How To Be Ready To Bug Out – Rogue’s 31 Days To Readiness [Day 28]

Nobody wants to leave the comfort of their home, especially during a stressful time. Once you step foot outside your home, there are so many unpredictable variables. However, there are certainly times when it might be necessary. If you feel your home will be in danger due to some type of emergency or disaster, then that would be a good time to bug out.

We have to remember that preparedness is all about keeping us ready and prepared for whatever may come our way, that includes coming to the realization that something may threaten our home.

Sometimes it might be obvious that your home could be in the path of destruction, other times you may want to play it safe and listen to your intuition. Either way, bugging out is certainly a reality and should be a part of everyone’s plans. I hope you’ll never need to bug out and leave your home behind, even if it’s only for a night, but I encourage you to be prepared for such an instance if it were to ever occur.

Here’s how to be prepared to bug out:

• Have a plan. Assess threats, know what could be your threshold for leaving, how you’ll be getting there, etc. Create a bug out plan based on any known and unknown threats.
• Prepare your mind. Your mind will make or break you during a crisis. Bugging out may require some tough decisions in an already tough situation. Prepare your mind now to be able to handle the stress later.
• Have your go bag(s) ready. Always have your bug out bags ready to go for the whole family. Have the easily accessible, don’t stuff them in the back of your closet or high up in the attic. Inventory them every 6 months (or at the change of each season) and keep them somewhere that’s easy to access for the whole family.
• Know where to go. Where will you go? Parents house? Friends? Hotel? Park? Have a variety of places ready to go depending on the direction you’ll need to go. If your location is someone else’s home, be sure to let them in on your plans, more specifically, that you’ll be using their home for your bug out location. If they even need to bug out, what then?
• Stage your gear. When you think it might be ‘go time’, stage all of the gear that you’ll be taking. It can be staged near the door that exits to your vehicle, beside your vehicle or inside of your vehicle. Whichever you feel is best for the situation. If you don’t need to bug out, then great! Just put everything back. If you do need to bug out, then you’ll be ready to go at a moments notice.
• Listen to intel. Always be listening to intel. Intel can come from the news, social media, peer-to-peer, ham radio, police scanners, AM/FM radio, NOAA weather radio or however else you get information. Constantly be listening and getting new intel so you’re not caught off guard when it might be too late to bug out.
• Run mock drills. In order to be best prepared for bugging out, run a mock drill with your household. Maybe every 6 months or so, gather everything and everyone into the vehicle and drive off to one of your locations. By running mock drills during peace time, you’ll be able to pin-point any holes in the plan, such as a bad/congested route, slow pack time, inappropriate bug out location, etc.
• Be ready to adjust plans on the fly. Having a plan is a great first start, but of course, no plan is perfect. Be ready to adjust plans on the fly without any warning. Keep cool, calm, collected, talk out loud if you need to and adjust as needed.
• Keep your family calm and safe. Speaking of cool, calm and collected, one of your jobs will certainly be to keep the family calm and safe at all times. If your plan requires going through a downtown area where potential riots or unrest could be, maybe look into an alternative route. In general, if you’re calm, your family will be, too. Play games, listen to music and give everyone a task to make them feel part of the team; because they are. Everyone’s in this together.

Bugging out can be stressful, but some of that stress can be reduced if you’re prepared.

Even if you think there’s a 0.000000001% change that you’d ever bug out; still have a plan.

The whole point of preparedness is to be prepared for the unexpected, so don’t be caught off guard. Have a plan and be ready to go should the situation dictate.

See you in day 29!