Would You REALLY Want to Bug Out?

Here are two videos by John Lovell, the founder of the Warrior Poet Society. The first video discusses the tactical and strategic points about bugging out, verses defending your domain.


This second video then discusses the advantages of a well stocked “Get Home Bag” versus a “Bug Out Bag”.

Me… I am staying and defending my castle and those I love in an environment familiar to me that is well stocked and has all the defensive (and offensive) tools I need. Therefore my Get Home Bag has been updated and is now better equipped.
Your thoughts?
6 Likes

Great videos I saw the WPS video previously and it makes a lot of sense. I carry the Get Home bag with some essentials to help me get to my home, family, and friends.

2 Likes

I am in a Both category. I have no one here on the farm with me but I do have essentials in my vehicle that would assist me in being able to return. I would probably return only long enough to obtain the resources to allow me to get to friends and family in need. Once everyone was gathered we would assess the possibility of returning to the farm where subsistence is possible. The situation dictates the response in my world. It is better in my situation to remain fluid and flexible. Most everyone I know would try to get here as it is plausibly defensible and has the resources for sustainability. If I had a wife and/or children a bugout would be the last resort.

4 Likes

@David323 Great thoughts. I know the situation can vary widely. Just want to know if you considered staying put and have a plan for your family and friends to come to you?

1 Like

Absolutely, the whole idea is to be able to sustain position on the farm. I’ve taken steps far beyond what my family and friends know about already :grin:. I too am a subscriber to the Warrior Poet Society and have seen most of his content and agree with most of it. I also realize that Bugging Out for most folks is untenable and not the best option. I always read and appreciate your posts and contributions to our community! Thank You

4 Likes

@David323 It appears you have a great “castle” to defend. As you have been trained it may be wise to keep your ground rather than leaving to gather the troops and potentially having to go on the offensive to recapture your “castle”. Once again, one of many potential scenarios.
And, I am humbled by your compliment. Thank you.:+1:

2 Likes

Pretty much everything @David323 said. This is the Alamo, the last stand. If things are so bad that I/we have to bug out from here, it’s over.

Folks in the city or suburbs, I don’t envy. If you’re in this camp, start now and find someone in a rural area, WELL IN ADVANCE and reach out to them to be part of their group. Start a conversation. Offer to help build, improve, or cache stuff there. Don’t just show up, even if it’s a mild acquaintance from work or whatnot.

Things to bring. A skill or trade. This would be the most important thing to bring. Most preppers have all the “stuff” they need. That is why they are preppers. Similar to David, people assets are in short supply. Quality of character and trained in something are the most important skill sets.

Examples of skills that would be needed: Muscle (ability to do manual labor), gardening, teaching, ministry, sewing, medical, dentistry, animal husbandry, gardening, blacksmithing, carpentry, tree felling, hunting, field dressing, security tactical ops, HAM/com, leather work, swimming, fishing, entertainment, solar array maintenance, well maintenance, veterinarian… Believe it or not old age does not disqualify you. Old folks have an extraordinary amount of wisdom, teaching, story telling, inspirational, bringing that ray of sunshine for mental stability.

Things that would hurt your ability to be welcomed: Smoker, maintenance meds, over weight, drinker, no skills, but the worst thing, a bad attitude or bad character. A person with a bad character is generally something that can’t be taught. All the other skills needed generally can be taught.

Of course it would really help your case for acceptance if you showed up with a car/truck full of supplies.

7 Likes

An excellent list FIZ!! As always my little group is lacking in certain areas and strong in others. I don’t believe we would turn anyone away as long as they had a willingness to contribute. No freeloading allowed with exception to I’ll or elderly. After all what would the meaning of sheep dog be if we didn’t assist with those who can’t. Sure it would be more difficult but we all have an appointment to keep in the end, my goal is to have a favorable diagnosis when I arrive. Most importantly is my mental picture of myself. Can I live comfortably with the decisions I’ve made and actions I’ve taken. Let’s hope no one will ever have to go to the extremes we’ve prepared for. But be prepared none the less.

2 Likes

This is probably the most important thing. A person of good character. I know one dude who was in RECON in the Army, so needless to say his skill set is amazing! But, yep this is the but, he is a complete ass clown. He would bring a huge amount of negativity to the entire group and could cause great damage and fractures. The potential for destruction and damage far outweigh his skill set.

2 Likes

Agree with all said. I have and do keep to myself. I wonder how to build those ties to join a group of like minded people. I know this group is of similar mindset. Have a few that I would invite but an very cautious of the “ass clown” mentality. I believe, as said earlier, this could make things unravel rapidly.

Guess what I am saying, or asking is, how to broaden a like minded group of “serious” people.
Craig

Edit
Without giving up information.

2 Likes

There is a very old rule of thumb in the Army. The odds favor the defender of a position 3 to 1. If it is a prepared, strong position, the odds favoring the defender can be higher even than that. This adage certianly shapes my thinking about stay or go. As a rural citizen this becomes more of a consideration in my mind.

4 Likes

Urban vs Rural seems like a huge consideration to me.

If you’re in an urban area, you should be prepared to bug out. Anyone who has ever watched a zombie movie or the news should know that a large city is the worst place to be when things collapse. Even when everything is working, a large city is not sustainable. Take away a few basic necessities and the house of cards can collapse quickly. (Think Katrina.)

Rural residents are typically much more self-reliant and have probably already established ties with neighbors. They’re already prepared to withstand a lack of local law enforcement or other emergency services, and depending their location they should be prepared to sustain themselves in the event of a natural disaster such as a hurricane or blizzard, because they’re the last people that emergency responders will come to assist.

4 Likes

This post from @Craig9 and the ones from folks below @Virgil_H , and @Ouade5 are great posts!

I’ve posted some pretty detailed stuff about personnel on other boards, just pros and cons of the type of people that would be a welcome addition to a retreat. I haven’t reached out too much on the other forum as it is HUGE and I’m sure there are scary people on it.

Here in USCCA, I feel much more comfortable posting with you all and PM’ing with a bunch. Finding like minded folks who are not Joe Biden creepy on here should be much easier/safer.

  1. Find members on this forum, preferably that are within 100 miles of your location.

  2. Read their prior posts and look for any character flaws. Just because their opinion may differ from yours doesn’t count. You want many opinions and ideas brought to you. Whereas you maybe the boss of your retreat, you yourself don’t want to be an ass clown. At work, employees know they can always present ideas to me for change and improvement. Most are good ideas and we run with them. I know my limitations and that is why I try to surround myself with people that know more than me in their specialized fields of expertise.

  3. If the person passes the basic background check, which like I say, most here in the USCCA community will, start PM’ing them and chatting and finding out more about them.

  4. If all this is cool, start next with emails and then texts. At this point everyone is more relaxed and talks about normal day to day stuff. Folks on the other forum, this is stage where I’ve rejected a bunch. This is where you’ll see character flaws.

  5. Meet people for lunch, coffee, stuff like that. (Almost sounds like dating, Eeeek!)

  6. Finally, you can talk about a tour of the retreat. I’ve only ever done this with a handful of people. Most are from church with a few from forums and a few are customers of mine.

But, as mentioned above it is really hard to find people.

5 Likes

Without going into to in depth. I’m thinking very hard about pulling the trigger on one last major purchase, and going to live on water world.

3 Likes

I’m going to ride it out within my house and see how long I will make it. Bugging out too risky in my opinion. Especially when you factor in what type of environment and terrain you live in. The WV mountains can be unforgiving and you’ll wish you would’ve just set up shop at the house.

3 Likes

Nancy and I are going no where, between age and physical limitations and no where to bug to anyway.
We live in a small town (10.000 to 12.000) surrounded by vast farmlands. We have a large River within 1/4 mile and through all of this none of the stupid crap happening else where has happened here, everyone is helping out. We live in a very 2A community and even the Sheriff has stated on TV that he will not enforce any infringement of our rights. :wink:

9 Likes

I’m really enjoying this conversation. We are USCCA members. How do we find out the names of other USCCA members (and contact info) that live within 100 miles of us, as was suggested in the string?

1 Like

All you can do is ask. I am sure the USCCA will not give out this information.

If you want to give out your information it is your choice.

If you are really interested in doing this I would suggest you post something like;

Hi my name is 123 and I am located near XYZ, if anyone in the area would be interested in meeting up send me a PM and we can go from there.

Just a suggestion mind you. Keep in mind not everyone wants others to know too much information about themselves

Don

4 Likes

I have thought long and hard about this a long time ago before the Wuhan Flu was even a thing. Due to the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway) I essentially live on an island (Tidewater, VA). I can only go so many miles in any direction before I hit water. That is a major flaw in a bug out situation. Happily I have someplace to go, sadly getting there may be an issue depending on what the event actually is. My home is failry defensible with all the flaws that come with living on a community street but my house is brick over stud which offers a reasonable level of protection. For my most realistic SHTF scenario (Hurricane) my neighborhood will be cut off by high water but that water will have to reach 45’ over mean mid tide to get my garage floor wet. I’m pretty sure I can hold my own from there.

I am not limited by mobility or medical issues and given a worst case scenario my Hot Rod has a points / condensers distributor that can be stabbed into the motor in the worst case scenario of an EMP (unfortunately it has a blown head gasket now which is making me VERY twitchy). But again, I live on an island.

When I was active duty and doing disaster prep at one of my jobs I got a white paper from (I think) Rand that stated (2006 ish) with the total loss of power (from an EMP) 30% of the population would be dead in 15 days or less (Think nursing homes, home bound seniors, folks that require refrigerated meds, (insulin) folks on O2 and stupid humans). An additional 20% of the population would starve/die after 30 days (think high population density areas like NYC with no commerce bringing food in). From 30 - 90 days the deaths would stabilize and those that could survive would, leaving about 40 - 50% of the original population. Then the disease would begin to take it’s toll from the unburried bodies. Not a pretty picture but one that makes sense and can be planned for if you think about it. I’m bugging at day 45.

Cheers,

Craig6

2 Likes

I look at peoples profiles after I like where their going in conversations. Many of them have their location, city/state. If they don’t I PM them and strike up a conversation and find out.

For example I’m in the central part of the Republic of Texas. :slight_smile:

1 Like