What's in Your Go Bag?

ShadowSpear

ShadowSpear

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We've been putting together what we believe is the ultimate "go bag." What items do you have in yours?

For the medics out there, what medical items would you deem essential for the medic kit portion?
 
Medical stuff one shouldn't be without, quantities determined by the amount of space you have available and weight you're willing to carry:
Tourniquet(s)
Cravat(s)
Pressure bandages(s)
Combat Gauze
ACE wrap or similar
4x4 gauze (sterile)
Povidone iodine sticks, or something similar
Hand sanitizer
Gloves
Supply of personal prescription meds (see a friendly doc who might be willing to prescribe some antibiotics)
Supply of OTC meds- ibuprofen, aspirin/tylenol, your choice of antidiarrheal, etc.
Meds for animals, if you've got 'em. Medical reference for the furball as well.
Needles/syringes in various sizes (a syringe is good for irrigating a wound, if you don't have a proper irrigation tray)
Suture kit or stapling supplies if you know how to use them (with injectable lidocaine if your friendly doc will hook you up)
Thermometer (more of a nicety, I guess)
Some means to filter and/or purify water (for drinking)
Medical reference appropriate to your skill level

That's a pretty basic list. I guess my contents would also depend on whether I was packing the bag for Doomsday or some kind of short-term event.
 
I need a whole bunch more information…

First, who is the bag for, is it for myself or is going to be for someone else? If it’s for someone else what are their skill-sets.

· Are they trained in combat/disaster environment escape & evasion?
· Do they have hand to hand skills, if so to what level (i.e. knows enough to hold his/her own one-on-one, or capable of taking on multiple attackers)?
· Do they have weapons training, what type of weapons, edged, impact, firearm, improvised, etc?
· Do they have medical training, if so, what type and to what proficiency?

Second, what are the possible restrictions if any? Do they work or live/hangout in a location where no firearms are allowed? How far away from other resources are they, can other equipment be acquired quickly?

Third, what are the operational conditions?

· Short term 24-48 hours or long term 48 hour+?
· Do I get to have pre-positioned re-supply/equipment?
· Do I have a vehicle (i.e. Type, load capacity, range)?
· Am I part of a group (i.e. how many people are with me, what are their genders, what is their skill sets and equipment)?
· What is the environment (i.e. Urban, Rural, Hostile, NBC, etc)?
· What terrain am I trying to get to (i.e. Rally Point, or am I roaming the world for a safe location)?


I am sure there are about thousand different other questions to ask to help refine the load-out to allow maximum effectiveness, but I think these will cover the most basic areas. I mean to be real honest (fire starter, water container, cutting tool & simple first-aid) can take care of someone well trained for up to about a week (environment and hostile forces depending). But if we need to pack tampons and bug-juice, it really starts to change the load-out dramatically.
 
Essential?

Soap.

Ranger Medic Handbook.

Tourniquets are little use. Who is going to surgically fix the arterial bleed?

Duct tape and krazy glue to close wounds.

Combat and regular (4x4 and kerlix) gauze.

Bleach to sterilize, Iodine if you can find it.

A small sharp knife and scissors.
 
To add to the medic stuff... SAM splints. I might also add 550 cord and a few strips of nylon. These are light and don't take up much space. Tweezers/hemostats too.

Non medical:

An AR-7 w/ammo
stick of flint
one of these radio/light gizmos
A Melton Bravo Smash 8-)
folder knife
multi-tool
Compass
Hand mirror
mini binos or a monocular
water filtration kit
VS-17 panel
stuff for a foxhole radio
crank flashlight
poncho
one of those hammocks they roll up into a tiny ball
woobie

and of course, a towel ;-)
 
Ranger Psych said:
TQ's good to have, better to be alive and limb deficient than the other way around. Also useful for other purposes beyond stopping bloodflow.
Click to expand...

Used one of those and a flimsy piece of cardboard from a Starbucks cup sleeve and helped find my way into a locked building one time. :D I always have a TQ handy now. Hahahaha!
 
I tend to keep my go bag as a "civilization is collapsing" kind of bag:

  • 2 bottles of water
  • canteen for water refills
  • Katadyn water purifier (water is the essential, so to save on boiling and such. good for 10,000 gallons)
  • Snugpack sleeping bag (small and highly portable)
  • Shemagh (excellent, all around piece of gear) desert colors
  • Ka-Bar knife (wanna eventually replace with a gerber mark 2 and keep the ka-bar on my person)
  • Magnesium fire starter
  • 550 cord
  • boot laces
  • flashlight (small, AAA battery type)
  • rifle cleaning kit
  • 1 pair MARPAT trousers, desert pattern
  • 3 pairs socks (we all know how keeping the feet in good order is important)
  • travel hygiene kit (small one from the PX, never know when you'll find more toothpaste)
  • Gerber multitool (this is a given)
  • Voyager solar/crank powered radio (has a built in flashlight and USB ports for charging items like cell, where I keep some of my porn and books lol)
  • SAS survival guide
  • Pro Force combat survival tin (won't list everything in it but has everything from waterproof matches and snare wire to a small mini knife and compass)
  • Powerbars (minimum 2-3)
  • Duct tape
  • Caribeaner
  • Small American Red Cross first aid kit
  • Compresses
  • Quik-Clot
  • Gauze
Realize I don't have ammo or much food listed, but figure that with all the canned stuff we keep handy we'll be mostly ok in that regard or can grab/hunt as we go. As for ammo I keep a minimum of 7 thirty round magpul's loaded fully with .223 in my old plate carrier system, to which I add eyepro, gloves, and other items into the pouches I keep on it. Yes, by the way, I have managed to get all this in one bag. Not uber light as you can imagine but I've humped way worse for long periods as I'm sure most everyone else has.
 
Just to toss out an idea. But maybe take some of the commonly listed stuff and start a poll where people can vote on what type of stuff they have in their bag. Then take the results and put the most voted items in the “super bag”.
 
JAB said:
Just to toss out an idea. But maybe take some of the commonly listed stuff and start a poll where people can vote on what type of stuff they have in their bag. Then take the results and put the most voted items in the “super bag”.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. We should narrow it down to a certain number of items.
 
Essentials such as water/water purification, fire starting tools, tools such as knives/multitools, kit such as duct tape, and med supplies all sound like essentials that can be crammed into any bag and should be the main parts of any bag.
 
bobshiz.jpg

This is my low level shit. What I keep on my plate carrier which I basically have set up as more of a 72hr ohshit kit than anything else

field jacket liner
poncho liner
woven style emergency blanket
tp
dial soap for cleaning w/e
trauma shears
cravat
ETD
2x hemcon
2x kerlex
NPA

magnesium bar
trioxane x3
alcohol markers
Gerber Option 50 light (uses AA/AAA/CR123's, easier to scrounge batteries with)
Silva Ranger w/ LED Light cord-lock
laminated map of local AO
2x 3200 calorie Mainstay bar packs
bout 125 ft of 550

r/b/g chemlites
strobe
vs-17
6L Dromedary bag from MSR
canteen and cup
Hydration Tech purification pack (2qt of gatoraid purified through osmosis pack inside when placed in fluid)
MSR Miox w/ salt, extra batteries, test strips
CRKT M16 knife
leather gloves w/ snaplink

It's basic, it fits in 5 pouches on my carrier (2 cumerbun, 2 big on the back, 1 multi-shit in the front) and is adequate for last ditch in combination w/ what I carry personally on a daily basis.

My pack carries more, sleeping system, clothing, etc... but there's overlap.
 

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