Luckly I didn't have to evacuate, but we had started to prepare to leave if the fire came to us.
Little insight; my wife and I are both active duty Marines, no kids, she has a Jeep Cherokee 4x4 and I a K1500 standard cab truck, we have "room" to haul alot, we were going to leave the sports car and come back for it if possible. We planned to relocate to the beach on Camp Pendleton (pretty secure location) and if we had to stay we planed to borrow or rent a camper trailer. I'm TAD to an unit there and our unit armory is located there (never suggest putting personal weapons in the armory). We have alot of survival gear, both issued and personally owned.
We didn't have a plan in place, so we made a list:
Most of the items we already had on hand to survive ruggedly; MRE's, Chem Lights, surefire flashlights, extra batteries, hand crank radio, gps, SF survival kit, sleeping bags, body armor, ponchos, a 2 man tent, multi tools, pocket knives, squad stove, face masks, cold weather clothing, sun screen, hygene items, pot & pan, paper plates, plastic forks, plastic drinking bottles, water purification system, camelpacks, dry food goods, canned food, garbage bags, soap, had 7 gallons of water, water was still running so we filled up about 5 gallons of extra water, extra clothes, fireproof safe that has all sensitive paper work, digitial camera and laptops and uniforms.
Things we added on the "we can haul more" review; blankets, pillows, extention cords, shop light, DVD's, CD's, external hard drive, family photos, camping chairs, gas grill, all the tools, cordless drill, hand saw, gas can, siphon pump, fire extingusher, liquor, wine and all uniform items.
First thing we Learned
We forgot about 'all' our Dogs needs, we remembered; Dog Food, Leashes, Crates, but neglected to consider; Dog Toys, where to house the Dogs? If we were sleeping in a 2 man dome tent, were do you put a full grown Lab and a Springer Spaniel puppy? After we had reviewed our list, we also considered that the four legged friends drink 1-1/2 gallons of water a day.
All of our gear was very well organized but nothing was in a "grab and go" organized method, I'm OCD on organization in the garage, but nothing was set up to "grab and go", no were did I have a "Kit" set up, most of the items were stored by "like ness" or how often they get used, we could grab every storage container... but then we'd have alot of stuff we wouldn't need... but we do have room to "haul alot of stuff".
What went Well
This is due more to "extremely non-flexible scheduals and long work weeks". We usally keep 5 gallons of bottled water around, we usally keep a good stock of non perishable food, we had plenty of gas for grill, we usally keep at least a 3 week supply of dog food, had booze and tobacoo (for bartering).
Things we stumbled upon by accident or by just generally being prepared.
We had some cash on hand, big accident, I never keep cash! But had just sold a set of shocks and a shotgun in the past 2 weekends, never made it to the bank. The vehicles already had small tool kits, the truck had a shovel, the vehicles already had flashlights, blankets, first aid kits, and more than 3/4 tanks of gas in all vehicles. Had a large cooler home from work, normally have it, but sometimes leave it at work, need to buy my own cooler.
SHTF / Katrina Stuff
Ammo was not an issue, I have more ammo than I wished to transport given our relocatetion destination, or any other "civil" destination, first thing to come to mind "Katrina Looting", call me crazy, but a loaded handgun for each adult with 'several extra' mags was already in place, the rifle mags were already loaded as well, talking quadruple combat load plus. Many extra empty mags and ammo was on hand, keep in mind I have over 50 USGI M16 mags and about 20 USGI M9 mags, so there wasn't a need to load them all right away.
Pistol belts and chest rigs were already in place; body armor, sappi plates, first aid kits, compass, flashlights, multitools, were already tested and set up.
Things that proved a pain in the butt
Ran out of lockable long gun cases, this has been taken care of, got another case, sold a shotgun. Didn't have all the pad locks in one place, had to search for them, they've been relocated. The puppy has been housed in the big crate durring the day, puppy doesn't fit into the puppy crate anymore, may need to consider buying another 'large dog travel crate'. Have a third car, this is what I pay insurance for I guess. I don't own a CQB style shotgun, all rifles have "over penetration" issues. Wifes National Match Rifle weighs 15lbs, considering removeing the competition weights from the rifle for any evacuation planning, wife won't let any ammo besides 'molly coated' go down the barrel of her gun... molly coated rounds are about a $1 each for .223, really considering a budget A2 or a A3 upper.
Even as a professed 1911 man, the 1911's got packed up and passed over for the 92FS and XD40... not for the magazine capacity, for the fact that the 1911's cost so much more to replace, in the event that it took a while to get my side arm back after a self defense shooting.
Only have one copy of CA 'dangerous weapons permit' for 2 AR's, need another copy of the permit.
For what it's worth I though I'd post this little bit of insight, while I sit here bored, I might as well make a 'good' contribution to the highroad way of life.
Little insight; my wife and I are both active duty Marines, no kids, she has a Jeep Cherokee 4x4 and I a K1500 standard cab truck, we have "room" to haul alot, we were going to leave the sports car and come back for it if possible. We planned to relocate to the beach on Camp Pendleton (pretty secure location) and if we had to stay we planed to borrow or rent a camper trailer. I'm TAD to an unit there and our unit armory is located there (never suggest putting personal weapons in the armory). We have alot of survival gear, both issued and personally owned.
We didn't have a plan in place, so we made a list:
Most of the items we already had on hand to survive ruggedly; MRE's, Chem Lights, surefire flashlights, extra batteries, hand crank radio, gps, SF survival kit, sleeping bags, body armor, ponchos, a 2 man tent, multi tools, pocket knives, squad stove, face masks, cold weather clothing, sun screen, hygene items, pot & pan, paper plates, plastic forks, plastic drinking bottles, water purification system, camelpacks, dry food goods, canned food, garbage bags, soap, had 7 gallons of water, water was still running so we filled up about 5 gallons of extra water, extra clothes, fireproof safe that has all sensitive paper work, digitial camera and laptops and uniforms.
Things we added on the "we can haul more" review; blankets, pillows, extention cords, shop light, DVD's, CD's, external hard drive, family photos, camping chairs, gas grill, all the tools, cordless drill, hand saw, gas can, siphon pump, fire extingusher, liquor, wine and all uniform items.
First thing we Learned
We forgot about 'all' our Dogs needs, we remembered; Dog Food, Leashes, Crates, but neglected to consider; Dog Toys, where to house the Dogs? If we were sleeping in a 2 man dome tent, were do you put a full grown Lab and a Springer Spaniel puppy? After we had reviewed our list, we also considered that the four legged friends drink 1-1/2 gallons of water a day.
All of our gear was very well organized but nothing was in a "grab and go" organized method, I'm OCD on organization in the garage, but nothing was set up to "grab and go", no were did I have a "Kit" set up, most of the items were stored by "like ness" or how often they get used, we could grab every storage container... but then we'd have alot of stuff we wouldn't need... but we do have room to "haul alot of stuff".
What went Well
This is due more to "extremely non-flexible scheduals and long work weeks". We usally keep 5 gallons of bottled water around, we usally keep a good stock of non perishable food, we had plenty of gas for grill, we usally keep at least a 3 week supply of dog food, had booze and tobacoo (for bartering).
Things we stumbled upon by accident or by just generally being prepared.
We had some cash on hand, big accident, I never keep cash! But had just sold a set of shocks and a shotgun in the past 2 weekends, never made it to the bank. The vehicles already had small tool kits, the truck had a shovel, the vehicles already had flashlights, blankets, first aid kits, and more than 3/4 tanks of gas in all vehicles. Had a large cooler home from work, normally have it, but sometimes leave it at work, need to buy my own cooler.
SHTF / Katrina Stuff
Ammo was not an issue, I have more ammo than I wished to transport given our relocatetion destination, or any other "civil" destination, first thing to come to mind "Katrina Looting", call me crazy, but a loaded handgun for each adult with 'several extra' mags was already in place, the rifle mags were already loaded as well, talking quadruple combat load plus. Many extra empty mags and ammo was on hand, keep in mind I have over 50 USGI M16 mags and about 20 USGI M9 mags, so there wasn't a need to load them all right away.
Pistol belts and chest rigs were already in place; body armor, sappi plates, first aid kits, compass, flashlights, multitools, were already tested and set up.
Things that proved a pain in the butt
Ran out of lockable long gun cases, this has been taken care of, got another case, sold a shotgun. Didn't have all the pad locks in one place, had to search for them, they've been relocated. The puppy has been housed in the big crate durring the day, puppy doesn't fit into the puppy crate anymore, may need to consider buying another 'large dog travel crate'. Have a third car, this is what I pay insurance for I guess. I don't own a CQB style shotgun, all rifles have "over penetration" issues. Wifes National Match Rifle weighs 15lbs, considering removeing the competition weights from the rifle for any evacuation planning, wife won't let any ammo besides 'molly coated' go down the barrel of her gun... molly coated rounds are about a $1 each for .223, really considering a budget A2 or a A3 upper.
Even as a professed 1911 man, the 1911's got packed up and passed over for the 92FS and XD40... not for the magazine capacity, for the fact that the 1911's cost so much more to replace, in the event that it took a while to get my side arm back after a self defense shooting.
Only have one copy of CA 'dangerous weapons permit' for 2 AR's, need another copy of the permit.
For what it's worth I though I'd post this little bit of insight, while I sit here bored, I might as well make a 'good' contribution to the highroad way of life.
I feel so underprepared
