What's in Your emergency sac?

Civil war has just broken out in America. There's a police state and the military are being deployed to major cities around the country. You and Your family may take to hiding in the hills or barricade Yourself up somewhere hoping to go undetected. What would You take with You for survival? What would be in Your 'emergency sac'?

lol, I'd be on the other side of the ocean, watching those fools shoot each other to hell live on CNN, because some idiot in the past didn't outlaw gun ownership for every citizen.

Guns made America free, and they have kept it free.

Notice how theres a year on year assault against gun ownership? and whys that you may ask? well the Goverment would love to pull out some crazy authoritarian laws and rules, but they fear a mass capping if they try.

Back on subject matter though: Heres what i'd take.

Wind up torches. compass, maps (All waterproofed) Swiss steel (Fire lighting tool) Water purification kit, one hand axe, one large axe. Knives, (skinner, gutter, hacker and sharpner) Emergency shelter sacs, thermal space blankets, a good two or three poncho's for basic shelter, Cammo kit ( Including ghillie ) and the good old fashioned bungees and dark heavy twine. Also to be included would be a good amount of 20lb fishing wire, 50 or so hooks and flies, and a good first aid kit.

If theres firearms involved, a good 22 cal rifle (Light ammo) and a revolver of choice ( Sturdy and take good punishment)

Theres what i'd take with me. No food you say? well, I am a member of ATS... and the forums would of given me a good long heads up and I'd have stashed tons of the stuff in air and water proofed containers ( Sunk at the bottom of shallow slow running rivers or lakes. The containers are boyant, so weight them with sacs of rocks tied to them, and to get them to the surface you just cut the rope...Easy! Oh and bears won't get at them, and theres no heavy and long digging to do!)

I agree, if you are able to afford and obtain a gun then go out and buy one now before they ban them. Then learn how to use it, it may save your life when the NWO comes.

Wow. You've really thought that through MadGreebo. A gun is a definite, for hunting and self protection. dtsq- there's no CNN, Our electric and H2O supply has been cut off, satellites jammed. Are You constantly on the move or do You stay put? Would other countries intervine? Your child is a diabetic. Where will You get His medicine to keep Him alive?

Ok Dem lets look at the important bits.

OK unless you know theres a hunter force out on your trail, you are best to stay within an established territory so you can trap over a longer time - more chance of success that way - Maybe over say 5-10 square miles, and also you will get to know all the hiding places and vantage points. Diabetes - Type 1 or 2? Insulin dependant or non insulin dependant? Insulin dependant, well sorry but deaths going to be rapid with out meds - and exerting effort cross country will be the worst thing they can do without medication to keep blood sugar levels adjusted correctly, and also the food shortage and scarcity issue won't help either. reality check? A diabetic survivalist is dead within two months max. If survival means not taking the risk to scavenge in a town, well its going to be harsh for us all in that situation. Rule one of escape and evasion? stay away from population centres and roads.

Thats why you stockpile food and weaponry, fishing gear etc. in advance. I am seeing things different in the sense that I would be taking an offensive stance as opposed to the run and hide. They will find and kill you eventually anyway. Especially if you are alone or only two or three strong. The key will be to find a group of like minded individuals, 30-40 deep, arm them to the teeth, and set up shelter, fortification, and perameters. You have better odds of survival with 30 working bodies, 30 rifles, 30 minds thinking than just going it alone. Whatever gear, food, water, shelter that you need, you can get all of those things just by having the guns. Sort of a Mad Max mentality I guess, but thats what I would do. As far as having a diabetic child, well I suppose you would have to force your way into a pharmacy or hospital and take the meds that you need. Otherwise death will be certain for a diabetic.

Oh if you mean forming a heavily armed resistance well, now your on another playing field. In that case, yes, start planning now - cahes of food and ammunition are going to be vital for you. Waters no problem as its in abundance any way and you would of stashed purification kits and chems with it. Heres on thing to remember. If you are stashing for long term, always use tins with a long use by date, always mark them on a map that you have to hand at ALL times, and heres the thing alot of people forget - A tin opener in EACH of the stashes. Ever got to a stash of food , found all these lovlely tins and no tin opener? a knife breaks real quick opening too many tins!

Of your thirty people you need a good ratio of skills. I'd want: 4 medics, 16 hunter killers, 2 butchers, 2 skilled 'fixers' ie engines / lights / weapons ect and the rest will need a good general survival skills base.

Medics can teach first aid to all, hunters catch the food, butchers work it, and the fixers are great to have around at all times!

Just be sure to get away from the cities, that's the biggest thing - look at what happened to New Orleans after Katrina - let people kill each other, it's going to happen. Best places are so far into the woods where people wouldn't venture because they don't know how to survive like that, there's your advantage.

That and having a sort of bunker/cabin in the side of hill that's camoflauged (best survival technique). And at the bunker have your things for survival stocked up.

Gun definately though.

For me, personally, joining a group and 'going on the offensive' as one poster put it, wouldn't be an option worth considering. The best response, I think, would be to make yourself an unattractive target in as many ways possible, and reduce your visibility to the greatest degree possible.

That means no hanging out with the rebel militia.

Those guys stand 0 chance, given the amount of firepower that can be brought to bear on the modern battlefield. A high percentage of marines would fire on their own citizens if commanded to do so. That's the reality we live in now. Unless your local militia is in posession of some artillery and aircraft...

I would prefer to remain small and insignificant, taking care of myself and my family using a micro farm, foraging, and hunting.

The list given earlier was a good one, a bit heavy, but I have one particular suggestion. Drop the big axe. A camp axe is perfectly suitable for everything but felling sizable trees, and you should really never need to fell a sizable tree.

Small axes let you chop saplings and small lumber, split, and plane. A pocketknife with a couple of sturdy blades does the small stuff, like whittling, and you're set (unless you plan to hunt large game, in which case you'll need a faster way to dress them - a tanto [chisel point] with a gut hook on the back of the blade would be ideal). No good reason to add eight or ten pounds to a pack for no solid reason. You'd be better off filling that space with .22 rounds for use or barter.



My firearm of choice in a situation like the one you listed would be the springfield survival rifle. It's quite rugged but also lightweight, fires both .22 LR and 40 gauge shot shells, it's easy to maintain and clean, and it shoots straight.

Not much use for taking on the army, but it's worth its weight in gold for bringing down game.

In addition to your list, I would reccomend snare wire, some whisky, cigarettes, and maybe an ounce or two of gold shot (tiny beads of gold made by dripping molten metal onto metal ramps submerged in water), and a few yards of parachute fabric. The first and last items (wire and fabric) are invaluable in survival situations, for trapping and shelter-building respectively, and the three in the middle (smokes, booze, gold) are invaluable for trading/selling/bartering.

I would reccomend the shot over buillon forms, simply because it's easier to carry and trade than a great whopping brick or something like that.

Step over the border into Mexico and laugh at the guy two metres away being led to the van by military goons! haha. Too easy . . .

These are all really great ideas. Now, how many of You have implemented any of them? And to what extent?

I was merely suggesting that the fact that every citizen (can) own a gun, is exactely what might lead to a civil war, wich otherwise would've been surpressed in time...

Tuna and powdered milk, just as I was instructed.

I was merely suggesting that the fact that every citizen (can) own a gun, is exactely what might lead to a civil war, wich otherwise would've been surpressed in time...

Actually thats not always a bad thing if you think about it, our second ammendment is there so that we can if necessary remove a government that no longer serves the best interests of the people, so without it we have to hope that our votes get counted and we can institute change that way, becuase if they don't listen to our votes and we have no arms then we have no means of affecting change.

That bit aside I'm quite happy to say I have a well prepared survival pack containing a massive ammount of items from first aid supplies to materials for building quick shelters and purifying water sources. I keep one loaded gun at all times and it takes about two seconds to load the hunting rifiles. I figure it would take all of five minutes to grab what gear i needed and leave the house permenantly. If your really into the survivial stuff I highly recommend the NWO Survival Planning thread, its a massive collection of wisdom from several posters here including myself.

And just to show off my pack

'___'


and my peneal gland. Watch out when the barbaric thoughts hit the fan.

an eye for an eye if it get that far...

I dont believe I read of anyone having a choice of communications equipment. A radio or such. I wouldnt recommend a cell phone. Some kind of walkie talkie..perhapsed...but be extreamly careful using this if you want to remain hidden. Some kind of wind up radio ...like the Grundig type sold by radio shack perhapsed..either battery operated...3 AA type batterys or the wind up mechanism..charging a phone type battery. A extra set of this phone battery is useful too....sealed or packed in a plastic bag...or food saver type sealed bag. This radio receives AM/FM plus some of the shortwave bands.
Can any of you read morse code?? Something to think about.
That combination gun someone posted about is a good tool. I own one in .22 caliber over a 20 gauge shotgun. Nice combination though I also own other firearms.

By the way ...those of you storing firearms..long term..dont store them with ordinary grease or lubricants ..on them. You need to clean them thourghly before storing..and put on a coat of some type of grease with a silicone additive. The silicone is a water barrier/repellant and very effecient.. too. I have experimented with this on a high powered rifle and a marlin .22 rifle. What I discovered after burying these rifles for a year in a plastic tube...is that the .22 caliber rifle is made of a milder steel than the high powered rifle. THe first attempt was by coating them with regular ball bearing grease and packing them in a plastic bag and tying the bag with string ..tightly. The high powered rifle the steel is denser in its molecular structure..denser metal and does not rust as quickly as the mild steel of most .22 rifles. The silicone type grease solved this problem by virtue of its ability to be a moisture barrier. Clean them thoroughly then coat the vitals inside and out with the silicone type grease.then put them in a plastic bag and tie the bag closely and tightly with string. Insert in the tubes and seal them up Thoroughly. Add ammo , cleaning kits , solvents , silicone greases too. Dont forget tools to maintain them if you know how..if you dont ..learn how to do this.

Alternate heaven .that backpack in your picture..I suggest if you dont want to be seen ...take that bright orange strapping on your backpack and paint it out with some permanent black magic marker. I learned that the first time I ignorantly took my blackpowder rifle to the woods to hunt with all that polished brass on it. I took it home and put some masking tape over the brass and marked it out with black magic marker. You can see that bright stuff clean in the next county.

By the way ..two items cheap and easy to acquire...a magnifying glass...and also always keep in stock these multi packs of disposable butane lighters. No reason not to keep many of these five/ten packs around ..they are cheap and have a very long shelf life. Amazing how many people have great difficulty starting a fire without lighter fluid. This surprised me at first. Not anymore.
You should always keep several of these fivepacks or tenpacks of disposable butane lighters on hand ..not just for a survival cache...but for bad weather ..hurricanes and such. YOu see them at the check out stands all the time ..most of us ignore them. Obviously the magnifying glass is self explanatory.

One other thing I strongly recommend ....something with which to sew....you would be surprised how quickly clothes wear out in the scrub.
Needles..thread...etc...even fishing line if you must. Suggest the heavy duty needles..like the curved ones..you can get them at wall mart easily.
Preserve them in melted wax or silicone grease. or vacum seal them to keep moisture away while you store them. You may need these for other than sewing up clothes...hence the curved needles.

Think about a good set of shoes..too.. more than one if you can..stash them...your dogs are going to take a beating. Think carefully here..do your research. Not for fashion either..serious long lasting shoes and accessorys.

Those of you serious about this ...make your cache early and stock up ahead of time ...when it comes down it and it happens it will be to late..the shelves will be empty... just like before a hurricane. Dont get caught flatfooted ..with nothing. Be prepared..even for things like a hurricane.

These vacuum machines like food savers which also seal up Mason Jars are a very handy device for storing things long term. Things with sharp edges you pad them carefully before sealing them in those plastic bags.

YOu want to read books detailing construction of secret hiding places. Some people come up with some really neat ideas here.

Also those who have second homes or vacation homes...this is a good place to keep stocked up too. Carefully and secretly...away from the cities.

Good posts here,
Thanks,
Orangetom

Hmm, if war were to break out and I had scram in a hurry...

Well, being a college student in a Div. II school, I am already pretty screwed as far as being as far away from population centers. But being in the midwest is something that happens like that.

Anyway, I've already planned some of this out, like I have a heavy duty hiking backpack, and hiking boots (since I am going to have to walk the whole time anyway), First thing I would do would be to fill it full of as much canned veggies as I can get (the campus convience store has a nice supply of these at any time), my first aid kit, a water bottle, a blanket (I don't have much in the way of things, so I would adapt the blanket to cover the pack altogether and use the pack as a pillow at night), my swiss army knife (more for sentimental than practical use), a compass, and finally a small journal to keep a record of my travels and what I see.

Some of you might think that this is a little short on necessary supplies, but as I see it, if things are going to get that bad that fast, all I want to do is get back and spend time with my fiancee before it all ends, and that's what I would do. If any problems confront me, I'll just have to go MacGyver on them and think something up along the way.

how ? It would be gridlock on the roads !

I'm afraid city folks would be stuck , just the coutry folks , the johnny rebs would have some kind of chance.

but wtf are they gonna do , shoot us ? for what ? why would they come to round us up ?

I'm not saying it couldn't happen, I'm just trying to lay out the scenario

You are looking for some kind of two wheeled transport in the case of gridlock. Some kind of on/off road capable bicycle. A off road motorcycle..dirt bike I suppose..even some kinds of mopeds will do. This will get you around much of the road traffic as they dont use much gasoline compared to cars...and can maneuver through tight spaces. IN the case of bicycles obviously ..no gasoline needed.
Failing his ..its hoofing it...hence a good pair of shoes...the dogs are going to take a beating.

Thanks,
Orangetom