Survival UK Forums

So over the weekend I got together with a few folks for a bit of a prepper type gathering (definitely not a RV) but it was more akin to prepper meets urbex explorer meets off gridder meets switched on worried city dwellers who ended up together for the day rather than a "prepper meet" as such and for a laugh / ice breaker we sat down and tried to come up with a list of gear / kit that each of us consider essential for prepping/ urban exploring/ commuting/ get homing. it was fun more than anything rather than "" In depth"" but none the less I thought posting it here may be of some use to someone (I hope)

So we started with the PERSON and the Ubiquitous EDC and went from there.
1 UK Legal folding knife *(most admitted LOCKING blade to prevent amputated fingers)*****
2 LED Flashlight (serrated bezel very popular)** Normally AA or CR123A types
3 Butane lighter (cheap adjustable BIC refillable types most popular)
4 Cell phone *** (nearly all samsung / apple products)
5 Shades / Specs (Polarized plastic lens) / lens cleaning cloth.
6 Wallet / Purse (Licences / ID/ Permits/ C cards)
7 Watch
8 Cash
9 Kerchief
Point of note, some chose to include Multi tool , Tactical pen, USB data stick and even Ear phones for cell phone in the EDC list.
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PDW kit, as jurisdiction permitted so us all being Brits it was walk poles, metal flashlights, tactical pens and of course UK legal folders, and Raid wasp nest destroyer. But as for PDW in general go with whats LEGAL where you live.
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Next was the real interesting / fun bit of the KIT remembering most people were from assorted back grounds and interests, The list is NOT prioritised cos we could not agree on what went where.
1 Laptop and Data storage device like USB flash drive stick thingy, plus cables
2 Compact 7 Mega-pix camera ** and ****
3 Notebook, Sharpies, Tactical Pens, Ruler
4 Maps and guides of Area of operation
5 Compass / GPS **
6 Mini Binos (Min 25mm pref 30mm up)
7 Multi tool (if not in EDC)
8 Pry bar (12 to 15 inch)
9 Fixed Blade Knife (If Legal / needed)
10 Rations / Snacks / Energy Tabs
11 Water / Energy Drinks
12 AM/ FM 88 to 108 Radio **
13 PMR Radio etc ** (if operationally needed)
14 Laser Range Finder (natty device some Urb Ex types use)
15 Flourescent marker paint spray ( Urb Ex tool to mark where you have already been)
16 Hat / Gloves/ Banana
17 Zip Lock Bags
18 Paracord/ Tape/Cable ties
19 FAK / Personal Script Medicines / Puritabs
20 FFP3 / N95 Disposable face mask
21 Change of Clothing
22 Wet Weather Clothing (if operationally needed)
23 Cold Weather Clothing (if operationally needed)
24 Female hygiene supplies (if needed)
25 Wet Wipes / Soap / Towelette / Toothbrush / Gum
26 Kitchen Roll Paper (Cleaning anything)
27 Plant recognition guide (that was for urban foraging)
28 Lip Balm and E 45 hand cream (Gardening duty)
29 Half a nylon scourer / sponge (for scrubbing hands /cleaning blades)
30 Tweezers.
* plus pocket sharpener
** plus spare batteries
*** with Camera / GPS / Maps / Search facility
**** Memory Card 16 or 32 GB
***** One guest only carries a folding pruning knife for looking after his plants
The chosen types of bag to carry stuff in varied from days sacks to attache cases, to a small plastic tool box, to a cheap tote bag.
So it was quite a broad range of people / skill sets / requirements but even so there was much common ground, So from prepping to commuting to getting home from work to getting through the work day there was nearly always common ground, Sadly the device for castrating piglets did not make the list !!! ( thank god I would not want to explain that to a nosy cop )

And yes i did forget the cell Phone charger And the bloody scissors i was told about 3 times ( apparently)

Dammit I forgot the levan PV panel 13 watt 5V thingy

Chalk instead of the paint....fraction the size and solid state i.e. no chance of failing like aerosols often do , chalk has the added advantage of being removable should you find marking your passage is bringing an unwelcome tail.

Chalk is also less obvious unless you go for a lurid colour , only you and yours need to recognise the mark , so plain white and subtle would be my choice to go UN noticed by the General populace.

I like that Mo, I'll pass that to the lads who do the Urb Ex, I just call then taggers and vandals

Good "thought starter" exercise and interesting list.

Something I would add is an iPAL or Uniden power bank for recharging smart phone, with USB to mini-USB cable. Also small shielded/ armored container to protect the phone and inhibit tracking until operationally necessary to install the battery and power up the device.

Need to be aware that turning off phone and even removing its battery is not fail safe to prevent phone from being used to locate you, so small Faraday/NEMA enclosure is needed unless you cache the phone.

The FBI ability to listen in on cell phones which were remotely activated to record conversations (even with the phones turned off), probably had some bearing on Snowden's request that journalists power down their phones and place them in the fridge. The NSA may be using mass over the air updates to infect phones of targets overseas and presumably, any "non-targets" applying the same faux update.

A couple of details in support of that theory... First, two telcos that provide service to millions of cell phone users are known to be overly cooperative with US and UK intelligence agencies. In the US Verizon and AT&T would accommodate the NSA (and FBI) if it wished to use their update systems to push these trojans. Add to this the fact that Microsoft and others have allowed intelligence agencies early access to security flaws, allowing them to exploit these for a certain length of time before informing the public and patching the holes. Add these two together and you've got the means and the opportunity to serve snooping malware to millions of unsuspecting cell phone users.

Sparing usage, properly targeted isn't really an issue. But if updates containing spyware have been pushed to the thousands of non-targeted individuals just to ensure the targets are included, it becomes more problematic, and the track record of the two agencies who have used this technology is far from pristine.

So unless you don't care who is tracking you, after it hits the fan, remove the battery from your phone, put it in a Faraday cage and cache it away from your hide, and if you do power it up, do so only when operationally necessary, away from your hide or cache site, then power down and remove the battery before returning to the hide.