Body Armor for Bugging Out?

what's up bear nation its bear I get a lot of questions and I've gotten a lot lately regarding body armor when should I take body armor when shouldn't I take body armor this is a pretty personal decision and everybody has their own parameters for this so I'm just gonna answer this for me my personal experience my preferences my kind of do's and don'ts and then maybe you can take this and apply it to your situation for me it all comes back to what is the mission right what's the mission statement what are we doing the Y is usually pretty squared away right it's cuz it's got to do the things copy well what things are we doing I have some pretty hard and fast SOPs in my life these days a plate carrier is in my vehicle pretty much always what I'm just running around town if I am within a day's walk of my homestead which is you know when we go to the little towns around here and go out and do the things there's a plate carrier in my truck the reason for that is this on the back see that there is a daypack the Condor HC b2 hotel charlie bravo dos which i've discussed at length at this channel you can just search bare independent play carrier if you want a deeper dive into how I set up my play carriers but because that day pack is molly'd on to the back of here I've got my cover combustion cordage container you know cutting tool I've got compass I've got combat I've got calories I've got casualty care I've got all the things that I need as a standalone unit on this right now for 24 hours without much of an issue I've got spare socks back there I've got all the things and I go deeper into that in in that plate carrier video so as a standalone unit for 24 hours this is kind of my go-to I like it that way it's I don't have to think I just grabbed the plate carrier I'm good to go now because it's built out as a 24 hour system I can go post watch over there and I'm good I've got water in my water bladder I've I've got you know calories I've got cover you know there's a poncho in here and dress for the weather and you'll be good to go right I've got my things I've got a headlamp all the blah blah blah so if we got to go pull security or go patrol or walk home from the office to the homestead cool throw the plate carrier on let's go for a walk right and it's really miles was about a half a day's walk in any direction where the places that I would normally go in this area half a day's walk I've got another 12 hours of cushion on me so that's kind of how I use the plate carrier or if I know that I'm going to be into a situation where there's a high probability that rounds fly for example when I was commuting in and out of Dallas every day the last place I wanna be without body armor is on the Dallas north toll way on a Friday afternoon after the balloon has gone up because lots of people have weapons lots of people are pissed off and while I'm not looking to start a fight with anybody if I find myself in the middle of one having armor is a good thing so if the environmental factors dictate that by should be used then I will have it and use it but I go out of my way to not put myself in situations where the environmental factors would dictate that we wear body armor as an SOP and that's just a matter of being mindful of your geography in the human terrain so there's that that's when I'm going to be looking to have a plate carrier on the main reason why it's not 24/7 365 for me is wait most people really overestimate how much they can carry and for how far and for how long so this plate carrier as shown right now I think it's 34 pounds with you know 8 mags blowout kit radio 3 liters of water pistol mags douche pouch TQ and then de pack on the back so when you add all that up there's you know 34 pounds of 34 pounds by contrast this chest rig which has all the same capabilities - the armour I mean it's literally the same capabilities same you know blowout kit spare additional tourniquet sustainment pouch cover radio fixed blade knife blah blah blah and in fact somebody recently said bear I miss your rat three where is it right there on the plate carrier I love it when people accuse me of not doing the things I'm like this is my was my EDC knife I do the things but uh yeah it's now with the chest rig maps compass blah blah blah all all in there and I believe that weighs 22 pounds so do the math all right we've added at least 12 pounds just by taking the armor so that's a gallon and a half of water or you know three days worth of or whatever so it's it's a considerable difference so what I'm really been doing lately is if I'm within 24 hours walking distance of home it's the play carrier and I'm good to go I'm gonna be farther than that then my rucksack which is this guy here will be in the truck I'll take the rucksack and the war belt and that gives me a good amount of capability I've got let's see 1 2 5 liters of water carrying capability plus there's 2 1 liter smart water bottles in there so that's 7 liters I've got spare mags I've got a very large [Applause] Ontario Knife Company artac to again do the things as you can see it's been used but this is my hand axe for making shelter or slang grizzly bears or whatever but I've got this large pack that has at a minimum 70 at a minimum 72 hours in capability on it and frankly I generally have it set up to go for about ten days to two weeks so if I had to walk it from 200 miles from home let's say I get 15 miles in a day I mean as far as just marching I can do better than that but maybe there's environmental factors that I can only get 15 miles a day or I had to work 30 miles to make 15 miles worth of progress blah blah blah you know a couple of weeks I'm home so that's the idea behind this bag and I'll run that with the war belt so that I have some capability I've got my blow out kid on my war belt I've got an ENT kid with a compass and maps and emergency blanket and all of that I've got a sleep kit in here poncho blah blah blah blah blah but this ruck runs anywhere between 45 and 60 pounds to pending on the season that wore belts about 15 pounds so let's just say war belt and three seasons set up on the rough where I don't have a super high insulative factor sleep system with me we're now at sixty pounds most of y'all and I just know this because I've met a lot of you I've met a lot of people most of y'all have not carried a 60 pound load for any great distance for any great length of time recently this is one of the reasons that I rock a it's because I was a fatty fat fatty fat fat fat fat and needed to get some exercise in so I started a rocking regimen again and B what better way to actually use your things than to go walk around with them five six days a week which is one of the reasons I tell y'all go put your stuff on and do the things cuz you're gonna find that the hot spots and the sore things and what when I wear this thing with this thing this buckle rubs this thing and that hurts and oh I gotta actually move this thing off of my plate carrier so that I can present my sidearm and use it without getting an interference here in Gua blah blah okay so for me the armor versus no armor if I'm going long distances I'm gonna not take armor and the reason for that is simply weight unless I feel like the environmental factors are going to cause me to need armor but I'm very much so in the neighborhood of aboard the avoid the fight at all costs unless it comes to you in which case finish it quickly and judiciously but that's you know but what if you can't bear well then so be it improvise adapt overcome and so and then this gets into the concept of line gear depending on what I'm doing and where I'm doing it if you have the war belt that's your line one or without the war belt for example right now I have a plate carrier on and my EDC my EDC being my line one okay then you're line two is your plate carrier or your chest rig and then line three is gonna be your rock like this or maybe it's this 5:11 daypack that's got you know 48 hours worth of capability in it they call those 72 hour bags they're not unless you wear a size extra small and eat no food and drink no water then they're definitely a 72 hour bag but if you're a bear size man that eats food and drinks water it's more 24 to 48 hours okay so depending on the mission I will take any number of these things and put them together to make a system that makes sense for me based upon what I envision I will be dealing with so that matters you got to know what it is that you're actually doing so that's why I am constantly encouraging you guys to actually go through the things figure out what is the mission what are you trying to accomplish and not just survive the zombie apocalypse bro or bug out from here to there cool how many miles is that have you done it have you actually walked it are your boots broken in do you have spare socks what are you gonna do when you get calluses how much water you're gonna use you thought it was only three liters but it turns out it's 96 degrees and 80% humidity and you drank three liters in the first hour do you have any oral rehydration salts what are you gonna blow blah blah blah blah what's your combo solution who you're gonna meet how you gonna get there have you actually used your compass does it work can you use your coat oh you got steel plates on and you're holding your compass here oh that's an issue you should be holding it out here Yatta Yatta Yatta Yatta Yatta Yatta Yatta you actually have to go use the things so that's kind of my philosophy on armor versus not armor and then really quickly let's talk about some redundancy across the lines my line one EDC I have pistol reloads two of them there's one there's another one Barnes 185 grain plus P jacketed hollow points or actually they're solid copper whatever so I've got reloads I've got a knife on my line one I've got a lighter I've got my pistol I've got a tourniquet and a flashlight I've got my wallet okay that's my EDC on my war belt I've got a blowout kit water and E&E kit my pistol - pistol reloads - AR reloads a multi-tool let's say water canteen yeah oh and a radio yep right there on line one my line one kamo for EDC is this cell phone that I'm talking at right now so I've got combo ammo medical on both lines you know EDC or line one war belt either or it's there then when we get to plate carrier or chest rig I've got kamo water ammo medical on my line - and I've also got snacks and called a sustainment pouch on both of these I mean peanuts for the wind that's basically a saw gunner pouch that's got like granola bars and peanuts in it in the whole nine it's on my left side which is my offhand so as I'm walking I can still keep one hand on my weapon and feed the Machine if I need to okay so I've got that on my line - my line three I've got more water more ammo more medical I mean there's a TQ right there and different layers of combo because let's say you know pace primary alternate contingency emergency I've got my cellphone here and I've got a ham radio on my war belt and I've got an encrypted two-way radio that runs on either in my chest rig or my plate carrier and then I've got a CB in my rocks and so that gives me a wide diversity of options now and I'm telling you from frankly these little ham radios were getting better and better and better and better and cheaper and cheaper and cheaper and so a lot of that capability can all be combined into one good ham radio I like the redundancy I like options options are good and depending on who you're operating with having more than one radio can be good as long as they can talk to each other because now we can talk to each other that's a nice thing so all of our vehicles on property have two radios in them ham radios in the door pockets of each vehicle and as an SOP briefly we have like a road hazard kit you know like jumper cables blah-blah-blah-blah-blah air compressor in a little 12-volt air compressor in each vehicle then two ham radios and a good like a level two trauma kit in each vehicle just cause you'd be surprised how often we've made use of these things so on my line three my ruck I've got a big knife more water I've got my shelter I've got calories I've got combat and I've got combo cover cover you know whether that's pair socks or bug dope or a mosquito net or a wool hat or a sill tarp or a wool blanket or whatever that's kind of how I have my stuff set up and all that layers on as you're lying gear so that let's say we're marching on a target and we're carrying our rocks and we get to where we're going okay we can drop our packs you know say a quarter mile from where we need to insert go in there do the things come back out retrieve our packs or they can go in a vehicle or they can stay stationary or whatever and then I've still got on me all the things that I need to do the job so all that to say I'm not constantly taking armor these days subject to change if the balloon goes up and it turns into a warzone around here I'll probably be taking armor on the regular but the main reason that I don't take it is because of the weight and if I can I'm going to avoid situations where I need it to the best of my ability and I say that just out of practicality because I've worn this armor a lot a lot and I really don't think it has not been my experience that the vast majority of people that own plate carriers and armor wear them regularly and have really done the mental math on what is it gonna cost me and calories energy comfort maneuverability to wear this thing all the time and see that's the other thing firepower versus maneuverability right I love level 4 plates I love being able to stop you know a pea rifle rounds that's awesome but that 12 pounds can make the difference depending on what the mission is and so you need to clearly understand what the mission is and that's the crux of this entire talk is that there are instances where you definitely need armor and there are instances where you definitely don't and you need to know the difference and prepare accordingly because that 12 pounds if you're going you know whatever you figure that out that's up to you but I wanted to relay my thoughts from my experience with my gear to y'all hopefully it'll give you something to think about and I'm interested in your productive comments in the comments section so as always thank you for being here big thanks to the patrons for making this possible without them we would not be here I really really appreciate it and go do the things go strap on your gear figure out a mission plan what are you actually doing Shalom

Channel: Bear Independent

Views: 30,621

Rating: 4.9231181 out of 5

Keywords: SHTF, mark of the beast, prepper, bear independent, minuteman, economic collapse, natural disaster, preparedness, vikingpreparedness, bug out, militia, teotwawki, gear review, bug out bag, gardening, homesteading, off grid, patreon, civil war, martial law, survivalism, prepping, end times, consulting, bushcrafting, WROL, doomsday, doomsday preppers, torah, bible, city prepping, Canadian prepper, atheist, edc, survivalist, inch bag, pastor joe fox, urban survival, body armor

Id: lXHXxLs7YV4

Length: 19min 47sec (1187 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 13 2020