James,
Thanks so much for all you and your family do to keep survivalblog.com going. It is a daily read for me.
Upon reading “Four-Tier Survival for the Newbie,” I reminisced about what my father would say to me while I was initially preparing my bug-out bag:
“Son, you are preparing for luxury. Back when I was a boy during the Depression we used to go out camping with just the clothes on our backs, our pocket knife and a potato in our pocket. We took a potato ’cause we generally couldn’t ‘find’ potatoes.”
Being in my mid-fifties now, I recognize my limitations for what can be realistically carried. Being able to move father faster in a bug-out situation is key to my mindset.
I often wrestle with the difference between a bug-out situation verses an “I’m not coming home” one. My wife and my bug out bags (BOBs) are plenty heavy enough with food and water, therefore every other item carried is multi-purposed, essential and chosen for less weight. One entrenching tool is the only “luxury” item carried between the two of us.
My hope is to be able to drive-out with the truck in an I’m Not Coming Home (INCH) or BOB scenario. The truck bed has a camper-top on it which is ideal not only for cargo but also use as a foul-weather tent. Otherwise a deer cart, wheel barrel, shopping cart or even a child’s wagon might be employed to haul INCH items in a walk-out. Let us all pray it never comes to that. Let us all prepare because it looks like our prayers aren’t working. – S.J.H.