize patrols to suppress looters and search for survivors.

Most of us are good guys, and we will come to the aid of a peace officer or soldier who is just trying to keep the peace and uphold private property rights, and who needs assistance.
 
miguet said:
I would strongly suspect that most of those liberal lawmakers own personal weapons - just as hollywood celebrities do.
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Count on it! I know for a fact the Hollywood Mega Millionaire Marxists and Billionaire Bolsheviks do... or if they don't they employ very well armed and very expensive bodyguards.

Nothing like left wing liberal hypocrites!!

L.W.
 
Leanwolf said:

_________________________________________________________________


Nothing like left wing liberal hypocrites!!
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Pardon me, as I am new to this sub-forum, but I thought this was a discussion about BoBs in light of Katrina.

I sincerely doubt that it helps any situation to engage in labeling and name-calling.

What you see depends entirely upon where you are standing.
 
Well, after watching the news for the past couple of days I realized one thing: if anything major happens (God forbid) where I live I am not going to wait for government to save me. Given that I stay alive of course. Moreover, I will try to move my family out to be as far away from the herd as possible even if I have to shoot my way through. I would feel much more comfortable and safe with some distance between me and city supplies, water or helpers for that matter. The woods seem a lot more attractive than safety of designated location like Superdome.
 
Like that story of the woman in the hotel! In fact watching the tv, I got the idea that those highrises would be where you'd find me. Plenty of water coolers, vending machines,a differant toilet per day!! Most likely some work out clothes in desks etc. No one can come up the elevators and the stairwell doors lock to the stairwell, so someone would have to force the door or "slip" the lock (something I'm good at) so the higher up you go the better I would think.
 
merlin said:
Pardon me, as I am new to this sub-forum, but I thought this was a discussion about BoBs in light of Katrina.

I sincerely doubt that it helps any situation to engage in labeling and name-calling.

What you see depends entirely upon where you are standing.
Click to expand...

I for one wasn't offended. I would've said it myself but I assumed everyone here already knew it. As for what we see, of course one's point of view depends upon where one stands, but truth is not relative, nor does it care who's feelings get hurt.
 
Yeah, added more ammo. And trip wire for a perimeter alarms. Night vision goggles. And trade items, as money is almost worthess unless you got 100 dollar bills for a bottle of water..
 
X-Head said:
I for one wasn't offended. I would've said it myself but I assumed everyone here already knew it. As for what we see, of course one's point of view depends upon where one stands, but truth is not relative, nor does it care who's feelings get hurt.
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Clearly we disagree. Truth, for me, is always relative. There are no absolutes. But perhaps by "truth" you really meant beliefs, or viewpoints?

I do not believe that anyone ever has the whole picture. There are far too many variables, and the human mind is severely limited in its capacity to understand all of the ramifications, or often the causes, of any event.

And again, I have yet to personally witness any situation where name-calling and labeling furthered anything but divisiveness.

YMMV....
 
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