The Bravohood

So thought it would be better to include my bug out plan here - and update as I go along/get more feedback from you guys on this.

Situations I am prepping for are:

Wide-spread wildfire
Earthquake
Pandemic
War


Wildfire:

I'd get as much intel as I could on where fire is, how big it is and where it's going. If I have to bug out, I would txt my three closest friends in town, make sure they're ok, and let them know I am leaving. One of them I could bring with me if she is in dire situation. Depending on where fire is, I have two options to travel towards 2 of my closest bug out location. One is 1 hr away, another is 1.5 hrs away.

-would like to include a couple one man oxygen mask in my go bag in this case, and a couple fire extinguishers, make sure the car on my air is on circulate.

Earthquake - so same thing, except watching out for aftershocks, buildings falling down, destroyed roads, live wires, expecting no power, little to no help from emergency services as they are tending higher priorities. Depending on how big and where earthquake is and where, I would go towards safer route. I live in apt building so maybe chance that my car is crushed in garage. If so, I will contact three closest friends and sit rep. I would either see if I can walk towards their place, or get a ride (though unlikely they will pick me up in earthquake)

- this is where concealed carry would come in handy, but not possible. But love that I just got Rush 72 backpack where I can store everything.

Pandemic

- If pandemic, I am getting locking myself in. If in a situation I absolutely need to bug out and regroup with fam then I am putting on some n95 respirator masks, gloves and disposable clothes, water jug w/ soap and bucket, lots of sani wipes. Getting in my car and going asap

If War, going to regroup with my fam. likely going to meet up in our bugout location 12 hrs away.


Ice's Bug Out locations:

So I have three bug out locations outside of town.

1. FB's House - well stocked with food, running water, heat, electicity. FB has similar mindset and protection/safety focused like me, great teamwork and know she is an asset to have in emergency. She is also getting her gun license too, getting her go back like me, so that's a plus.

2. Parents Home - similar to above, also in urban setting.

3. Cottage in a private location on the coast 12 hrs travel time, including 3 ferries. So this place is great, elevated, away from others, can be defended, working towards self-sustaining home, plenty of food to catch. Only thing is the distance it takes to get there. And, if threat is coming from coast, then I am concerned we might not get there. Though, this is our plan if threat invades.

Open to your feedback guys!

Just some input into the fire plan.

We have crazy bushfires in Australia every summer and I have been caught up in a few.

Most important thing if you are going to leave is to do it early. if you don't, you have a better chance of surviving if you stay. Lots of people over here die in their car trying to get away too late = most dangerous place to be.

You will probably find the hardest thing is getting accurate information from authorities, could look into how/where you would get that information?

Also how difficult would it be for you to defend your house if there was a fire?

Looks like a good start.

Have a few things to add or see if you thought about.

FB's place as a Bug out location: what if all her other FB's show up too? What if you break up with her??
Do you really know her well enough? I'd go check on my FB in an emergency, and she has army survival training, but I plan on bugging out at a childhood friends farm. It's self sustaining and I have known them for a long time and trust them.

Ever considered other more common disasters?

Power outage or an ice storm?
Lots of people aren't prepared, aka Montreal a few year ago.
How about tsunami? You live on the coast right?
Water shortage or pollution?
Flooding?

Have you ever done survival training?

http://www.casara.ca/
We had these guys teach us survival in collage and then spent 24 hours out in -26C weather. Was eye opening. These are the guys that will come looking for you if you are stranded in the wilderness. We were the only group out of 5 to effectively signal the rescue plane. It's harder than you think.

Same for building a fire from scratch. Reading about it in a book is one thing. Doing it is a lot harder. Gas or oil is cheating.

So in a war, everything shuts down. Even the ferries. How do you get to your cabin? Kayak? canoe? boat? float plane? Have you practised this?

I gather you have little outdoors or hiking experience. If I'm wrong please correct me. And my apologies.
Good books to have are:
SAS survival guide.
Bushcraft as Skeptic mentioned.
US Army survival guide.
http://www.mec.ca/AST/ContentPrimary/Le ... ntials.jsp

Your local library has all of these for FREE!

For Nav skills join or participate in a local orienteering club. good work out too. http://www.mec.ca/AST/ContentPrimary/Le ... meters.jsp

Day hikes with FB or dates are awesome. As is outdoor fucking

Consider volunteering with a search group like CASARA. You'll meet like minded people.

To truly be self sustaining go on overnight hikes in a tent or build a shelter. Know how to handle rain and snow. Hypothermia kills faster and far before most people think. http://www.mec.ca/AST/ContentPrimary/Le ... tTrail.jsp

I'm concerned about all the cotton in your wardrobe. What if it gets wet? We had a guy that had to get extracted from our course cause he got wet in his shelter: melting snow from the heat of the fire dripped down and soaked him. He couldn't dry out and got hypothermia.

Goretex is your best friend in the rain. Pricey. But check out mec.ca Solid stuff. I've put it through the ringer and it's come. Their staff advise is second to none. They won't up sell you and they have an insane return policy. If you trash it and it wasn't what you expected, they'll give you your money back. Shoes, boots, you name it.

Have you hunted, killed and eaten game? Very caveman like. It feels weird the first few times you see life drain from an animals eyes. Know what your personal reactions are. Food doesn't just grow on the supermarket shelves like some people think.

Do you know local edible food for foraging?

Get a water filter. Throwing up ain't fun.

Shotgun barrels for your shotgun. Long and short. Long for birds. Short, for bears, cougars and self-defence.

Hunting rifle. And the skills to use it. .223, .30-06, 30-30, .308, and .22 all have their place. You might want to get something in addition to the M4 so you don't get arrested hunting. Also maybe get Bravo's thoughts on the 10.3" barrel M4 as its easier to conceal during transport and less likely to attract attention.
If you are really into self sufficiency or shooting, you might want to reload your own ammo and cast your own lead bullets. Save $$$ and it's easy to stockpile gun power and primers...

Fishing? Ideal food source near you.

Have bartering items on hand. I'm not a fan of gold coin stocking cause nobody uses them now-days, but cigarettes, food, coffee and cash tend to be recognized.

What do you think other people will do? Think about New Orleans. Or Calgary, where when everyone left Police confiscated all the guns from peoples homes. Take them with you if possible. Get a second storage location added for your restricted guns if possible?

Emergency medical training and or books. CASARA taught us some of this too.

Thoughts?

Awesome advise by Bond. While it is good you are planning this shit, I would agree that your plan has some shortcomings. Since I live in relatively the same geographic area and environment, here are my thoughts.

Wildfire Knowing where you are at, I get it. Certainly the key here is to get out early. If you are surrounded then come up with a plan to stay put.

Earthquake Here the weapons in your bugout bag will be of little use. Even in a 9.0+, we will unlikely see pandemonium. The focus here would be food and especially water.

Pandemic/War If you have a solid chance to retreat, then heading for the least populated areas makes the most sense. One of the biggest advantages to living on the NW coast is that the air here gets flushed from the Pacific ocean at a rate that is better than most parts of the world. Quite frankly though, the two scenarios are quite different.

The biggest thing you can do to prepare is get the fuck out into the wilderness. Since I do this for fun, I not only have a large (82 liter) backpack but a redundant supply of essential outdoor gear including a zero-degree bag and a lightweight versatile tent. AND, we live in a place where you can feasibly walk 500 miles in most directions well off the beaten path. As for me, if shit breaks out you will find me deep in the Olympic mountains. They are well known as amongst the best places on earth for edible flora and fauna. I have explored miles by vehicle, know how to get from one end to the other and am confident that if I had to I could survive there with little ammunition for some time (assuming I wasn't fighting off an organized military attack). I have even scouted out several cache locations and my key family members know a few spots where they can leave me messages or rendezvous.

But seriously - don't just arm up and go to the range. Go out and experience the outdoors and forget urban shelter.

Some of my best childhood memories are camping and hiking on the Olympic peninsula.
You guys are lucky bastards to be able to live there.

Some feedback for yuh brother.

Wildfire
Not all that common for them to get to any decent size on the west side of the cascades but that may vary for you up there. In other words prioritize your purchasing to which scenario you feel is most likely to happen.

Wish I could remember where I read or saw this but I feel like it was a family somewhere in the outback that had a fire coming at them.

Instead of run like everyone else told them they stocked up there fuel for the generator before it got close to them. When it did come the family had soaked the surrounding area and there home. Apparently this guy had discovered that the most common way for homes to go up isn't from trees falling on them but from the bigger embers landing on the roof and then slowly building up until the whole thing was alight. So his game plan was to keep a wet rag around his face so he could semi breath. Utilized his generator, well, and a high pressure hose he just kept a watch on the roof and kept putting out any embers that landed on it and the fire passed soon enough and they all came out ok.



Earthquake
Gotta reiterate what Irish hit on already. We had that 6.8 in seattle back in 2001 which is one of the largest ever recorded in Washington. There was some infrastructure damage and while I was young I cant remember any rioting or anything crazy like that. Given, thats not a 9.0 so its hard to guess how much worse the damage would be between a 6.8 and 9.0.

Priorities for me would be water and food. I couldn't see bugging out really being necessary unless the damage was just on an absolute massive scale.



Pandemic
When having these discussions I've always found them difficult as the possibilities of situations here are extensive.

How does the disease/infection spread? Physical contact, water, mosquito, air? All require a diverse range of responses.


War
Same as above. So many endless situations.
Is it boots on the ground?
Is it terrorist strikes?
Is it indirect fire (cruise missles, planes bombing).
Wheres it coming from?
Where all are they attacking?
How good is your info gonna be from the news if at all? What then if no news?




Overall thoughts
In all scenarios you mentioned contacting three people. If comm is down how are you gonna contact them?
Is it safe to travel to contact them in person?
Are you contacting just one or how long would it take you to contact all 3 of them in a vehicle... on foot?
If you cant contact any of them whats your game plan then?
Do you have a rendezvous point and a time where you take off after waiting for a certain amount of time?

Cottage bug out location
12hours in a car... What if roads are out?
How far is that on foot?
Would your 72 hour bob handle that?
What do you do then?
Are ferries still running (only likely scenario they still would be active is during a forest fire)?



Other thoughts
Something I've always found interesting is that most peoples responses is always "I'll go to the woods/mountains/ocean/where ever."

If everybody has the same fucking thoughts and a whole major metropolitan area is running for the hills how problematic does that become? Food sources would dry up incredibly quickly unless you made it very deep into the wilderness.

The other thing I always consider when I hear someones gonna run to the woods is that most of the time I've never seen them ever go camping with a rig full of equipment/gear let alone be able to survive outta pack. And then when its someone incredibly outta shape at 30% bodyfat thinking they're just gonna grab what they can and start walking... really lol? Whens the last time you walked a distance further then from your car through the walmart doors without complaining between your wheezing about not getting a front row parking spot...

Keep your self in good health and good condition.

Go fucking hiking with your pack. Slowly build up that weight until its everything you'd be using.

Good boots. Break them in on those hikes.

Plan an overnighter. Hike into some where with your bob and one MRE as an emergency. Try to survive a night without having to get into your MRE/food. Did you make it? No... try again. Yes... awesome now go for a weekend. Go for an extended weekend. Go for a week vacation.

While these skills are awesome to learn they are perishable. If you go out once and learn them but never do maintenance on them so to speak you aren't going to remember how to do them very well or not at all. Go out once a month and practice shit if you are super serious about this.

Ok more then enough ranting. Hope some of it helped and look forward to anyone elses thoughts on the subject.






Edit:
Two awesome books for anyone interested in this that will make you seriously question your plans

"One second after"
by William R. Forstchen

"Patriots"
by James Wesley Rawles

I am blown away by how much you guys have added to this!!!

A lot to think about and I will write back when I have taken all these into consideration.

Good stuff.
BTW- Making primitive fire sucks. It is the most, time consuming, energy draining, painful excersize in frustration imaginable. So practice it.