Originally Posted By OODA_Loop:
Bump for a good dude and good thread.

Found many uses for my old Petzl headlamp- has red filter, useful to work on stuff with your hands free - illuminate what you’re looking at.

Been a watch cap fan since Bosnia in the 1990s, have a couple merino wool ones. A watch cap and a 1st gen PCU windshirt have been part of my travel kit for years. Middle East to Manhattan, weighs nothing and takes no space.

Love well-made knives, have a Randall, what travels? Benchmade Bushcrafter in the era of my life when those things were in my bailout bag; Leatherman, Spyderco, sometimes a backup to the backup Kershaw I was gifted.

The Salt IIs and Enduras cut just as well as anything else, are less expensive, can be “gifted” if required, and you won’t hurt your feelz when you leave a trail of them behind in vehicles…

Originally Posted By Cacinok:
Thanks, @machinegunseabee for writing this up.  I added a number of items to my go back from your list.

Something I've struggled with is outfitting my kids.  I don't intend to put them in harm's way, but in a bugout situation, you can't predict where the harm will come from.  My kids range from 18 to 8.  My older two could put on my armor and be fine movement and functioning wise, but my younger two, aren't there yet.  My youngest is a bean pole of a little gal 8 years old and 49 pounds despite eating like a horse.  I have no idea how to outfit her w/ armor.  I've thought of the backpacks w/ a plate in them, but that's only one side protected, which is obviously better than nothing, but not ideal.  Kids definitely make prepping a big challenge.  

Regarding night vision ATN continues to make interesting and somewhat useful products - but they fit in the "it's better than nothing" category, IMO.  Also, many of the ATN products require an illuminator to function so you lose some stealth capabilities if the opponent is using night vision.  There are a lot of reviews and demonstrations on youtube.  On a related note, there are some handheld FLIRs at around $500 that are pretty good quality.  Again, not ideal, but good enough to let you observe and make out details of those walking around in the night.