As survivalists we should have a collection of ready to go bags to cover any situation that may come up. All together these make up your Modular Survival Kit. Today we’re going to take a look at two of these, the Home Defense Pouch and the Ready for the Fight Bag.
Home Defense Pouch
Context
The role of the Home Defense Pouch is what you grab when there’s a bump in the night and roll out of bed in nothing more than your boxers. The home defense pouch enables you to carry concealed in your own home at a moment’s notice. It ensures that you have the basic tools to deal with a home invasion on your person as opposed to tucked in a sock drawer in some other room.
A waist pack definitely isn’t sexy and high speed/low drag but it makes up for it in functionality. A waist pack is covert and can be concealed under baggy shirt tails if need be. Even when worn in plain view it’s not overtly threatening. Anyone who knows what’s up will figure you’re packing but you still retain plausible deniability. If you end up dealing with the police, you only have one chance to make a first impression. Right or wrong, the officer will likely make all kinds of assumptions about you at first glance.
If you’re wearing a bat belt or a plate carrier, you may come across as overenthusiastic. Even if the senior officer on scene is pro-gun, be ready for a tongue lashing a lecture. If the officer is anti-gun then they may decide there was premeditation involved, that you’ve been preparing and hoping for this day for a long time.
On a side note, if there is a knock at the door or a fire, the bag you get dressed out of is a Turnout Bag. Getting dressed out of a turnout bag solves the problem of doing it fast under stress and not forgetting anything. When the bag is empty, you’re good to go. Clothing should take the coldest temperature during the night into consideration.
Home Defense Waist Pack Contents to Consider
- Defensive Handgun – Night sights. Be aware of how case law in your jurisdiction may affect aftermarket modifications (ex. hair trigger) or choice of ammunition (ex. hollow points). Certain modifications could tempt the defense to argue that you’ve been hoping and plotting for this day for years.
- Spare Magazine(s) – If you carry a firearm, you should carry a spare magazine or speed loader.
- Tactical Flashlight – In addition to tactical value, it’s imperative that you be able to determine intent from things like are they wearing a ski mask or a Halloween costume? Plus the ability to clearly see your target and what’s behind it. Even during the day, you may end up in an unlit and windowless room inside a structure due to the dynamic nature of self-defense. Lithium batteries are more reliable, longer lasting, and less likely to leak.
- Less-Lethal Option – “He that is good with a hammer tends to think everything is a nail.” -Abraham Maslow – Sometimes an ASP baton, pepper spray, or Taser is more appropriate than deadly force. A measured less lethal response can also help establish intent.
- Knife – Because it doesn’t run out of ammunition until you stop swinging.
- Cell Phone – Program 9-1-1 into the first speed dial button. No MicroSD Card. Other than 9-1-1 and possibly activating the phone, the memory should be blank. Anything else just gives a prosecutor potential evidence to interpret or misinterpret … as the case may be.
- Identification – Better for police to not have to enter your home to establish your identity if the altercation takes place outdoors.
- Flexible Restraints & Cutter
- Trauma Kit – When carrying a firearm, a small blowout kit is typically sound insurance.
- Tourniquet
- Chest Seals or Petroleum Jelly Soaked Gauze (2)
- Battle Dressing
- Hemostatic Gauze
- Nitrile Gloves – Light in color to detect blood during examination or self-examination.
- Plastic Bag – Marked with a biohazard symbol.
- Tape – 100MPH Tape or quality medical tape such as 3M Durapore.
- Business Card – Contact information for an attorney who specializes in criminal defense or firearms related law self-defense. Not your brother-in-law who practices accounting law but is happy to field firearms related questions. The first phone call should typically be to 9-1-1, not your attorney.
Application
The Home Defense Pouch is best kept secured in the presence of children or mentally disabled adults but quickly retrievable in an emergency. Create a tickler to check batteries, log training, maintenance, and replacement of high wear parts at prescribed intervals for the firearm.
Ready for the Fight Bag
In the situation where retreat isn’t always possible or desirable and you’re going to have to defend your life against an active shooter, go for the Ready for the Fight Bag. A reasonable person would don body armor and pick up a long gun if available.
Context
In the context of the Modular Survival Kit, the Ready for the Fight Bag provides a layer of preparedness beyond the smaller Home Defense Pouch. It offers increased firepower, range and ammunition load, enhanced low-light capability, improved personal protective equipment, improved communications, and Identifier(s), Friend or Foe (IFF.)
As with the Home Defense Pouch, a Turnout Bag should be used to dress from so you don’t forget any important articles of clothing or gear. Make sure it includes your everyday carry such as a core layer of survival/self-recovery gear and restraint escape gear.
The list of active shooter incidents, home invasions, and other crimes perpetrated by heavily armed assailants has grown too long to list in an article. Terrorism appears to be here to stay as our nation is highly polarized. I try to stay out of the business of predicting the future, instead focusing on preparing for volatility as well as identifying and rooting out fragility.
Basic and Advanced Life Support/Trauma Kits, Combat Vehicle Trauma Kit, Combat Medic Kit, Combat Lifesaver, and the Mass-Casualty Trauma Kit are related medical modules that can also save lives. They may be appropriate depending on a survivalist’s level of training, resources, profession, pattern of life, and so on. The Mass-Casualty Trauma Kit is tailored around an active shooter and similar mass casualty events. It typically includes a basic trauma kit, foldable stretcher sheets, and Throw Kits which are bare bones trauma kits in bags that can be distributed. This gets basic trauma supplies where they’re needed so victims can self-treat or can be treated by others.
Ready for the Fight Bag Contents to Consider
- Plate Carrier
- Armor Plates
- Spare Ammunition/Magazines for Main Weapon System
- Sidearm
- Spare Sidearm Magazines
- Tactical Flashlight
- Knife
- Multi-Tool
- Detachable Trauma Kit – Same as in the Home Defense Waist Pack but you have more room in a plate carrier.
- Tourniquet
- Chest Seals or Petroleum Jelly Soaked Gauze (2)
- Battle Dressing
- Compressed Gauze
- Hemostatic Gauze
- Nasopharyngeal Airway with Lubricant
- 3.25” 14 ga Needle Catheter, Topical Antiseptic – For needle decompression to treat tension pneumothorax, if trained.
- Nitrile Gloves – Light in color to detect blood during examination or self-examination.
- Plastic Bag – Marked with a biohazard symbol
- Tape – 100MPH Tape or quality medical tape such as 3M Durapore.
- Cell Phone – Same as in the Home Defense Waist Pack.
- Radio – If you train in couple’s or small unit tactics a radio is a valuable tool.
- Headset System – Modern headset systems can handle multiple inputs from cell phones and radios while providing hearing protection.
- Spare Batteries – For radio and headset system.
- IFF/Identification – The second you pick up a firearm, you become a bullet magnet. Law enforcement or other armed citizens will be looking for letters or a badge to tell friend from foe. Without some type of ID, you may be mistaken for an active shooter in the fog of war.
- Business Card – Same as in the Home Defense Waist Pack.
- Less Lethal Option – Same as in the Home Defense Waist Pack.
- Monocular – Identifying friend from foe at a distance is a decisive advantage whether on the trail or in combat. It’s nice to be able to accomplish this without pointing a rifle at the subject as that has a way of turning friends into enemies plus it creates unwanted and unnecessary liability issues.
- Flexible Restraints & Cutter
- Concealable Bullet Resistant Vest – Optional. Gives you the option of a more covert posture.
- Helmet
- Night Vision – If you have the money, night vision and thermal imagine can provide a decisive tactical advantage over an adversary not so equipped.
- IR/White/Red LED
- Spare Lithium Batteries for LED & Night Vision
- Primary Weapon System – Typically a combat capable rifle or shotgun outfitted for the environments in which you operate, including low-light.
- Eye Protection – Spall, debris, and bullet fragments can impair eyesight in an instant, leaving you blind or vision impaired in the middle of a fight for your life.
- Gloves
- Resupply Satchel – In the event that things drag on or turn into a waiting game, you may need more ammunition, additional trauma supplies, water, batteries, or an energy bar.
Application
There are circumstances where you may need to defend your life, the lives of loved ones, or come to the aid of an injured law enforcement officer. There are perhaps many more circumstances where the wiser course of action is to not get involved but you may not have a choice. A Ready for the Fight Bag gives you an option. Flexible plans along with diversified and modular preparations are necessary to deal with an uncertain future.
Like the Home Defense Pouch, a Ready for the Fight Bag is best kept locked in the presence of children or mentally disabled adults. But should also be able to be opened quickly in an emergency. Create a tickler to check batteries, log training, maintenance, and replacement of high wear parts at prescribed intervals for the firearms.
Customize your own Ready for the Fight Bag to your specific needs. Take into consideration your own size and weight constraints, mode of transportation, profession, pattern of life, financial resources, and other relevant factors. A great solution for one individual may be terrible for another, so make sure your bag is a good fit for you. Due to one of these factors, you might decide that a PDW is a better fit than a carbine or that body armor would hamper mobility. Make any modifications necessary to keep your own Modular Survival Kit flexible, adaptable, versatile, and effective given your situation.
Final Thoughts
As you build your Home Defense Pouch and Ready for the Fight Bag, keep the following in mind:
- Your plans need to be adaptable and have easily accessible supplies. Maintaining a Ready for the Fight Bag gives you options in a hurry.
- The Home Defense Bag is a more concealable module to deal with a low order threat.
- The Ready for the Fight Bag is a module to deal with a greater threat when there is a high probability you’re walking into a gun battle.
- Make sure your bag is within your budget, considers your pattern of life, and meets your needs.