72 Hour Bug Out Challenge
If you look at the statistics, most emergency scenarios are resolved within 3 days. Some scenarios will go longer but, on average, your emergency will terminate for good or for bad in 72 hours. Considering this and in planning your everyday carry, you should plan for the most probable course of action. Most of us leave our house with some basic kit in our pockets but do we really have what we need on us to make it through the average 72 hour emergency? I get it, it’s awesome to have the latest tactical flashlight and you might feel good carrying multiple firearms on your person for a NY reload but can you survive on your own in your environment? Seriously, ask yourself that question and don’t reflexively respond “yes” without true consideration. It’s easy to fake it and much harder to admit if you can’t.
Recently, Mike Glover challenged me to survive in the Utah high desert with nothing more than what I could stuff in a quart-sized Ziploc bag. Being one of the “survival guys'' here at Fieldcraft, I wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity to challenge myself and bring some attention to the realities of bugging out with a minimalist setup that a reasonable person may assemble. There are plenty of smaller kits out there and plenty of extensive kits that occupy a larger footprint but the agreed-upon quart size bag is one that could hold the contents of most people’s pockets and realistically be carried dispersed upon your person. This challenge was designed to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of what we carry and how we can better improve our level of preparedness for a similar unplanned emergency. This challenge is intended to show how the concept of survival priorities is one not fixed in position. The rigors of surviving on the land in an arid environment are different from those in a rainforest. As your mission changes, so must some of your gear.
There are certain non-negotiables of course. You will never want to leave home without a quality knife and a good fire starter. However, you will place more emphasis on having a flashlight in winter months when there is less daylight than in locations where there is almost 20 hours of sunlight. Since this challenge will be replicated in different locations, you can be certain the kit each participant carries will change as the demands do. Perhaps the most common question I’ve received about this challenge is, “what will you eat?” The good news is I have limited options but I do have options. We don’t plan on breaking any laws just for the sake of entertainment. I’ll be able to harvest edible plants off the land such as dock, pine, lambsquarter, and different sorrels. The rest of the time I’ll consume copious amounts of water and simply live off of my body’s fat stores. Fasting is not a new concept and since I am used to it, I can focus more on constructing what I need to and passing the time trying to avoid boredom. As this challenge draws closer, the anticipation is definitely building around the Fieldcraft office.
I know there are going to be folks looking to try this on their own but I will warn this is not something to be done without plenty of safety. I will have a Fieldcraft medic with me and a lot of planning in place just in case things go sideways. While we want you to always train like it is real and get your training as close to reality as possible, we don’t want you to sacrifice safety in the process of learning. Look for the video content about this course coming up as well as a chance to participate with us in a shorter (48 hour) Ziploc challenge. You want to learn from an experience like this. You don’t want to become the example we use in courses to prove a point.
More about the 72 Hour Bug Out Challenge from Mike and Kevin here.