We’ve spoken a bit about bugging in versus bugging out on this blog. Quite a long time a go, Thomas wrote up an article about the advantages and disadvantages of each option. There are of course many reasons why you might choose one option over the other – or might choose to split up your preps for the potential to do either down the line.
I’ve been of the mind that if you at all can make your own home safe and secure enough, and if the situation is not such that you might need to leave, you should prep to bug in, but with a secure spot at least somewhat decked out/prepared that you can use as a back up plan in case things go sour. This can be another friend or family member’s house, especially if they’re a prepper themselves or if they’re okay with you leaving preps at their house, or it can be an off-grid property, if you’re lucky enough to be able to have one. I don’t think it’s a good idea to just bug out to the general great outdoors, unless of course you have no option because you are driven out of your home and have nowhere else to go, but either way, I believe being driven into the wilderness is not good news. Yes, we’ve all watched Alone and know that it’s doable for prolonged periods of time with experience, but accidents and emergencies happen in the wilderness, too, and there you’re a lot more vulnerable.
But enough about my opinions, I’d like to hear about yours.
Bugging In VS Bugging Out: Your Opinion
What are your plans as per bugging in and bugging out currently? What do you hope to achieve in the future? Do you have any advice for those who still haven’t yet committed one way or another?
Hypothetically, if you won the lottery tomorrow, would your bug in/bug out plans change considerably? Would you move your primary residence to someplace else that’s a safer option if you ever need to bug in? Would you buy the bug out location of your dreams? And if so, what kind of place would this be (Different city, different country? Beach home, farm, or house in the middle of nowhere?).
Looking forward to reading your thoughts!
“Anything still on your prepper goal list?”
Oh, there’s always something and always will be. I’ve been a prepper since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when as an elementary school student I “helped” my dad build a fallout shelter in the basement. I learned very young that the world is a dangerous place and that it’s only common sense to be prepared for emergencies.
I’m reasonably happy with our current level of preparations, with provisos. For example, although we have a generator and fuel supply as well as 800W of solar generation capability, I’d like to get more provision made for off-grid power. What we have now is enough to run our well pump, inside lights (all LED), ham radio and other communications gear, TV and computers, etc. But I’ll probably increase both fuel storage and solar capacity over the next year or two.
I also want to expand our bulk food supplies in our LTS pantry. As it stands, we have enough to feed the 4.5 of us (four adults and a 70-pound Border Collie in our core group) for probably 18 months to two years. Next task is expanding food storage to make provision for friends and neighbors who aren’t as well prepared. Like most rural areas, people around here are generally better-prepared than average. As a SWAG, I’d estimate that probably 75% of the population has supplies on hand for at least 30 days, probably 25% for 3 months or more, and probably 8% to 10% for a year or longer. That’s not counting local resupply, of course, and this area is very heavily agricultural.
That experience building a fallout shelter in the basement with your dad must’ve been pretty cool, especially as an elementary student.
So sounds to me like just expanding more of the same, which is great. Love when you’ve laid the groundwork and all you have to do is rinse and repeat to get where you want.
The background canvas doesn’t change much, but people change constantly so that has to be taken into account.
I’m 64 years old. Forty years ago I was a very different person. I could play serve-and-volley tennis all day long in the August sun. I bench-pressed 300 pounds, and thought nothing of hauling 50-pound sacks of grain around for hours on end. I was a black belt in Shotokan karate, and competed regularly in combat-pistol events. Even 20 years ago, I was in reasonably good physical condition. Now, I’m a pale shadow physically of what I was even 20 years ago. Just hauling a 50-pound sack of rice up three stairs from the garage is now something I have to be careful about. Hell, I sometimes now have to have my wife unscrew a tight lid on a jar.
And that reduction in physical ability has implications both obvious and subtle. I’m not, for example, going to be able to shovel dirt out in the garden for hours on end, or even roto-till for hours. So we’ll need a lot more LTS food to carry us through a long crisis. Nor am I as smart as I used to be, and my memory isn’t what it once was.
The upshot is that it’s critical to take into account physical and mental abilities of yourself and your group, and make such accommodations as necessary, keep in mind that tempus fugit. Ten years from now, or even five, our abilities will be less than what they are now.
So very true. And, to me, brings home the fact that adaptability is the #1 skill a survivalist/prepper can have going for them. At least in my opinion.
Without it, you might still be prepping in the same way decades into the future, even if it no longer fits your lifestyle or your physical ability.
We’re bugging in.
In late 2015, we relocated from the Triad, North Carolina metro area (1,000,000+ population) into the Blue Ridge Mountains of extreme northwestern North Carolina. We have a very deep long-term pantry, good access to water, a woodstove for heat, etc. My wife and I are in our 60’s, and I can’t imagine anything that would cause us to bug out of our current location. The nearest big city is Sparta, NC (population 1,800) and there are about 11,000 people and three times that many beef cattle in the county.
We don’t worry about Rawles’ “Golden Hordes”. Getting here from built-up metro areas is hard enough during normal times. When you consider that a 1″ snowfall turns the highways into literal parking lots, we believe the probability of large numbers of people making it this far is close to zero.
Certainly sounds to me like you’ve nailed the perfect spot to be come SHTF. Anything still on your prepper goal list? Sounds like you guys would happily be able to weather any long-term survival in your current home.
I live outside of a small town (7,000 population) in a mountainous rural area. The nearest urban centers are 75 miles to the Southeast and 60 miles to the Northeast. My home is in a small cluster of seven multi-acreage properties, away from the nearest paved road. We have our own wells. The overall conditions are such that I find it both unnecessary and undesirable to bug out. Our greatest concerns come from the prospect of dealing with the Golden Hordes that would quickly strip the community of critical resources.
Sounds like you’re living in the kind of place others would bug out to, which is of course ideal for bugging in. Agree with you on the Golden Hordes, which is why I’d guess it’s very important in to make sure your security is high and you look like you have nothing.
The place I’m talking about has ammo, arms etc., right on the main post. Without giving away OPSEC, it’s the PA National Guard’s 28th Inf Div located at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa. They deploy quite often and have all their war stocks on the cantonment. I’m not worried about that.
Broadwing: I was doing volunteer work during the last riot.\
1. The Calif. National Guard ammo was 350 miles away. The base commander did not understand ammo packing and forbade the loading of trucks because the facility had no arc lights.\
2. Firing pins and M16s are stored separately. Troops were deployed without firing pins or ammunition.
3. The City of LA and the County of LA have plans, but no food stocks, etc stored for the general populace.
4. LAPD does not store weapons and ammo at the 18 precincts. When asked why not, the response was it would be stolen – the last time I asked.
Of course, it being that you do not live in the area, you won’t have that problem.
I was still employed as a law enforcement officer when the Rodney King Riots happened in 1992. BDC is absolutely correct, we saw numerous CANG trrops without magazines for the issued rifles, so. We “donated ” some to the ones in the hairiest areas, just because. Several of the more experienced California National Guard troops brought their own fully loaded 30 round mags and used those, until the radio codes went out that their commanders were approaching. Most of the CANG units didn’t get mags or ammo, until after the third day of their deployment in Los Angeles County. I doubt that their logistical “arrangements” have changed much since that time given the current mopes in Sacramento.
Wow, to many questions to answer.
Basically I have planned for realistic disaster scenarios, as my primary disaster issues would be nature. Power outages, tornado, blizzard. TEOTWAWKI, oh well we’re toast after 6 months or so. Hey, I’m just being realistic! Even with surival skills I have learned, long term survival for just two is not feasible. I’m not a doomsday prepper. Here is my basic plan, which is always being modified and updated as needed and funds are available.
Being disabled and older along with my wife, our primary plan is to bug in with consumable supplies we have on hand, 180 days worth. Water is my main deficiency area I’m working on. Water, 30 days storage on hand with filters and water available 1 mile away if car is running and road is passable. If I have prior warning I can stash additional water in containers and tub in the house to last an additional 30-60 days by rationing it.
We have charged up battery pack modules for hand held electronics and several portable solar panels for battery recharging along with a good supply of batteries both single use and rechargeable. We have portable stoves, propane, portable lights, and portable heaters as needed.
If I am forced to bug out the car has a full tank, and is mechanically sound. The car has 2 GHBs, and a large stocked Bug Out bag in the trunk along with water and extra food supplies. Additionally fully stocked 3-5 day, BO bags are by the front door. If given about an hours time we can fully load up the car and bug out with enough to last my wife and I 30-60 days. If required to leave within 30 minutes we can last up to 14 days without resupply.
We have portable and hard wired CB, SW, and Ham radio capability in the car and the house for emergency communication purposes. If forced out on foot were not going far, nothing I can do about that based on age and physical issues. That’s why bugging in is our primary option. Additionally I have all important documents on thumb drives, updated every 6 months along with a complete inventory of all supplies on hand.
Is this a perfect plan, NO, but it is our basic plan which is better than many. We don’t have a definite BO location to relocate to, but there is a primary spot I have mapped out which is near military authority and my states primary EMA headquarters and supply storage site. Having spent 14 years in the Armed Forces, I trust them unlike other Nay Sayers. I’m not saying they will give me everything I might need to get through a long term event, but for the short term I can find safety if nothing else. Best I can do with no kids, no relatives, and few people I trust.
It’s an excellent basic plan if you ask me. If you’re fleeing a natural disaster, I definitely think your plan works. You’ve thought about what happens if you need to leave right away, what happens if you have some extra time to load up the car, and you have a baseline “if I don’t have to leave I won’t” plan for if you can weather the storms so to speak indoors.
It’s hard to find a place to bug out if there’s no one you’d trust in an emergency. I mean, who of us can afford that off-grid bug-out-location of our dreams.
We “plan” on staying put, unless of course, localized geographical natural disaster/s make it mandatory for us. We have contingency plans in place for that scenario. We’ve also built more “shelter”(livable) on our property on higher ground for extra storage and for us if needed. While we cannot possibly plan for every contingency, I see bugging out as foolish, unless, wears well ahead of the panicking crowds. On weekends here in our area, traffic is already miserable, when the Sheeple are panicked. The infrastructure will collapse.
I have to agree with you here. You definitely can’t plan for every contingency, but if you have most thought out, I think you’re doing quite well. Trying to drive out when there’s an emergency sounds like an absolute recipe for disaster in my opinion.
Ok. I will give you a couple of contexts because your brain is your best tool.
I am widowed and have a child in elementary school. He may not get home in an emergency and I may not get home. He is set up as a licensed radio operator with a pack with gear/nutrition locked in the principal’s office. We discuss his plan for his reaction when shtf when he is in school. Along come the LA riots while he is in school. He follows the plan and ignores directions from school officials who haven’t planned in advance.
I am sick. In a country where English is not spoken at the time -Afghanistan. I don’t have a home there. Security and foraging plans have been worked out in advance with the wife. I survive. I also walk out through the Khyber Pass.
Points: 1. you have to plan; 2. you have to anticipate that your family is divided when shtf; 3. you have to anticipate that you will be sick or your spouse or your companion will be down.
I am urban. I used to work at a location away from home. My zipcode has 13,000 people to the square mile. Nearby, within walking distance, is a zip code with 40,000 people to the square mile. I own a car. Options: poor. Plans: Good. Be able to go to ground in place – whether at work or in the basement of a highrise, relying upon what you have in your car. My city is in a desert climate with no running streams and a rainfall of about 9 inches a year. 7 gallons of water in the car with the gear. The biggest dangers are 1: fire; 2. dehydration; 3. looting, in that order.
I have timed it. It takes me 1 hour in the middle of the day to go 13 miles to see a doctor at a medical facility. So, imagine what it is like when people are freaking, the traffic lights aren’t working and the fast food places are closed.
Locally, this is what happens when people don’t plan ahead – like the immediate aftermath of 0911/2001. Rush home from work, drive over to school to pick up the kids, rush home, pack, get on the clogged freeway.
Excellent points, bdc! Thank you for this!
“1. you have to plan; 2. you have to anticipate that your family is divided when shtf; 3. you have to anticipate that you will be sick or your spouse or your companion will be down.”
An excellent way to summarize what can go wrong and to get you started thinking. Having an idea of what the most likely three dangers are and planning for them concretely is also an excellent way to think about things.
I agree about your assessment about what people do when they don’t plan ahead – you’ve nailed it to the t. Which is why bugging out when everyone’s on the freeway is a ridiculous idea, you’re not getting anywhere and neither are they.