My Survival Equipment List, And a Little Know How

My Survival Equipment List, And a Little Know How

Hello all;

I have been waiting for something big to happen since I was in grade school. I have always had this feeling that something really bad is going to happen. I am now 27, and I realize that it’s probably all in my head. But the peace of mind that a little preparedness can give you is invaluable. Besides, even if nothing catastrophic happens most of the following Items can still come in handy during natural disasters, extended power outages, civil unrest, and the countless situations I haven’t thought of. Not to mention the possible catastrophic situations (no matter how unlikely) that the following equipment and information will help save your, and your loved one’s lives. Situations like; nuclear holocaust, other nuclear and radiological events, pandemic of a highly infectious disease, meteor strike, mass riots/extreme civil unrest, terrorist attack or foreign attack with biological/chemical agents, political coupe/civilian enslavement with martial law, Judgment day, alien invasion, computers taking over, and lastly (my favorite) zombie outbreak.

Here is a short list of supplies that will probably come in handy. You may decide based on the situation, were you live, or what your survival plan is, that you don’t need some of these things. You may even need to add to it. That’s okay; these are just a few helpful hints and suggestions to get you started on your survival kit.
(IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep all preparedness supplies together at all times. When the poo hits the fan you don’t want to be running around trying to find stuff. In my basement closet I keep a couple of duffle bags, along with some larger gear.)

1. Battery free/crank radio

2. battery free/crank flashlight

3. Cording such as twine

4. Pump Water Filter/ or Cleaning Tabs/ or A Portable Way of Boiling Water (note: if you live by the ocean water may become contaminated with salt, so you may want to just keep a few days to a week of bottled water on hand.)

5. Duct Tape

6. Tactical Vest to Hold Gear (Fishing and hunting vests work good to.)

7. Several Pairs of Dry Socks Per Person

8. Several Pairs of Clothes per person (note: if you live in a varying climate like I do in Minnesota, you will need to keep a summer and a winter bag of clothes, because you never know when disaster will strike.)

9. Toiletries (soap, shaving razors etc. One small travel toiletry bag per person.)

10. Small Tool Kit, Including Multi-tool, and Pry-bar (A good sized hand held pry-bar not only makes a useful tool, but can also be used as a melee weapon.)

11. Camping Axe and Shovel

12. Tent, Sleeping Bag, Pillows etc.

13. Money, (keep several hundred dollars cash rolled up in your survival bag.)

14. Folding Style Camping Utensils

15. A Fixed Bladed and Folding Knife

16. NBC Mask with Extra Filters (if you’re really paranoid like me.)

17. Sewing Kit With Heavy Gage Thread

18. Well Stocked First Aid Kit

19. Some Form of Fishing Gear (It doesn’t have to be with the kit, just easily accessible and ready. They also make some nice portable/collapsible fishing gear you can keep with your kit, it won’t land you a musky but it will catch enough pan fish to keep you alive. IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep extra fishing hooks handy. If you cut off the barb it makes an ideal needle for suturing wounds.)

20. Clear Plastic Tarp (can be used to make a small greenhouse, or you can turn it into a makeshift solar distillery to suck up ground moisture on a sunny day, and even safely recycle your urine.)

21. Reading Material, Deck of Cards, etc. (some form of entertainment will be required to keep you from going too loopy, and it helps keep your mind off the situation.

22. Flare Gun (particularly if you live below sea level and your area has a high chance of flooding.)

List Continued

23. A Magnesium Fire Starter, or water proof matches with fuel discs, or several full lighters.

24. Self Defense Tools. (Firearms/ammo/cleaning kit, melee weapons)

25. Large Bucket With Plenty of Heavy-duty Garbage Bag Liners (For going to the bathroom in)

26. Prescription Medication If Any (you probably don’t want to keep this in your survival kit, but you can safety pin a note to your survival go bag(s) to remind yourself to take them with.)

27. Extra Pair of Shoes/Boots

28. Duffle Bag(s) and or Heavy-Duty Hiking Back Pack(s) (Obviously, used to carry your gear while keeping you and your group as mobile as possible.)

29. Bible (For when there’s nothing left to do but pray.)

30. Lastly; For the love of All, if you have children, don’t forget them in your race for survival. Your wife will not let you live it down, Ever!

Continued

Survival Know How: Since there is far too much information, and techniques to post. I am forced to give you a short list of “need to knows” and survival rules, then point you in the right direction for further education.

Survival Books: Even after taken classes, and mentally preparing it’s best to have some type of written documentation on your survival techniques. These should be studied and kept with your survival gear.

The (Boy Scouts) Complete Wilderness Training Manual By: Hugh McManners (I wasn’t in the boy scouts when I was a kid, but after reading this I thought I should have been. Those kids have survival down.)

Any book containing detailed information on your local flora. (Preferably with colored pictures for easy recognition)

A First Aid Pocket Guide. (Even if you have a solid understanding of first aid and trauma care, it is during stressful time like this that you are most likely to forget an important detail. Keeping a small paramedic or nurses flip guide can help avoid that.)

I would suggest having a firm understanding of at least the following:
Collecting Water in various environments, trapping animals and fish for food, what wild roots and fruits in your area are not only edible but also nutritious, How to treat various Conditions, cleaning and suturing wounds (it’s not just like sewing), know specific survival techniques and problems to overcome for your climate, and environment/niche were you will find yourself living in (cold weather, dry arid, marshy, hot and moist etc.)

Survival Rules and Tips

1. Never Panic: no matter how unprepared you are, or how suddenly something happens, the difference between survivors and statistics is the ability to stay calm. If you feel yourself start to panic, try picturing yourself in a safe place (small room, beautiful open field) and try to breathe deeply. Panic will cause you to make mistakes that could cost you, or a loved one their life.

2. Water: In many situations it will be helpful to Remember to fill the sinks and bath tubs in your home with water. You do not know if you will lose your utilities, or if the ground water will become contaminated later.

3. Have an Escape Plan: know your exits and how to make them. Highways will be jammed and potential death traps. If possible use a vehicle with all wheel drive capabilities. Do not use any main roads, even if the radio has confirmed them as clear.

4. Know What You Are Going To Do: have plans for several situations. Have several different locations in mind, depending on the nature of the disaster. Go over the information and your plan in your head from time to time. This will help to prepare you, and help you to be more confident in your actions, and reduces the chance of panic.

5. What Am I Missing?: try to think about the worst case scenario, and how you plan(s) could go wrong. Then think up ways to solve the problem.

6. Primary Survival Tool: Is you! You are your best and worst chance of survival. Be as in shape as possible. Practice common sense and practical versions of martial arts. (there are more and more instructors now that focus on self defense vs. the art/sport of it and competition) Learn how do defend yourself with everyday items. (I took a class for awhile from a Philippine knife fighting master who cut out all the BS, and just taught practical ways to defend yourself with a folding knife.)

Continued

7. Know Who You Can Trust: In a survival situation you have to realize that there will be people who are unprepared and panicking, who may try and take your survival plan away from you by force. Only trust close family and (really well known) old friends. However cold and insensitive it may sound, do not attempt to help strangers. You will be putting yourself and your loved ones in danger by allowing strangers in too close. The only thing more dangerous than the dire situation that you are in, is the unpredictability and of humans in panic. Assume they will go to any lengths to survive. Including kill you and your family.

8. Know Your Stuff (Firearms): If you plan on keeping a weapon(s) for you and you families safety don’t just know about them, understand how they work, and practice vigorously with them, and remember firearm safety*. Several of my firearms I can take apart and put back together in the dark purely by memory. Know every pin, clasp, and bolt that comes out of your firearm. Don’t just take them to the range until you can hit the bull’s-eye and call it quits. Unless you are very proficient with multiple firearms your targeting skills will decrease quickly after you stop practicing. The range in which you can consistently hit the mark is about double your effective range in combat situations (this is especially true, and can even be shorter with handguns). So if you can hit what you’re shooting at about than 29 out of 30 times at 30 yds with your pistol, than you will only be effective in combat somewhere between 10 to 15 yds.


*Consider your target and what’s beyond it, never point a gun at something you don’t want destroyed, consider all firearms to be loaded all the time, never put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot. I you follow these rules you will never accidently shoot yourself or someone else. (or at least the chances are so slim as to be considered impossible).


[edit on 8-7-2009 by NRA4ever333]

some changes i would advise.

3. Cording such as twine parachute cord would be better its stronger will last a lot longer. it can be untied easer.

4. Pump Water Filter/ or Cleaning Tabs/ or A Portable Way of Boiling Water (note: if you live by the ocean water may become contaminated with salt, so you may want to just keep a few days to a week of bottled water on hand.)
learn how to build a solar still. these work great on a beach.
www.desertusa.com...
en.wikipedia.org...
carry enough kits to build at least 10 solar stills. and carry a small hand pump to fill canteens or folding water jugs.
media.photobucket.com...
This allows you to stock-up on water. or have enough water to walkabout.

some changes i would advise.

3. Cording such as twine parachute cord would be better its stronger will last a lot longer. it can be untied easer.

4. Pump Water Filter/ or Cleaning Tabs/ or A Portable Way of Boiling Water (note: if you live by the ocean water may become contaminated with salt, so you may want to just keep a few days to a week of bottled water on hand.)
learn how to build a solar still. these work great on a beach.
www.desertusa.com...
en.wikipedia.org...
carry enough kits to build at least 10 solar stills. and carry a small hand pump to fill canteens or folding water jugs.
media.photobucket.com...
This allows you to stock-up on water. or have enough water to walkabout.

17. Sewing Kit With Heavy Gage Thread, throw some sutures in with the sewing kit you may need to sew skin.

23. A Magnesium Fire Starter, or water proof matches with fuel discs, or several full lighters. add a big ball of dryer lint or cotton balls and a tube of petroleum jelly.
add a dab of petroleum jelly to the dryer lint or a cotton balls then lite with the fire starter. burns like a candle but bigger.

25. Large Bucket With Plenty of Heavy-duty Garbage Bag Liners (For going to the bathroom in)
find a tree to go behind and take a folding canvas bucket. its lighter and may be used for many uses.

22. Flare Gun (particularly if you live below sea level and your area has a high chance of flooding.)
if you are carrying a weapon check to see if there are not flare cartridges for your weapon.
if you live where tracer ammo is legal get some red tracer rounds.



[edit on 8-7-2009 by ANNED]

Parachute cord is so very useful in many ways. You can also take lengths, remove the outer layer, and inside, you have many smaller nylon strings handy for use in small game snares. Just run them through a bit of charcoal for dulling the color, and you're good to go.

You may look at 6-mil polyethylene at your friendly home supply. It's durable, it's cheap by the roll, and of course, multipurpose.

If the outdoors is available, if you have a small shovel, that's your latrine. Use common sense, as in a survival situation, sanitation will be job #2. There will be many, many folks die of disease.

Don't forget salt and silver. Going to be absolutely necessary.

Looks like smart minds think alike. My BOB is strikingly similar, but you made me think to incude razors and more toilettries.

Originally posted by NRA4ever333
1. Battery free/crank radio

2. battery free/crank flashlight--Not battery free, but rechargable batteries and a roll out solar panel to recharge them.

3. Cording such as twine--250 feet of yellow twine. 100 yards of fishing line and hooks.

4. Pump Water Filter/ or Cleaning Tabs/ or A Portable Way of Boiling Water -- tablets, bleach, cooking gear gives me the ability to filter and boil water.

5. Duct Tape-- 2 rolls, also electical tape, medical tape.

6. Tactical Vest to Hold Gear -- ditto, but I cant afford plates, so I have foam inserts I carved atm.

7. Several Pairs of Dry Socks Per Person-- ditto, also foot powder to help keep stink, rot, and water down.

8. Several Pairs of Clothes per person (note: if you live in a varying climate like I do in Minnesota, you will need to keep a summer and a winter bag of clothes, because you never know when disaster will strike.) Bro, Just cycle your BOB in the spring and fall, this gives you the chance to check everything else and see if anything is going bad.

9. Toiletries (soap, shaving razors etc. One small travel toiletry bag per person.)--I screwed this up big time, I'll get started on stockpiling some in my BOB right away, thanks.

10. Small Tool Kit, Including Multi-tool, and Pry-bar (A good sized hand held pry-bar not only makes a useful tool, but can also be used as a melee weapon.) HALF LIFE 2? In all seriousness, I plan to tag along my crow bar, hatchett, and collapsable shovel. I figure that worst case scenario, I ditch the crowbar.
In Iowa there isnt going to be much need for being able to whack brush, but breaking into abandoned farmsteads and barns that dot the state might prove to be useful hmmm?

As far as a toolkit, a few tiny screwdrivers, a flathead, and some tweezers/pliers are always a good idea, even just in the car.



12. Tent, Sleeping Bag, Pillows etc. -- I have a mat, I dont need the bulk of a pillow, backpacking I just used my pack or clothes. Sleeping bag is another story, I taped 3 black trash bags to each other then stuck a set of 3 inside another set of three, and taped that together, then my sleeping bag goes inside that, it should allow me to sleep in mud and get away with it.

13. Money, (keep several hundred dollars cash rolled up in your survival bag.)-- If I had several hundred dollars I would have a decent bug out bag. A better idea is to have stuff of real value, for instance. I have 10,000 rounds of .22 ammo in plastic baggies of 50.

14. Folding Style Camping Utensils -- Regular silver wear, its just me. Dont forget to bring a can opener as well.

15. A Fixed Bladed and Folding Knife -- Multitool and heavy duty skinning knife.

16. NBC Mask with Extra Filters (if you’re really paranoid like me.) -- Couldnt afford one before brices went up so I got a mask at the hardware store.

17. Sewing Kit With Heavy Gage Thread -- Ditto only I plan to use dental floss, same for stiches.

18. Well Stocked First Aid Kit -- Army medical bag thats stocked.

19. Some Form of Fishing Gear --covered above

20. Clear Plastic Tarp -- black plastic in a roll but could be used as the same.

21. Reading Material, Deck of Cards, etc. (some form of entertainment will be required to keep you from going too loopy, and it helps keep your mind off the situation. -- UNO cards. PDA(since I can recharge anywhere there is light.) 16 flash cards with several hundred survival books, medical books, wikipedia, and lots of games. I can run my PDA nonstop for close to a week with extra batteries, so its a moot point going that route. My only fear is not having enough waterproofing.

22. Flare Gun -- no need here, Its looking more like you would want to be descreet with the way things are going, so I spraypainted everything olive drab with white and brown patches to blend in with the dead wood, corn, or snow.

reply to post by ANNED


Hey there

Actually I did mention a solar distiller later on, and the disolving cat-gut sutures are already in my First aid kit, but for surface sutures fishing line and a debarbed fishing hook works well. You really only need dissolvable sutures for deep tissue wounds.

Actually the neddle and thick thread was for repairing clothes in longterm situations. Not to mention it just might come in handy in ways I haven't even thought of yet.

As for the bucket, I said that these were Ideas for all sorts of different plans. If you were holed up in a building, (Like your house) the utilities had been lost, and it was too dangerous to go outside do to toxins, radioactivity, disease, or (like I said before) all the reasons I can’t think of, then the bucket makes perfect sense. Not to mention that the bucket can be used to hold more gear when not being used, or even to haul water from a river to be sterilized.

So to make it a little clearer, this list is not for surviving any one cataclysmic event specifically, but for all the ones I can think of and a little extra for the situations I can’t think of but still may need to survive.

But thank you for the parachute cord idea. I have heard that before, but I just don’t know where to find any other that… well a parchute.

reply to post by Happyfeet


It’s good to see another well prepared person.

I’ve been meaning to get some rechargeable batteries and a solar charger, but I’m a poor college student, and most of my money these day’s go’s to bills and food. But one of my crank lights has an attachment that allows me to charge batteries or a cell phone with it.

As for the crowbar Idea I actually got it from the zombie survival guide. Surprisingly most of what Max Brooks says in that book can be applied to real world situations. He really must have studied for that book, because most of it reads like a normal survival guide.

Thanks for your reply

reply to post by dooper


Oh, don’t worry I’m not above doing my business in the woods. (It’s not just bears doing it out there.)

Thanks for the polyethylene idea; I’ll have to look into that.

As for the salt, I really should have thought to put that on the list. “Water follows salt” I’ll probably need to do some preserving eventually. Although you can use wild honey as a substitute preservative, I would not look forward to gathering it if I had forgot the salt.

Thanks again

I'll add a tip to this thread.
Everyone can feel free to give this a try, as it not only works fantastically, but it's all I use for this now.
Sharpening a knife with a magnet.
Find a small magnet, the one I use is rectangular shaped..roughly 2 inches long, and a few mm thick.
You basically hold it at the angle to would a wet stone, and use it the same way, HOWEVER you aply no pressure, just let it do the work.
Sharpens knives VERY quickly, and sharp as well.
Give it a try.

two things about living in Minnesota.. in the spring and summer you might want some mosquito netting.. and in the winter do not rely on bic lighters they will not light easily in sub zero temps.. matches or a zippo are much better.. further more, if forced to evacuate in the dead of winter you will need to be a pro.. have some small propane heaters and a four season tent.. and of course some very carefully selected winter clothing..
the vasaline with cotton balls is a very good idea for starting fires in wet or cold weather.. and learn how to tie knots so you dont have to cut your parachute cord..
just some rambling thoughts.. I live and camp in Minnesota a lot..

reply to post by pccat


Thanks for your reply

I have mosquito netting built into my bonnie hat for spring and summer, and I do have insect repellent in my kit I just forgot to put it on the list. I also have a four season tent, a winter sleeping bag, and magnesium sticks to start a fire in the cold and damp. I try to rely on as little gear as possible and build up my survival skills instead. (This also helps keep the load light)

But I do have an extra area in my closet set aside for luxuries, just in case I feel the emergency situation allows for them. (or requires them) I may just have to get a propane heater for that those situations. I was also thinking about getting a more portable generator, like the kind they use for ice fishing.

Do you know where I can get a hold of some parachute cord in varying lengths?

Thank you for your concerns and your suggestions, they are very much appreciated.

I was thinking about the kit I have, nothing too exciting for the UK scene, Bag with some bits in it, knife, torches, thermal blankets, first aid kit and various other odds and sods, and then I thought along another line, its all groovy to have information and books on the big trip, but then I realised I don't want to be weighed down with printed material.

Then I had an epihpany, my Ipod touch is a great piece of kit, along with a solar recharger you can store all your books on this one device and have access whenever you need to read up on something.And seeing as you may not have an electrical socket to plug it into you can recharge during the day with the solar charger, it doesn't have to be a huge one, there are a lot online which are quite small and easy to store.

My Ipod case will be the next thing, it will have to be rugged and waterproof and be big enough to hold the charger as well.
I have a first aid manual on their from the APP store, I'm pretty sure there is more books you can download on there.

reply to post by NRA4ever333


Regarding your 'mozzie' kit, get a very small 'spray' bottle and fill it with 'LISTERINE' mouthwash, I heard its great at killing mozzies outright, has a huge 'aura'that keeps them away and lasts for hours, whereas the small 'antibug' sprays don't really last all that long

reply to post by NRA4ever333


I have a friend who is a survival instructor for the Airforce.. thats where I got mine.. but here is a site you can order from..

www.armysurplusworld.com...

Some good ideas on your post. I posted a similar list (but more exhaustive) on what I can carry on back over in the September/finacial meltdown thread - page 3 or 4. Check it out, there maybe something helpful there for you. cheers! Asktheanimals.

Also, Living in Minnesota you may find the book "northern Bushcraft" by Mors Kochansky really helpful. Its all about survival in Boreal forests and the man knows his stuff.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


Thank you very much.

I think you recommendations will be very useful.

reply to post by NRA4ever333


can i ask why you would need cash?