Here I Stand

Here I Stand

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Bug Out Bag AAR (After Action Review)

Last week there was a fire in my apartment building that burnt out (like Baghdad style burnt out) 1 room and did significant damage to my own (I was directly above where the fire started) This was my first time actually using my BOB in an emergency situation and I typed up a bit of an AAR for some buddies on this site, and my professional associates, both as a learning experience and to seek advice on tweaking it a bit.

As to the contents of the bag, I will not bore the professionals here with a detailed list of things like: 550 cord, 35ft, type OD green, 1 each. etc. I have been tweaking it around since I first started keeping a BOB a few years into the Army. Please assume that I had all the basics, unless mentioned in the Improves section. If you have something a bit unorthadox that has worked for you, and wouldn't be in a basic kit, then by all means let me know! Thats why I'm here. An issue that I did have though, was that my BOB was geared more toward an extended E&E scenario, or basically just getting the hell outta dodge, rather than an Urban Emergency Management or Natural Disaster situation, which is far more likely.

Sustains:
Camel Back Assault pack
- I had it on my back for about a 12 hour period, moving all around the complex, and getting things taken care of during the aftermath. It may seem obvious to most of us that one would use a backpack style setup for a BOB, but many civilian style emergency kits, or those put together by response teams (and by this I mean, red cross, united way, NGO's etc. not EMTs or LE organizations) are in duffle bags or hand carried kit bags, and in my mind this is a no-go. In this situation, these would prove to be a pain in the ass. I was also glad for all the cargo room in the full assault pack. It allowed me to scoop up valuables (like my laptop) last minute and get out.
White Light Source - again, this is obvious to a lot of us, but I cannot stress this enough to the civilians that go through my Handgun courses and the other CERT and EM personnel that I have worked and train with, especially in an urban environment. once the power goes out inside a building, it is pitch black, and in the aftermath of the fire, my TacLight seemed to be the only white light source anyone had.
Digital Camera - this was something I lucked out on, as it was only in my bag due to my last road trip, but it was there, and I am glad for it. Important for taking pictures for insurance, evidence, etc. and again, this is something much more geared toward the ND/EM scenario than what I had originally put together my BOB for.
Spare Cell Phone charger - it has been over a week and I still have not been allowed back into my apartment (Asbestos from where the FD knocked down some walls) if i did not have a spare charger in my bag, my phone would have died well before I could have bought a new one, and you're on your phone quite a bit in this type of situation.

Improves(and as in any good learning experience, there are a lot of them. more than I can comfortably list here):
Gear not centrally located in BOB
. - some things in my standard BOB get regular use (like my leatherman being on my desk, and my pistol being in my range bag) and were not packed up when I needed them. Yeah, my bad, and this basically negates the purpose of even having a BOB, and beleive me, I kicked myself for this at the time, but overall, having a plan, knowing what you need in your bag, and knowing exactly where those items are, worked out for me, and just goes to show that prior planning yes, really does work. (This is geared more toward families rather than Lightfighters themselves - have the "In case of emergency" family meeting, run rehersals, and make sure everyone is on the same page)
esential paperwork not in bag - Also, I need to get a fireproof box, for things like my DD214, medical records, etc. but I had no basic paperwork like my insurance information, hospital phone numbers (my girlfriend is a nurse, and was at work during the incident) etc. on me, or in my BOB. All this information was eventually found, but having the basics on me would have made things easier. This is a tip that I CAN take from the Red Cross or United Way - in all their emergency kits they provide laminated contact cards with all this crap on there. I need to pick one up.
Expanded medical kit - quickclot and an IV kit are all well and good when you're planning on treating GSW's, but a mother didn't appreciate it when I offered medical tape to her son in lieu of a bandaid with neosporin. plan for what you're reacting to. This brings me back to revamping my kit.
There are a slew of other improves I could bring up, but they are far too mundane (as if these were not) to discuss at length.

General Comments: You have time. I woke up at 0400 to the smell of smoke, well before my fire alarm went off. if you don't panic, then you can grab your gear and throw on your boots with plenty of time to spare. I grabbed my kit, the items that weren't in my kit (again, prior planning) and a few essential belongings and was still the first one out and about. everyone around you is going to be a big ball of chaos, and there is very little you can do about it. there is no use trying to calm people down and stop hystaria. These are not soldiers, or people with any type of uselful life experience, and American civilians don't typically respond well to being given orders. worry about you and yours, and keep people from killing themselves, but if there are more than about 15-20 people around, don't try to control the situation, groupthink will supercede common sense or charisma.

afterwards the Fire Captain shook my hand. I was banging on doors and telling people to get the fuck out when the FD arrived, and assisted with breaching two doors (they use heavy ass crow bars, BTW, which just destroy flimsy apartment doors) before they had enough guys on the floor to cover it and told me to get out of there. Getting a pat on the back from a professional like that was a great feeling. Yeah, I know, I should have gotten out ASAP, and let the pros handle the first responder stuff, but it's not in me to sit idly by, and i doubt anyone on here would have done any different in the situation.

I'm still living out of a hotel a week later, but I look on this as a learning experience, and plan on incorporating a lot of the lessons learned into my next few PPiH (Personal Protection in The Home) courses, which, to the NRA's credit, focus quite a bit on preparedness. What are some other practical BOB experiences? What do you have in your bag that I might not have thought of? any questions or info that I might have overlooked?