Hey BTT, Why Don't You Ever Talk About Your BOB?

I get asked this once in awhile.  The truth is, for me, the 72 hour kit is a fine starting point for survivalism, but I'm a big boy now and the on foot live out of your backpack bugout is less important to me.  You'd be shocked at the state of my BOB; just food and water and a change of clothes, with a few flashlights and some ammo thrown in.  The bag itself is an unremarkable civillian hiking pack from Swissgear.

My survival kit, the ditch kit, contains my serious survival supplies like mess items and fire starting kit and the like.  I've proven to myself on my bugouts that I can make that work by itself for me in the field, and so my BOB is mostly just large amounts of food and water for myself and Gracie, along with a resupply of ammo (one full loadout's worth) and spares batteries, etc for the items in my ditch kit and web gear.

Neither are particularly impressive, but like I said-I'm a big boy now.  I'm more into the food storage and the every day self defense and the community holdfast concepts than the lone bugout in the wilderness.  In the end, if I do need to bug out, god willing I'll be doing it by vehicle, and in that case I can just toss that fucker in the trunk so I have plenty of food and spare clothing.

I'm contemplating adding an INCH tub or dufflebag as a supplementary item, but it is going to be mostly more food and ammo.  Really, what I ought to do is cache some shit at the BOL instead so I don't have to carry it.  However, there is some shit I want to put in there that might surprise you-not just hemp seeds or a spare bong either.  I actually want to put in a nice suit, my resume and some grooming equipment.  Why?  If I have to INCH, I'm gonna need a new job, so I need to be ready for that big interview.  Bet you hadn't thought of that one, Mr. Smarty Pants Survivalist Hardcase.

In the end, though, I am moving away from the focus on the bugout and moving towards being able to secure my home and neighborhood against external forces.  Part of the reason is practical, as I've laid out-but another part of it is philosophical, in that I don't plan on letting a bunch of lawless cocksuckers run me out of my home.  That doesn't mean the BOB is useless or unimportant-just that it is the least likely of all probable scenarios.  And though it is the easiest thing to take nifty pictures of, you are gonna feel mighty stupid if you blow the main chunk of your time and energy on it and it still sits in the closet gathering dust when SHTF.