Get Home Bag

Disclaimer: THIS IS VERY DEPENDENT ON YOUR INDIVIDUAL LOCATION, DISTANCE TO HOME, TERRAIN, CLIMATE, AND POPULATION DENSITY.   

Since we are on the topic of bags, let’s round it off with the get home bag. We will start by defining its purpose, then discuss what considerations you should make, and finally take a look at what is in my bag for my personal situation.

Purpose: This bag is for getting home from work when the feces has hit the metaphorical fan, and you have to walk home. Again, the exact scenario is up to you, but for whatever reason, cars are inoperable or traffic is so log jammed, that you are now hoofing it home. 

Consideration 1: Route Reconnaissance.

THIS ROUTE RECON WILL DETERMINE WHAT YOU NEED TO PACK. IT IS NOT AN OPTIONAL STEP. Right now, you should know your routes home, if you do not, you are wrong. Use google maps, find as many alternate routes as possible, and get to driving them so you can learn them by sight. Learn which ones take you through the hood, which ones have the best terrain, which ones provide access to water.

Once you have conducted your route recon, you can determine what you need to bring. 

For me, this is a 26 mile to 35 mile trip, depending on route, with 800 ft of elevation change. This means that in the absolute best case scenario, If I can walk straight on my route with no delays, I will be home in 8-11 hours. Thus I will prepare for triple or quadruple that timeframe. 36-48 hours.

You also need to assess your physical fitness right here. Can you even walk for that long? If not, fix it. 

Consideration 2: Work environment

This bag may be going with you to the office, at least it is in my case. My office isn't in the worst part of town, but not the best, and vehicle break-ins are not uncommon, so I am not leaving any high value items in my truck. 

My office is also not super conservative in nature, so if I were to try and bring a folding AR or PDW and was found out, I would lose my job. I don’t think these kinds of weapons are really ideal for this scenario, I just want to look like one of the hundreds of thousands of people trying to get home. Your situation may vary. 

That being said, I do use my vehicle to keep my set of boots, jacket, and map, as they are not the worst thing to lose in a theft, and would take up too much room in my bag/smell weird in the office. 

My Get Home Bag

Elements of the bag: Work stuff, Comms, Food, Water, Shelter, Medical, Defense. 

Work Stuff: Laptop, charger, mouse.

Comms: Baofeng UV9R, Solar charging battery bank for phone and UV9R (has usb-C charging), paper road map

Food: High protein snacks that can be eaten on the move, Caffeine and nicotine, Liquid IV.

Water: 1L Nalgene, 2L collapsable Hydrapak, Cana Personal Water Decon Kit. 

Shelter: Poncho, 10 10ft lengs of 550 cord, seasonally appropriate Jacket, boots im comfortable walking in (GoRuck MAC-V 2’s, in the truck), Lighter

Medical: MedMag IFAK (gauze, 2 chest seals, NPA, gloves, wound dressing), CAT TQ, Emergency blanket, Extra glasses and contacts, over the counter meds (pain, headache, allergy), moleskin and bandaids.

Defense: My EDC (Glock 19, flashlight, Fixed blade knife, TQ, 19rd Spare Mag), an extra 21rd mag in a mag pouch.