A fight bag (or Ops Bag) is basically a small backpack that is packed with survival essentials to get you back to safety alive.
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What to Pack
When it comes to getting home alive, you're going to want to focus on the basic essentials for survival and that is:
- Food
- Water
- Fire
- Shelter
While it is best to have backups for each of these, you need to find ways to do it in a way that doesn't weigh down your pack.
Food
Obviously food is going to be a pretty easy function to cover for your fight bag. You're not going to need much. A bag of freeze-dried food or deer jerky should be sufficient to keep you alive until you can forage, plunder or reach safety.
Not to mention that you don't want to forget about your fire-starting tools. Dryer lint, flint stick and matches are a good start.
Water
Have you ever gone very long without water? Did you know that you can't go longer than 3 days without it? If you don't have a back up for anything else, make sure you have one for water.
As an example, I have both a camel pack and a water filtration straw in my fight bag to ensure I've at least got enough water to make it to safety/resupply.
Fire
Next to water, fire is a pretty important feature (especially if it is cold outside.) This accounts for the thin board that I have in the very back of my fight bag.
Furthermore, it doubles as a barrier between my back and the items in my fight bag to prevent discomfort while wearing.
Shelter
Again, you are going for light here. A sturdy poncho will be your best bet. Especially since you can double it as a rain cover while traveling.
Another beneficial thing about a poncho is that you can use it to evade track dogs. You can learn more about that from an article I've written on it here.
Communications
Have you forgotten your communications system? If you're in a position where you need your fight bag to get you home, then chances are very high that you're going to want to radio for help as well.
This is why I keep a Flex-j in my fight bag. It will broaden my radio range so that I can call out farther for help.
Leave Space in Your Fight Bag
One thing that a lot of people don't think about when they pack their fight bag (or Ops bag) is to leave some space in it.
This is because it enables you to have room in your fight bag to add items that you come across along the way.
For example, say that you passed or had to take out a fallen enemy. You're going to want to take what you can from him before you move on. This is especially helpful if you find something like a grenade.
Will You Be One Of The Few?
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