Many folks in the Gulf coast were FUBARd when Hurricane Katrina hit (many other Hurricanes too). I lived through three….one In Florida, one in Jamaica, and one in Virginia. People always wait until the last minute to get supplies. Many stores are literally shelfless (nothing left on the shelves)….water, batteries, canned food, etc, etc all gone and people go without such supplies. Some folks think ahead and store these items and cycle through them if long periods of time go between disasters.
Where I live there are threats of wildfires we have bad ones every 3-4 years but we get them every year. I do a lot of driving and I have used my emergency kits on many occasions to help out stranded drivers whose cars have broken down or have gotten stranded in snow storms. I have used them in the wilderness when my Jeep has broken down miles from nowhere without another sole around (and the cell phone had no signal).
All I am talking about is being prepared.
Other consideration for bugging out is having a place to bugout too. Someone who bugs out without a predetermined destination is a refugee, generally speaking refugees aren’t treated very well.
You may only have to bugout across town but you may have to bugout to another city or even to another state. For instance my in-laws live across town if we had need to leave our home for what ever the reason (fire, flooding, mold, etc) we could take up temporary residences with them. If that isn’t practical under the circumstances I have a cabin out in the woods that is my family’s primary bugout point. I have several friends and family members that will use it too for emergencies…I keep all sorts of supplies stocked out there. If I had to go further away my backup bugout point is with friends in Idaho where my business partner lives.
Self-protection is multilayered- you have different mutually supporting skill sets, tools, equipment, and strategies. Self-defense is just one component, bugging out or bugging in which comes under the term disaster preparedness is another, so is outdoor skills, communications, and medical skills. I think self-protection goes beyond simple kickboxing and stick fighting.
Stuff to think about.
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In hills, as well as in villages and cities, hazards and predators find those who walk backwards.- Ezekiel Sanchez
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