[cowgirlup]

True. So many things are useful but not always necessary. I try to have double duty items. The best tip I got was to wrap duct tape around an old credit card or similar thing so you have what you need in minimum space and weight.

[TaintRight]

Good idea on the duct tape. Same thing could be done on fishing line and thread. I saw where somebody wrapped their pencil with a few feet of duct tape. After all.... how much of these things would you need in 72 hr period? Certainly not a whole roll or a whole spool.

I've got to sit down and address this. Otherwise I may rupture my spleen trying to lift my BOB. And I doubt seriously ObamaCare will cover that.... particularly since I am old and of little demonstrable social value.

[Ronnie]

Originally Posted by cowgirlup

True. So many things are useful but not always necessary. I try to have double duty items. The best tip I got was to wrap duct tape around an old credit card or similar thing so you have what you need in minimum space and weight.

I got the same tip off a (nutnfancy) video on you tube and it does save space, He recommends the Gorilla brand tape says it is the best he has ever used.

Hey TaintRight..I hope you and your family did not get flooded out. looks real bad on the news.

[lpm67]

Originally Posted by TaintRight

I agree maybe that's the thing to do. Baby steps.

Another problem people seemed to have was volume. One kid had included entire spools of white, black, navy and red thread in his sewing kit. I bet he had 12 needles too. For emergencies I would think "a length" of thread of any color and a couple of needles would do fine. Same with fishing line and hooks. Why carry enough line to respool a deep sea reel?

At least for me, cutting out this kind of extra stuff has been a struggle.

All that thread when a hand wrapped spool of dental floss will take care of it.
For all the newbies: you might want to check out some of the uses of dental floss in other threads.

[Craig]

Hey folks, regarding the duct tape storage idea mentioned here, I carefully wrap two bands of it around my Nalgene water bottles, about an inch apart, several layers thick. If you do it carefully, you can wrap it almost as good as the original roll. In my experience, it lasts many months if not years, depending on usage. Several feet wrapped around a bottle doesn't add much thickness. And as an added bonus, the modified bottle fits very snuggly into my 700ml Snow Peak titanium cup...the tape actually helps it fit tighter to the Nalgene bottle.

[Cajunlady]

Duct tape as we all know is such a multi-use item. I feel more comfortable carrying more than a few yards of it. What I did was took a small drinking straw and wrapped many yards around it. It took a little time to get it right but this is my outcome. I have many spools of duct tape which are actually the size of film canisters. Did the whole roll this way. Dispersed them to car kit, BOB, 72 hr. bag, tackle box, medical kit etc., you get the picture. As I said I'm more comfortable with more and this is how I did it and it takes very little space in my bags to store it.

[Danube]

I think that the most likely time for SHTF, in my humble opinion, will be a weekday between 8am and 5pm eastern time, because Prime time to hit NY, DC, heck everything out to Chicago.

If it happens at that time, I'm in a suit in Hartford, 40 miles from my house, on the other side of the Connecticut River ~500' across, only 3 bridges in Hartford. Assuming that bridges are jammed or some wack EMP thing happens and I'm on foot, I keep a set of Jeans and a basic non-decript shirt in the car, plus generic work boots. Hopefully that is enough to keep me below the radar. I have to go about .5 mile to get to the river, then get across.

Here is a question related to this. I once read that 80% of people in a crisis just freeze and wait for others to tell them what to do; I have seen this happen in real life as well, so I think it is ballpark accurate. If, heaven forbid, a dirtybomb, nuke, emp were to happen, and it wasn't in your city (who the hell is gonna attack hartford, its a dump already@) how long would you expect before people started to freak out?

Just guessing, but I bet you have a least a few hours, more likely a few days before you even see roaming gangs of douche-bags. I think that it will take until; 1) power has been out for a couple days; or 2) food is running out (week + ?) or 3) fresh water runs out. In the meantime, I expect LEO's will keep a lid on a lot of stuff.

Am I naive in thinking that there will be a window of calm after the precipitating event before S really HTF?

anyway off to watch glenn beck with some friends back later to think more on this!!

[cwi555]

In my personal experience, I think how many freeze depends on the culture in question. Those who've only ever experienced minor power outages or a temp blizzard will very likely freeze initially.

After Picsco was reduced to rubble in 30 seconds flat, the majority were simply fumbling around in a daze. It took me a couple of minutes to react to the initial image after I had cleared the building. Afterwards, it was the walking wounded that seemed to snap to first, followed by parents, and lastely the children.

I've thought about that long and hard ever since. Even your personal reaction will be rooted in your life experience to that date.

My grandpa trained me from a wee lad up. I practiced it all my life, and it nearly wasn't enough. My own reaction was to care for as many wounded as I could. That was the furthest reaction from what I had always told myself I would do. It is strange the things you remember and what goes through your head when it hits the fan. It wasn't all the practice, all the teachings of my grandfather, none of that hit my mind first. The first thing that hit my mind was a conversation I had overheard while in the emergency room after being hit by a car at 16 years old. "We don't know what happened, we thought he was dead", which was said by the EMT as I was being wheeled out for the first of 23 surgerys.
Previously, I had no memory of that time at all. Not of being hit, not of two weeks in intensive care, multiple surgerys nothing. This had apparently been lying dormant in my subconcious for near on 3 decades.

That thought keept ringing through my head for the next three hours. Rather than immediately getting out of town as I had trained and been taught to do, I went from person to person pulling them out of the rubble, putting compresses in wounds, and in general giving first aid to all I could.

Somewhere after that three hours I snapped out of it. It hit me in full what my surroundings were at that time, and I started to pay attention to the people and thinking about what I need to do to survive rather than what I need to do to help them survive.

I watched a guy trying to open a door where the door frame was the only thing left standing to the building; a mother trying to feed her dead baby and getting angry because it wouldn't eat; a man walking around asking for light for a cigarrette when his other arm was flopping around attached only by a patch of skin, and hundreds of other similar images.

I don't think you can count on 'after the fact' studies to tell you how people are going to react. I was horrified by what I witnessed, and totally shocked in regards to my own reaction to it all after the fact.

There is no way for you to know what that person nearby is thinking in a real SHTF case, no way to know what dormant memory is ready to spring forth, nor no way to assure yourself of what someones reaction is going to be in general.

Therefore I strongly advise not depending on 'after the fact' studies in your planning.

My two cents worth, for what it's worth.

Originally Posted by Danube

I think that the most likely time for SHTF, in my humble opinion, will be a weekday between 8am and 5pm eastern time, because Prime time to hit NY, DC, heck everything out to Chicago.

If it happens at that time, I'm in a suit in Hartford, 40 miles from my house, on the other side of the Connecticut River ~500' across, only 3 bridges in Hartford. Assuming that bridges are jammed or some wack EMP thing happens and I'm on foot, I keep a set of Jeans and a basic non-decript shirt in the car, plus generic work boots. Hopefully that is enough to keep me below the radar. I have to go about .5 mile to get to the river, then get across.

Here is a question related to this. I once read that 80% of people in a crisis just freeze and wait for others to tell them what to do; I have seen this happen in real life as well, so I think it is ballpark accurate. If, heaven forbid, a dirtybomb, nuke, emp were to happen, and it wasn't in your city (who the hell is gonna attack hartford, its a dump already@) how long would you expect before people started to freak out?

Just guessing, but I bet you have a least a few hours, more likely a few days before you even see roaming gangs of douche-bags. I think that it will take until; 1) power has been out for a couple days; or 2) food is running out (week + ?) or 3) fresh water runs out. In the meantime, I expect LEO's will keep a lid on a lot of stuff.

Am I naive in thinking that there will be a window of calm after the precipitating event before S really HTF?

anyway off to watch glenn beck with some friends back later to think more on this!!

[SPARTAN300]

Interesting cwi. A lot to digest there.

[mudronin]

Good thinking Alex, and good English as well!

I disagree somewhat on the advertising aspect, BDU'S and other military surplus items are quite common in even urban areas. I do agree on keeping a low profile and keeping what is most important out of any bag that you have the potential to lose. my 72hr BOB that I am working on and reporting progress in another thread is an old video camera bag. It's black, has 3 compartments inside 4 pockets outside and the dual zippered top has a mesh pouch on the underside. In a true fight or flight SHTF scenario my firesteel would be on my neck and other essentials like compass map water etc would be in one of my 2 fanny packs along with one of my pistols.
That said, if it was a true SHTF and I need to bug out I am sure one of my long guns would be quite obvious to anyone who looks my way. My plan is to not be where most are looking.