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"Stay 'unreasonable.'  If you don't like the solutions [available to you], come up with your own." 
Dan Webre

The Martialist does not constitute legal advice.  It is for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY.

Copyright © Phil Elmore,
all rights reserved.

Building the Jack Sack

By Phil Elmore

I was deeply troubled when reading accounts of the survivors of and spectators to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York City. If any worst-case scenario represents better what can go wrong when you're away from home, I don't know what it could be. People who fled the towers and those who left Manhattan in general were literally walking out of the city with whatever they carried with them -- and little else. Those images have been with me ever since.

Several years ago, Central New York State experienced the "Labor Day Storm," a near-tornado that knocked out power to parts of our state for days. My wife and I were without electricity for three days, prompting me to assemble the Big Red Box of Power Outage Supplies. Over time, as I learned more about survival and preparedness, and as the world became just a little scarier, I decided that I was not yet properly equipped. Over the course of several months I planned, procured, and assembled the materials for three survival kits: a home kit, a mobile Bug Out Bag (BOB), and my daily carry shoulder bag.

My shoulder bag is a Rothco Messenger Bag that I purchased specifically because it is similar (if not identical) to the one carried by "Jack Bauer" on the Fox series 24. I call it, affectionately, the Jack Sack. It happens to be a really great bag, too. It is of heavy Olive Drab canvas, made in India, largely open inside with several side pouches. It has one large flap that closes using hook and loop strips, keeping the contents reasonably secure but allowing easy access to the interior of the bag. The wide shoulder strap is absolutely necessary because I need to be able to sling this bag and carry it with me, possibly hands-free. My Jack Sack is also full to capacity; it cannot hold much more or it would be too heavy to tote. As it is, a person smaller than me would find it uncomfortable to sling this sack for any length of time. You must tailor the contents of your daily carry bag to suit your individual needs.

The Jack sack contains these items:

The rigid plastic organizer makes my Jack Sack a field expedient briefcase, keeping my work and personal papers organized while preventing books and magazines from becoming crushed or rumpled. The Jack Sack also has a small zippered inner pocket sewn into the top of its interior rear side, in which I keep my USB memory sticks, passport, emergency cash, and other identification.

My PDA keeps all my data organized and synchronizes to my Microsoft Outlook calendar. The PDA, a Cingular 8125, is also my mobile phone. I carry a headset for the phone as well as the USB cable and an aftermarket charger. The charger can plug into a wall or into the lighter socket of an automobile.

I keep a full first aid kit in the sack, which includes a guidebook, extra band-aids (the First Aid item we all use most often), and a few other odds and ends.

Most of the contents of my Jack Sack are modular, meaning they're not simply sprinkled loose throughout the pockets and interior of the bag. Instead, I keep them compartmentalized and grouped in a Spec Ops On Board Dry Cell and a Wingnut Travel Organizer, both of which have many handy compartments. To transfer the contents of the Jack Sack to another bag is thus easily and quickly accomplished.

I keep plenty of survival odds and ends on hand, including the obligatory signal mirror, a length of paracord (which has countless uses), fishing and firestarting gear, a lighter, a small hacksaw, glue, batteries for the accessories I use most (my flashlights and my radio), a razor blade, a pancho and a space blanket (small but very useful and available everywhere camping supplies are found), and an extra LED light. I also have mundane items like an umbrella, a folded Boonie hat, gloves, tissues, extra pens, eyedrops, eyeglass repair kits, drivers to supplement my Victorinox multitool, a travel toothbrush and toothpaste, and antibacterial hand wipes.

One of the things I worry about is finding adquate water in an emergency. To this end I have packed a small and lightweight filter straw in the Jack Sack. This way I can drink from any available water supply without worrying that I'll make myself sick.

In any emergency, the ability to obtain information about what is happening is extremely important. My little Countycomm AM/FM/Shortwave radio is very small, works remarkably well, and is both well built and fairly sharp looking. I carry it in a small PDA pouch, so I can wear it on my belt like an iPod if I want to. Listening to the Shortwave stations at night is also very entertaining.

The Victorinox SwissChamp Survival Kit is built around the company's biggest Swiss Army Knife. I'm sentimentally attached to this handy monster of a knife because it's the same model my father has carried around with him all day, every day, for as long as I have been alive. I have vivid memories of him using that knife -- with its secondary blade and tweezers -- to remove splinters from my fingers, or to open tape-sealed packages on Christmas morning, or to accomplish any of countless other tasks. The SwissChamp Kit takes an already useful item (the knife contains everything from saws, a magnifying glass, tweezers, and a ball-point pen to pliers, scissors, and blades) and tucks it into a leather case containing a sharpening rod, compass, writing paper, pencil, bandages, thread, safety pins, matches, string, signal mirror, level, and more.

I keep a PALight in an outer pocket of the Jack Sack. It can serve as an emergency light source and as a strobe beacon but, more importantly, its always-on survival lamp means I can find the Jack Sack itself in the dark.

As a nod to my job as a writer, I carry a Moleskine notebook (the famed notebook of writers like Hemingway). This is a high-quality "little black book" that has a built in bookmark and an elastic closure. it's a great all-purpose notebook and I carry a quality pen to go with it.

I always carry a bandanna because it's such a useful item. I carry a kefiyah in the jack sack as well because it's essentially a giant bandanna and has even more uses. A petite individual could even use the unfolded kefiyah as a blanket.

I carry potassium iodide tablets, a Nukealert alarm, and maps in the Jack Sack. The maps are useful no matter what (they can help you plan how to get where you've got to go to survive). The pills and the alarm are to protect me from and alert me to the possibility of a radiation release, either from the proverbial "dirty bomb" so often threatened in terrorism-related news, or the much more likely nuclear power plant disaster (there's a nuclear plant not all that far from where I live).

Finally, I tote a little copy of the The 2 Oz. Backpacker: A Problem Solving Manual for Use in the Wilds.

What I've not covered here is weapons. I went through a brief phase during which I carried my primary weapons in the Jack Sack, but they increased its weight too much and were really not terribly convenient. Off-body "carry" of weapons has its place -- I'm a firm believer in keeping weapons tucked away at home, in your car, and in other places where you can access them readily -- but ultimately, for the sake of personal security (I am a public figure and have made my share of enemies) I have simply committed myself to carrying firearms, defensive knives, and other weapons directly on my person at all times. Your choices are your own and I will not attempt to dictate them to you. Tailor your personal weaponry choices to your individual situation, and do so in the context of Minimum Accessories for Personal Preparedness.

Remember, too, that every survival kit is a work in progress. You will discard outdated items and replace them with fresh supplies or updated and improved technology. You will think of things to add that I have not included here (or you will discard items I have included for which you do not see a need). Personal taste and individual circumstance will dictate much of what you choose to stockpile. What is important is that you formulate a plan and act on it. In my case, I have built a daily carry bag that goes back and forth to work with me every day and accompanies me on long trips. With the Jack Sack, I would be well prepared to make my way back home if an emergency occurs while I'm away. I can use its contents to handle most problems and other minor inconveniences that could arise while I'm at work or on the road traveling for business. I can sustain myself to a reasonable degree if I'm caught where I am with only the Jack Sack at my disposal.

I like to think Jack Bauer would be proud of me.