My Urban Get Home Bag

When I worked in NYC and live in NJ, Post 9/11 I had a GHB in my file cab­ined draw­er.

1. 1 Bot­tle Potas­si­um Iodide Tablets (inex­pen­sive and fig­ured it was good to have in the event of a dirty bomb)
2. 2 x Small Bot­tle of hand san­i­tiz­er (60% alco­hol / 40% aloe — Burns well as a fuel too)
3. Pack of gum
4. 2 x Pock­et Kleenex
5. Emer­gency Blan­ket
6. Emer­gency rain pon­cho
7. 25′ Para­cord
8. 1 Box Tri­ox­ane bar (Qty 4 total)
9. LED Flash­light with 2 AA Bat­ter­ies (Extra bat­ter­ies)
10. Emer­gency Whis­tle with water­proof con­tain­er con­tain­ing water­proofed strike any­where match­es, inte­grat­ed com­pass and emer­gency sig­nal mir­ror
11. Home made fire starter bars
12. Cot­ton balls
13. Two can­dles (both 36 hour emer­gency can­dles)
14. 32 oz Plas­tic Water Bot­tle
15. Bot­tle Iodine Tablets
16. Box Match­es
17. Pen
18. Mul­ti-Tool
19. 10′ Duct Tape wrapped around top of pen
20. Lighter
21. Light stick
22. MRE and a 3600 Calo­rie (3 day) Emer­gency Ration
23. 1 Liter of Bot­tled Water (with water bot­tle can car­ry 2 liters of water and keep one hid­den)
24. 2 x Bal­ance Bars
25. Small First aid kit
26. All con­tained in a bike mes­sen­ger bag like brief case to sling over my shoul­der. I used this so it would look incon­spic­u­ous instead of an assault pack. Fig­ured, I would have to hoof it back to NJ over a bridge or through a tun­nel.

In hind sight, things that were miss­ing: mole­skin, pair of hik­ing shoes or inserts for shoes to make the sev­en mile walk through the tun­nel or over the bridge less painful on the feet, extra socks to keep my feet dry, plas­tic bag(s), a tow­el to dry off if need be, an antibi­ot­ic, etc. Thank good­ness I nev­er had to use any of it, how­ev­er…

I had thought about rent­ing a small (very small) stor­age unit. You can get them the size of a small clos­et or 4′ x 4′ in NYC for about 50.00 — 90.00 a month to keep a raft, and trolling motor in to get across a cou­ple of rivers. There are a cou­ple with wheels once inflat­ed, you can drag behind you.

I should also add, I always car­ry a knife, a way to make fire, and a para­cord bracelet that equals 10′ of para­cord unrav­eled.

I also con­sid­ered buy­ing a cheap HiPoint 9mm or .40 to keep in the stor­age unit with extra Ammo. Of course this would have been com­plete­ly ille­gal in NYC (COMPLETELY ILLEGAL), how­ev­er, in a SHTF (a clear dan­ger SHTF sit­u­a­tion) to use it in a pinch to get home or for pro­tec­tion. Not that I am com­fort­able doing any­thing ille­gal, how­ev­er, I do advo­cate stay­ing alive in self defense…