The Battle Bag:
A Battle Bag differs from a Bug Out Bag in that the Battle Bag also has to carry fighting supplies. What goes into your Battle Bag is dependent on your primary weapon, secondary weapon (handgun), whether or not you have a vest to carry other gear (armored or otherwise) and whether or not you intend to wear a gun belt. Lots of folks who legally carry a handgun strap a holster to their pants belt, but that is much different from wearing a gun belt. Just like the cowboys (if not accurately portrayed) made famous in the movies, a gun belt carries the gun, extra ammo, and other items such as a knife.

My Remington 870 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. Note the side-saddle shotshell holder. Between that and the 7-round capacity of the weapon, I've got 13 rounds of 12-gauge 00 ammo immediately available. The flashlight incorporated into the fore end uses the same batteries as all my other lights.

In the previous section on Bug Out Bags I displayed two pictures that showed my normal Daily Carry items, and the additions for Bug Out. This picture shows what that collection looks like with the final additions of Battle Bag supplied items.

My Battle Bag was built around my answers to those considerations. My primary weapon is a modified Remington 870 pump action 12-gauge shotgun. My secondary weapon is a Glock Model 19 9mm pistol. I do have an armored vest equipped to carry other equipment and I do have a dedicated gun belt (these things happen when you're a cop). The shotgun is a common weapon and 12-gauge ammo is easy to find in good quantities at reasonable prices all over the country. The armored vest can easily be replaced by a simply equipment bearing vest, and these are available in styles that can be completely customized to your needs. Even if you're not a police officer, I'd encourage you to purchase and equip a gun belt to keep with your Battle Bag should you decide to put one together. After you read through everything that is in my bag, on my vest, and on my gun belt, you'll see why having the dedicated items makes it easy to grab one handle and go, fully equipped.

As I said, the Battle Bag has to carry fighting supplies on top of the survival items listed for a Bug Out Bag, so it has to be bigger. My Bug Out Bag is a Force 5 Hydration System / Backpack from HydraStorm, a part of the BlackHawk family. My Battle Bag is the CamelBak BFM: a larger pack that also incorporates a hydration system. (Have you gotten the hint yet that I believe in having water along?)

The CamelBak BFM allows for plenty of storage space. It's available in multiple colors to include black, OD green, woodland camo and desert camo.

In addition to all those items recommended for a Bug Out Bag, I've added the following items into - or attached to - my Battle Bag:

My Kevlar helmet. This is a standard military surplus Kevlar helmet made to stop small arms fire and fragmentation material. The suspension system that supports this on your head, and secures it via a chinstrap, is usually very uncomfortable. To alleviate that issue, it's required that you get an adjustable fit headband that fits inside of the helmet and attaches to the suspension webbing already in place. Once you've adjusted the headband to fit your head, you need to find a piece of closed-cell padding and cut a "donut". Yep, cut yourself a piece about five inches in diameter with a one-inch hole in the middle. Use double-sided tape or Crazy Glue and attached that padding to the top center of the suspension system. Once that's in place, put the helmet on and adjust the chinstrap to be snug but not binding. If you don't want to spend the funds to get a Kevlar helmet, find a sports shop and get a skateboarding or rock-climbing helmet. When you start trying to figure out what you should spend, ask yourself this question: What's my head worth to me? Spend accordingly.

I also have a military surplus M17A1 Protective or "Gas" Mask. I keep an extra set of filters and an extra set of lenses available for it. The mask is kept inside of its carry pouch that I can attach to the left side of my gun belt in about thirty seconds. I don't leave it attached to my gun belt because I sometimes have to wear the gun belt for work - and wearing the protective mask all the time would attract critical attention. One thing that I made sure to have in this regard is an adaptor that allows me to drink from my hydration system without having to take off the protective mask. The adaptor is nothing more than a piece that replaces the bite-valve on the drinking tube of the hydration system and then plugs into the drinking tube of the protective mask.

I keep two pair of gloves in my Battle Bag, in an outside pocket that is easily accessible. I can't really explain why there are two pair. Often, due to circumstances, I feel like one pair is more desirable than the other. One is a pair of Hellstorm S.O.L.A.G. Gloves. These are excellent gloves for shooting, rappelling, etc. The other is a pair of Armor Skin Kevlar lined protective gloves. They too are excellent for shooting, but they are the pair I prefer if I have to put my hands on people for anything. With the Kevlar lining they have, they offer some protection from cuts or slashes.

Speaking of climbing, I have six locking "D-rings" or carabineers attached to the outside of the Battle Bag. One thing I don't currently have in my bag that I would recommend to everyone is a piece of ½" (or better) rope; a length anywhere from twelve to twenty-five feet. With a piece that is only twelve feet long and the proper training, you can tie a "swiss seat", which is essentially an emergency rappel harness. Longer pieces come in handy but are difficult to use for tying a swiss seat. Some folks I know wear a rigger's belt: it's a heavy-duty nylon belt that is closed by D-ring overlaps and Velcro. It also has an emergency D-ring built in for rappelling use.

I also have a pair of elbow pads and kneepads in there. The all neoprene pads are also from Hellstorm, part of the BlackHawk Products Group. I prefer the softer neoprene to the hard-shell polycarbonate pads that some folks like. This is purely a matter of preference. For me, the neoprene pads stay in place on my legs / arms better. The down side is that they don't offer as much protection against sharp objects that might be protruding from whatever surface you're crawling or kneeling on.

A final piece of safety gear that I have in my Battle Bag is a pair of goggles. There are many manufacturers of protective eyewear, and what model / style you select is going to be based on your own needs. I've been wearing glasses for most of my life, and although I mostly wear contacts now, I wanted to make sure I had a pair of goggles that I could put over glasses if I needed to. If you don't have that concern, you can wear more streamlined eyewear to keep grit, dirt, sand, shrapnel, etc out of your eyes. I would recommend, if you invest in a set of protective eyewear of any kind, that you find something that has at least a minimal ballistic rating. Just like the question about your head with helmets: what are your eyes worth to you?

What remains in my Battle Bag is extra ammo, and the shoulder, neck and groin armor attachments to go on my vest. Because I have selected an armored vest, but because I don't often need the full coverage provided by all those attachments (which detract from the overall comfort level), but also because I don't ever want to need them and not have them, I keep them in my Battle Bag. For extra ammo I have two 25-round boxes of 12-gauge ammo, and two 50-round boxes of 9mm ammo. As you'll see reading through what follows about my vest and gun belt, that 100 rounds of 9mm ammo brings my total ammo count to 184 rounds for my handgun. With the additional 50 rounds of 12 gauge, what's on the vest, and what's in / on the shotgun, I've got 82 shotgun rounds. If I were to select an AR-15 or other rifle as my primary weapon, the round count would be much higher. The shotgun is primarily a close-range weapon, and it's devastating when used as such. However, not all that shotgun ammo is for fighting people. One of those 25-round boxes has shells with assorted sizes of shot. Remember that we're talking about survival here too. With five rounds each of say, 4-shot, 7-shot, 9-shot and 12-shot, I've got a decent amount of game hunting ammo available too. Something to think about.

Everything else that I consider necessary to go out my door to a fight / battle, is on my vest or gun belt. For the purposes of this article, I'm simply going to list what goes on which:

On the vest I have:
- A hydration system
- Radio Pouch
- Double pistol magazine pouch
- Large Pouch for OC Canister
- Handcuff pouch that holds two pair of handcuffs
- Shotshell pouch that holds 19 rounds of 12 gauge ammo
- Fixed blade knife mounted center for ease of draw with either hand

On my gun belt are:
- Tactical Thigh Holster for gun
- Double pistol magazine pouch
- Handcuff pouch that holds one pair of handcuffs
- Pouch for small OC canister
- ASP collapsible baton in locked sheath / holster
- Two flashlights: one 3-cell and one 2-cell as backup.

The way I have everything put together, the Battle Bag is full and sits upright. The vest wraps around and over it, with the Bag's handle sticking out the neck opening of the vest. The gun belt wraps around the top slotted through the vest arm openings and the Bag shoulder straps, effectively making them one unit to pick up. The helmet chinstrap is wrapped through some of the webbing on the vest and snapped shut. What I get is one unit that I can pick up by the handle on the Battle Bag as I'm going out the door. If I have the time to "suit up" before I leave, I pull off the gun belt to put it on quick. The helmet comes off the vest, the vest goes over my head, Velcro straps get pushed down, and I'm good to grab the bag and helmet and go out the door. The one thing I don't currently have that I need is a sling on my shotgun. There just aren't enough hands on a human being to always be holding a long gun and still deal with daily or fight-related tasks.

As a final note, you should recognize that all of these Bags need maintenance. Any gun that you are going to depend on for defense or fighting should be stripped and cleaned at least once a month. The ammo you have in your magazines should be rotated annually so that you always have relatively fresh ammo in your weapons (it's also a great excuse to have to go to the range and shoot). All of the bladders in whatever hydration system(s) you have need to be rinsed and dried quarterly (if not monthly). If you're going to keep them full, rotate the water weekly. This is one of the biggest challenges facing most people. If you keep them empty, will you have time to fill them before you have to leave? It's a five or ten minute delay. If you leave them full, you're going to spend fifteen to thirty minutes every week keeping them fresh. The determination you make will be based on what level of surrounding potential threat you perceive for yourself and just how fast you expect to have to bug out.