It would be a good idea to just have a backup plan with a few other people in your area if something goes down.

Personally, being a good friend of my previous scoutmaster when I was in scouts, being an assistant scoutmaster now. I live very close to him, and he keeps in his side yard, a trailer, which contains backpacking materials, tents, medic packs, water purification kits, stoves, cooking aids, etc...

If we were still able to drive his truck, we would be pulling that trailer with us, we haven't talked specifically about this, but I'm very sure if the time comes to it, we can accomplish that.

Here is THE rule. never forget it, change it or amend it. It will save your life.

Your belt kit is yours. it contains all you need to stay alive for 48 hours in the field unassisted in an emergency. Never loan it out, never share its contents, never, ever let me see it off your backs unless you are alseep. if you are alseep it is slung over one arm and secured to your personage. Treat it like a jealous man treats his wife.

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The above is the words still ringing in my ears from senior staff instructors above 'belt kit' a long time ago. It to me rings true for all BOB kits for personal use, and personal survival gear.

Have your own, and if in a group, build a group stash. You never know when you will be on foot, alone and in need of it.

Daniel.

I just wanted to add, that in my opinion, the two most important subjects of knowledge for sitx survival would be sanitation and water purification.

These two items will become an immediate necessity in large cities.
I actually think that large cities will be horrible to be near to in sitx, but that might just be personal preference.

For the sanitation, mainly disposing of human feces, I would have a shovel with me. You don't want to just leave the waste out, it needs to be buried. Also, make sure that your food and your waste areas are completely separate. You don't poop where you eat.

For water purification, you definitely need some sort of purifying means in your survival bag. When you travel, you won't know what the water condition is like. Also, in many sitx situations, the water source can be contaminated. You need a way to ensure that you have clean water intake.

There are many handheld purifiers, but they can be large to fit into your survival bag (space means everything). One option is a purifying straw. They are smaller, and perform the task at hand. The only drawbacks is that the straw is not a long term solution.

Another option, (I read about this and it made sense, I just haven't had it verified) is to use "Pool Shock" treatment. You have to make sure to get the kind with no added chemicals. If I understand the theory about poolshock, it is powdered chlorine. A little of this goes a long way. The only downfall to this method, is that you need a container to hold water in (whereas with a straw you can just drink).

With the shock treatment, you use a tiny bit to mix up a chlorine solution, then you use a tiny bit of that to purify the water.

Can anyone verify if this method is healthy? I'm unsure if the ingestion of chlorine is detrimental.
This method leaves a slight chlorine taste. To rid the taste, pour from one container to another several times back and forth. This takes out the chlorine taste.

I've read before that in an emergency a couple drops of chlorine bleach per gallon of water will kill a lot of what might ail you, but I'm not 100% sure on that..

My kelly kettle finally came in, sadly, I bought the larger one, which is simply too big for a BOB, even with all the junk I have in mine, so it will be regulated to my camping package. Will be ordering the small one today, hopefully I can accomdate it. Very very sound investment. Works fantastic, and the fact you dont need to tote disposable fuel canisters around is a big bonus to me.

Also, on the reccomendation from Dan, I picked up a blast match as well. Another great idea. I went mining this past weekend and did some serious damage to my left hand, rendering my flint and steel nearly useless and very painful to try and use. Without this thing, I would have had to start fire in a conventional method, which I prefer not to do. Thanks again for the heads up on that.

Camera is back, so will be posting pics of my BOB here within the next couple of days.

Oh yes, I have been waiting for your kelly kettle thoughts.

Will look forward to your BOB posts too. Glad the blastmatch works as good as I said it does. Mines never off my personage now along with a pack of wetfire fuel.