The Art of No BOB - WPS

[MPMalloy]

I sub to this channel & I like his attitude about prepping. Here is just one reason:

[woodsghost]

A friend sent me the link today. I really liked his video and felt he was probably 100% dead in for his target audience. I felt he was only about 95%-98% correct though.

My key criticism is that a big out bag should be prepared for a natural disaster and ready to land in a hotel or on a friend's couch with some clothes, important documents, and important pictures. And a toothbrush. I'll have to watch again, but I seem to remember him dismissing"natural disasters" as either "not happening in my area" or "gonna see from far away and can prepare way ahead of time." I see natural disasters happen pretty quick and feel a BOB needs to be prepacked for that situation.

Otherwise, he had fantastic advice and things were well thought out for HIS situation. Others, I think a BOB is still pretty important. Like, let's say friends are not coming to your house to post security. What if you are joining forces with your friends who have a good place and well...your place sucks?

Just my thoughts on this video. I love listening to this guy.

[RonnyRonin]

Saw some discussion on this on Reddit today as well; haven't actually watched it yet though.

What seems to be common on reddit is the Straw Man Prepper of "I'm going to take my bag of tricks and go live in the woods forever" to which the writers/video makers can spend any amount of time criticizing or outright mocking, I assumed this was a more articulate version of the same. My counter point is always that a wilderness tuned BOB is far more suitable in a hotel room or a buddy's backyard then a hotel tuned BOB is in the wilderness; while there is an asymmetry in the odds there is even a bigger asymmetry in the suitability.

The other reddit trope that bores me to no end is the "you should always always always bug in" as if hurricanes, wildfires, house fires, creeping social unrest, regional spikes in crime rates, chemical spills, flooding, or any number of other localized SHTF events don't exist. I think I see this creeping into the wider prepper zeitgeist; and while almost anything is preferable to the Jeremiah Johnson fantasy of preppers gone by I think this is an overcorrection.

Even if my BOB is nothing more then a training aid, a thought experiment, or a philosophical reminder to mentally "keep a bag packed," the core tenant of "always be ready" is far to important to abandon. I don't plan to ever use my BOB, just like a don't plan to ever use my CCW; but you can bet your britches both are close at all times.

[drop bear]

Sometimes what you are running from is more important than what you are running towards.

Refugees coming out of war torn countries are really good examples of bug out bag style bug outs.

I think bug out bags fill a niche area where you have no time and you just have to go. And I gear mine much more towards getting that first hundred meters. Getting past that day. Rather than living for a week in the wilderness.

In Australia floods or bushfires can sometimes give very little warning that they are about to smash your house.

Otherwise I disagree with the security focus being some sort of superpower. I don't think anyone will last against superior numbers with any reliability.

[MPMalloy]

My counter point is always that a wilderness tuned BOB is far more suitable in a hotel room or a buddy's backyard then a hotel tuned BOB is in the wilderness; while there is an asymmetry in the odds there is even a bigger asymmetry in the suitability.

Agreed +1.

I don't plan to ever use my BOB, just like a don't plan to ever use my CCW; but you can bet your britches both are close at all times.

Agreed +2.

In short, never say never; never say always.

[ineffableone]

I sort of prebugged out. Where I live is where adventurous people might bug out to. So for things to get bad enough for me to bug out, really the only place to go is the woods.

Even before that I was an advocate of INCH pack rather than BOBs. It was very tool heavy, since with tools I ca make most stuff. If I leave home I want as much as I can carry. So a dropped the BOB and went to the INCH pretty quick.