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    Default Top 10 Critical Items You Must Have To Survive The Apocalypse

    Top 10 Critical Items You Must Have To Survive The Apocalypse

    TOPICS:PreparednessSurvivalismTom Sheppard
    May 6, 2017
    By Tom Sheppard
    " When it comes to survival, there is a fundamental fact that you need to know in order to be fully prepared.

    It all comes down to the simple truth that the average human can live up to 3 hours in bad weather, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food.
    Once you understand this, you can easily develop survival strategies and pick the right gear that will serve you well if the time ever comes where you find yourself stuck in nature with no help in sight.
    In this article, we are going to go over the top 10 most critical pieces of gear that you must have in order to survive in natural disasters or in situations where the world as you know it has ended.


    A Word About Survival Kits

    Before we jump right into the gear, it’s important to get our bearings on the different types of survival kits that are popular today.
    The first type is something called a Bug Out Bag, or BOB for short. This type of kit is intended to last you 72 hours, so that you can make it to a pre-designated bug out location, or BOL. A BOB is usually preloaded with a little drinking water and other necessities to get you through 3 days of a possibly long hike.


    For example, my personal bug out bag, which can be found at Trek Warrior, is a backpack with gear that weighs 31.6 pounds, and includes 3 liters of water as well as 3600 quick energy calories of food. I have plenty of gear and backup gear that will take care of all of my survival needs for over 3 days. I give the entire list for my BOB in that article.


    There are also kits called I’m Never Coming Home, or INCH for short. The INCH bag is set up a little differently, and focuses more on long-term survival in many different environments. It will also focus more on specialized tools for shelter building, as well as a means to hunt and fish for meat.

    A third kit that is very popular is called a Get Home Bag, or GHB. This is a bag that you put together so that you can keep it at work, school, or your vehicle with enough gear to help you get home if disaster should ever strike. Items like a change of clothes, better walking shoes, and basic camping equipment are great choices in case you had to get home from where you are at on foot.
    With those three kits in mind, there are actually some fundamental pieces of gear that you will find in all of them. Combined with the right survival skills, you will be set for almost anything.
    At the heart of each kit is the gear that you need to meet the core rule of survival that we discussed at the beginning of this article.


    The gear addresses the needs of shelter, water, and food in their order of importance. Let’s jump right into the most critical items.
    Survival Knife

    If you could have just one item in nature, it would have to be a great survival knife. With a knife, you can make shelter, prepare fuel for a fire, defend yourself, and prepare food. It is the work horse of survival.
    It turns out that you don’t want a knife that is too small or too big. The reason is that if it’s too small, you won’t be able to manipulate bigger branches for shelter, or even defend yourself against threats.
    And if your knife is too big, you can’t use it for precision tasks like making proper tinder and kindling for your fire, or skinning an animal.
    What is the proper size? An overall knife length of around 10 inches is ideal. Other features that you want in a survival knife are that it’s a fixed blade with a full tang, it has a tip point, the blade has a single sharp edge, and the bottom of the knife is flat for crushing objects.
    If you get a knife with these features, then you are guaranteed to be able to use it for all of the different types of tasks you might need in nature.
    Some great examples include the Ontario Black Bird SK-5, KA-BAR Becker BK2, and the Buck 119 Special.
    Fire Kit

    You will definitely need the ability to make a fire in order to warm your body, purify water if needed, or even cook food.
    There are many ways to create fire from a gear standpoint. The easiest way, believe or not, is with a cheap plastic lighter. The technology built into a basic lighter has made creating fire trivial.


    Another method is by using waterproof matches. Regular matches are not a good option here, because most likely you won’t find yourself in a nice dry environment when you need a fire.
    A sure-proof way to make fire when you know what you are doing is with a ferro rod and striker. This tool is the type where you take a piece of metal and strike it on a rod, which generates hot sparks. You must practice proper fire building skills here in order for this to work well.
    A great fire kit will have all three of these items in it: plastic lighter, waterproof matches, and a ferro rod with a striker.


    As for knowing how to make a fire under all conditions that you might find yourself in, remember that it’s a simple rule of three: tinder, kindling, and fuel.
    Tinder is a very fine material that will catch a spark easily and help it ignite. Kindling is a little bit bigger strips of material that can help the fire burn longer. Fuel is the final burning material for the fire that will burn a long time.


    The best type of material for tinder includes cotton balls, fine wood flakes, and dryer lint. If you can’t find any in your environment, you can always shave off some of your cotton clothes in an emergency. Otherwise, grab some of that old dryer lint after you do your laundry and put it in a zip lock bag to keep it handy with your fire kit.


    Kindling is made easily by shaving off strips of wood for your fire. You simply use your survival knife and branches to make it. Your main fuel should usually include wood from trees, furniture, or any other source you can find.


    You can build a simple pyramid type structure where you light or throw sparks onto the tinder, which is surrounded by kindling, which is surrounded by fuel. Blow on the sparks to provide fresh oxygen until you get the fire roaring. It takes practice, so it’s a good idea to go camping to test out your skills.
    Some great examples here include a BIC lighter, UCO Stormproof matches, and the Gerber Bear Grylls Fire Starter.
    Poncho

    A poncho is something that most of us are already familiar with. It’s simply a plastic covering that will keep you dry when it’s raining.
    However, all ponchos are not created equal. The really cheap ones that you often see are intended for a one-time use and easily fall apart.
    It’s much better to invest in a good one that has thicker material and is big enough to cover you properly. A military poncho is a popular choice for these reasons, and it also has reinforced grommets in the corners. This will let you use it as a tarp if you need to.
    Paracord

    With the luxuries of the modern world and civilization, many of us have never learned how to tie knots for making shelter while camping.
    It turns out that our ancestors used cordage back in the day extensively for almost everything, from shelter to ships.
    Modern technology has produced some much better materials, which makes even better cordage that we have access to compared to those that came before us.
    Paracord is the type that you want for survival situations. It gets its name because it is similar to the type of cordage used for parachutes. The typical high-quality stuff can handle 550 pounds of stress, which makes it plenty strong for survival needs.
    Getting a good 100-200 feet of it should give you plenty to do what you need to do in a bad situation. Just make sure that it is 550 rated or better.
    Tarp/Tent

    Being able to put up a shelter to get out of the elements is critical so that you can avoid hypothermia, which is where your body temperature gets too low.


    Depending on how big your carry space is for your items, two popular choices here are tarps and tents. There are some lightweight one-person tents out there that are extremely compact.
    A great feature about getting a military poncho like we discussed earlier is that it also doubles as a great tarp that you can use to make a shelter if you use it with paracord.


    Ideally, you can get a tent here, and use your poncho as a fallback shelter if something goes wrong.
    Bivvy

    Getting out of the wind and the rain is the first step in stabilizing your body temperature. However, you will also need something that you can wrap yourself in that will help you warm up if you need to.
    There are many emergency blankets out there that you can wrap yourself with that will reflect a lot of your body heat back onto you, warming you up.


    An even better option is something called a bivvy. It is like an emergency blanket, but usually thicker and more durable, and it also has a zipper so that it resembles a thin sleeping bag.
    With a bivvy, you can get much better coverage around your body so that it won’t let too much reflected heat escape. This warms you up better. Plus, it’s waterproof.


    A proper sleeping bag works here, too, but is much more bulky than a bivvy, so it can be harder to fit into a kit.
    A great example here is the SOL Escape Bivvy.
    Water Purifier

    Water is something you have to have in order to live. You will definitely need the ability to purify water so that you can avoid some nasty critters that often inhabit drinkable water sources.
    Our ancestors fell victim to bugs in drinking water, which often can lead to death. Modern technology gives us some great options for purifying water, though.


    If you had to get just one item, it should be a drinkable straw filter. There are a couple of brands out there that do a fantastic job including Survival Straw and Survivor Filter.

    Another option is water purification tablets. They usually come in small bottles of tablets that you can throw into a container of water and wait for several minutes to get water clean of bugs.
    Finally, a more primitive solution is simply boiling water. It’s best to have a metal container for your water so that this is easy, which we will discuss next.


    Some great examples here are the Survival Straw and Potable Aqua tablets.
    Canteen

    You will need a container to carry your drinking water. They come in different materials and many different shapes and sizes.
    In order to give yourself the best options for purification, it makes sense to get a good metal canteen so that you can actually boil water if you need to.
    A one-liter container is a common size. If you must have a hard plastic container, then make sure and get a metal cup that fits over the bottom of it so that you have something to boil water in.
    You can also go for collapsible plastic containers as spares to be able to store even more water. Just try to get at least 1 metal container so that you can boil water. There are many great options out there, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding them.
    Food

    As for food, typically quick energy snacks are the best way to go for your kit.
    If you want to be able to cook, you will have to not only carry cooking gear and eating utensils, but you will also need to bring actual food and more water to cook with.
    Unless you are a great hunter and gatherer in your own right, you need to consider that it might be harder to cook food in nature than you are aware of.


    An option that I like is ready to eat emergency rations. This is food that is ready to eat right out of the package and will give you quick energy.
    The SOS Emergency Food Rations is the perfect choice here. It gives you 9 bars that are individually packaged and are 400 calories each. The package has a 5-year shelf life.
    Multi-tool

    Last, but not least is a proper multi-tool. There is a wide array of these tools out there that you can choose from.
    You want to select one that gives you a few core tools like regular and Philips head screw driver, small scissors, and a file.
    Depending on what you might be up against in an emergency, you can pick other features for your multi-tool that will serve you well.
    The Leatherman Wingman is one of the most popular items, with over 14 tools included to give you the best options. The Schrade ST1NB is a cheaper option, but works well.
    Conclusion

    To wrap it up, we looked briefly at the three most popular types of emergency kits out there right now. They include a bug out bag, a I’m never coming home bag, and a get home bag.
    At the heart of these type of kits are certain pieces of gear that support your fundamental requirements that you need to survive.
    Again, you can live up to 3 hours in bad weather, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food for the average human.


    We then looked at the 10 most critical pieces of gear that you must have in order to meet these needs for survival.
    It’s wise to go gather up this gear into one place now when you have the time, so that it’s there if catastrophe strikes. That way, you are prepared to survive."
    snip


    Tom Sheppard is a survival enthusiast. He has spent most of his life in the outdoors camping and hunting. Tom is always looking for the best ways to prepare for emergencies. He often shares his expertise over at Trek Warrior, which is a great place to learn more on the topics discussed in this article.
    Also Read: 14 Items You Need To Survive The Apocalypse In Style


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    Some GREAT ideas !!!
    the bad boys say " Submit or Die " ,

    I say " Fight or Die " , your choice !

  2. #2
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    Hey RENMAN,

    Absolutely nothing wrong with any of those.

    If I might provide some variations?

    Suggest a couple (2) of "military" canteens, with canteen cups which can be used to cook out of, on a "web" belt. You just don't know how much water you drink until you don't have any. The "web" belt is big enough to carry big knives, camp axe, holster, and you will always have a belt with you. The canteen covers have a pocket on them to house water purifying tablet bottles, and enough room left over for a small bic lighter. Also suggest a life straw in the BOB. Keep belt and canteens with your BOB.

    Also might opt for a Swiss Army knife instead of a multi-tool, or both, to be kept in the BOB. I think you need three knives. A big one for your hip/web belt. One in your pocket, and one in your bag.

    Paracord! Paracord bracelet with compass and fire starter buckle. Which you can keep snapped to your bag until needed.

    If you live in a cold area might want to consider getting a poncho liner for that military poncho.

    Hope that helps.
    Wise Men Still Seek Him

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    Absolutely ,,, the more the merrier !!!

    Actually ,,, there are a number of upgrades that I would
    recommend as well . With any BOB , weight is the enemy!!!
    To see what i mean ,,, take a rucksack ,,, fill with 24 cans
    of any food ,, your choice . Next take a short hike ,,, say
    one mile down the road . Then return . Now exchange the
    cans for 24 freeze dryed meals . Now do your hike again .
    The result will be obvious .

    If I were to get extravigant , I would splurge in the food
    item dept. . But not at the sacrifice of needed tools .

    Lastly ,,, when planning a BOB , I would limit it to only
    one of any particular item . Ie , only one knife , not three.
    the bad boys say " Submit or Die " ,

    I say " Fight or Die " , your choice !

  4. #4
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    Hey RENMAN,

    Lastly ,,, when planning a BOB , I would limit it to only
    one of any particular item . Ie , only one knife , not three.
    Yeah, I get that, no problem. Here is my personal set up on the knives.

    I carry a fairly large fixed blade on the web/tactical belt. All kinds of reasons for that one. Helps in making tinder, splitting small wood, skinning, etc.

    The second knife I carry all the time now, in my pocket, and is a folder. Actually, this is clipped to the edge of my pocket. Uses: in some first aid instances, eating, opening the wrapping on items, etc. I would not recommend using a knife to open cans, only in a last resort. Use and carry a couple of P38's for that. You could also use this knife to make snares, where as some of the cuts needed are a bit more precise than what a honken fixed blade can handle. Without a lot of practice.

    This one I carry now is a Buck and is a single blade with a clip. It also has a partial serrated edge. It has about a 3" blade and is a lock back. Easy access, it's just right there, and the lock back makes it so it won't fold on your fingers. Have had it for several years, and use it all the time. Use to carry a Trapper by Case. Two blades, one for skinning which I did do a lot of. Still have it. From time to time it was hard to get out of my pocket, especially when the other hand was holding something, and then open it. The Buck can be opened one handed. And I closed it on my fingers a time or two.

    You will note that skinning is included in the duties of both knives, however, the fixed blade would be for large animals like deer, and the folder for small game like rabbits and squirrels. There is a world of difference in the two.

    The third knife would be carried in the BOB only. Either a Swiss Army knife (what can I say I watched McGyver) or a utility knife.

    As I think I said, my BOB is in my Jeep, always. I get into it all the time. Even when at home.

    A couple of weeks ago I went to put a new metal roof on my MIL's shed. On the very first piece I picked up, I layed by finger open. Got in the BOB for a band aid. Be out in the woods setting up a deer stand, need a big knife or small camp axe for this or that, go to the BOB. They need sharpening, go to the BOB and get the sharpener out. If you're going to have edged tools you need a sharpener. Hands get dirty, or bloody, go to the BOB and get out a wet wipe. Out in the woods cutting firewood get thirsty go to the BOB and drink from the 2 canteens. Need to tie off the deer stand, go to the BOB and get out some paracord. Get the Jeep stuck in a mud hole, go to the BOB and get the camp axe out and cut some small trees down to throw under the tires.

    Maybe it's because I'm country, live and play in the country, that I'm in my BOB all the time. No stores right handy for getting a drink, or buying a band aid, or going to the medicine cabinet. And the last thing we do is pick up the phone to call someone to come help us. Not that that's a bad thing, it just that we do that last.

    And you're right on the weight. Something for shelter, or wet weather (poncho) or lean too. is THE most important thing. Me and some friends went back packing in the Rockies for a couple of weeks and a military poncho is all we had for shelter, and snow was still on the ground. Then I got a hammock, that you could wad up about fist size. Strung it up 'tween 2 trees, put my sleeping bag in it (up off the ground away from snakes and chiggers, it was a hot summer) strung some paracord over it tied to the trees and then put my poncho over that and snapped it underneath, while away. Was standing in the TOC when we got a torrential rain and was looking at my sleeping bag hanging there. Just knew it was getting soaked. After it was over, I had to go check on it so I could hang it out to dry. Never got a drop of rain on it.

    The next most important thing is water, and the means to purify.

    Lastly is food.

    So when figuring weight on a bag IMHO that is the order in which to do it. And carrying some stuff on the hip will spread some of that weight out.

    I've just been jabbering, so will probably get a long winded award for that.

    Which will make three: Long winded, Dead horse, and Copy and Paste. Looks like I will have to build a cabinet to hold them all.
    Wise Men Still Seek Him

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    GOOD points GaryC !

    No two BOBs will be the same , nor should they .
    The scenario that I must face , may be totally
    different that what someone else is up against.

    1. figure out your SCENARIO ...
    2. choose the basic tools for that . . .
    3. find the BEST tool for ea. job . . .
    4. find a rucksack ( carrier ) for the tools....
    5. double chk for any adjacent scenarios . . .
    6. adjust BOB to suit situation . . . .

    1. AIR ,,,first
    2. water . . .
    3. food
    4. shelter / fire
    5. defence
    6. comms
    7. money
    8. transport

    That OP article may not be an ideal ,
    but its great to get ideas from . . . .
    the bad boys say " Submit or Die " ,

    I say " Fight or Die " , your choice !

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    I don't understand this thing with paracord ... bracelets, rifle slings, belts, neckties ... just in case ya need paracord. It comes in a bag or rolled, leave it and just toss it in the bag.

    If ya need paracord, which is the first to go, your bracelet? Now ya gotta have to stick your trinkets in your pocket.

    Your belt? Now ya gonna need thumbtacks to hold your pants up and who carries thumbtacks?

    Your rifle sling? Now ya gonna have your grubby fingerprints all over the barrel from havin lain it over your shoulder.

    Your necktie? So much for your semi formal dining 'round the Dakota hole.

    If ya just gotta drape yourself in paracord that's fine, just don't do so cuz ya might need some.

    O.W.


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    Hey RENMAN,

    That OP article may not be an ideal ,
    but its great to get ideas from . . . .
    That's a fact Jack.

    I hadn't put AIR at the top of the list. So went looking for some "gas masks" after viewing the video. Boy, for those of us on fixed income a bit pricey.

    However, we do have several N95 masks, (in our BOB's) for dirty air, (dust, volcanic ash, etc). Back in the Dust Bowl days, dust from OK would land on NY city and turn it orange. Don't know if they would be any good for say Sarin, or other chemical, biological agents. I'm thinking, and hoping that would only happen in population centers, and I hope to never go to one of those.
    Wise Men Still Seek Him

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