One of the most important concepts of modern survivalism is the idea of bugging-out from the place you live. Survivalists believe that one day SHTF scenario will force them to run from their homes or apartments, bug-out somewhere, and live there for as long as necessary.
This seems counter-intuitive. You stock up on food, water, fuel, create alternative energy sources, harvest rainwater, buy lots of beans, bullet sand band-aids. And then you leave it all behind and move.
Because of that, one has to literally double his efforts, to create so called bug-out location (BOL). A place set up so that one can support his way of life, without having to go sleep hungry or cold.
Also, you should have a bug-out bag (BOB), or 72hr kit, that will provide for you during the mentioned 3-day period: till you are rescued by somebody. This is one of the most important survival kits, as many folks interested in preparedness believe.
To some extent, it makes sense to keep in mind you might be forced to leave your home. There are cases when it is wiser to spend a month or two in the country, than in heavily populated city. If the city is overrun by zombies, for example. And by zombies I mean people infected with any highly contagious and deadly disease. If the whole city has no power and it will not be restored soon, one might want to avoid riots and street violence by moving his family to a secondary location.
Or, you simply may have no choice, if your house burns down or gets blown away by a tornado.
Sure, it’s better to know how you’re going to get to your bug-out location. To know who gets which car, who takes the kids, who goes home to get the dog and your guns. To know how to avoid getting stuck in a highway, or where to detour when a main bridge gets destroyed.
And I try to have it all set up, oh I do.
But I still hope I would never have to evacuate my cozy apartment, where I have a lot of food stored, two alternative stoves (electric, propane) in case natural gas isn’t supplied anymore, some solar panels and batteries in case there’s no power.
Would it make any difference if I left, honestly? My BOL is around than 100 km (60 miles) from the place I live. To get there I would have to cross many small rivers, three or four railway tracks (in most cases road goes above the tracks on a bridge), and maybe a highway (if I took one specific route). If I had to run away from nuclear fallout, it wouldn’t change much. If I had to work my way through a pandemic or a large scale power failure, I might be able to do it.
In USA, the land of long distances, people often choose BOLs located several hundred miles away from their home. I live in Poland’s capitol, Warsaw, located roughly in the middle of the country. If I had to drive 500 km (300 miles) west, I’d end up in a different country – Germany. Another 300 miles to the east, I’d end up in Ukraine or Belarus. We have pretty dense habitation here, it’s nearly impossible to find a place located more than 10 km from the nearest settlement (except for national parks, but you can’t buy land nor build anything there anyway).
Does it prove that bugging-out scenario should not be considered? Of course not! It only shows that the right way always depends on the conditions, and that in survival there are no definitive answers.
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