1. Bug Out Bag Gear Checklist: Clothing
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The right clothing in your bug out bag is essential protection you need.
Proper clothing is one of the most overlooked survival
tools in most people’s bug out bags.
The essential importance of clothing in individual survival was hammered home hard early in my
tenure in Search and Rescue. There I learned that one of the key factors in our calculation of a
person’s likelihood of survival was if they were properly dressed for both the weather and their
activity. Without well-chosen clothing, their odds of surviving hypothermia were greatly
diminished. And as you’ll learn when we talk about shelter, hypothermia is the biggest killer in
the woods these days. So proper clothing is a very important element in our overall bug out
survival strategy.
Four Key Categories Your Bug Out Clothing Must Cover
Once we cut through all the noise and conflicting opinions, you only need to address four key
categories when selecting bug out clothing. Sure I could really complicate this, and go into
graphs and charts and variable tables, but you’d probably rather I give you the practical core
strategies you need to just make it work. So without further ado, let’s get to it.
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2. Bug Out Clothing: Essential Requirement 1- Durability
Our first strategic element in choosing clothing, is our requirement for durability. Simply put we
need strong and tough clothing that will withstand the rigors of fleeing disasters and other
potential life-threatening situations for an extended duration. This means clothing that can
withstand pokes, scrapes, and singeing without failing; and pockets that can carry heavy loads
without losing fasteners, popping seems, tearing off, or otherwise losing their cargo.
Bug Out Clothing: Essential Requirement 2- Comfort
They also need to be comfortable when worn for 3+ days straight without binding, excessive
chafing, or otherwise damaging our primary pathogen barrier (our skin). Really we are looking
for clothing that will protect our skin and carry small items comfortable, and do it under harsh
conditions for possibly a month or more. Tall order, no? But it gets better.
Bug Out Clothing: Essential Requirement 3- Subdued
Our bug out clothing also needs to be subdued. Meaning both the color, and noise the clothing
items make as you move in them. The simple reason for this is that we very much want to avoid
attracting unwarranted attention from the two-legged predators that seem to swarm near
dangerous situations that often necessitate our getting out of dodge in a hurry. We don’t want
to be running around in fluorescent colored outerwear that rasps with every movement and
turns you into a walking billboard that screams dumb prepper with cool stuff and no common
sense. On the other hand, wearing camouflage can, in many situations, be a bad idea. I go into
the reasoning in more depth in The Bug Out Survival System, but basically wearing camouflage
clothing (like military BDUs or ACUs) sends the wrong message in some situations.
Bug Out Clothing: Essential Requirement 4- Layers
Our last requirement is that our bug out clothing be layered. There are two reasons for this.
First, layered clothing allows us to adapt to microclimate changes and exertion levels that we’ll
face as we travel toward our bug out destination. Second, layers provide well, layered
protection, so that if one piece of clothing gets damaged and can no longer protect that portion
of the body, we still have one or more layers underneath as barriers against skin breach, and
subsequent infection risk.
Bug Out Clothing: Solution
So how do you find clothing that meets all our criteria of durability, comfort, being subdued, and
layered? Let me give you the shortcut to success. Choose either good quality BDU/ACU
uniforms, quality outdoor gear, or my favorite- ranch or trades workwear. Yep, go with what
people who work hard with their hands in tough environments every day wear. It’s surprisingly
easy to find clothing that’s tough and durable, roomy and comfortable, of subdued colors that
hide dirt (and in our case don’t catch the eye), and are designed to be layered. Plus they often
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3. come with tough, roomy pockets; which is a big benefit. Some of my favorite source include
Carhart, Wrangler, and Duluth Trading Company among others.
Now that you have the core knowledge to select good survival and bug out clothing, we should
talk about three specific areas of the body that require specific attention when it comes to
clothing, and especially protection.
Three Places Your Clothing Must Protect
Your head requires particular attention in the protection department. Not only do we want the
capability to conserve heat, but we want to protect the “sensor systems” housed within the
head. I’m talking specifically about the eyes and ears. We’ll talk about protecting the
respiratory system when we get you squared away in the Disease/Pandemic Prevention area,
so for now we’re focusing on the eyes and ears.
Bug Out Clothing Protection Focus: Head
My own experience has proven that often in bug out worthy situations there can often be a lot of
dust and or smoke in the air. Combine that with flying debris, small branches galore, rock chips,
and the risk of shrapnel and you have a pretty hostile environment for our trusty eyes. Now
recognize that you’ll probably be exposed to more direct sunlight than you’re used to, for days
at a time perhaps. Have I made the case for protective eyewear sufficiently convincing yet? Do I
need to talk about seeing eyes mangled into permanent blindness in the literal blink of an eye? I
think you get the point, high quality protective eyewear is a must. I personally like 2 sets of
interchangeable lenses, one dark set for sunlight, glare off water, etc. and one pair of light
yellow for low-light or smoky conditions. Use something that has a very good impact resistance
rating, like ones rated for use as safety glasses. I’m a fan of the ANSI Z87.1 standard, but you
don’t have to go whole-hog like that. Just be sure they are impact resistant. If you wear
corrective lenses, put at least one spare pair/set in your bug out bag right now.
Ear protection is simple, lightweight, and almost universally overlooked. If you’ve ever been
near a centerfire firearm fired indoors, you have a sense of how devastating that blast can be to
both our short and long-term hearing. You may also find yourself operating power equipment
during disaster recovery efforts, and take it from a guy who has marked hearing loss, you want
to protect that non-renewable resource. A last thought on hearing protection. You could end up
in a situation where you have the opportunity to rest but the ambient noise precludes sleep. I’m
thinking about disaster shelters, hitching a ride in a cargo aircraft, etc. Having some earplugs
could make the difference between staying well rested instead of compromising your
decision-making abilities through fatigue.
Bug Out Clothing Protection Focus: Hands and Feet
Our hands are the next area of focus for one simple reason. You interact with your environment
most often through the hands and feet. Thus they are have the greatest risk of being damaged
while we are getting out of dodge.
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4. To mitigate that risk, we need high quality gloves and boots to protect those appendages from
rocks to rebar, broken glass to barbwire, spilled chemicals to miles of gravel road, ice rimed
streams to bubbling asphalt (or rescuing a hot canteen cup from the fire). Go with quality and as
comfortable a fit as you can find. If need be, save money on some of your other clothing layers
to get the best possible protection for both your mitts and tootsies.
I hope this very concise summary of crucial information has served you by giving you the core
strategic concepts you need to choose clothing for your bug out bag. These concepts and tips
were hard won, and I’m delighted to be able to share practical knowledge that can greatly
improve your likelihood of survival.
Like or Share this article to Download the Bug Out Bag Gear
Checklist: Clothing printable Action PDF. Its this entire article you
can print, and includes a very spiffy 1 page Checklist you can use
in your bug out bag prepps. Enjoy!
[viral-download file1="http://www.pragmaticsurvival.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Bug_
Out_Bag_Gear_Checklist-Clothing-compact.pdf" name1="Bug Out Bag Gear Checklist:
Clothing Action PDF" message="Like, +1, or share this to download your free printable report!"
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Be sure to check out the previous articles in the Bug Out Bag Gear Checklist series: Water, and
Food.
Bug Out Bag Gear Checklist: Clothing
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