The Survival Go Binder

By Joseph Parish

Okay, the moment has arrive when you hastily grab up your family members and pop them into the SUV or bug out vehicle to get abruptly out of town. This time its for real, it isn’t a practice exercise but the Real McCoy.

In moments such as these when a person is being rushed they undoubtedly forget important objects or documents that are critical for future survival purposes. Junior runs in one direction looking for personal effects that he really should have had all ready to go while sis is abruptly searching for lost items that she too has put off locating previously. Mom is hurriedly stuffing last minute items into a waiting nearby tote while I am loading everything into our bug out vehicle. This episode is nothing short of a picture in total confusion.

When the notice of evacuation for your location is released it is entirely too late to initiate your preparation procedures. These preliminary preparations should have been concluded and ready several months ago but for some reason human nature as it is always puts things off. In this case it is way too late. The words on everyone’s lips are, “Where can we start?”

Let’s back up this scenario a moment to several months in the past before being instructed to depart our home by the authorities. Most of our preparations can be accomplished easily and without undo stress if and only if they are done ahead of time. One vital item which I have constructed is what I refer to as a “Go Binder”. To me this notebook is as much of a necessity as would be my car keys or the food we load up to take with us. For adequate family preparations this is the first item we should be grabbing.

In the military we had Standard Operating Procedures which related to most emergencies that we would encounter. In the same respect this binder will have within its pages loads of instructions for dealing with various emergency conditions and related information. There are several sections of this binder. The first section contains copies of any important papers which may be necessary and thus should go with us. By placing these important documents in one central location they are always available when they are required. No longer will someone in the family need to rush around the home looking for insurance papers, birth certificates, etc. You can find them all in your emergency Go Binder.

The second part of the binder consists of checklists. Here I keep checklists for vehicle bug out bags, BOV Checkout and Inspection reports, etc. There are inventory sheets that show our current food supplies as well as lists of contents for our first aid kits, etc. These are very important listings and serve a legitimate purpose.

Lastly is our log of activities. In this log we have previously documented our exercises which we have completed and what mistakes we discovered and as well as what actions have been accomplished since to correct the found problems. You can also include any miscellaneous information in this section of the binder.

To create your own emergency Go Binder” start with a 2 inch thick three ring binder, some index tabs and your scanner. For the checklists, I employ document protectors so that I can write on them and reuse the lists over and over. Here is a start to get you going:

* A list of your credit card numbers and contact addresses at the companies who issued them and any banks you may have accounts at

* Titles for your cars, trucks, boats or homes

* A copy of both your wife’s and you own will

* Photocopies of all your insurance policies

* Contact list containing names, addresses and telephone numbers of relatives and friends

* Copies of marriage licenses, birth certificates and drivers licenses

* A serial number list of all your firearms and a copy of your CCW permit

* Custody papers if applicable

* Photos of family members

* Passports

* Health insurance cards and Medical records for all members of the family

* Immunization records as well as contact information for doctors

Each “Go Binder” will be personalized for your family and yourself but these hints will get you started.

Copyright @ 2010 Joseph Parish

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