I think the point is a good one to consider what type of survival you are talking about. Are you stranded some place in your car, which is stuck, and need to wait for help? Did your light plane make a forced landing? Do you wait or walk out? If it's a "Katrina" scenario, do you need to evacuate, or do you need to hold up for a month? Is it a man made disaster aka an attack? CAN you evacuate, and how long is this emergency going to last?
OMG the
I am planning on harvesting food and supplies from my dead neighbors and stranger that I kill thinking again :banghead: Do all your neighbors eash have a large cache of food, gas, water and ammo? Will an aggressor come in with plenty of supplies or desperate and low on food etc? Most of mine will be knocking on my door day one for help, how about your neighbors?
Quite frankly, what was shown in the beginning of this thread is obviously a survival and
escape kit. You are planning on walking away from where you live, and have no predetermined destination in mind. This is not good. You do not really have enough to take out a team of determined bad guys who intend to harvest you, and you have no plan to form your own team, nor do you have a location where you can set up and defend.
OK so a zombie attack would be obvious, as would a nuclear detonation (and probably a radiological release would be too small to really cause a huge problem). A chemical or bio attack would also probably be obvious, but..., there is a better chance of a cyber attack on a power grid..., and that won't be a "red flag" folks, even in winter. You will be told
"No problem, we'll have the power back on in a few days", and then it will be a
"week", followed by
"Stay calm. We promise it will only be one more week, and we will have food shipped in", followed by
" ...,at the end of the month", etc etc. Murphy's law..., if ya go out day-one capping folks for their food, gas, water, and ammo, the infrastructure will get repaired as predicted, and you will be branded a "nutter" as they try you for mass homicide. If it really is a SHTF loss of the grid for a month or several months..., by the time you have a clear indication of that..., and the panic sets in requiring and justifying you to defend yourself..., the population will have exhausted their food and gas reserves. The vast majority of people, especially in cities, will run out of food in less than 14 days, and I'd give the local market 1 week after that or less, before it's empty if no food is being shipped in. Water pumps in water towers that maintain the water levels run off electricity, so about the same amount of time for the water pressure to be nil.
Folks, if you don't have blood, plasma, and morphine, the best gunshot wound firstaid kit isn't going to do much but limit the mess that is left behind as the wounded person dies. If they live with a slug in them what about the secondary infection? Sure, be prepared for a minor gunshot wound, but you need much much more for non-gunshot stuff. There is a much much better chance of death from infection or disease..., Katrina or loss of a power grid, you're going to have problems with typhoid, cholera, disentery, (as the initial victims rot or the sewage system fails or both) plus the flu, and infection from minor wounds, than getting shot. (Your stockpile of ammo will be nearly worthless to you as it's kinda tough to hunt or defend yourself when you have a 104 degree fever and your bowls empty every five minutes or less.)
Two hundred an fifty years ago, a year long "survival kit" would consist of:
A blanket
A rifle w/180-360 rounds of ammunition (longhunters expected to kill a deer about every other day for a full year..., and sometimes you miss, and sometimes you have to fight the natives...)
Tools to maintain that rifle
A tomahawk
2-3 knives with a sharpening stone
A couple of small pots
A cup, fork, spoon, bowl
A large sewing kit
A couple of pounds of Salt, and a way of getting more.
two pairs of additional footware (mocs mostly)
Firstaid as it is today was unknown. Clean water was not an issue as it would be today. They knew how to use the raw materials at hand for resupply. They knew how to use the raw materials they would find for shelter. Most hunters used the above listed items as part of a group or team (HINT HINT) and the group held in common:
A full axe or two
a barrel or two of parched corn
More salt (and they often had a salt spring near by for resupply)
lead, powder, and flints
Now what can we learn from this? You need to carry or be able to make shelter. You need to be able to provide a large amount of food and clean water, or you better have it stockpiled someplace. Your weapon system needs to be simple, durable, and sustainable, so you better have something that won't break, is easy to clean, and allows you to pack lots of rounds, or again you need to have more ammo and parts stockpiled in a place you can get to and defend. You better be ready to make more (reload). And you better be able to stay healthy first, over a long period of time, rather than be able to treat a sucking-chest-wound. The rule was then and probably should be in a SHTF situation..., don't get into a firefight if you can aviod it. Run, hide, run some more, if you don't have a fortified location.
LD
