Survival:Beyond the Bug-Out Bag

Start Small on your Prepping Journey

• Bill Bateman • Season 7 • Episode 10

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A Video Version is also available on YouTube

A harrowing survival story opens this eye-opening episode as we learn how a 79-year-old skier survived a night in the Montana backcountry using only basic survival skills and minimal equipment. His experience dramatically illustrates why proper preparation matters when stepping out your front door—especially as global supply chains weaken and store shelves show initial gaps.

From tiny keychain lights to comprehensive bug-out strategies, we explore the spectrum of personal preparedness tools that can save lives when unexpected emergencies strike. The humble flashlight serves as our starting point—whether it's an $11 micro light that lasts a decade or a powerful rechargeable behemoth capable of charging phones during power outages. We examine fire starters, whistles, compasses, and other compact tools that easily fit in your pocket, console, or everyday carry.

Beyond gear, we delve into the critical nature of family emergency planning. With parents typically working in separate locations while children attend school or daycare, coordinating meeting points and establishing communication protocols becomes essential. The episode emphasizes teaching children safety measures like verification code words and making everyone feel invested in the family's emergency preparations. 

The preparedness window is closing faster than many realize. Now is the time to assemble supplies, develop skills, and create thoughtful plans—whether for bugging out or hunkering down. Emergency preparation isn't about fear; it's about responsibility. As we navigate increasingly uncertain times, becoming your own first responder until professional help arrives isn't optional—it's necessary. Browse our newly launched bug-out bag classes and learn to protect what matters most.

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Speaker 1:

Well, hi everybody. I'm Bill Bateman, part of the team here at Refuse to be a Victim, personal Protection Training, and this is another episode of Survival Beyond the Bugout Bag 2.0. Now we have, as you see, gone video. I've come up with a nice Zoom background I think is semi-appropriate. A little cold, a little crisp Finally got up to 50 at our house. But we're in the Medford White City area of Southern Oregon and we're just shaking off winter or trying to, and we are located at 6800 Kershaw. If you happen to be so inclined to come and visit us. We've got links on the login for everything we're going to share today, including how to find us.

Speaker 1:

So let's look at how we are equipped. We've talked about prepping. We talked about the importance of it. We've talked about the fact that the window to start prepping is closing and I think that's something everybody has to realize. There are already empty spots on some of the shelves. It's important for you and your family to get active now and, taking a look at just small things, we're going to start small. Today I heard a story that caught my attention. A gentleman, 79 years old, was going to go out and do a little skiing. He was up in the Montana area and when he parked his car and headed for the ski runs, you have to wonder what he had in his pocket. Now, when I go out to do a special activity, I do a quick check and make sure I've got the things I think I'm going to need and, as of late, the things I might need, the things that are going to be important. Let's look at how this gentleman's day turned out for him.

Speaker 2:

Flyhead County Sheriff's Office says on Monday they got a call reporting that a 79-year-old skier went missing who had last been seen on Edmonds Run in the Black Ski area. Flight Search and Rescue and Two Bear Air tried to fly over the area but had to turn back due to poor visibility. Ground search efforts continued until 1 am when the team paused until daybreak. At about 3 pm on Tuesday, two Bear Air spotted the skier on the ground, calling out for help. After saving the skier they learned that he'd gone off trail and had become disoriented. He survived the night by spending the night in a tree, using pine branches for warmth and making a small fire to stay warm.

Speaker 1:

And to update that story, that's from Two Bear Air, which is in the Montana area. This has been on the Today Show. There's been a lot of reporting about it. It turns out he didn't spend his night in a tree, he spent it in a tree well. Now, if you go off country, in the back country at all, a tree well is an area protected by the branches in the trees, the tree, the snow falls. Protected by the branches in the trees, the tree, the snow falls. Snow does not fall as heavily around the base of the tree as it does away from the tree. This creates an actual well.

Speaker 1:

Now, if you're a snowboarder or you're a skier, you should know about these. And if you don't, don't go out until you do, because people die. You can actually be skiing along and boop, you go in head first. Now, you're head first, you're off the trail, you're invisible because the snow is going to fall on top of you and the technical term is dead. You can suffocate, you can freeze. So that's why you always ski in groups or snowboard in pairs. Don't lose sight of your partner. Just common sense. If you're in that specific endeavor, and that's why I talked about when you get out of the car you pack the kind of things you're going to need for the expedition or for the adventure. I would not go out in the backcountry these days without some sort of satellite-based signature or signaling device. It's very important. Things can get very scary very quickly. This guy had with him enough knowledge of what a tree well was, so he didn't fall in it. He got in it, packed the snow around the edges, built a small fire presuming he had a fire starter or a lighter or something that he could create a fire with and used branches to insulate and keep himself warm. They have a good picture of this gentleman being airlifted up. He's in good shape. He survived. Thank you to the rescuers. As always and this is an example what you have with you when you step out that door can really impact how the rest of your day ends up. And we're going to look at some examples I'll be putting up. I'm kind of constrained by my video setup here, so I will be kind of showing you products, but the ones I do will put up a little screen with the actual item and where to find them. Now I need to before I go too far down the road.

Speaker 1:

We are changing here at the program I've been doing, like I said, eight. This is going into our ninth year of doing this. We don't have sponsors. It allows me to say, boy, that's garbage. We don't have sponsors. It allows me to say, boy, that's garbage, don't buy that, without really upsetting too many people. Because if it is, it is. I buy what I use, I try it and then I come and I talk to you about it.

Speaker 1:

I have now reached that point that I'm going to have to start doing something to offset the costs. I just walked out of the grocery store with nearly $100 worth of groceries and I could carry it with one hand. That's scary. I'm going to change. I had a couple of choices. I could make this a subscription site. I could charge people. I could pander for donations, which I think is this is just not me. Or I am going to be recommending products. These are products I have used and I stand behind. I recommend, and I have become an Amazon affiliate, which means if you buy something, this program gets a small percentage of that sale to help offset my costs. So that's what we've chosen to do. When we begin doing this, you'll see little notices on the page, because we want full transparency and full disclosure. So a way you can help support us your letters are great, seeing at the range is great, coming to our classes. Absolutely A way to support this program share, recommend, subscribe and, if you make a purchase, make it off the website. Now, there's no reason. If you see something you like and you head on out to your Army, navy or Marine store, they got a good deal on it too. Absolutely, I strongly believe in shopping local.

Speaker 1:

So let's look at what I'm talking about here. Okay, I'm back. I found that trying to be too cute on camera just doesn't work. So let's talk about light. Walking out your door with your car keys, if you're in weather, like you see behind me on the background, it's going to start getting dark, it's going to start getting cold. So what do you have with you? I'm going to start small and we're going to go really, really big and talk about things you can have with you in the event of Now I've got my car keys here. There they go. There's the key ring. We'll bring it back a little easier and, if you notice, there is a very small micro light.

Speaker 1:

Now, I got one of these as a gift, I want to say 10 years ago. You squeeze it and it gets bright. It's not my first choice, but I will tell you. I bought one of these about 10 years ago. I moved up here from humboldt in about 10 years ago, maybe well closer to 12. Now the one I bought just died and I had to replace it. It said it had a 10-year warranty. I thought, right, it did it. Were it cost, right it did. It cost me $11, $12. Best money I ever spent. Put it on my keychain. If you need that just a little bit of extra light to get your key in the lock or to get an alarm code entered. It was worth it. So those are $11.99. I also got as a gift a box from some friends of mine.

Speaker 1:

A gift, a box from some friends of mine. I'm not going to show the brand on it, but it's a there it is, it's watertight and it has a bunch of stuff in it. Some of it was really good, some of it I instantly threw out. But it's still in my seat between the two seats whatever you want to call that in the little console I have there. So one of the items in it was a flashlight. It just runs off a battery, a AA battery. You can use a rechargeable, you can put in a long-term lithium. It's got what I really prefer the light switch here on the end of it and it's and come back to it. So this fit in your console and you have a little bit bigger light. You can direct the beam. Now my everyday carry.

Speaker 1:

Interestingly enough, I have two flashlights this I can't find the brand on right off the top of my head, but when I put it up to share it with you I will have that information. This one is got the on-off switch here on the side. It has a pocket clip. It's bright. I'll tell you that. Well, yeah, it flashes, it strobes, it slices, dices, makes julienne fries. It's a lot of fun. And the other one I almost always have with me is this one is by Boulder and it is a flashlight, also pocket size. Let's see, here we go A little fit in your pocket. It's got a little pocket clip and at the end is an on-off button. I prefer that the reason. The other one I have where it has the button here. If that's in your pocket and you bump into it, it's going to turn on.

Speaker 1:

And I have been driving and felt this burning in my leg. I said what's going on down there? Pulled off the road. The darn thing was heating the fabric in my pants. I mean, these things get hot. Something to consider, something to consider. And, uh, I have gone to choosing this one with the end button as my personal choice. That allows me if I have to bring it up and turn it on. I'm going to actually have it away from my body if I have to when we get to that position, but, uh, it allows me.

Speaker 1:

It also comes with a free what I call what we call a DNA collector. You have to use this as a defensive weapon. You can have some DNA evidence of your attacker to present to law enforcement. These are metal, these are heavy, these are durable. I've been using them for a long time.

Speaker 1:

The idea is having something with you that you can use Now. It starts out as fitting in the console of the car. It just works out quite nicely. It can be even attached to your car keys. The car keys always come with me when I come out of the car, non-negotiable. And the idea is you've got something that you're going to need Now. Small little things are good to have In addition to the flashlight, one of the things I kept was a whistle, a little metal whistle.

Speaker 1:

It's gosh awful loud, trust me. Yeah, you're not. You can stand in the middle of the field or in the middle of downtown parking lots and attract quite a lot of attention with one of these. It's metal. Of course it comes with a key ring. Everything comes with a key ring and you can travel easily with you.

Speaker 1:

What else do we have in there? We have a compass. If you don't know how to use a compass, or it's been so many years you've forgotten, spend 20 bucks. Take a class. I know REI has a good program on using topographical maps, reading a compass. I have seen people who can't use a car map. You unwrap the map from the gas station and where's Roseburg? That's kind of frightening, but that's the generation we live in. The cell tower goes down, the phone doesn't work, you're in a no-service area. Gps is just a set of letters.

Speaker 1:

One thing that was in the little magic box was a fire starter. Now I think that gentleman who wandered off and got disoriented and wandered off into a snow, well, probably either had a lighter or something to start a fire with. This is a rod ferro. I believe they call it ferrocyte rod and it comes with a scrapey thing and for some reason, every one of these little scrapey things I don't know if you can see it has a measuring unit on it. It's measured like this one goes to yeah, this has got two inches and it's in inches and in millimeters Always important when you're out there sparking up a fire. What you need to know about a fire rod like these notice it's black. When I first got one nine years ago I hadn't used one since the Boy Scouts and I forgot. They come coated. This is black for a purpose. It's coated with some material. So if you take your little scrapey scrapey and you try to give it a good, healthy scrape I've been at this enough you might get a little, but until you scrape off the paint you get nothing what you want to do. And let's see if I can come to an area. Here we go, there we go and scrape off and now you're in a position to make fire.

Speaker 1:

When we're looking at lights again, top of the food chain is this thing. It is like the old six cell D police lights. This thing is huge, it's a monster, it's heavy, it's got a lot of light. You can land an aircraft with this. Quite seriously, this thing goes up to like a gazillion candle power. It's almost a lightsaber. It's incredible the good thing about this.

Speaker 1:

And it is rechargeable. It does not have batteries inside. You recharge it by sliding a little port, plugging it in to a power source usually a USB type power source which works for a power generator or put it in your car while you're driving, keep it topped off. This thing also has the ability if the head of the light gets damaged, if for some reason the light's ruined, you can't use it. You don't have to throw it out. All of the power that's stored in the handle can be used by sliding down and there's a little power port in there. That means you can charge a cell phone, you can charge an emergency light, you can charge another item, another self, another flashlight. You can charge any number of things by using the handle. So it gives dual ability to this.

Speaker 1:

So whether you're looking at flashlights, which I think are vital, especially now coming out of the winter and days are getting longer, it's not so much, but all winter long, I had at least one flashlight with me and in my bug out bag. One is none and two is one. It's an old saying you're going to lose it. You can't find it. Where'd it go? I know where another one is. We'll talk about how to organize your bug out bag at the next meeting.

Speaker 1:

So, looking at lights, there's all kinds to have. The point is think small, what can you have in my little box, my little console box that I have? You can buy the boxes and this is what we recommend. I don't recommend buying kits pre-made. I would show you where to find those boxes and make suggestions of what I might put in them. What you're going to put in them are going to be totally different.

Speaker 1:

The trick is being prepared, and I mentioned at the top of the program and I'm going to mention it again, the window is closing on getting prepared the program, and I'm going to mention it again, the window is closing on getting prepared. You need to start looking at food that you can store now, because it's already starting to get thin on some of the shelves. You need to look at medical supplies, simple things like gauze, learn how to roll bandages, learn how to stop bleeding, all the things we've talked about. Tomorrow is not the day to begin. Today is the day to begin. There's just enough going on. If you've got your hat on and your eyes forward, you can see things are going. Things are not going to change. Things are changing right now and it is your responsibility to be your own first responder. It is my responsibility to be my own first responder Until professional help gets there. Absolutely, and I love our first responders.

Speaker 1:

I am not in any way, shape or form, dogging them or throwing shade on them. I am saying that there is just not enough help to go around. Used to be 24 hours, 72 hours, your little backpack full of granola bars. Now, a month, you and your family need to be prepared for at least one month of help. Self-sufficiency, food, water, medicine, defense, all of those things. So as a part of that, I am kicking off my bug-out bag classes.

Speaker 1:

Bug-out bag without a plan is just a backpack you take for a walk. Bug-out bags are the very, very first step. It's what you get to thinking about. We start thinking, hmm, yeah, and it is a rabbit hole, it is a lot of work. A lot of people tell me oh well, yeah, I've got my bug out bag. Look over there. There, it is Lovely, isn't it? What's in it? What do you mean? Is it a winter bag or a summer bag? Huh, what's in the car to support it? We need to plan and that's what I want to talk about at these courses I'm offering, I'm going to be sharing them. We have and I talked about this last time building a bug out bag in case you have to leave your home, about staying at home in case you bunk in and have to hunker down in an emergency On the road.

Speaker 1:

If you're in the car and something happens, what are you going to do at work A work situation, especially if you're younger and you have children. Your spouse is at one site. I know most of my friends when I was in that situation. Both partners worked. I know most of my friends when I was in that situation both partners worked. Sometimes one stayed at home, one didn't, but very often today, with the economy, folks are both working and if you have little ones, they're at daycare or childcare or school. And now something happens an earthquake, a fire, an insurrection, whatever it's going to be.

Speaker 1:

You've got three very valuable parts of your family in three different spots. You need to rehearse it. You need to think about it today. What are you going to do if I work at this location. You work at that location, the school's over here. What's the quickest way especially if there's disruptions to get from point A to point B? If you're old enough to drive, it should be in your car.

Speaker 1:

Have a charged cell phone, a cell phone charger Information. What's my insurance number? How do I reach my mom and dad? Where's my meeting point? Have a code word. I cannot tell you the importance. When my son was at school, he was actually approached by somebody who said hey, my dad sent you, your dad sent me to pick you up. What's the code word? Huh, what's the code word? Well, this is serious stuff.

Speaker 1:

So when you have young ones, let's talk about how to prepare them. Make them a part of the discussion, Make them a part of the solution. Everybody gets to carry something. It makes you feel engaged. So those are the type of things we're going to be talking about in the classes. I'm going to start offering those almost immediately. I'll have a number up there and an email address and it is on the website. When you go to our website, it is there under the classes listing. It's at the very bottom of the page and as part of those classes, when you're planning, let's say you've decided. I'm going to stay home, we're going to bunker down, we're going to stay in the house. We offer home defense how to defend your home.

Speaker 1:

Some people are not interested in getting involved in firearms. I respect that. We have non-ballistic self-defense. We talk about personal awareness, avoiding ways like whistles and like pepper spray. If you don't want to resort to firearms. If you do, using them safely, professionally and lawfully is very, very important, even in a disaster. So let's look at the bug-out bag classes and how those classes connect to the other things that we offer, all the way from basic pistol, non-ballistic, all the way up to tactical and self-defense courses.

Speaker 1:

One other thing Jackson County Alerts sent out a note yesterday that they have been merged with Josephine County and now recently split. So if you're signed up for Jackson County Alerts, go back in and they'll ask you for a password. You have to kind of re-register and reconfirm, and that's a good thing. Make sure they're not wasting their resources and that will give you more localized coverage in an emergency. If you have not used Jackson County Alerts, I recommend it. It's part of the county's website. I'm going to put that link up. You'll probably see it floating over. Yeah, probably over there, you'll see it over there, and it's a good thing. And the best part about it it floating over. Yeah, probably over there, you'll see it over there, and it's a good thing. And the best part about it it's free.

Speaker 1:

A reminder that classes, with the days getting longer, classes are going to start filling. It's going to stop being cold and rainy, which if you have an outdoor class. There's really no such thing as bad weather, just poor choices in clothing. So now, with the weather getting better, the days getting longer, the classes are going to start filling. Get gift certificates, get signed up for a class, even if it's two months down the road. Make sure you don't end up with a ooh, it's full at the last minute.

Speaker 1:

And start talking to your family about prepping. Have a good long talk with your significant other. I am blessed that I have someone who is equally as intelligent and passionate about this as I am. I have seen some homes in which one partner is very much for it, the other partner thinks it's wasteful and silly, and those are the ones you see on the TV news looking pretty unhappy. Okay, that's it for this time. I'm going to remind you that starting small, something as small as on your key ring or a small flashlight or a really big flashlight. Look at what it's going to do for you, look at the job it's meant to do. Look at what it can provide for you. So that's it for this time. We'll have more next week and I'm looking forward to seeing you out at the range at a class in the near future. This is interesting. I'm going to use a different background every week. If you have a suggestion, drop me a line. Okay, be safe, take care.

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Bill Bateman

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