In my most recent article which was posted on June 23, 2025, we looked at and evaluated your EDC and GHB equipment in the framework of survival priorities. Hopefully, you found that information useful. In the preceding article, the focus was on individual preparedness for drastic situations. Now we are going to look at two very different situations. In the two situations presented here, the focus is on family or group preparedness. Both involve evacuation. In this article, we will be looking at your BOB (Bug Out Bag) and your INCH (I’m Never Coming Home) kit using the same survival priorities framework.
There are significant differences between Bugout and INCH situations. In a Bugout scenario, you are planning to return home. (“When” that return will occur is the unknown.) In an INCH situation, there is no thought of ever returning. Your BOB and INCH survival priorities should mirror your other survival priorities, except that the equipment is different. Those suggested priorities are shown below, but the items needed to satisfy your priorities are vastly different.
Bug Out Bags
Bugging out is another name for the act of a temporary evacuation or escape and then returning home. The BOB concept has been in the survival community for many years, similar to EDC and the GHB. Your evacuation is a planned departure that can be either imminent or forced.
In a Bugout situation, your first obligation is to gather family members all in one place. That can be at your home, our retreat, or in a selected meet-up (rally) location. You might be able to communicate by phone or text. Your next responsibility is to notify family and friends of your intentions so they can contact you if necessary. Finally, you should prepare your home for your return – if you have time.
Deciding when to evacuate is the difficult part. There are a multitude of different circumstances and impacts on timing that will determine your need to “get out of Dodge.” The most important factor is to get out well ahead of the crowds. You don’t want to get caught up in a huge traffic jam at an urgent time. Escape routes should be preplanned and practiced, but time and current information are needed to decide on exactly the safest route at that particular moment. Hopefully, you’ll be able to put distance between your family and the problem by car. Be cautious of road hazards, choke points, and phony road blocks. Your vehicle should have been recently and reliably serviced with fuel, oil, and tires. That could change if a mechanical problem cripples your transportation. A backup plan would be to travel on foot or by bicycle with your BOB. Security will also remain important.
Your vehicle should be loaded using the FILO method (First In, Last Out – or LIFO, Last In, First Out) so the less important and less frequently needed items are packed the deepest so the more important ones can be close at hand. Personal financial assets, if you bring them, should be loaded first for security. Your BOBs should be the last items in.
Your survival priorities are identical to your EDC and GHB. More capable equipment can be carried than in your GHB so there is more room for redundancy and niceties. A vehicle escape tool, personal locator beacon/messenger, and backups in reasonable quantities you feel are necessary are now possible to bring along. You should have room for important papers. The survival priorities from the previous article are relisted below but the corresponding survival items have been omitted because your needs will be familial and more long-term. This is where your decision-making enters, to fill-in the important survival items.
Situational Awareness –
Security & Protection –
Communication –
Water –
Shelter –
Apparel –
Lighting/power –
Food –
Cooking –
Medical, Hygiene, First Aid –
Sanitation –
Navigation, Transportation & Travel –
Trade & Barter –
Entertainment –
Tools & Equipment –
Just like your other kits, your BOB should be compact, lightweight, inconspicuous (for security), low-effort to carry, and have minimized bulk. Avoid a showy backpack or purse, and “tactical camo” for obvious security reasons. You want to look like an ordinary Gray Man or Woman.
Your BOB should be “pressure tested,” perishables (if any) replaced, sharpening and maintenance performed, your bag brought current and “seasonally adjusted,” and reevaluated after each use. What good are old, expired items, things you don’t know how to use, or have never used? Batteries go dead. Perhaps your survival priorities have changed since you first assembled your bag and you need to adjust to your new priorities. You might have to repack several times while you travel to your destination; leave a little extra room.
Where to go for temporary shelter? Shelter with family friends, churches, civic organizations (Elks, Masons, VFW, etc.) all can be workable options. While there, be a good guest, helping out whenever you can. A well-stocked BOL (Bug Out Location) can be emotionally reassuring in a Bugout situation – if you are able to get there and you are absolutely certain nothing has happened to it. The essential and desirable qualities of a BOL have been discussed in other articles on this site.
Returning home, you should exercise the same cautions as you used on your departure.
INCH Packing
In an INCH situation, your first obligation is to gather family members. Your next responsibility is to notify family and friends of your intentions so they can contact you if necessary.
There are a multitude of different circumstances and impacts on timing that will determine your need to “get out of Dodge.” Getting out well ahead of the crowds is easy if your leaving is completely of your choosing. Routes should be preplanned and practiced well ahead of time. Your vehicle should be recently serviced. Security should not be downplayed. Be cautious of road hazards, choke points, and malicious roadblocks. In the event of a vehicle failure, your back-up plan should be to carry enough supplies to fix minor problem and continue on, or to walk away from major problems.
Now, let’s look at several potential INCH situations. In an INCH relocation, your movement amounts to a permanent relocation. It’s a one-way bugout. Your decision or need to relocate can be voluntary, imminent, or forced. No matter the reason, your INCH evacuation will be a severe emotional and financial upheaval.
You can elect to voluntarily “pick up sticks” and find a new place to live. It is not really an evacuation; it is more like a planned, non-urgent relocation. Your move might be because your local situation has slowly become unstable and undesirable, you are thinking the “grass is greener” at a new place, there could be more or better job opportunities, or you simply want to begin a homestead. Your new location could be close or distant. Fortunately, you can take your time planning the logistics of your move, reducing the amount of emotional upheaval. Any upheaval is usually reduced or replaced by a sense of optimism.
Your INCH household goods should be reasonably easy to assemble and pack because you anticipate (know?) what will be needed to get restarted. You’ll be taking your survival supplies and equipment from your existing home to the new location. You are not going to be able to return because you have taken all your necessary supplies with you – there will be nothing of any importance left there because you need it to resettle. You may no longer own the place. Thus, your INCH “bag” may be in the form of a moving van.
In contrast, an imminent departure is when you decide to move away ahead of a predicted or known impending catastrophic event with devastating consequences. It is a form of urgent voluntary evacuation; you are choosing to leave, now. “We’d better get out of here before it’s too late!” Large-scale, simmering local civil disorder or declining neighborhood could be reasons to relocate ahead of the devastation and not be able return because don’t expect there will be anything left to return to. You may have just enough time to gather some of your possessions to take with you in your INCH bag or vehicle. Your BOB should be part of your departure plans to “fill in the gaps” in your possessions.
If you are forced to leave, you have to get out in a big hurry just to be safe, like the folks in Los Angeles or Hawaii who had to evacuate during the recent devastating wildfires, or the New Orleans flood 20 years ago. You may have your bug-out bag with you, but nothing to start up again with – not even enough supplies to meet basic long-term survival priorities. You are truly in dire straits to find another “roof over your head” and get reestablished.
The cause for your departure largely determines the contents of your INCH bag. If your evacuation is involuntary, perhaps even panicked, you may not have anything to take with you, except your BOB – if you have one and you remembered it (didn’t you?). You’ll be starting again from scratch. You will need to call upon many resources – personal, family, friends, church, social services, government, and community for shelter, food, clothing, and cash to help you get restarted. It will take a lot of time, emotional involvement, and frustration to recover and reestablish living by your survival priorities again.
If your relocation is voluntary, you’ll have the advantage of a more organized resettlement. If your evacuation was imminent, you might have a better time of reestablishing your life, depending on how well organized your survival priorities and life were before your departure, and what you were able to bring along in your INCH bag.
If your relocation is voluntary, or even in some imminent situations, you might have time to decide what to take and what to leave. Even with some pressure, you still may have more time than if you were forced to evacuate on short notice. You’ll have some time to be able to decide what you will need to satisfy your survival priorities in the future. You may not have time to take your valuables with you. You may have to leave them behind with family members, trusted friends, or even bury them in a protected, secure, identifiable location. Perhaps you will be able to return temporarily in the future to retrieve them.
The most important aspect of each INCH situation is the necessity to begin all over again. Your survival priorities will play a large role in organizing your rebuilding efforts.
In conclusion, taken together, these two articles should give you a wide overview for getting better prepared to meet your survival priorities for any severe catastrophe you might encounter. As you assemble and reorganize your kits, look at all four kits as one seamless plan that eliminates omissions and unnecessary duplications and still meets all your survival priorities.
Being prepared brings peace of mind. Plan ahead. Get started. Get organized.
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