Book Review - Build the Perfect Survival Kit

If you buy only one book to help you prepare your own disaster/emergency/survival kit, pick up a copy of Build the Perfect Survival Kit by John D. McCann, published in 2005 by Krause Publications. This book does an excellent job at breaking down the "what" and "why" for kits of different sizes, ranging from a mini-kit to keep in a pocket or purse to a large kit to stick in a small airplane in the event of a crash over the wilderness.


His category breakdown is similar to mine - Fire & Light, Water & Food, Shelter & Protection, Knives & Tools, Medical, Multipurpose, Miscellaneous. He gives advice for finding the right container for your kit from big to small and then tips for assembling and maintaing the kit. He also provides easy-to-use checklists and great resource lists and websites to help you get prepared.
Even if this book inspires you to keep a few emergency supplies into your vehicle or carry a mini-kit in your purse, it would be worth giving it a read. Once you're done though, you'll find yourself wanting to assemble a small fannypack kit or a medium backpack kit to throw in the car. It cost me $13 at Bass Pro Shops, or you can follow this link to get it at Amazon.

Things I Always Carry

I'm aware that saying "always" can bite me in the backside here, so it may be better to say that I always try to carry certain things on me when I leave the house. This changes a little depending on new things I'm trying and the clothes I'm wearing, but I seemed to have settled on a few "must haves". These go into pockets on my pants (easier when I'm not in my work slacks and I can wear cargo pants or shorts with the extra pockets) or in my coat pockets in the colder months.

Moleskine Ruled Reporter Pocket Notebook - This little notebook is hinged on the top and it is small enough to fit (snugly) in my front pants pocket or (more comfortably) in my side cargo pocket. The pages are ruled and there is a little pocket in the back for holding loose scraps of paper. The hardbound covers are held closed by an elastic band that I also snag a pen under. The pages are acid-free and a pleasure to write in. The last 10 pages are perforated to allow you to tear out notes to share. I keep standard yellow and ruled notecard-sized Post-It notes stuck to the back inside pages to write my "Next Step" to-do lists. Inside I keep my big to-do lists, project ideas, wishlists, etc.

Pilot G2 Pen/Fisher Space Pen - I use the G2 pens at work and love them. They fit in a shirt pocket fine, but they are a little big for pants pockets. I prefer the Space Pen for my always carry pen. However, I've always owned the plain chrome version which keeps sliding out of my pocket and walking away. I'm going to try to get a matte black version with a clip that I can attach to the Moleskine elastic band. I'm also trying to track down the G2 "mini" pen which might fit better in my pocket. The Space Pen can write in any position, and almost any smooth surface, even underwater. I doubt I'll need to write while swimming, but I might need to write in the rain. (Which means I should also track down some "Rite in the Rain" paper.)

Leatherman Wave - After watching Les Stroud use this tool in every episode of Survivorman, I asked for one for my birthday. It has not left my belt since. I use it 4-5 times/week at least, often more. It has needlenose pliers, regular pliers, wire cutters, hard-wire cutters, clip-point knife, serrated knife, saw, scissors, wood/metal file, diamond-coated file, large & small bit drivers with double-ended bits (Phillips & standard), large screwdriver, ruler, bottle/can opener, and wire stripper.

Cellphone - currently a Motorola V262 flipphone - In addition to keeping in touch with family, work, and friends, my cell-phone has saved my backside a few times. I shudder to think about what I would have done in the days before cell-phones if my car had broken down on a major highway. In a regional disaster, the texting feature can often be used when the voice network is jammed. I keep emergency numbers programmed in (911, AAA, my local mechanic, and emergency contacts) for rapid access.

All-ett billfold - This thin wallet is made of thin but tough sailcloth. For emergencies, I keep cash, credit cards, a phone card, and a note listing emergency contact numbers.

Palm TX - This lets me keep access to all of my emergency numbers, and I occasionally use it to take temporary notes and for the occasional calculator. I could do without this most of the time if I had to.

iPod 60GB with video - I use this primarily for entertainment purposes. In addition to my entire song library, I keep several TV show episodes on here, including some of the kids' favorites, which has really helped when waiting in line, for restaurant seating, etc.

Timex Ironman watch - Water and shock resistant, it tells the time, has a timer, stopwatch, and alarm, which is all I need of a watch. I like that it is inexpensive so I don't worry about it and can always have it on when I need it.

Keyring with LED flashlight - In addition to my keys, the LED light is good for finding a keyhole in the dark or finding my way on a dark path. It could be used for signaling, but I've never had to do that, thank goodness.

Sunglasses - I have sensitive eyes and so I almost always have these on me (except at night and on very cloudy days)

Splenda - I carry quick-dissolve Splenda sweetener tablets to sweeten the occasional iced/hot tea I may obtain throughout the day.

Purell - I have lots of this at work, but if I am leaving the house on a day off, I carry a small bottle of this hand-sanitizer gel to keep my hands disinfected in a germy world.

Survival Kit Basics

Most of the articles you'll read on survival kits remind you of the 3 essentials of any kit - shelter, water, and fire. In building my kits, I've drawn on these recommendations and others to expand the categories I use to organize my kits. These would be a good starting point to begin thinking about your kit.

Shelter - Being exposed to the elements can quickly chill you to the bone or overheat you in very little time. Being caught in a rainstorm or high winds can worsen the problem. Certain situations, like being stranded in your car or home come with their own shelter. Sometimes though even the integrity of your home can be compromised, such as losing part of your roof in a hurricane or having a tree branch flung through your window during a windstorm. Being prepared to provide shelter can buy you time to make other plans and keep you protected until help arrives or the danger passes.

Water - A person can't survive more than 72 hours without water under normal circumstances. Under more stressful situations, such as heavy exertion, hot weather, or with an injury, your water needs go up. In some situations, it is prudent to carry water with you. If not, you need to be able to collect and purify it if necessary.

Food - Food is less important than water in survival situations. As a matter of fact, since you use water when you digest food, you shouldn't eat unless you have water to drink. Nevertheless, some food can provide you with needed calories to get yourself to safety or stay warm. Food can also provide a big psychological lift in troubled times.

Warmth/Clothing - This category is often combined with shelter, but I like to think of it differently so I remember to pack an extra set of clothes. A space blanket can be considered shelter or a layer of warmth. I put hand warmers in this category, but I save fire making items for its own category.

Light/Fire - In a survival situation, you need to be able to see what you are doing at night, so flashlights, lanterns, glowsticks, etc. can be vital. A campfire or candle can also serve this purpose, but it can do so much more. Fire can keep you warm. It can keep unwanted wildlife away. It can signal your position to rescuers. It can warm or cook your food as well as purify suspicious water. It can also provide a psychological lift to keep you going when the world seems dark.

First Aid - In a disaster, you may not be able to seek medical care immediately and therefore have to deal with minor injuries and ailments on your own. A first aid kit should be a part of any survival kit. It can range from a few bandaids to a full kit for an extended time away from medical care. Preventing problems with good hygiene and good health maintenance before a disaster are also important.

Signaling - If you are ever stranded away from home, you want to be prepared to signal for rescue. That can mean lifting your hood and hanging a red bandana from a window to signalling to overhead planes with mirrors and smoky signal fires. In town, I try to always have my cell phone with me, but I want to be able to charge my battery if it runs low. You may also need to signal to rescuers on the ground without wearing out your voice which makes a whistle a handy addition to a portable pack. I've even included an airhorn to signal from the basement if we ever get stuck down there. Two-way radios may be a good choice depending on your circumstances and environment.

Diversion/Comfort - It is important to remain calm and keep your spirits up in survival situations. Sometimes that means waiting for an extended period for assistance. This gets even for difficult if you have to keep kids calm and occupied. A deck of cards, some suckers, a coloring book and crayons are all easy to pack and can help pass the time if needed

Money/Barter - If you have to leave your home suddenly, you may not be able to run to the bank, or an ATM may not be accessible in a winter sotrm. In the event of a region al weather problem, the power may be out and you may not have access to cash. Keeping some on hand in bills and change seems smart. In a region wide disaster, barter items such as toilet paper, soap, pocket knives, small bottle of liquor, or even some of your stored supplies (canned goods, bottled water, etc.) IF you have extra may be more valuable in trade than money.

Hygiene - While not an immediate need, good hygiene can keep you from getting sick at a time when you are already stresses. Stress can weaken the immune system, making you more vulnerable to disease. You need to be prepared to clean your hands frequently, as this is the easiest path for germs to hitch a ride into your body as you interact with a chaotic environment after a disaster. You'll need to provide toilet facilities if you are stuck in your basement during a tornado or in your "shelter in place" or if you are away from home. If you are going to be away from home for an extended period of time, you may need to occasionally clean the rest of your body to prevent fungal rashes and to make you more tolerable to your companions.

Special Needs - If you have infants or toddlers in your group, you'll need diapers (in the right sizes), baby wipes, and baby food/formula set aside. You can't count on breast milk during times of stress or if the mother is injured. Menstruating women should have a ready supply of pads or tampons available. Anyone on prescription medicine or with special medical needs will need to be taken into account. Medicines have a fixed expiration date and should be rotated out with a fresh supply before they expire.

Personal Safety - In disaster situations, your safety may also be compromised by distraught individuals who were unprepared or otherwise ready to hurt you to steal from you or otherwise. Weapons to defend yourself are a double edged sword. They can deter or stop these individuals, but they can also be a source of injury for you and your party as well as be desirable theft items themselves. providing security can include everything from door jams to pepper spray to firearms. The choice here is an individual one and will depend on your training, skill, and comfort level.

Tools/Misc - Anything else useful goes into this category. What goes here will depend on where and how you intend to use it. In you car you need a set of jumper cables, but at home you need a tool to shut off the gas if the gas line has been compromised. You can't say to many good things about a good knife and multi-tool.

In future posts, I'll detail the contents of the kits I've put together - including why I've chosen some things and left others out. I have supplies I always carry, a small personal survival kit, a car kit, a 72-hour bug-out bag, a shelter-in-place home kit, and supplies for an extended stay outdoors.

Equipped To Survive

I said I'd point you to some experts and Doug Ritter has one of the best emergency preparedness sites I've seen. Equipped to Survive is full of resources that can help prepare you for many different kinds of emergencies. He has some excellent lists that can prepare your for a major home disaster like a hurricane to getting your car stuck in the snow. He has basic survival primers there to get you thinking and a section with advice geared toward kids. He goes into detail about specific pieces of survival equipment, from knives, to flashlights, to firestarters, to pre-assembled survival kits. The site contains a lot of information, but it is a little difficult to navigate. A great place to start is the Disaster Preparedness page.

Introduction

I've been worried, probably more than I should be, about the fragileness of our existence. It is easy to get comfortable in our lives and routines, but it is naive to assume that everything will always be just as it is. Some change is slow and gradual, and some change is sudden and catastrophic. We can adapt to gradual changes, but be completely overwhelmed and unprepared for sudden changes. Since sudden change is typically unpredictable, you have to try and anticipate potential needs and prepare for those possibilities. Life change can take on many forms. This change can be physical (loss of health, loss of home), emotional (divorce, loss of a loved one), financial (loss of job, unexpected expenses), or even spiritual (loss of faith or inner peace). Some catastrophic events can cause all of these kinds of change at the same time.

I first started preparing for these events back in 1999. I have to say that the potential Y2K crisis scared the crap out of me. I read an article that year in Wired magazine about computer programmers that had been working to fix the Y2K computer problem. They were so convinced that the repairs could not be completed soon enough that they quit their day jobs and moved into the country to start living off of the power grid, growing their own food and everything. We toyed (briefly) with the idea of moving and starting a working farm. We had a young son and I was in the middle of a 3 year internship program at my job that would have derailed my career if I abandoned it. We decided instead to prepare enough food, water, and alternative heat sources so that we could sustain ourselves for a couple of weeks if we had to. We thought it would be a good idea also if we had a bad snowstorm and couldn't leave the house for a few days. Thankfully nothing bad happened, but we resolved then to at least stay prepared for a bad winter storm.

Recently the WTC attacks on 9/11, the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, more bad winters, fears of terrorism and bird flu have prompted us to continue our preparedness. I even volunteered in Louisiana after Katrina and saw what happens to a community when everything falls apart all around you. It's one thing to prepare for a snowstorm and yet another to deal with the destruction of your neighborhood or city. It hit even closer to home last month when my brother had to abandon his home with his 3 young children for the night because an ice storm knocked out his power. I completed the FEMA Citizen Preparedness course. I am in the process of collecting disaster preparedness kits for different scenarios. I've bought several textbooks and field guides on wilderness medicine and I'm taking a course on wilderness medicine this summer. I'm assembling important financial documents to make a sort of emergency financial first aid kit.

I'd like to use this blog to catalog and describe some of these efforts. I want others to be able to build on what I've done and modify it to fit their circumstances. I am not an expert at this, but I'll try to point you to some. I'm just an ordinary guy, trying to prepare his family for unexpected circumstances. I have medical training as a family physcian, so I'll try to bring that experience to bear. Nothing I say here constitutes medical advice, so please consult your doctor to make sure that whatever you read here is right for you. I'd like for this to be a discussion, so please feel free to share any ideas, tips, or helpful resources in the comments sections. If I try out a product and like it, I'll talk about it here. I have nothing to sell, but you may see ads on this page for products from Google or Amazon. Please check them out if they interest you, but don't assume I know anything about the products unless I've talked about them in the blog. If you want to contact me directly instead of posting a comment, email me at jlevansfp{at}gmail.com (substituting the @ symbol for the {at} of course.

Jason Evans, MD