Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is
Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. Hello, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 1: My name is Matt, my name is Noel. They called
Speaker 1: me Ben. We are joined as always with our super producer,
Speaker 1: Paul Mission controlled decond. Most importantly, you are you. You
Speaker 1: are here, and that makes this stuff they don't want
Speaker 1: you to know. This is a little bit of a
Speaker 1: of a weird episode for us because in a in
Speaker 1: a few of our recent shows, we had touched on
Speaker 1: the idea of emergency preparation, right we had, Uh, we
Speaker 1: had mentioned building out bug out bags, just just in passing. Remember, um,
Speaker 1: we didn't go too into depth. But I don't know
Speaker 1: about you guys, I was uh surprised that so many
Speaker 1: of our fellow listeners rode into us on you know,
Speaker 1: Facebook or Twitter and asked us to make an episode
Speaker 1: just about bug out bags. Uh did you guys see
Speaker 1: any of that? Yeah? Yeah, that I mean, I think
Speaker 1: it's an important thing that maybe we don't think about
Speaker 1: in our busy lives all the time, that we need
Speaker 1: to be prepared in case something goes down all of
Speaker 1: a sudden. Uh. We we learned it personally. I think
Speaker 1: we we had a close encounter with something like this
Speaker 1: when Snowpocalypse occurred in Atlanta, when we realized, oh, well,
Speaker 1: if something does go wrong and let's say our even
Speaker 1: your vehicle is has to be abandoned, is there enough
Speaker 1: stuff in your vehicle to be safe for a night?
Speaker 1: Two nights forty eight hours? And we noticed a response
Speaker 1: with with everyone listening that they also wanted to know
Speaker 1: this information. Yeah, and uh, this episode is gonna be
Speaker 1: a little bit different from some of our our previous episodes.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you all, but I don't think
Speaker 1: this will include anything quote unquote crazy. But you know,
Speaker 1: perhaps we've already drifted past our old definitions of normalcy nowadays. Uh. Anyhow,
Speaker 1: in this episode, we're gonna walk through what a bug
Speaker 1: out bag is, whether you need one, what you should
Speaker 1: put in it, what you should watch out for along
Speaker 1: the way, and maybe reveal some of our own hard,
Speaker 1: hard learned lessons here. Guys. Uh, you know, we can
Speaker 1: see each other right now, but our fellow listeners can't. Uh.
Speaker 1: You all look great, by the way, I want to
Speaker 1: point out, I'm wearing my old, uh what, my old
Speaker 1: old jacket that I used to live in. Seriously, for
Speaker 1: three months, I lived in this jacket because I was
Speaker 1: not prepared. And it's sort of like a utility belt
Speaker 1: of a jacket, right, Like it's got all these pockets
Speaker 1: where you can put all kinds of necessities in there.
Speaker 1: Right yeah, man, yeah, absolutely, And I never, uh, I
Speaker 1: never thought that I would have to use it that way,
Speaker 1: but I got caught out because I wasn't planning ahead.
Speaker 1: I'm a fan of improvisation, but in this in this
Speaker 1: sort of situation, we do need to plan. So can
Speaker 1: you tell us just a little bit of like high
Speaker 1: level info on what happened or is it a mystery
Speaker 1: just about how you found yourself in that kind of situation? Yeah? Yeah, okay, Uh,
Speaker 1: I screwed up, Matt, That's exactly what happened. I I
Speaker 1: screwed up. I was living abroad, and I thought at
Speaker 1: the time that the hostel I was staying in was gonna,
Speaker 1: well like a hostile I don't know these people that
Speaker 1: I lived with. I thought it was gonna be a safe,
Speaker 1: pretty reliably consistent, uh, domicile situation. I traveled to another
Speaker 1: town and I couldn't find a place to live there,
Speaker 1: so I was sleeping rough unless I literally like made
Speaker 1: friends with someone on the street and trusted them enough
Speaker 1: to sleep at their house, which you know, I I'm
Speaker 1: not a fan of that. So yeah. But but the
Speaker 1: your jacket or having something on you that you could
Speaker 1: carry a couple of things on you became really important.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, man, this is this is ridiculous. This actually
Speaker 1: used to be a different color, but it got so
Speaker 1: sun baked and dirty and like I was washing it
Speaker 1: in a river and stuff. It was weird. Well, I
Speaker 1: think that very much applies to today's episode that where
Speaker 1: we're going to be getting into just the concept that
Speaker 1: I would say a lot of us, but me personally,
Speaker 1: I'll walk around with two pockets four pockets in my
Speaker 1: pants and that's about it. I guess there's a fifth,
Speaker 1: little tiny one that you can fit a USB driver,
Speaker 1: So I'll go for the cargo pants. Matt, you're not
Speaker 1: a cargo guy, Well, I I haven't been lately. Maybe
Speaker 1: I need to switch over, uh in these times at least,
Speaker 1: But most of us, if we're walking around, we don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of storage on us unless you got
Speaker 1: a really good jacket or something. You know what. I
Speaker 1: get a lot of crap for this from my daughter included.
Speaker 1: But I am a big fan of a satchel I carry.
Speaker 1: I have several shoulder bags and I carry them for
Speaker 1: that very reason because I don't want to stuff my
Speaker 1: pockets with crap. And if I have like a little, nice,
Speaker 1: low profile shoulder bag, I can put all the little
Speaker 1: things in it that I might need, whether it's like
Speaker 1: no spray or breath mints or you know, a bat,
Speaker 1: a rang, what what have you. I've got it all
Speaker 1: in there in my little utility satchel. And Uh, I
Speaker 1: get a lot of crap for it, but I I
Speaker 1: stand by it. You know what Ben got me this.
Speaker 1: I think it's called a Supreme bag. I think that's
Speaker 1: what it's called. But it's a small bag. It looks
Speaker 1: almost like a Fannie pack, but a little larger and
Speaker 1: much cooler. But you can put it over your shoulder.
Speaker 1: When I was watching my son for about a week
Speaker 1: week and a half, uh, that became like I had
Speaker 1: to have that. If I didn't have that bag that
Speaker 1: had like snack or food for him, water for him,
Speaker 1: all the acing necessities. If I didn't have a small
Speaker 1: bag like that, I would have been out of luck. So, um,
Speaker 1: that kind of thing that you're talking about, Noel, is
Speaker 1: could be really helpful. And it's fashionable too, Matt. It's
Speaker 1: fashionable too. And no one thing I would point out
Speaker 1: about your your satchel strategy is I like that you
Speaker 1: also have all your all your bags that I've seen
Speaker 1: have these highly adjustable straps so you can put it
Speaker 1: really close to your back, which is great in a
Speaker 1: um in a situation where you need to keep an
Speaker 1: eye on snatching grabs. And it also it kind of
Speaker 1: transforms it into a single strap backpack. I think that's
Speaker 1: really smart totally. You can wear it up high on
Speaker 1: the small of your back if you're riding a bike,
Speaker 1: like as a messenger bag. I even have one that
Speaker 1: has a cross chest attachment that allows you to really
Speaker 1: wear it up high on the back and gives you
Speaker 1: more support. Um, I don't know. I'm I'm a big
Speaker 1: fan and I will never let uh an eleven year
Speaker 1: old bully me into thinking otherwise. So uh so I
Speaker 1: I agree, you know, uh, Matt, Paul and I have
Speaker 1: your back on that one, of course, but eleven year
Speaker 1: old are some of the most powerful, brilliant people in
Speaker 1: the world, so we we would have to team up.
Speaker 1: But we've got your back. Before we get into today's show,
Speaker 1: how about we do a quick, just a very quick
Speaker 1: Twitter roll call. Yes, shout out to Grumming six hundred
Speaker 1: who posted two conspiracy stuff to let us know the
Speaker 1: breaking news as we record this, it's been confirmed UK
Speaker 1: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for COVID nineteen.
Speaker 1: Did you guys hear about that just this morning? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And another secretary that's high level also tested positive. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And wasn't there an official that was or maybe an
Speaker 1: official I think it was an evangelist who was a
Speaker 1: COVID denier has now tested positive as well, called called
Speaker 1: karma right there. Yeah, we're getting to the point where,
Speaker 1: instead of knowing of famous, notable figures in the world
Speaker 1: old getting COVID, you may soon, by the time this
Speaker 1: episode comes out, you may personally know someone who is
Speaker 1: confirmed to have contracted it. But again, the US, unlike
Speaker 1: the rest of the developed world, is not rolling out
Speaker 1: testing in in a very efficient way, and so now
Speaker 1: that many of us are forced to contemplate the the
Speaker 1: sudden and unexpected changes in our day to day lives
Speaker 1: and status quo. We also have to think about how
Speaker 1: we will adapt if our normal environment, whether that's our
Speaker 1: our home space or you know, our neighborhood, how do
Speaker 1: we adapt if that place becomes either unsustainable at some
Speaker 1: point or dangerous. You know, what do we do if
Speaker 1: we have to get out? Or what do we do
Speaker 1: if our normal methods of survival like running water, easily
Speaker 1: available food, and so on. What what do we do
Speaker 1: if they run out and we have to survive until
Speaker 1: help gets to us. That's where a bugout bag comes in.
Speaker 1: So here are the facts. Uh, this is a question
Speaker 1: that I had. I'd never heard this term before, bug
Speaker 1: out bag. I'd love to explore a little more about
Speaker 1: where that comes from. But another term for it is
Speaker 1: a go bag. Um. At its most basic essence, it's
Speaker 1: really just a bag that contains those bare necessities that
Speaker 1: you really need to have handy, and the contents can vary.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get into that. But here's some of the
Speaker 1: reasons you might need to have one of these ready. Uh.
Speaker 1: The one I always think of is if you know, uh,
Speaker 1: you're you, you're some kind of high level criminal and
Speaker 1: you've been found out and need to go on the lamb,
Speaker 1: or maybe change in identity. That's sort of the more
Speaker 1: like alarmist fiction any type one, but it's it's not
Speaker 1: entirely fictional. UM. So maybe you need to leave one
Speaker 1: location for another. UM. Or you're stranded in a location
Speaker 1: like you said at the beginning of the show, Matt
Speaker 1: with the snow apocalypse UM and being able to need
Speaker 1: to survive using your car as a temporary domicile, UM
Speaker 1: in really difficult conditions UM climate wise, UM. Or you're
Speaker 1: forced to be mobile for some amount of time. That's
Speaker 1: a little more of the potential on the lamb or
Speaker 1: just a potential, like you need to be on the
Speaker 1: move for whatever reason. There's many reasons this could be
Speaker 1: the case. Well, well, yeah, the the whole point is
Speaker 1: there are endless reasons that you may need to do
Speaker 1: one of those things, be mobile, if you get stranded,
Speaker 1: or you just need to leave for one reason or another.
Speaker 1: And it could be due to a natural disaster, some
Speaker 1: kind of you know, I mean like the reality of
Speaker 1: maybe an active shooter somewhere near you, your car breaks down,
Speaker 1: maybe you're in the middle of a pandemic and civilization
Speaker 1: seems to be collapsing all around you. The whole idea
Speaker 1: is that when you have access to a bug out
Speaker 1: bag that you have prepared carefully, this thing can keep
Speaker 1: you safe and healthy for at least a temporary amount
Speaker 1: of time. And we'll talk about exactly how long you
Speaker 1: can essentially set your go up, your bug out bag,
Speaker 1: or your go bag to last you. Yeah, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: that's a key part here. It is meant to keep
Speaker 1: you safe and healthy for a temporary amount of time
Speaker 1: because one of the golden rules is that you you
Speaker 1: typically want to be able to pack no more than
Speaker 1: you can carry for a sustained amount of time by yourself,
Speaker 1: even if you have friends and family with you. So
Speaker 1: to that question, where does the term come from. I've
Speaker 1: heard it called a bug out bag, a go bag,
Speaker 1: and go home bag, but the origin of bug out
Speaker 1: bag is largely believed to come from what was once
Speaker 1: known as a bailout bag used by pilots n aviators
Speaker 1: in the military. So back in the day, the bailout
Speaker 1: bag had a couple of items that were critical for
Speaker 1: pilots if they were shot down or if they they
Speaker 1: experienced the engine malfunction and they landed in the middle
Speaker 1: of nowhere or even enemy territory, and things like a knife,
Speaker 1: you know, compass basic survival gear of course. You know,
Speaker 1: remember when you're putting together your bug out bag, you're
Speaker 1: probably not going to be being out of a plane.
Speaker 1: You're probably not going to commandeer an island or do
Speaker 1: any sort of you know movie stuff that John Wick
Speaker 1: mission and possible type situations. You're just making sure that
Speaker 1: you're as safe and healthy as possible while you either
Speaker 1: reach permanent safety or get emergency assistance. Uh, what other
Speaker 1: seed want to plant here? The old bailout bags used
Speaker 1: in air forces did used to contain at least according
Speaker 1: to the stories, did used to contain um a a
Speaker 1: small amount of like gold or silver bullion. And that's
Speaker 1: been the subject of a lot of alarmist uh prepping
Speaker 1: industry sales points now, you know, but we'll we'll get
Speaker 1: back to that. So another question you would probably have
Speaker 1: to ask, in a question many of our fellow listeners
Speaker 1: have received in the past, is is it crazy? Is
Speaker 1: it overkill to have a bug out bag? The answer is,
Speaker 1: in general, no, no, it's not. It depends on how
Speaker 1: weird you get with it. You will get reactions though
Speaker 1: from maybe a lot of depending on who you're surrounding
Speaker 1: yourself with. I just know my immediate family and friends
Speaker 1: are like, you you have what? What's? What do you
Speaker 1: have in your car? What? Why would you do that?
Speaker 1: And then you have to explain And then a lot
Speaker 1: of times you'll notice people are um a little more
Speaker 1: understanding I guess after you give them all the reasons.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I would say I have encountered that sentiment
Speaker 1: quite often. What's one of those things that's really easy
Speaker 1: to pass judgment on until you know the situation reveals
Speaker 1: itself where you were actually the smart one, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, like what we're in right now, or the
Speaker 1: snowpocalypse situation. I mean, I don't think anyone would judge
Speaker 1: you if you had made the right preparations and then
Speaker 1: that that situation presented itself and you were much more
Speaker 1: able to take care of yourself and your loved ones
Speaker 1: than others who maybe thought that was a wacky idea.
Speaker 1: So I think reducing the stigma things like this is
Speaker 1: really important because it's not just some kind of doomsday
Speaker 1: prepper thing, you know. I think maybe the term bugout
Speaker 1: bag makes you think like, oh, I'm bugging out, I'm
Speaker 1: freaking out. Everything's crazy, you know. But um no, it's
Speaker 1: absolutely just good emergency preparedness, right, it's a it's an
Speaker 1: emergency preparedness set. There you go. That sounds a little
Speaker 1: more legit. I like to maybe we just call it, um,
Speaker 1: maybe call it an improvisation kit. I don't know, something yeah,
Speaker 1: something yes and bag, yes and bag. There we go.
Speaker 1: That's good. So yeah, it's possible, like any anything, it's
Speaker 1: possible to go overboard when building out kit like this.
Speaker 1: But most of the most of the stuff at least
Speaker 1: that we would cover or that we would we would
Speaker 1: recommend looking into is pretty reasonable. And a lot of
Speaker 1: it depend on the time you want to put in
Speaker 1: UH and your level of UH mcguiverants depending on your
Speaker 1: mcgeiver factor. A lot of this can be made with
Speaker 1: easily obtainable supplies. That's really important. Right now as we
Speaker 1: record this, there's a lot of information out there about
Speaker 1: a paredness about bug out bags, and some of it
Speaker 1: is misinformed. UH. Some of it is coming from a
Speaker 1: place with an agenda. It's coming from folks who want
Speaker 1: to sell you something, and this can lead to overkill
Speaker 1: More importantly, it can lead to spending a lot of
Speaker 1: money on things you don't need or like bone broth. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like bone broth or your gold bullion or uh, you know,
Speaker 1: paying paying out the wazoo for something that's kind of
Speaker 1: cheaply made and may actually break if you ever use
Speaker 1: it on a regular basis. So like for an overkill thing,
Speaker 1: you don't need to pack huge amounts of heavy equipment.
Speaker 1: You need stuff you can carry and you can use.
Speaker 1: So this gets us two different like types of bug
Speaker 1: out bags. Matt. You mentioned there was a tradition. Traditionally
Speaker 1: they're defined by the amount of time, right, what what
Speaker 1: is that amount of time for you guys? Well, usually
Speaker 1: it goes by hours, but it's really like a day,
Speaker 1: Like you do a twenty four hour bug out bag. Um,
Speaker 1: that's kind of your just standard. This is the absolute
Speaker 1: minimum that I would need to be okay for a
Speaker 1: full day and night, um, and then you it generally
Speaker 1: goes from that to two days, like forty eight hour
Speaker 1: bug out bag. Um. The cool thing about these things
Speaker 1: is that let's say you've got a twenty four hour
Speaker 1: or forty eight hour bag set up as a singular thing.
Speaker 1: Let's say in your trunk you keep extra supplies that
Speaker 1: would turn that into a ninety six hour or longer
Speaker 1: bug out bag situation, just because you the only things
Speaker 1: really that are limiting you there would be your um,
Speaker 1: your food, your water, things that would run out because
Speaker 1: a lot of the tools and things you keep in
Speaker 1: a bug out bag aren't gonna limit you by a
Speaker 1: number of hours, right. Uh, the the hour limitation or
Speaker 1: the our definition there is gonna really hinge on three things.
Speaker 1: It's gonna hinge on well, let's call it three point five.
Speaker 1: It's gonna hinge on the amount of food you need
Speaker 1: to survive every twenty four hours, the amount of water
Speaker 1: you need, which is even more important, and uh, the
Speaker 1: amount of medication you need if you're on a regular
Speaker 1: uh medication schedule that's vital to your health. So this
Speaker 1: means that a bug out bag can be defined also
Speaker 1: by what it's not. It is not a long term
Speaker 1: survival kit, you know what I mean. You're not gonna
Speaker 1: take this stuff in here and build a cabin and
Speaker 1: just live there forever. It's not a boating or aviation
Speaker 1: emergency kit. You can put it in the trunk of
Speaker 1: your car, but for an auto survival kit specifically, there's
Speaker 1: going to be things in that kit that you don't
Speaker 1: need to have in a bug out bag, right, Like
Speaker 1: you don't need fix a flat in your bug out bag.
Speaker 1: You don't need uh, you need in your car, but
Speaker 1: you do need it in your car, absolutely uh. And
Speaker 1: you can carry more in your car too, obviously. I
Speaker 1: think that's a really smart way of looking at it then,
Speaker 1: because no one would ever begread you keeping supplies in
Speaker 1: your car, you know, for the event of a breakdown, right,
Speaker 1: But yet people seem to look askance if you have
Speaker 1: some sort of like contingency plan bag for like some
Speaker 1: other you know, larger emergency that is not automotive related.
Speaker 1: So I think that's a really good point. It's weird
Speaker 1: because I guess it's all in presentation, right, Like the
Speaker 1: the stuff that I would keep in my car, I
Speaker 1: do have it, I do have it separated out. But
Speaker 1: there's the car stuff, you know, like the signal flares,
Speaker 1: that kind of that kind of thing, jumper cables, and
Speaker 1: then there's the bag you can grab, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: look as crazy if it's in your trunk, right, because
Speaker 1: everybody's got weird stuff in their trunks. But hey, speaking
Speaker 1: of trunks. Uh, guys, why don't we why don't we
Speaker 1: start going through like what we have. I'd love to
Speaker 1: give you guys a rundown of my bugout trunk. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, before we get on two further in this.
Speaker 1: But before we do that, maybe let's take a quick
Speaker 1: word from our sponsor. Alright, we're back, Matt. I'm intrigued.
Speaker 1: What what's are you going to give us the rundown?
Speaker 1: Are you going to do it unboxing video? Okay, so
Speaker 1: before we get into no, I'm not gonna do it
Speaker 1: out boxing video, but before we get into you know
Speaker 1: what you should probably be thinking about putting in your
Speaker 1: bug out bag. I just want to kind of give
Speaker 1: you my rundown. And i'd love to hear you, guys
Speaker 1: just what you keep with yours, if that's okay. Um, So,
Speaker 1: first of all, I've got an old, old old Toyota
Speaker 1: that I ride around in, and in the trunk, I've
Speaker 1: got sleeping bags for my family, blankets, jackets, bottled water
Speaker 1: for at least two days, energy bars for at least
Speaker 1: two days, a fully charged battery powered generator back there,
Speaker 1: and and those are just the basic things in like
Speaker 1: if if the car breaks down or something and we
Speaker 1: need to walk all ah, a snowpocalypse or something like that.
Speaker 1: Then we've got uh my bug out bag itself. Should
Speaker 1: we go over that yet or should we do? Do
Speaker 1: you mind? So I've personally got closed for two days
Speaker 1: for myself, a lighter, a flashlight with batteries, small knife, scissors,
Speaker 1: just basic toiletries like travel toiletries for that will last for,
Speaker 1: you know, whatever, a week or something, wet wipes of paper, towels,
Speaker 1: contact lenses, passport, two dollars cash, spare house key, spare
Speaker 1: car key, a sharpie, black pen, and extra eyeglasses. And
Speaker 1: here's the things that I'm putting in here that I
Speaker 1: need to put in there, which is something that I
Speaker 1: hadn't really been thinking about, but while prepping for this episode,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking I should probably get a small tent of
Speaker 1: some sort or a tent that could sleep up to
Speaker 1: three people, just when I'm thinking about my family and
Speaker 1: if we're traveling together. Um. And the other thing I
Speaker 1: don't have in there is um a really good first
Speaker 1: aid kit that's compact. I'm looking. I'm in the market
Speaker 1: for one of those, So if you find a good one,
Speaker 1: let me know. Now here's a question for you, Matt,
Speaker 1: why not have a small compact handgun in there? I'm
Speaker 1: I'm not being I'm not joking. That is more of
Speaker 1: a personal question to my family situation, and just it's weird,
Speaker 1: right having a small handgun and having a four year
Speaker 1: old or you know, a young child. It's like you
Speaker 1: can either protect your family or something terrible can happen
Speaker 1: in the statistics show that it's more dangerous in most
Speaker 1: scenarios to have a handgun around a younger child. Um,
Speaker 1: even if you're trying to protect yourself from other people
Speaker 1: with handguns. So that's a personal, very personal choice. UM,
Speaker 1: And it is not my decision. Actually, I gotta defer
Speaker 1: to the most powerful person in this relationship, which is
Speaker 1: my wife. So she doesn't want it, so it's not
Speaker 1: gonna happen. Um. I would very much like to have
Speaker 1: something like that, but it's not gonna happen anytime soon,
Speaker 1: got it? So? UM, With with that in mind, I
Speaker 1: think you've done I think you've done a good job. Met.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure I didn't miss this. Do
Speaker 1: you have like a multitool, like a leatherman or anything
Speaker 1: like that in there? That is exactly what I need.
Speaker 1: It's exactly what I need to I've got that on
Speaker 1: my list of needs, as well as um purification tablets
Speaker 1: I don't have right now, or any kind of masks
Speaker 1: or a good antibacterial sanitizer just given the circumstances. And
Speaker 1: the last thing that I absolutely need that I don't
Speaker 1: have is a life straw. I was just about to
Speaker 1: ask about that. Yeah, Ben, you were always seeing the
Speaker 1: praises of life straws. You want to remind listeners what
Speaker 1: that what those are? Yeah, life straws are a pretty
Speaker 1: handy invention. They are, or were relatively inexpensive things that
Speaker 1: allow you to drink water from say a puddle or
Speaker 1: something without necessarily having to boil it. Uh. And the
Speaker 1: cool thing about the filter is it really is it's
Speaker 1: a cylindrical It looks like a cylindrical overly thick straw
Speaker 1: or tube. And the way the filter works is such
Speaker 1: that you can sip directly from the water source. It
Speaker 1: will go through the filter and be safe to drink
Speaker 1: in most circumstances. Now, it doesn't filter out everything. In course,
Speaker 1: you're not going to show up to Chernobyl and UH
Speaker 1: find and a radiated puddle and drink from that. But
Speaker 1: it is great to have in a pinch. Uh. It's
Speaker 1: no replacement for having those purification tabs though, Uh so
Speaker 1: you would. I would ideally recommend having both of them.
Speaker 1: But that goes to the question what should be in
Speaker 1: my bug out bag? We ask each other to answer that.
Speaker 1: We have to talk about a couple of very important things.
Speaker 1: There's no silver bullet bug out bag. There's no like
Speaker 1: one stop pantasy for everyone because we live in different
Speaker 1: parts of the world. Yeah, and that being said, you
Speaker 1: really have to consider your surroundings. That's that's the big
Speaker 1: number one. UM. Do you live in a cold, arid
Speaker 1: part of the world humid hot region? Uh? You'll need
Speaker 1: some different things depending on where you are and what
Speaker 1: season is it. Um. Secondly, you need to keep in
Speaker 1: mind how long you want your supplies to last you.
Speaker 1: The typical bug out bag is seventy two hours, like
Speaker 1: we said, but you can plan for more or less.
Speaker 1: If you think twenty four hours is fine, it seems
Speaker 1: like a bare minimum to me. Are you packing just
Speaker 1: for yourself or like Matt, are you having to consider
Speaker 1: a small child and and another human being another full
Speaker 1: grown adult? Um? This is these are very crucial questions
Speaker 1: and you're gonna very much change, um the trajectory of
Speaker 1: of of the project. Um. All of these factors are
Speaker 1: going to play a huge role in your construction of
Speaker 1: said bug out bag. You'll also want to check back
Speaker 1: in on your bag every six months to make sure
Speaker 1: that everything still works. UM, do a little maintenance, make
Speaker 1: sure everything's expired, and everything remains seasonally appropriate. You do
Speaker 1: not want to have your car break down the middle
Speaker 1: of nowhere, at the height of summer, only to find
Speaker 1: that your emergency change of clothes is like a sweater
Speaker 1: and some gloves or something like that and some leg warmers.
Speaker 1: I am definitely guilty of that. For a while, my
Speaker 1: bug out bag looked like like a gym bag or
Speaker 1: something you know, with like like the minimum amount of clothing.
Speaker 1: And then it got into the winter and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I haven't changed to this, but it's okay. Well, full
Speaker 1: full disclosure to you guys. I'm learning a lot here
Speaker 1: because my bug out bag literally is a gym bag. Uh,
Speaker 1: and and and then it's just a gym bag. And
Speaker 1: I don't even go to the gym very often, so
Speaker 1: I am going to take some cues from you guys
Speaker 1: along with listeners hopefully. UM so I'm really ready to
Speaker 1: dive in even further. Yeah, I want to go ahead
Speaker 1: and preemptively give a shout out to all our fellow
Speaker 1: listeners on here's where it gets crazy, specifically, uh shea
Speaker 1: or shay s h e a, uh Parisino. And here's
Speaker 1: where it gets crazy. Who asked people what they put
Speaker 1: in their bug out bags. There's a great conversation going
Speaker 1: on around that, and you'll see that not everybody agrees,
Speaker 1: and you also see that people are in very different
Speaker 1: situations to your point. Noll uh. So let's let's say,
Speaker 1: like the one rule is you ideally want to have
Speaker 1: this ready before you need it. So we've got a
Speaker 1: list of what we consider more or less essentials, and
Speaker 1: then we've got a list of things that are nice
Speaker 1: to have but not mandatory. And then we've got a
Speaker 1: list of what I would call extreme things, so essentials.
Speaker 1: Backpack container. You know, I would say this can be
Speaker 1: anything that works for you as long as you're able
Speaker 1: to carry it easily under your own power, and it's
Speaker 1: something that is waterproof, A that's not negotiable or water resistant. Uh,
Speaker 1: I don't you know, not everybody agrees on this, but
Speaker 1: I would say backpacks are backpacks are gonna be great
Speaker 1: because if they have two straps, it's gonna be less
Speaker 1: fatiguing on your body to carry it over a long
Speaker 1: period of time. You know, if you've ever carried something
Speaker 1: really heavy in like I have messenger bags, and if
Speaker 1: you walk around um for hours with those, then you
Speaker 1: have to switch to different shoulders and it can start
Speaker 1: it can start wearing on you differently. That's a good point, ben,
Speaker 1: I can speak to that personally. Yeah, And a nice
Speaker 1: kind of camping type backpack would probably be the way
Speaker 1: to go because they're usually just a giant, big kind
Speaker 1: of like empty area without too many pockets and you
Speaker 1: can just like fit as much stuff in there as
Speaker 1: you possibly can and then just sense it up at
Speaker 1: the top. And then sometimes there's pockets on the side.
Speaker 1: Like I have a pretty nice camping backpack that's just
Speaker 1: one big, huge cavity in the middle and then a
Speaker 1: couple of small pockets on the side and one big
Speaker 1: pocket on the back and that's all you need. You
Speaker 1: don't need anything super fancy. Yeah, And a lot of
Speaker 1: those backpacks are expandable a bit in case you do
Speaker 1: find yourself in a situation where you need to expand
Speaker 1: your kit. So I would say that's a really good call.
Speaker 1: Now let me ask you this, listeners. Have you ever
Speaker 1: found yourself in a situation where you were physically panicking
Speaker 1: because your phone was about to die and there was
Speaker 1: no electricity nearby and you rely so heavily on your
Speaker 1: phone for everything from communication, to directions to just like
Speaker 1: peace of mind. Um, that's something you really need to
Speaker 1: take into consideration. I mean, I would add to this
Speaker 1: list if you, if you are gonna need to lean
Speaker 1: on your phone, bring several of those like, you know,
Speaker 1: bricks that you can always recharge your phone with without
Speaker 1: having to you know, have any electricity. But more importantly,
Speaker 1: you need to discount your phone entirely and have a
Speaker 1: physical map and a compass, you know, analog technology. Right.
Speaker 1: This stuff holds up uh splendidly. I mean it's it's
Speaker 1: it's really crucial. You might have a regional map um
Speaker 1: or a particular city or US atlas, but the compass
Speaker 1: is gonna be key because it doesn't require any electricity.
Speaker 1: It's absolutely lightweight, easy to carry around, and it can
Speaker 1: absolutely be the difference between life and death. If you're
Speaker 1: say lost in the woods and you need to find
Speaker 1: your way out to the highway or whatever. There, it's
Speaker 1: just a crucial piece of kit for for for sure.
Speaker 1: You know, Ben, do you have a good compass? I
Speaker 1: I do not have one in in my kit right now. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I have my Oh well, I say it's good. It's
Speaker 1: just hasn't broken yet. Uh that's great. Yeah, I have
Speaker 1: my old, my old, reliable. I haven't dug dug it
Speaker 1: out of my bag yet. I'll get the brand name
Speaker 1: and and look it up. But I would say that's
Speaker 1: a good point. A compass is a good investment. You're
Speaker 1: gonna see there. There's some things, especially multi tools, that
Speaker 1: are next multi tools are survival knives are sometimes called
Speaker 1: that's another essential there. There's some of those that will
Speaker 1: include maybe a little uh dinky compass on on the
Speaker 1: end of the knife handle or whatever. But a compass
Speaker 1: is lightweight enough that you want a dedicated one that
Speaker 1: that just does that. Even though I'm a huge proponent
Speaker 1: of things with multiple applications, you want a compass that
Speaker 1: is just a compass, because if you get that's just
Speaker 1: sort of an add on to an existing multitool or apparatus.
Speaker 1: Then it's the odds are it's not going to be
Speaker 1: as well made, which means it won't be as durable,
Speaker 1: which means at some point, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: There there's some different kind of like bag grills type
Speaker 1: things you can do to make make your own quote
Speaker 1: unquote compass in the wild, but just by one if
Speaker 1: you can, because they're not going to break the bank.
Speaker 1: What are we talking like bucks? Uh? Les, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: can find some used ones for less if you go
Speaker 1: to like your local camping or military or if you
Speaker 1: go to your local military surplus store, you can find
Speaker 1: some used ones for less. Uh. You can also find
Speaker 1: I mean, like anything there, there's a wide range there
Speaker 1: for but I wouldn't I wouldn't pay like I wouldn't
Speaker 1: treat a compass like a fancy watch. I wouldn't not
Speaker 1: pay a premium for one. You just need it to work.
Speaker 1: There's definitely some look like fancy watches, and they're in
Speaker 1: the like seventy dollar range. But there's one called a
Speaker 1: Silva Guide Explore two point out compass that you can
Speaker 1: get it Cabella is it twenty five bucks and it
Speaker 1: looks pretty pretty sturdy, and there's there's a whole range
Speaker 1: of them, so absolutely whoa on Amazon, I just found
Speaker 1: it's a parachord bracelet with a fire starter and a
Speaker 1: compass on it. And and that parachord bracelet is one
Speaker 1: of the ones where you can disassemble the bracelet and
Speaker 1: it becomes like a piece of rope that you can use.
Speaker 1: Isn't that the deal? Yeah? Five fifty parachord. It's Uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of a gold standard for that sort
Speaker 1: of stuff because you can use it to bind, you
Speaker 1: can use it to help hang up a tarp. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's actually on the list later here, but I don't
Speaker 1: want to lose that a knife for a multi tool
Speaker 1: or if you're if if you're so inclined, a machete
Speaker 1: of course, Uh, multi tools are great, you you know,
Speaker 1: the multi tool is probably most familiar with people is
Speaker 1: going to be the stereotypical, uh, the iconic Swiss army knife, right,
Speaker 1: But that's that's just the beginning. Like Leatherman has some
Speaker 1: great multi tools, but they're they're in the pricier range,
Speaker 1: you know, think like a hundred dollars plus for some,
Speaker 1: but they include things, Uh, they include like nineteen or eighteen.
Speaker 1: Different things like a leather all, a small saw, you know,
Speaker 1: pliers of course, tiny scissors, things like that, a can opener,
Speaker 1: right you. Basically a multi tool is a great example
Speaker 1: of uh, something in your bug out bag that fulfills
Speaker 1: multiple uses restricting you know, it lowers the amount of
Speaker 1: weight you're carrying because if you had to carry a screwdriver,
Speaker 1: a pocket knife, a corkscrew of can open all this
Speaker 1: other stuff separately, it gets heavy very quickly. And weight
Speaker 1: is your enemy here. That's why with fire starters next
Speaker 1: on the list, Uh, you'll see people who say, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna bother having a canister of matches. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna bother having you know, um, a lighter because it
Speaker 1: needs fuel. I'm just gonna carry a flint and steel
Speaker 1: striker kit and those things work, man, but they are
Speaker 1: they're a pain. I I personally have some redundancy. I
Speaker 1: have a I have a lighter, a striker kit, and
Speaker 1: and a little thing of waterproof matches just because I
Speaker 1: don't want to need a fire and not be able
Speaker 1: to make it. Also a little life hack there, Uh,
Speaker 1: if you have access to a home washer dryer, you
Speaker 1: can collect dryer lent. I think somebody also mentioned this,
Speaker 1: And here's where it gets crazy. You can collect dryer
Speaker 1: lent and compress it into a into a really small container.
Speaker 1: Maybe take uh like an old prescription bottle or something.
Speaker 1: Just stuff that with dryer land, and then you can
Speaker 1: use that as your tinder to make a fire. Oh
Speaker 1: that's a great idea. Yeah, I'm gonna do that today.
Speaker 1: And it's a good you know, you know, it's like
Speaker 1: clear after your dryer trap. It's so fun. You're like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to throw this away. This stuff is
Speaker 1: like gold. There must be a use for it. And
Speaker 1: and there there we are. There's the use for So, Matt,
Speaker 1: you had mentioned first aid supplies. First aid supplies, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say it. You can. You can find some some
Speaker 1: good pre made first aid kits, but you can find
Speaker 1: even more uh mediocre first aid kits. What you want
Speaker 1: to do? Yeah, and and a lot of the like
Speaker 1: really good comprehensive ones are going to be uh fairly expensive,
Speaker 1: especially now. Uh so I would recommend making your own kit.
Speaker 1: Uh get any necessary medicine that you will need, bandages,
Speaker 1: disinfected painkillers. Uh. You know, some people include stuff that
Speaker 1: other people consider unnecessary, like a lot of people have.
Speaker 1: Like if you have a tourniquet, you are you might
Speaker 1: be considered a little too extreme for some people. But
Speaker 1: you know, you might also be in a situation where
Speaker 1: you say, hey, I have a real possibility of losing
Speaker 1: a limb. You know, we're gonna pause for a moment
Speaker 1: for a word from our sponsors, and we're gonna come
Speaker 1: back in and run through our essentials before we get
Speaker 1: to the nice stuff and the extreme stuff. All right,
Speaker 1: we're back. Next up, a flashlight. Some people say a headlamp.
Speaker 1: I would say a flashlight works. Um, if you're in
Speaker 1: a car, you might want to put in signal flares,
Speaker 1: you know, roadside accident kit stuff. But if you're on
Speaker 1: foot or you're on a bike or something, it's good
Speaker 1: to have a flashlight with you. But remember a flashlight
Speaker 1: is only as useful as the battery power. So if
Speaker 1: you decide to have a flashlight, you are also deciding
Speaker 1: to have extra batteries or some sort of charging mechanism
Speaker 1: for that. Be careful, you know not. I mean, like
Speaker 1: we've all seen the horror movie, maybe some of us
Speaker 1: have personally encountered it, but there's nothing quite as discouraging
Speaker 1: as being in the dark and seeing your flashlights start
Speaker 1: to flicker. That's that's never a good look. Yeah, my
Speaker 1: recommendation would be a some kind of led flashlight that
Speaker 1: doesn't use a ton of power just to make it
Speaker 1: work correctly, and just a few extra batteries considering how
Speaker 1: long you want your bag to function, Yeah, exactly. Then
Speaker 1: you know water purification taps work. You're also going to
Speaker 1: want to carry at the very minimum containers for water
Speaker 1: or a water bladder. Some people use like a camel
Speaker 1: back for instance, but you you have to have those.
Speaker 1: That's non negotiable. One difference would be some people will say, hey,
Speaker 1: why don't I just carry that? Why don't just have
Speaker 1: the container itself? And the other people say, no, I
Speaker 1: want to already have water stored in there. There are
Speaker 1: a couple of different reasons people make that decision. But
Speaker 1: if you decide to just carry a bladder or a container,
Speaker 1: then make extra sure that you know you will be
Speaker 1: able to have water that to find water that you
Speaker 1: can put in that container. Otherwise you're just lugging around,
Speaker 1: uh something empty, you know what I mean. So I
Speaker 1: think you can tell by the way I'm talking that.
Speaker 1: I'm a proponent of already having the water with you,
Speaker 1: but I guess the drawback there is that the water
Speaker 1: is heavy. Exactly nail on the head. Speaking of nails,
Speaker 1: what about a what about a repair kit? You know,
Speaker 1: we mentioned things are different if you're if you're thinking
Speaker 1: about something you store in your car, but even if
Speaker 1: you're on foot, you want to have, uh, you want
Speaker 1: to have some amount of rope or binding implements, five
Speaker 1: cord maybe some uh what do they call carabiners, carabiners
Speaker 1: and never remember beaners. Yeah, you wanna have some carabiners. Uh,
Speaker 1: And you want to have duct tape. It's duct tape
Speaker 1: is not I know we're based in the South, but
Speaker 1: please don't think duct tape is somehow just quote unquote
Speaker 1: for rednecks. Chrome. It's so useful, it's so versatile, you know,
Speaker 1: and you can use it to rap if you if
Speaker 1: you hurt yourself, you can in a pinch. You could
Speaker 1: use it to wrap a wound, you know, or use
Speaker 1: it to create a makeshift brace, like if you had
Speaker 1: like a piece of a stick or something, you could
Speaker 1: like use the duct tape to attach it to a fracture.
Speaker 1: In multiple locations, and it wouldn't be perfect, but it
Speaker 1: would definitely get the job done in a pinch, right absolutely,
Speaker 1: And you know, you might be in a situation where
Speaker 1: you have to get the job done in a pinch.
Speaker 1: You might be someone who uh bought a bargain basement
Speaker 1: first aid kit and you get a serious injury and
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, I don't have the means to stitch
Speaker 1: something up. I guess it's the duct tape because these
Speaker 1: band aids aren't going to do it, you know, no
Speaker 1: offense Johnson and Johnson. You also want some sort of
Speaker 1: emergency shelter. This is This can be a tough one
Speaker 1: for people in relationships because sometimes we have different definitions
Speaker 1: of where an acceptable shelter is. Yeah, like one of
Speaker 1: those fire festival geodesic domes or something, you know, right,
Speaker 1: and then uh, someone else might say, well, I Am
Speaker 1: not going to live like a hobo sleeping with a
Speaker 1: tarp on the ground and a tarp between these trees, right,
Speaker 1: I need a bespoke you know, heated tent. Right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm a glamper, not a camper. You'll you'll that's why
Speaker 1: you'll see things like emergency blankets great to have, especially
Speaker 1: if you're in a situation where things are very cold,
Speaker 1: or where somebody might be exposed to water, or you know,
Speaker 1: their body temperature, the core temperature might be dropping. Uh.
Speaker 1: There are some chemical handwarmers that I that work well,
Speaker 1: but there's single use, so after you've cracked them open,
Speaker 1: they'll and after the after their first use, they're going
Speaker 1: to be useless to you. I personally, I keep a
Speaker 1: tarp and a small tent and a an emergency blanket.
Speaker 1: But that's it, and that's that's just me, and that's
Speaker 1: because I still have that in my car. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: would say a tarp and just a small spool of
Speaker 1: twine goes a long way. Yeah, So that you can
Speaker 1: because the tarps have a little little uh grommets on
Speaker 1: the sides, so you can use it to attach to
Speaker 1: a tree like a makeshift shelter. You know, you don't like,
Speaker 1: let's let's let's just make it clear. You don't have
Speaker 1: to like sleep directly on the ground covered by the tarp.
Speaker 1: You can kind of rig it up so it creates
Speaker 1: almost like a little awning kind of and then you're
Speaker 1: sheltered from the rain. And then you can kind of
Speaker 1: like lay a blanket out underneath it, and it's a
Speaker 1: pretty solid little makeshift shelter. And and if you're in uh,
Speaker 1: if you're in an environment where you can take found
Speaker 1: materials like sticks in the woods or you know, whatever
Speaker 1: you find laying around in urban environment, you can you
Speaker 1: can position your tarp when you string it up like
Speaker 1: you just said. No, you can position your tarp to
Speaker 1: collect rain water and go into one of those containers
Speaker 1: for water that you have with you. Uh. And that
Speaker 1: of course only works if it rains. Then if the
Speaker 1: rain is not poison So there are a couple of gifts.
Speaker 1: They're hopefully we're not in the poison rain stage. I
Speaker 1: don't know this bend, but but do you think there's
Speaker 1: maybe something that would filter rain it like like something
Speaker 1: you could add to a container that maybe would filter
Speaker 1: rain if there is any impurities like that and make
Speaker 1: it guaranteed more safe to drink. Yeah, yeah, you'll still
Speaker 1: want to boil it if you can't. Um just in general. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but put in water purification tabs. That's why you want
Speaker 1: to have those. Uh, you know, it's unfortunately it's uh,
Speaker 1: it's safe to assume that you should have some kind
Speaker 1: of purification filter or process says between you and water
Speaker 1: that you find in the wild. Now, Like it's if
Speaker 1: you're like, we have the Chattahoochie here and you know,
Speaker 1: things can't worse. Came to worse, people would probably go
Speaker 1: to the river and try to drink or get potable
Speaker 1: water from there. But even then, uh, you would want
Speaker 1: to boil it or you would want to purify it somehow. Uh.
Speaker 1: Speaking of that, let's say you've got water again. That's
Speaker 1: the most important thing. If stuff starts going south here.
Speaker 1: If you think you're gonna lose access to water at
Speaker 1: your house, just start storing it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I'll say it. Maybe I'll get in trouble about this,
Speaker 1: but if we're getting to a point where utilities might
Speaker 1: no longer be feasible, forget your water bill, fill up
Speaker 1: the tub and fill up the tub. You can also
Speaker 1: empty out the I know it sounds gross, but it's okay.
Speaker 1: You can also empty out the top tank of your
Speaker 1: toilet if you have one with that design. Uh, and
Speaker 1: you can boil that. We're not at that point yet.
Speaker 1: Just things to be aware of. Uh, But what good
Speaker 1: is water? If you don't have food, you'll die. And
Speaker 1: I think you'll dive starvation in about two weeks without food.
Speaker 1: But in this situation, you're probably moving around, You're probably
Speaker 1: in a very stressful environment, which means that your caloric
Speaker 1: activity is probably going to increase. Yes, you're gonna need
Speaker 1: to keep that in mind and uh pack some sort
Speaker 1: of high calorie UM and compact food. Uh So that
Speaker 1: would include things like you know, granola bars or any
Speaker 1: of those UM energy type bars that you know that
Speaker 1: have a lot of protein built into them. Yeah, or
Speaker 1: you can go the pre package through OUTE like in
Speaker 1: good old fashioned m R E. Those generally are pretty big, uh,
Speaker 1: but they are really great for actually getting a ton
Speaker 1: of calories into you. Um. Ben, the m R you
Speaker 1: gave me was, I don't know the size of a
Speaker 1: nice tome, like a large tome. Oh yeah, I've got,
Speaker 1: I've got and I've got it gives you know as well, thanks,
Speaker 1: but I appreciate it. Um Yeah, No, I can see
Speaker 1: that would definitely be something you would you would want
Speaker 1: to consider, um or anything that you could cook on
Speaker 1: a small you know, gas powered camp stove. Right. Also
Speaker 1: very important and you'll like this point, Matt, very important.
Speaker 1: People on our fellow listeners will kill us if we
Speaker 1: don't mention this very very important for any of that
Speaker 1: survival food. Pack your own hot sauce, have hot sauce
Speaker 1: with you. I know it sounds like a cute see
Speaker 1: joke thing or something, but it can improve a lot
Speaker 1: of notoriously bland food. And if you put hot sauce
Speaker 1: around on the outside of some of your food containers,
Speaker 1: it can it can help repel certain wildlife. See I
Speaker 1: don't have hot sauce, but I do have red pepper
Speaker 1: flakes in mine, but it's only for taste. I didn't
Speaker 1: think about any of those things been actually repelling things. Well. Also,
Speaker 1: I don't know I we could talk about m R
Speaker 1: e's all day. Actually, Nolan I did with Jacqueline Riposo
Speaker 1: on a different show, Ridiculous History. We did a history
Speaker 1: of m R e s. So tune in if you
Speaker 1: want to hear that. And if you have m R
Speaker 1: e s and you're like, this is this is too
Speaker 1: big for me uh to put my my backpack comfortably?
Speaker 1: Then you can open it up. Go ahead, open it up,
Speaker 1: break it down, and just take the stuff that you
Speaker 1: feel like you need. What about like ramen noodles or
Speaker 1: something that'd probably be a good one. You could easily
Speaker 1: do that over a camp stove, and they can be
Speaker 1: pretty compact, those little bricks you know, or even the
Speaker 1: even the cups. It just takes more prep right, Well,
Speaker 1: you could crumble it up if you just took the
Speaker 1: you know, the dry squares, you can crumble it up
Speaker 1: so that you can uh store the bag more easily,
Speaker 1: and then you can just make you know, you'll just
Speaker 1: beating short ramen noodles. That's it. Change your clothes. Change
Speaker 1: your clothes. Make sure they're seasonally appropriate. Remember extra socks
Speaker 1: and underwear. Also, if you don't typically wear durable shoes,
Speaker 1: then you know, if you have room, I would say
Speaker 1: include some footwear in there. But remember that stuff can
Speaker 1: be heavy, like boots can be real heavy. You can,
Speaker 1: but you got to think about like what that's that's
Speaker 1: where you start getting really cold and gross. Is if
Speaker 1: your one pair of shoes is soaked through, you know,
Speaker 1: to your feet and it's cold and rainy, you might
Speaker 1: really consider making room for like a nice pair of
Speaker 1: like gortex boots or something that are like very very
Speaker 1: weather resistant, or just wearing those from the start exactly. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so this is another one. This is something that stood out, Matt.
Speaker 1: You mentioned this a stash of cash. So some people
Speaker 1: will tell you to carry gold bullion around because that
Speaker 1: old bailout bag pilot story. But sometimes be very careful
Speaker 1: about this. Sometimes the people or institutions advocating that are
Speaker 1: the same people trying to sell you that gold, So
Speaker 1: do be skeptical of them. I I have cash stashed away.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but I
Speaker 1: do I do think that we have to be careful
Speaker 1: not to pin all our hopes on that, because you know,
Speaker 1: there may be situations where cash doesn't matter, right Like
Speaker 1: we like here in Atlanta, we've seen a move toward
Speaker 1: a cash list society that we somewhat predicted in a
Speaker 1: previous episode. We just didn't see it happening this way.
Speaker 1: Remember that one, guys, Yeah, I do. What I would
Speaker 1: say is, even if you find yourself in that situation
Speaker 1: where cash doesn't matter anymore, that's gonna be worst case scenario, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's absolutely worse case scenario. And in most
Speaker 1: uh scenarios where you would need to go go bag,
Speaker 1: having a little bit of cash is just gonna help
Speaker 1: you either, you know, get whatever extra thing you need
Speaker 1: for that night or for those two days, or to
Speaker 1: even make not a deal with someone or to get
Speaker 1: someone to help you. I mean, that is a real thing.
Speaker 1: Another thing that's really helpful to pack in your go
Speaker 1: bag is the gift of gab, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's really important to be able to like negotiate yourself.
Speaker 1: I'm only half kidding, Like it really is important. And
Speaker 1: and and Ben and and you matter both fantastic at
Speaker 1: this h being able to kind of talk yourself into
Speaker 1: and out of tricky situations and convince people to help you.
Speaker 1: And it's not to say that you're manipulating people are
Speaker 1: being uh, you know, in any way duplicits, but to
Speaker 1: be able to plainly and simply state your case and
Speaker 1: put it in a way where people can understand and
Speaker 1: can actually help you and feel compelled to help you. Well,
Speaker 1: we all all three of us are are podcasters, so
Speaker 1: I think that applies to you as well. No thanks, yeah, uh,
Speaker 1: just you know, just to run through these other ones.
Speaker 1: These are all easy ones. Uh. To the earlier point
Speaker 1: you made Nol about charger bricks, I would I would
Speaker 1: recommend in addition to those are uh, at the very
Speaker 1: least in a replacement of those have a solar power,
Speaker 1: crank charged radio and phone charger of some sort. Yes,
Speaker 1: they're inexpensive. You can also power up the bricks with
Speaker 1: that as long as you have, Like I would argue,
Speaker 1: I would tend to bet there are new ones that
Speaker 1: maybe even have USB ports built onto them. I have.
Speaker 1: I'm just guessing, yeah, that's the kind I have. Yeah. Uh.
Speaker 1: Also I would recommend, of course, Like like you said earlier, Matt,
Speaker 1: one thing you nailed that a lot of people don't
Speaker 1: think about is a hygiene kit. Even if it's just
Speaker 1: like a little travel bag that you got from the
Speaker 1: from a distant relative for the holidays, it's better than nothing.
Speaker 1: You have to remember, good hygiene is the first step
Speaker 1: in good first aid, especially now that we know washing
Speaker 1: our hands is so important because we all forgot for
Speaker 1: a couple of hundred years. Great, it's gonna be the
Speaker 1: biggest takeaway from this whole crisis is wash your damn hands.
Speaker 1: And if you're in a long term situation, you know
Speaker 1: people can assure you. The things that get you are
Speaker 1: there are the small things that you didn't exercise preventative
Speaker 1: medicine on, like a uh toothee turns to something where
Speaker 1: you need a root canal, especially now here in the US.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of dentistry has been considered non
Speaker 1: essential and people are being told to put it off.
Speaker 1: So brushing your teeth can make things a lot less
Speaker 1: painful for you in the long term. And this sounds
Speaker 1: this may sound kind of silly, but the difference between um,
Speaker 1: having like brush your teeth fairly recently and not brushing
Speaker 1: your teeth for several days and then walking up to
Speaker 1: someone that you need help from it psychologically can make
Speaker 1: a difference. I'm just saying that, And it may not
Speaker 1: necessarily be true, but it could push, you know, push
Speaker 1: you towards success a little bit. People are judge jerks, No,
Speaker 1: I agree with you. It does make it does make
Speaker 1: a difference. And that's not even being jerks, it's just
Speaker 1: maybe it's a subconscious thing. Uh. The last two things
Speaker 1: a survival guide. I go for military publications, but there
Speaker 1: there are a lot out there. Uh. You can also
Speaker 1: find free PDFs for more long term stuff. But one
Speaker 1: one field manual I would recommend is fm T one
Speaker 1: seventy six Survival, Evasion and Recovery from the Department of Defense.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a field UH survival guide and has
Speaker 1: a lot of valuable information there. Also, remember all of
Speaker 1: those government published manuals are yours. If you live in
Speaker 1: the US, you pay taxes. That's that's something that you
Speaker 1: are able to read. You know what I mean. It's
Speaker 1: not secret. It's not controversial for you to get one.
Speaker 1: You can find the free PDF and print it out.
Speaker 1: You can order physical copy. You can go to uh
Speaker 1: well it's tricky to go to a physical bookstore now,
Speaker 1: but you can find these easily. Last thing I would
Speaker 1: say is essential a small notebook and some sort of
Speaker 1: writing implement for any number of reasons, even if it's
Speaker 1: just your personal sanity, even if you need to document,
Speaker 1: import dates, anything. It's it's good to have one of those.
Speaker 1: Doesn't take up much room, it doesn't weigh a lot,
Speaker 1: and it gives you some it gives you some sort
Speaker 1: of outlet. Things that are nice to have. We can
Speaker 1: just laundry list these. These all sound cool. I mentioned
Speaker 1: this earlier and actual tent with all the things that
Speaker 1: come with it, like steaks, extra cord, a hammock, something
Speaker 1: like that, or just you know, a pop up tent
Speaker 1: whatever it is that would be great. Yeah, yeah, sleeping
Speaker 1: bag and is sleeping pad like you said, Nola camp stove.
Speaker 1: Some are like some nice collapsible pots and pans and cutlery.
Speaker 1: I mean you've seen those where they literally kind of
Speaker 1: Russian nesting doll inside of each other. Um. And I
Speaker 1: believe the cutlery is even included in some of those
Speaker 1: collapsible sets, which is pretty cool. Um, like a small
Speaker 1: hand saw. You can get really compact ones of those
Speaker 1: hiking poles. I've always thought those were silly, but after
Speaker 1: taking a pretty significant hike in Los Angeles with my
Speaker 1: daughter up to Griffith Park Observatory, she kept seeing these
Speaker 1: these folks with hiking poles, and she became obsessed with
Speaker 1: finding a stick so that she could brace herself. And
Speaker 1: it really does take some of the stress off. You know,
Speaker 1: if you have a third point of contact, Um, it's
Speaker 1: a big deal, especially if you're at it for a
Speaker 1: long time or god forbid, you're you're injured in anyway. Right. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I would also add I think it's nice to have
Speaker 1: a burner phone. I think it's nice to have something
Speaker 1: that is unattached to whatever your regular phone is, but
Speaker 1: can also be charged by that crank charger. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: it's just good to have an alternative of communication there.
Speaker 1: You gotta love those prepaid minutes. He got to Although,
Speaker 1: like you know, people look askance at burner phones now
Speaker 1: because of everything we know from like breaking bad on
Speaker 1: the wire, But for this situation, I could totally see it. Ben,
Speaker 1: I have to say when I when I saw this
Speaker 1: next note, my mind immediately went to an actual Tomahawk
Speaker 1: of these, yeah, exactly, or like I said at the
Speaker 1: top of the show, a battering of some sort, or
Speaker 1: perhaps save grappling hook. But no, Um, we're talking about
Speaker 1: some kind of high end GPS that doesn't need a
Speaker 1: continuous Internet connection that actually uses um pings satellites. Ben,
Speaker 1: remember when we were in the quiet zone uh with
Speaker 1: car stuff, um, and we had one of those. It
Speaker 1: was a game changer. It actually was an old school
Speaker 1: garment that Scott Benjamin insistent on ringing along for that
Speaker 1: very reason. It was actually the only thing that worked
Speaker 1: when our phones would not work. It continued to work. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and luckily there hadn't been a lot of construction in
Speaker 1: that area of the world because those maps it was
Speaker 1: using were from the nineties. But that was amazing. It
Speaker 1: got us out of there. Um to your to your
Speaker 1: point about you how you first literally thought it was
Speaker 1: a tomahawk, I would say I would like to recommend,
Speaker 1: uh those some sort of survival shovel multitool. They're really great.
Speaker 1: You can find the there like a camp shovel that
Speaker 1: can also be an axe or a hatchet. It folds down,
Speaker 1: it doesn't take a lot of weight, and it has
Speaker 1: a multitude of functions. So so check those out. There
Speaker 1: are a couple of different brands. Uh, they're not all
Speaker 1: created equally, but do do check them out. They don't
Speaker 1: belong in our next list. They're nice to have if
Speaker 1: you can get them. Our next list the list of
Speaker 1: extreme things. A gun or some kind of firearm. Um,
Speaker 1: and if you are going to carry that with you
Speaker 1: and plan on using it, you're also gonna want ammunition.
Speaker 1: And how about a cleaning kit to make sure it
Speaker 1: would actually function if you did need it. Yep, And
Speaker 1: then you would think of like high grade emergency kits
Speaker 1: for traumas and I mean like hospital level injuries. A
Speaker 1: guy I know a guy who has a bullet wound
Speaker 1: kit for some people that's very extreme for him and
Speaker 1: is not we also you know, you might run into
Speaker 1: people who have heavy duty painkillers opioids that would normally
Speaker 1: only be prescription things of that nature or very specific
Speaker 1: medical equipment. And for the advanced user. We talked about
Speaker 1: this earlier, how it might be useless to to folks
Speaker 1: like like you, you or I, but sutures and and
Speaker 1: the ability like to really stitch up, you know, a
Speaker 1: bullet wound like h like if you were if you
Speaker 1: needed to do that to yourself and keep it from
Speaker 1: getting infected. In all of that, um, things like hydrogen
Speaker 1: peroxide and then uh iodine and stuff you know, like
Speaker 1: that would really come in handy as well. And then
Speaker 1: we get into things like body armor that's real extreme
Speaker 1: because that is not lightweight at all, and that would
Speaker 1: take up a lot of room and you would really
Speaker 1: if this would be much more in that on the
Speaker 1: lamb or being chased by the cartel kind of situation. Right. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: hopefully most people will not need body armor. It's if
Speaker 1: you already have some, it's it's good to have it,
Speaker 1: especially if you put it in like your house or
Speaker 1: you put it in your vehicle or something. But carrying
Speaker 1: it around your best bet is going to be just
Speaker 1: to be wearing it, you know, and don't try to
Speaker 1: buy it now. I would say, if you're a high roller,
Speaker 1: there is some clothing that is like somewhat bullet resistant
Speaker 1: and very interesting and not is heavy. But only if
Speaker 1: you're a high roller. Yeah, what's that stuff called? Like
Speaker 1: there's there's a particular type of fabric. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: I've got a tactical shirt. It's really interesting. Probably not
Speaker 1: my favorite thing that I've ever purchased, but you know
Speaker 1: you can get them. What was your price on that?
Speaker 1: If you don't mind me asking, I honestly don't know.
Speaker 1: It was a gift, so I didn't buy it. Well,
Speaker 1: I didn't buy it, but my money was used to
Speaker 1: buy it. Oh man, that makes sense. There is a
Speaker 1: website called Bulletproof Zone dot com and they have a
Speaker 1: M m C Armor Level concealed tank top UH and
Speaker 1: it costs seven eight nine dollars. A bullet Blocker Lightweight
Speaker 1: flight jacket is eight hundred and seventy nine dollars. And
Speaker 1: then we have a Tallows Ballistics Phoenix BBL Compression tank
Speaker 1: top um for a hundred or sixty four dollars, but
Speaker 1: it is upgradeable to level three A. So, so my
Speaker 1: stuff was not this expensive, just so you know, this
Speaker 1: is real. This is a real deal. And they got
Speaker 1: a suit jacket, Uh, that's eight hundred bucks. And then
Speaker 1: they've got like one of those nice puffy vests they're
Speaker 1: they're referring to it as a casual vest. That's six.
Speaker 1: So this I would also include a list of extreme
Speaker 1: stuff is all the action movie things that we like
Speaker 1: to think about using when we watch Mission Impossible, We'll
Speaker 1: watch you know, take in or something. Right, But you
Speaker 1: unless you have been using nune Chucks for years and
Speaker 1: years and years and years, there's no reason to keep them.
Speaker 1: You probably don't need grenades, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: even if you found a great deal on some at
Speaker 1: a military surplus store. I'm calling myself out there, don't
Speaker 1: you don't need to drive around with grenades in your car,
Speaker 1: Which brings us to this what should not be in
Speaker 1: your bug out bag? Honestly, a ton of creature comforts
Speaker 1: need to go. We have to think about that thing.
Speaker 1: Our parents always told us, the difference between what we
Speaker 1: want and what we need. Like if you love to
Speaker 1: read books, I read all the time. If you love
Speaker 1: to read books, then take a kindle and use that
Speaker 1: with your solar power charger instead of lugging around a
Speaker 1: miniature library. Yeah, and like carrying gas around could be tricky,
Speaker 1: but I mean, if you're really in a pench and
Speaker 1: found yourself needing gas, uh, you could do that. That
Speaker 1: old siphoning trick. Not to advocate stealing other people's gas,
Speaker 1: but um, absolutely could could do that if you were really,
Speaker 1: really in a desperate situation. Carrying it around would be
Speaker 1: prohibitively heavy, or if you do have that extra cash
Speaker 1: on hand, you could stop by a place that maybe
Speaker 1: has gas or trade just saying yeah. Uh. And unless
Speaker 1: you are already in a an environment where civilization or
Speaker 1: the normal rules of the day to day of collapse,
Speaker 1: don't carry anything illegal in your bag because you have
Speaker 1: to remember you're ideally gonna have this sitting around for
Speaker 1: a while. So if you have, for example, um, a
Speaker 1: gun that you do not have a license to carry
Speaker 1: or to transport, then don't have it in there. If
Speaker 1: you have an illegal recreational drug or some sort of
Speaker 1: illegal medicine in there, take it out because you never know.
Speaker 1: You might forget about it months down the road. You
Speaker 1: might get in a jam if the authorities find it
Speaker 1: and say like, hey, why is this. I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know. What's a crazy dry Like why do you
Speaker 1: have this jar of ether in your trunk? Sir? I mean,
Speaker 1: why would you have a jar of ether? Anyway? Well,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, it's it's an anesthetic. I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe you're just thinking ahead in case you do get
Speaker 1: you know, shot with some you know, rock salt or something,
Speaker 1: or like marijuana, if you if you are in a
Speaker 1: state or a part of the world where that's illegal,
Speaker 1: or any any medication, you do not have a prescript
Speaker 1: and for let's leave it at that, right, Yeah, totally,
Speaker 1: that's a good way to put it. So there's not
Speaker 1: a here's where it gets crazy moment in today's episode
Speaker 1: at all. We're dealing with some stuff that can kind
Speaker 1: of be crazy and frightening for people anyway, But there
Speaker 1: is an important warning we have to we have to
Speaker 1: close with it. Is this A lot of those pre
Speaker 1: made prepack survival bags are garbage garbage, full stop. The
Speaker 1: supplies are cheaply made, they don't have some very important components,
Speaker 1: and they're often, especially now overpriced. If you buy one,
Speaker 1: that's fine, if that's how you want to approach it.
Speaker 1: If you do buy one, make sure you go back
Speaker 1: through it with a fine tooth comb. And you have
Speaker 1: to be prepared to sub out any of the stuff
Speaker 1: that you need. Uh. And and don't be don't be
Speaker 1: surprised when you see a lot of disappointing stuff in
Speaker 1: the bag. Yeah, and it's not to say that all
Speaker 1: of these are complete rip off. There's a site that
Speaker 1: I found called stealth Angels Survival dot com that they
Speaker 1: don't seem incredibly gaugey. They've got a lot of verified reviews.
Speaker 1: It seems like the materials that are in the bags
Speaker 1: are the kinds of things we're talking about, like the
Speaker 1: handwarmers are you know, certain flares and things like that.
Speaker 1: So as long as you can guarantee that the stuff
Speaker 1: that's in there is the same caliber that you would
Speaker 1: buy if you bought each piece individually, it maybe it
Speaker 1: is a fine way to go. But I do agree
Speaker 1: with you, Ben, I think the smartest way to go
Speaker 1: is just to buy every piece yourself, because then you
Speaker 1: know exactly what you're getting and uh, really quickly, Guys,
Speaker 1: when you are looking to get stuff to put in there,
Speaker 1: don't let anybody sell you snake oil, please, because that
Speaker 1: that is something we have seen consistently just through making
Speaker 1: this show. The that stuff exists. Um. And I'm not saying,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously not real snake oil, but just things
Speaker 1: that are too good to be true. There are products
Speaker 1: out there on the internet that you can buy right
Speaker 1: now that will fulfill a lot of the purposes that
Speaker 1: we've talked about in this episode, but a lot of
Speaker 1: them are too good to be true. Mm hmm yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Watch out for anything that is like brain clarity, you know,
Speaker 1: super pills, get off the grid, you'll be awake for
Speaker 1: thirty six hours, You'll and you'll drink bone broth, you know,
Speaker 1: watch out for that stuff. Well, and specifically kind of
Speaker 1: what you're saying, there have been about the prepackaged go bags,
Speaker 1: a lot of them, really. I've seen several opened up
Speaker 1: and looked at them, and it's just not it's I
Speaker 1: wouldn't trust my life, or especially my son's life with
Speaker 1: with a lot of that stuff. Um. And this is
Speaker 1: a really good time for us to be thinking about
Speaker 1: this kind of thing. But this is not and let
Speaker 1: me repeat this, this is not the time to go
Speaker 1: out and buy a bunch of survival supplies. No absolutely
Speaker 1: not no no no, no, no no, don't don't do it.
Speaker 1: Price scalagy and everything from Ammo to packaged food and
Speaker 1: even camping equipment is getting out of controls to see
Speaker 1: what you can put together at home right to us.
Speaker 1: If you have any ideas life hacks about how to
Speaker 1: repurpose something from everyday life into your go bag or
Speaker 1: you go home bag, and and and really I appreciate
Speaker 1: that point you're making about price gouging. Matt, like Ammo
Speaker 1: and specifics out of control. It always goes out of
Speaker 1: control when we're in times like these. UM, a lot
Speaker 1: of packaged food, like dehydrated food. UM, so like you
Speaker 1: see you see this, This is a I'm just showing,
Speaker 1: I'm just showing the guys here. This is a case
Speaker 1: of UM Mountain House. It's like a twelve packed case
Speaker 1: of dehydrated survival food. And well this is like this
Speaker 1: was bargain basement stuff. This was not very expensive until
Speaker 1: you know, the prices started jumping a few weeks ago.
Speaker 1: So if you are trying to buy stuff like that,
Speaker 1: remember you can you can get if you're buying to
Speaker 1: hydrated stuff, you can get some of the same deals
Speaker 1: by just finding food that's already dried, like dried beans
Speaker 1: or rice, and you can work with that. That's a
Speaker 1: really good point man. Well, well we'll see. Hopefully it's
Speaker 1: a point no one ever has to use. But this
Speaker 1: brings us to the end of today's show. Uh No,
Speaker 1: we went a little long, but we hope that you
Speaker 1: enjoyed it. Found some constructive things. We want to hear
Speaker 1: from you. What's in your bug out bag? Let us
Speaker 1: know on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and write to us
Speaker 1: if you want to know what's in Paul Mission Control
Speaker 1: decans buck out bag. Um, he's been making one the
Speaker 1: whole time we've been recording this episode. I could hear
Speaker 1: him in the background gathering all his materials. You can
Speaker 1: find us on Twitter and Facebook where we're Conspiracy Stuff.
Speaker 1: On Instagram we are Conspiracy Stuff show. Yeah, you can
Speaker 1: also you know, we we are also individual humans all
Speaker 1: in this together. If you want to check us out
Speaker 1: what we're up to, um, when we're not on the podcast,
Speaker 1: you can do so. I am at how Now Noel
Speaker 1: Brown on Instagram, and i am at Ben Bulan on Instagram.
Speaker 1: I'm also at ben Bullan hsw on Twitter. Uh go
Speaker 1: to Twitter to check out new show that I circumstances
Speaker 1: have me start being called Strange News Daily. New episodes
Speaker 1: out every Monday through Friday. Uh And if you have
Speaker 1: a story you'd like on the air, just hashtag it
Speaker 1: Strange Daily. It's a great time for that show, Ben,
Speaker 1: because there actually is strange News literally daily. It's true. Hey,
Speaker 1: and it's from the creators of stuff they don't want
Speaker 1: you to know. And that's us. Oh man, oh god,
Speaker 1: it's the end of the world. Okay, Matt. Some people
Speaker 1: don't like social media. How do how do they get
Speaker 1: to us? Well, give us a call. Our number is
Speaker 1: one eight three three st d w y t K.
Speaker 1: Give us a call, leave us a message. It will
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