The Basics of Bug-Out Preparedness by Eric Power
If you look on the internet these days for pretty much anything, you'll be linked to 2,187,243,539 sites that claim to have exactly the information that you need. This is no less true when you look up Bug Out Bags.
Here's a little background on me: I am a prepper. (sshhh....don't tell anyone OK?) I started getting into the prepping mindset around 2007 when I started hearing about the failing economy. The general decline of society is something that has concerned me for a while now, as well. I also remember a 4-month period right before Y2K when I started storing gallon water jugs like mad (no extra food, just water!), and prepared a lock-down/security procedure for the two-bedroom apartment that I lived in at the time. Looking back, it all seems silly, but never mind that right now! I could see the writing on the wall and it didn't (and still doesn't) look all that fantastic. So my wife and I started looking into being prepared for whatever might come our way, be it natural disasters, hyperinflation, societal collapse, and/or *GASP* ZOMBIES. And this time, making sure it was done the right way.
The story of Marcus Luttrell and his SEAL brothers is told in a gritty, unrelenting fashion in the movie adaptation of his book from 2007, "Lone Survivor: TheEyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEALTeam 10". I took my 14 year old son, Alex, to see it on opening night (and then saw it again with my wife, a week later). It was a hard movie to watch, and I admit that I was moved to tears at many points throughout the movie. Before the credits rolled, they played a dedication to all the men who perished in that operation. I am not one who cries easily, certainly not in public. But seeing the sacrifice that these men gave for their country, their loved ones, and their Brothers-in-Arms, in living color on the big screen, was more than I could handle. It was probably a good 10 minutes before I could trust myself to speak steadily with Alex about what we had just seen. These guys have more honor in their left hand than I have in my entire body and I am humbled to know their story, and more importantly, to pass on their story. If seeing his old man in tears helps him to understand that point a little better, then so be it. 