Escape the Concrete Jungle: 25 Things You Don't Need in Your Urban Go-Bag

escapetheconcretejungle:

I wanted to make this post because after researching and reading philosophies and approaches to making bug out bags as well as the contents recommended by “experts” (you know, people who have been through dozens of major disasters), there’s a lot of stuff going into these bags that I just don’t understand. Too often the experts suggest items for bug out bags that seem focused on wilderness survival. The fact is that most of us can’t escape to the wilderness because there aint any within hundreds of miles of us. Here’s my list of crap you don’t need in your city bug out bag and why:

1. Prescription Medication - see my post on this.
2. Gloves (heavy, latex, Nitril, whatever) - Its okay to get your hands dirty. Everyone will understand why your hands are dirty during a disaster.
3. Hand Sanitizer - See #2.
4. Basic “First Aid” Kit - Small cuts and minor burns are the least of your worries. You’re going to be worried about two things: trauma and infection. The first aid kit won’t help with that. Seriously, skip the band-aids. Pack a trauma kit and a small surgical kit (if you know how to use it) some Cipro, and prescription pain killers.
5. Pepper Spray - A hostile, desperate individual trying to survive by taking what you have will NOT be deterred by pepper spray and more than likely you won’t be dealing with a single attacker. You’re going to want a gun.
6. Fork/Spoon/Mess Kit - You’re escaping the city, not going camping in the woods. You have limited space in your bag. If you have a knife and fingers, you have all the eating utensils you need to eat while escaping.
7. Pocket/Pen Knife - Take a lesson from people down through history who actually have had to survive, like the pioneers. They didn’t carry little knives. They carried big knives. BIG knives. Think Jim Bowie. A 6-10” knife can be used to cut wood, pry doors, puncture cans, to skin an animal, for self defense, to stir food in a pot, to pick up meat etc. A little knife can do none of that. A BIG knife is not practical in an urban environment, but a 4” folder with a combination blade is.
8. Compass - Anywhere else this would be a great asset (if you know how to use it), in the city, not so much. Pack a map and a look for a street sign. It’s faster, more reliable, and lighter weight.
9. Sunscreen - Unless you’re fleeing in a bikini, this is a waste. In the city there are a million sources of cover.
10. Signal Mirror - It’s a city not a forest folks, reflections are everywhere. A mirror is just about useless. Also useless in overcast or smoggy conditions.
11. Baby Wipes - unless you have a baby, and even then, see #2.
12. Toilet Paper - Not popular to wipe your ass with your hand or some other item, but TP is bulky and your life doesn’t depend on it.
13. Cash/Coins - Paper fiat not backed by precious metal or organized force is inconsequential. Need to get into a vending machine? BREAK IN with your big knife. Need to “bribe” someone? Bring a few small gold coins….or use your gun. On the flip side, if you did have a wad of paper money you could use it as a replacement for #12.
14. Tent - You’ll just make yourself a target with this. An urban environment is dangerous. There’s concrete and asphalt everywhere. You need to watch your back. Finding a patch of grass to pitch a tent, then climbing inside where you can’t see what’s coming toward you and going to sleep is a recipe for disaster.
15. Whistle - This is possibly useful if you’re stuck under rubble to aid workers in finding your location. Beyond that, its useless as a deterrent of any sort in a city during a disaster. See #5.
16. Extra Cell Phone - Will probably be worthless. Even in minor emergencies, the cell network is jammed and calls don’t go through. 9/11, Katrina, and even the recent east coast earthquake all proved that. If there is infrastructure damage, this is probably a complete and total waste of weight.
17. Phone/Calling Card - Does your city still have pay phones? Mine has very few. Will they work in the event of a disaster? Will there be a line of people waiting to use them if they do? Useless. Don’t stop to chat - bug out.
18. Hatchet/Axe - There’s not much wood in the city and while a heavy edged tool might be nice for smashing windows, drywall, etc, in my city there seems to be a fireman’s axe in a nice glass box around every corner. There are plenty of ways to smash glass and drywall without an axe.
19. Bug Repellent - In the event of an urban disaster is stopping to wipe yourself down with DEET really a priority at all? Are biting bugs such a problem in the city that you won’t escape without a way to repel them?
20. Snake Bite Kit - If there were actually snakes in the city, there would be a lot less rats. This is a perfect example of an item that has no place in a bug out bag in a urban or even a suburban setting. If you’re not escaping to the swamp, ditch this.
21. AM/FM Radio - I hesitate to add this to the list, but I think everyone is better served with a radio that includes some way to send not just receive. In an escape from the city you’re probably not going to spend a lot of time listening to the radio.
22. Coffee/Tea/Candy/Nuts/Granola etc - You’re not going to stop for tea in a disaster and candy is a poor choice of energy metabolically. A stick of butter would be better if it weren’t for the obvious problems with that. You need compact, low fiber, calorie dense foods and not foods that are going to make you poop frequently (nuts and granola).
23. Dust Mask - Dust masks do a poor job at respiratory protection. They don’t seal on the face AT ALL. Dust-filtering masks provide no protection against toxic gas or suffocation from oxygen-deficient environments, so they are next to worthless in a real disaster including a simple fire.
24. Safety Goggles - What for, flying debris? By the time you get them on, its going to be too late.
25. Anything “Tactical” - It attracts attention by individuals on both sides of the help-u/hurt-u fence and never for the right reasons. Avoid anything that looks too “tacticool”. Blend in.
Here’s the thing: a real disaster should strongly trigger the fight or flight response. All your “get out of Dodge” stuff needs to provide minimum aid to you in doing both. I say minimum because the speed at which you are able to flee depends in a large part on what you are carrying as well as your physical condition. In that regard you’re better off taking Parkour lessons than stockpiling canned soup. In an urban environment if you manage to survive the disaster so that you must flee, there’s a much greater risk that you will run into conflict on your way out than in a suburban or rural setting. Consider that idea carefully.
In my opinion - and I don’t claim to be an expert - the process for picking your bug out gear should go like the hypothetical one-thing-on-a-deserted-island dilemma: ”If I knew I was going to be faced with a disaster and I could have only one item with me, what would it be?” ”Ok. Now if I could add just one item to that, what would it be?” Keep doing that adding of “just one item” to the list until you reach about 10lbs of prioritized gear and you’re maxed out.