If the shit hit the fan, what would be in your bug out bag?

[PA4TIM]

Nobody wants a zombie detector ? 

[Cerebus]

Nobody wants a zombie detector ? 

Do you know how to make one? No? That's why you need the test gear in your bug out bag, so you can design and build one once you've actually got zombies to test it on. 

[kwass]

My bag would contain:

- One forty-five caliber automatic
- Two boxes of ammunition
- Four days' concentrated emergency rations
- One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine,
  vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
- One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
- One hundred dollars in rubles
- One hundred dollars in gold
- Nine packs of chewing gum
- One issue of prophylactics
- Three lipsticks
- Three pair of nylon stockings.

Enjoy your stay in Las Vegas!

[PerunNS1488]

My bag would contain:

- One forty-five caliber automatic
- Two boxes of ammunition
- Four days' concentrated emergency rations
- One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine,
  vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
- One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
- One hundred dollars in rubles
- One hundred dollars in gold
- Nine packs of chewing gum
- One issue of prophylactics
- Three lipsticks
- Three pair of nylon stockings.

Gun, ammunition, drugs and dollars i understand but other stuff? What the hell man?
$100 in rubles would be a waste of space  O0
Condoms, lipsticks and nylon stocks - are you going to become a post apocalyptic prostitute?

[Delta]

Gun, ammunition, drugs and dollars i understand but other stuff? What the hell man?
$100 in rubles would be a waste of space  O0
Condoms, lipsticks and nylon stocks - are you going to become a post apocalyptic prostitute?

You need to learn to stop worrying...

[bitwelder]

As the OP was asking about test gear, nobody plans on keeping a Geiger counter around?
Such good occasion to calibrate it for off-scale... 

[Simon]

As the OP was asking about test gear, nobody plans on keeping a Geiger counter around?
Such good occasion to calibrate it for off-scale... 

You might not need one, if it all looks grey and burnt in the distance ahead, don't go that way A Geiger counter is probably the only useful bit of test kit if it were to be a nuclear disaster but ultimately if it was just head in the opposite direction to the blast as fast as you can.

[VK5RC]

I am MUCH more worried about biological rather than nuclear war, but I am not that worried about either really.

I suppose the good camping gear, I already have some but I would need a good gun and ammo, a reverse osmosis water pump and find my copy of Lewis Dartnell's The Knowledge, ….. something like restarting civilisation etc.

[Simon]

I think the simple fact is most people would not be capable of restarting civilisation. We all think we are really clever because we run around without computers and smartphones and use other complicated machinery but in actual fact the only thing we have been smarting doing is earning the cash to buy those things which other people have designed because they are smarter than us. A lot of our modern equipment replaces basic tasks. For example I am the 1st to admit I use a satnav and that I would struggle without one. I am terrible at memorising directions as I probably have attention deficit so I don't bother to do things the hard way. I could read a map and indeed follow it and if I had the correct type of map and compass probably use it but in everyday life I just get my satnav out but unlike most people I do make adjustments to the route based on my preference of main roads I don't just blindly follow it. I'm sure a lot of people who use a satnav don't even check the route they are likely to take.

[razberik]

What about good old gasoline generator ? The time for buying good old one is right now.

Also good old car, like GAZ, or UAZ. Or Lada Niva ?

My bag would contain:

- One forty-five caliber automatic
- Two boxes of ammunition

Wait, in disarmed UK ? I recently bought few stripper clips for Lee Enfield from ebay.co.uk last month, I think you don't need them anymore.

[PerunNS1488]

What about good old gasoline generator ? The time for buying good old one is right now.

Those "good old ones" from former eastern bloc countries look tough. In reality their engines are complete and utter turds and you won't find spare parts to keep them running. Their voltage regulation circuitry is fine if you want to run incandescent lightbulbs, hairdryers or maybe 70's tube radiostation, apply inductive load and it's likely that your modern PC or inverter arc welder will be fried.
Also, fuel economy of those old military generators is awful.

Get a proper modern generator based on Honda GX engine (or its clone). Those engines are used everywhere, fixing them and finding spares is easy.

Also good old car, like GAZ, or UAZ. Or Lada Niva ?

GAZ 69 -  based on 1930s/40s technology. Old and unreliable POS. Avoid unless you want to keep the body and replace everything else with modern 4x4 car parts.
UAZ 469:
1. In the event of a crash you'll likely die because driver's safety was not considered in design stage.
2. Early 70s soviet technology, better than GAZ 69 but still crap.
3. Fuel economy? Soviets didn't care.
4. You think it's reliable? Nope. They break. A lot. Mostly trivial stuff but it's still anoying if you are stuck in the middle of a forest with a broken car.
5. Parts are getting harder to come by.
6. It's slow, easy to roll and uncomfortable.

If you need a reliable car get a Toyota pickup. Both TopGear and ISIL agrees that it'll keep working right until it's blown to kingdom come.

[razberik]

Perun - very well, I listen to experienced.
My prepper friend is convincing me buying old czech generator, for about 4000CZK, thats about ... 162$, 150€, 645zl.
He is saying that if I want serious proper modern engine, I have to pay three or four times money more than for this old one.

About cars - In fact, I am not into cars. What is availability of parts for old toyotas in central EU ?

GEuser - Damm I simply love Lee Enfields. These are hard to find in CZ. Mine cost me about 570$. But I wanted it a lot and never seen a significantly lower price.
It always bring attention while at range.
1916 Birmingham.

[eugenenine]

I'd take my Simpson 260 because it can double as body armor.

[apis]

As the OP was asking about test gear, nobody plans on keeping a Geiger counter around?
Such good occasion to calibrate it for off-scale... 

If there is an accident at a nuclear power plant that might be a good thing, especially if you can't rely on the government.

In case of nuclear war as well, but in that case most simple and cheap radiations counters available commercially wont work because they will saturate at much lower levels than what you would worry about during a fallout. And they need batteries and might be damaged by EMP's. To survive fallout the old manuals from the cold war claim you need to stay in a fallout shelter at least one meter below ground and stay there for at least a week. After that an industrial level radiation counter would be invaluable though. What to do next to rebuild society is anyone's guess, and it is (or was at least, people doesn't seem so knowledgeable about these things anymore) generally accepted that the lucky ones were probably those who got killed by the initial blast.

A design for a makeshift radiation meter that would work up to 43 röntgen/h (1 roentgen is approximately 10 mSv) was designed back then, that isn't based on any electronics at all (the Kearny fallout meter).

[apis]

As the OP was asking about test gear, nobody plans on keeping a Geiger counter around?
Such good occasion to calibrate it for off-scale... 

You might not need one, if it all looks grey and burnt in the distance ahead, don't go that way A Geiger counter is probably the only useful bit of test kit if it were to be a nuclear disaster but ultimately if it was just head in the opposite direction to the blast as fast as you can.

Fallout would potentially affect a much larger and different area than "ground zero" (depends on the weather), and if most of the densely populated world (and large parts of the sparsely populated) have been carpet-bombed by nukes you will have a hard time finding areas not affected.

I think the simple fact is most people would not be capable of restarting civilisation. We all think we are really clever because we run around without computers and smartphones and use other complicated machinery but in actual fact the only thing we have been smarting doing is earning the cash to buy those things which other people have designed because they are smarter than us. A lot of our modern equipment replaces basic tasks.

Yep, so very true. Place a modern man in the wilderness and see how long he/she would survive. Our monkey cousins would all do much better. On top of that, in a disaster situation people would also have to deal with the effects of the disaster, and other people. The "rebuilding society project" would seem like an utopian fantasy.

[FuzzyOnion]

My bag would contain:

- One forty-five caliber automatic
- Two boxes of ammunition
- Four days' concentrated emergency rations
- One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine,
  vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
- One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
- One hundred dollars in rubles
- One hundred dollars in gold
- Nine packs of chewing gum
- One issue of prophylactics
- Three lipsticks
- Three pair of nylon stockings.

Gun, ammunition, drugs and dollars i understand but other stuff? What the hell man?
$100 in rubles would be a waste of space  O0
Condoms, lipsticks and nylon stocks - are you going to become a post apocalyptic prostitute?

As Delta noted - you need to stop worrying and watch the movie "Dr. Strangelove".

[TerraHertz]

Possibly the ONE good thing about passing 60, having a few minor but very annoying health problems, and some recent major disappointments in life, is that surviving after a civilization crash doesn't much appeal. Really no point. Also I definitely don't want to be around long enough to observe all the world's nuclear installations going tits up due to failed maintenance, and the mass global radiation contamination that would develop over subsequent decades.

As an experienced bushwalker, I could survive for exactly as long as the food I could carry would last, plus maybe a couple of weeks in one place. In the bush within walking distance of my home I can't imagine how anyone could survive off the land. It's all very poor land. Fleeing the major cities (along with millions of others) would not work either. Having a long established home in a remote rural area (where you knew all the neighbors) could work, but I don't have the resources.

I think I'd prefer to just hang around at home. At least I'd get to watch a whole lot of people dealing with a situation they always denied could ever be possible.

Incidentally, since the government here (NSW Australia) sold off the electricity distribution infrastructure to private companies, there are indications these companies employ almost no maintenance crews.  Would not surprise me if they are letting the system run down badly. Also a lot of coal-fired power stations and the associated coal mines are being shut down and actively dismantled (not mothballed.) It will be interesting to see the end result, especially if we really are now entering into a new solar Maunder Minimum, with all that implies for more generally cloudy weather and much colder temperatures for the next 50 to 100 years.

If things got really terminal, I suppose the most satisfying 'bug out bag' would contain a list of names and addresses, and little else.

[mtdoc]

Also I definitely don't want to be around long enough to observe all the world's nuclear installations going tits up due to failed maintenance, and the mass global radiation contamination that would develop over subsequent decades.

Yep. That's a real danger.

Fleeing the major cities (along with millions of others) would not work either.

  Yep - in the event of a major SHTF event, a bug-out bag will not do the city dwellers much good. 

Having a long established home in a remote rural area (where you knew all the neighbors) could work, but I don't have the resources.

  Yep - being part of a small rural close knit community is the only chance for any long term survival in a major global scale societal collapse scenario.  The "lone-wolf" survivalist types will not last long.

Orlov has written an interesting book that explores this concept: Communities that Abide

[TerraHertz]

Orlov has written an interesting book that explores this concept: Communities that Abide

http://cluborlov.blogspot.com.au/ for those not familiar with him.
An interesting guy, and I like his writing, but he lost me when he wrote another book proposing to 'rationalize' English spelling. Meaning completely start from scratch and go entirely phonetic.. Phooey. Way to make all written history inaccessible. Besides, I like idiosyncratic. It adds flavor.

[Simon]

unfortunately America has already tried to mess with spelling words and have caused enough havoc. If they don't like the way english is spelt they can go and make up their own new language.

[EEVblog]

I suspect people who have never hiked in their life will not get very far if they have to suddenly pack a bag and walk several miles during a disaster. So stay fit and go hiking is probably the first thing anyone who want to prepare for situations like that should do.

Several miles isn't going to do you much good in a large scale city-wide crisis.
If people had to get out of the Sydney basin for example, it's a 50km radius.
Cars would be useless because the few roads out would get choked. A push bike or motor bike is probably the best solution.

[EEVblog]

I've never understood the ones who horde gold.
Gold has pretty much zero value (apart from some specialist electronics applications), and crucially your can't eat nor drink it!

Gold is the thing with as close to intrinsic value as possible.
But yes, you can't exchange it easily for things in a crisis, in that respect it's borderline useless.

They seem to think that after the apocalypse, all our currencies will have no value (ie people will no longer exchange them for goods and services), but gold will! 

Yes, pretty dumb. A crucial thing a prepper should have is a wad of cash in all denominations. Survival may actually come down to those who have the cash. Only in the most extreme Mad Max style SHTF scenarios would paper currency become worthless. To do that requires the loss of faith in the current monetary system and a complete upheaval of society.
Few people know what gold and silver is worth, so it's not going to be a medium of exchange in a crisis. It would require a lot of time for a post SHTF society to change.

[TerraHertz]

A crucial thing a prepper should have is a wad of cash in all denominations. Survival may actually come down to those who have the cash. Only in the most extreme Mad Max style SHTF scenarios would paper currency become worthless. To do that requires the loss of faith in the current monetary system and a complete upheaval of society.
Few people know what gold and silver is worth, so it's not going to be a medium of exchange in a crisis.

All sad but true. It's astonishing to see videos of a guy trying to sell a genuine 1oz gold coin for $20 to passers-by in a US city, and have no takers. It's even sadder when you know the official spot price of gold is itself the result of decades of massive price suppression by selling huge quantities of paper 'gold certificates' that have no little or no actual gold backing. Without that price suppression, the true price of gold is hard to estimate but guesses range up to US$50,000 per ounce.

I wonder which will arrive first: the final elimination of physical cash, or an actual SHTF situation? These two horses seem to be running neck and neck at the moment.

Something relevant I saw today: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-24/celebrating-45-years-phony-money

It would require a lot of time for a post SHTF society to change.

That's the only point I question. Social mood swings can be very rapid. It just takes the right disillusioning events.

Btw, did you know that the Australian Banking Act contains wording that provides for gold confiscation any time the government chooses? All it takes is a signature of the Governor General.
Australian Banking Act 1959 (as ammended)
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2004C00162
BANKING ACT 1959  Part IV—Gold

So, ban cash (it's happening around the world, and the anti-cash propaganda is being poured on pretty thickly here too), then confiscate gold. Won't that be fun? The banks will enjoy charging negative interest rates on deposits, and what are the customers going to do about it?

[EEVblog]

It would require a lot of time for a post SHTF society to change.

That's the only point I question. Social mood swings can be very rapid. It just takes the right disillusioning events.

True. But the issue in this case I think is two fold:
a) Gold and silver is now so far out of mainstream consciousness that no one knows anything about it.
and perhaps more importantly
b) There is so little in the way of tradeable gold and silver coins in people's hands that there simply isn't enough to go around physically to make it a viable currency for the general population in a short time frame.

And if SHTF did really happen, the price of gold would skyrocket so much that even a 1 gram coin or bar likely wouldn't be tradeable.

Btw, did you know that the Australian Banking Act contains wording that provides for gold confiscation any time the government chooses? All it takes is a signature of the Governor General.
Australian Banking Act 1959 (as ammended)
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2004C00162
BANKING ACT 1959  Part IV—Gold

Actually AFAIK there is no "confiscation" provision as such. They can impose all sorts of limits on the sale and transfer of gold though.
And even if it "confiscated", they have to give you the going currency rate for it.

So, ban cash (it's happening around the world, and the anti-cash propaganda is being poured on pretty thickly here too)

It's never going to work completely. Cash will always remain, I'm sure of it.
Yes the uptake rate of cashless is increasing, but it's not going to continue linear down to zero.

[razberik]

People will always have their needs which cannot be suppressed.

-eating
-sleeping
-doing poo
-exercising reproduction.

Therefore a good commodity to trade would be tins of food, beds, toilet paper, condoms (and appropriate workers).