None of my various "BOB's" (to use the OP's term) contain firearms. They're broken down into collections of essential & useful things I can take with me for various reasons, when going various places by vehicle.
My training and experiences makes me focus more on immediate & short-term critical necessities. Clothing (warmth), medical supplies, short term shelter, having some emergency food & water (including purification, simple but efficient tools for expedient necessities, etc.
Yes, this includes some practical folding & fixed blades, but as tools.
If I'm at home when some natural disaster or other major emergency occurs, unless there's an imminent threat requiring movement & evacuation (fire, flood or other natural disaster threatening the property), we're staying put. Why deprive myself and any family members present of the advantages of shelter and all the preparations already at home?
If we're away from home when something befalls us? Well, depending on the duration and intended area of travel, if we're driving I'll have some general and area/season-specific supplies in our vehicle. If flying? Knowledge, training & experience always travel with me.
I've often made some specific purchases to add to whatever we're carrying with us while traveling, either as we travel, or after we've reached our destination. Things that aren't necessarily critical while on the road, but which might take up too much extra space in the car/SUV for some trip, but which might come in handy once we've arrived at our destination if something untoward occurs. (We always seem to have more room in the vehicle on the return trip, so this stuff often gets taken home.
)
Firearms? Oh yeah. If at home, I can choose whatever I feel may be appropriate. If on the road, then it's whatever I've taken along as a LEOSA handgun (or handguns, as I sometimes take a couple of them).
Guns are only potentially useful for problems which require guns to solve, and that is typically a very narrow range of things when it comes to natural disasters and emergencies.
For example, we just returned from a driving trip to the PNW. After having been caught and stranded for several days by that last storm-of-the-century when we were visiting a family member's rural property several years ago (snowed in, closed roads and no power) , I put together some extra odds & ends I'd wished we'd had with us that last time.
Sure, I took along a couple handguns as LEOSA weapons, but they weren't in anticipation of natural disasters or social upheaval. Just the normal "minimum" I'd normally carry around my resident state (1 of my J's and a LCP). Pocketable and handy. I wasn't anticipating dealing with packs of feral dogs or other dangerous animals where we were going, nor was I concerned about the Zombie Apocalypse.
I did, however, want to be prepared to deal with short-term emergencies involving bad weather, veh problems, medical issues, etc.
You know, whenever this sort of thread comes up, I often think back to my childhood in southern CA. We lived a short driving distance from the desert, and it was pretty common to see the pickups, station wagons and even sedans/coupes of folks who had reason to drive outside the cities and small rural communities to carry lots of every essentials. Things like canvas water bags (for radiators and drinking), shovels, blankets, baling wire, spare clothes, etc.
Nobody considered such stuff to be special preparations, but more like just common sense. Help might not be handy, or even able to be summoned. Being stranded in the mountains or the desert was no joking matter. My father had been a cowboy on a working ranch, and other things that it took to live in KS, OK, CO & AZ when I was a youngster. He was what I later learned to be a self-sufficient person, and always carried extra stuff, and it just seemed, well ... normal.
So ... "tactically", it would seem prudent to fill the training, knowledge & experience "bags" as much as possible, first ... and then use that to figure out what equipment, tools and other items might be useful, or downright necessary, for continued survival in whatever type of emergency or disaster is anticipated.
Stuff is just ... stuff. You can drown in stuff without being able to know how, why or when to really use it. It can become clutter, and even a distraction.
Mindset, and then the training, experience and mindset to be able to effectively use stuff? Priceless.
Just my thoughts.
My training and experiences makes me focus more on immediate & short-term critical necessities. Clothing (warmth), medical supplies, short term shelter, having some emergency food & water (including purification, simple but efficient tools for expedient necessities, etc.
Yes, this includes some practical folding & fixed blades, but as tools.
If I'm at home when some natural disaster or other major emergency occurs, unless there's an imminent threat requiring movement & evacuation (fire, flood or other natural disaster threatening the property), we're staying put. Why deprive myself and any family members present of the advantages of shelter and all the preparations already at home?
If we're away from home when something befalls us? Well, depending on the duration and intended area of travel, if we're driving I'll have some general and area/season-specific supplies in our vehicle. If flying? Knowledge, training & experience always travel with me.
I've often made some specific purchases to add to whatever we're carrying with us while traveling, either as we travel, or after we've reached our destination. Things that aren't necessarily critical while on the road, but which might take up too much extra space in the car/SUV for some trip, but which might come in handy once we've arrived at our destination if something untoward occurs. (We always seem to have more room in the vehicle on the return trip, so this stuff often gets taken home.
)Firearms? Oh yeah. If at home, I can choose whatever I feel may be appropriate. If on the road, then it's whatever I've taken along as a LEOSA handgun (or handguns, as I sometimes take a couple of them).
Guns are only potentially useful for problems which require guns to solve, and that is typically a very narrow range of things when it comes to natural disasters and emergencies.
For example, we just returned from a driving trip to the PNW. After having been caught and stranded for several days by that last storm-of-the-century when we were visiting a family member's rural property several years ago (snowed in, closed roads and no power) , I put together some extra odds & ends I'd wished we'd had with us that last time.
Sure, I took along a couple handguns as LEOSA weapons, but they weren't in anticipation of natural disasters or social upheaval. Just the normal "minimum" I'd normally carry around my resident state (1 of my J's and a LCP). Pocketable and handy. I wasn't anticipating dealing with packs of feral dogs or other dangerous animals where we were going, nor was I concerned about the Zombie Apocalypse.
I did, however, want to be prepared to deal with short-term emergencies involving bad weather, veh problems, medical issues, etc.
You know, whenever this sort of thread comes up, I often think back to my childhood in southern CA. We lived a short driving distance from the desert, and it was pretty common to see the pickups, station wagons and even sedans/coupes of folks who had reason to drive outside the cities and small rural communities to carry lots of every essentials. Things like canvas water bags (for radiators and drinking), shovels, blankets, baling wire, spare clothes, etc.
Nobody considered such stuff to be special preparations, but more like just common sense. Help might not be handy, or even able to be summoned. Being stranded in the mountains or the desert was no joking matter. My father had been a cowboy on a working ranch, and other things that it took to live in KS, OK, CO & AZ when I was a youngster. He was what I later learned to be a self-sufficient person, and always carried extra stuff, and it just seemed, well ... normal.
So ... "tactically", it would seem prudent to fill the training, knowledge & experience "bags" as much as possible, first ... and then use that to figure out what equipment, tools and other items might be useful, or downright necessary, for continued survival in whatever type of emergency or disaster is anticipated.
Stuff is just ... stuff. You can drown in stuff without being able to know how, why or when to really use it. It can become clutter, and even a distraction.
Mindset, and then the training, experience and mindset to be able to effectively use stuff? Priceless.
Just my thoughts.
) might need to stave off any looters or hang tight until either the weather improves or more first responders(FEMA) get in place.