We've talked before about the Get Home Bag concept and contents. But if you have training, what do you really need to take with you on your bag?
That's a question I have been asked enough times in the past few months to really get me thinking. Since I like to loop on my kit and go lighter and lighter as I get more training, after reviewing the current loadout, I figured I'll give this another go.
The kit here is what I think is a good compromise between need and weight. Now, this is an urban kit, not a survival in the woods kit.
Stored in the GORUCK Pouch:
- Hard Case SERE kit inside an American flag patch: Plastic Handcuff Key, Ceramic Razor Blade, Kevlar Cord, IR Glint Patch, Leader Wire, Key Style Handcuff Shim, Diamond Single Edged Dog Tag
- iPhone charger
- notepad to take notes, leave notes, etc
- SureFire pen, used as a kubaton or glass breaker too
- Gotube with a collection of USB tumbdrives
On the ruck's pockets:
- SureFire flashlight
- Emerson Mini CQC-15
- Mini SERE Pouch with entry kit
- Entry kit with: SERE Pick Titanium Bogota picks, ITS Tactical EZ Decoder and Quick Stick, mini pry bar, mini ceramic blade and kevlar cord
- Glock 19 and spare magazine
A few things worth noting:
I chose this particular pouch from GORUCK because it big enough, easy to unzip and can hold the whole kit if needed. Just grab and go.
Pen and paper are very useful for many things. Taking notes on the go, maybe recon intel to pass to law enforement or first responders. Maybe you need to leave a note of what happened and why you left - and potential routes.
As opposed to the Last Resort Urban Distress Kit, this kit can have many things. These USB drives have a bootable Linux distro, a collection of digital recon and penetration tools, forensic tools and other applications that would allow me to operate a computer if I broke into a place that has one, take over a system and potential control things (cameras, a bridge controlling system, traffic lights... Yes I know... I live in a movie... Only we've done this with the team while deployed, so...), and send a distress signal if needed.
The idea with this kit reduction was to see how light I can go without compromising capabilities. It's been on my daily ruck for a while and together with the kit on the car, they compliment very well.
I purposedly left the medical kit out. I'm working on that one, and in the meantime I carry an ITS Tactical EDC Trauma Kit.
What do you carry that is minimal and can be seen as a get home bag?