Scenario Game: Get home from the city

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  • systemmaster

    Active Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 31, 2009
    204
    Lost
    I'd like to start a game I saw years ago. You start with a scenario and an image. From the image you pick what tools you would use to accomplish the task to complete the scenario. No changing the scenario or adding items to use. Read the scenario thoroughly before deciding what item to take and how to complete the scenario. Critical thinking skills are the goal here.

    Scenario: Get home from the city

    You work downtown in a major metropolitan city and commute to work from the suburbs. You travel via midsize SUV on an elevated expressway that runs through the center of the city. You work 20 miles from where you live and your commute is normally 30-45 minutes depending on traffic which can be heavy.

    You work in a high rise downtown and wear business attire (e.g. suit/shirt and tie) to work. You park in an underground parking garage under your building and work on the tenth floor. Your building, and much of the city, have been experiencing brownouts as a result of a summer heat wave.

    You leave work on a mid summer Friday evening at 6:00 pm. The current temperature is 85 degrees with high humidity. At 6:10 pm, three miles from work, you are stopped in heavy traffic on the expressway near an on ramp. You are stopped at a stand still for 15 minutes. All lanes are full, the on ramp adjacent to you is backed up and the shoulder is closed due to construction.

    You check Waze to see what is causing the traffic to be stopped. There are no accidents reported in the area and no planned road closures due to the construction. After another 15 minutes you hear breaking news on the radio that a planned peaceful protest has turned violent near the city center. Police have been deployed to various locations where the violence is occurring and started to use tear gas.

    As the news continues to provide information about the ongoing unrest you start to see several people walking up the on ramp and towards the vehicles stopped ahead of you. They don't appear to be coming from the stopped vehicles. As you look ahead you see a large group of people start to smash the windows of the vehicles stopped ahead of you. The group starts to pull people out of their vehicles and assault them without provocation. The group is at least 50+ strong, 100 yards from your vehicle, and closing in quickly.

    At 6:45 pm you make the decision to bug out from your vehicle. On your person you have your wallet (or purse) with ID, credit/debit cards, some miscellaneous cards and $50 cash. You have your cell phone with 50% battery remaining. Nothing else on your person.

    You have enough time to grab three (3) times out of your vehicle and go. Assume all items are full/charged and in good working order.



    List of items:
    Gym bag (contains shorts, t-shirt, socks, athletic shoes, empty shaker bottle with protein powder in separate compartment)

    Blow out kit (contains gloves, CPR mask, EMT shears, Sharpie, duck tape, CAT tourniquet, TK4 tourniquet, Israeli bandage, homeostatic bandage, gauze, chest seal, nasal airway)

    Tarp (6'x8')

    Battery with charging cable (set)

    N95 mask with hand sanitizer (set)

    3L water in container

    2" Ball hitch

    Hitch wrench

    Folding knife

    Tactical flashlight

    Pepper spray

    Tire iron

    Tool bag (contains work gloves, jumper cables, zip ties, chem lights, various hand tools)

    Roll of paper towels

    Road flares (6)

    Flex cuffs

    Folding surplus military shovel

    Do you bug out to home or work?

    What three (3) items do you grab and why?
     
    Last edited:
    I work in Baltimore City and live 8 miles away.
    I keep a get home bag in my trunk with seasonal change outs. My get home bag already contains the necessities for a 20 mile hike in adverse conditions- weather and social.
    Canned coconut water is a great thing to keep in your car. It provides: hydration, carbs and electrolytes. My get home bag contains (2) 16oz cans of coconut water and (2) 16oz bottles of water, along with ~2000 calories of protein and carbs.
     

    OldBay

    Member
    Apr 26, 2020
    35
    MD
    Gym bag, water, knife. Get off the highway and change into shorts and shoes, then start running home. I can easily cover 17 miles (obvi with adrenaline) in ~3 hours, so be home by dusk without need for flashlight. The knife is assuming I need to defend myself.
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,282
    HoCo
    I'd say duffel bag to blend in. Tarp to hide, No water, cause if Dehydration is that much of a risk, I don't think 6oz of water will make enough of a difference (I may be wrong).
    The idea is to flee, not fight. Highly unlikely to survive a fight cause your likely to be outgunned or outnumbered.
    I don't think your goal is to get home right away either, its to get to someplace safe for the night until you can secure safe transportation home. Once you are someplace safe, stick it out to the morning cause the mob will be passed out by then. Getting home the next morning is still getting home.
    That being said for my third item, Pepper spray can be used to increase probability of flight.
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,282
    HoCo
    OP said 3L/101 oz. No matter where you go, that water will come in handy if you do have to travel. It is summertime...

    ok, I was referring back to that photo that looked like a small 6oz bottle.

    My thought is I have an hour or two to find a place to shelter for the night. That could be my work.
    Don't think I need water for that. Plus I'm not in the desert, I'm in the city. There is a probability of acquiring water. I'll take my chances with dehydration in favor of ability to blend in, hide and flee.
     

    BigT

    Large Member
    Dec 20, 2011
    285
    Hagerstown area
    Scenario: Get home from the city

    At 6:45 pm you make the decision to bug out from your vehicle. On your person you have your wallet (or purse) with ID, credit/debit cards, some miscellaneous cards and $50 cash. You have your cell phone with 50% battery remaining. Nothing else on your person.

    You have enough time to grab three (3) times out of your vehicle and go. Assume all items are full/charged and in good working order.


    List of items:
    Gym bag (contains shorts, t-shirt, socks, athletic shoes, empty shaker bottle with protein powder in separate compartment)

    Pepper spray

    Tactical flashlight

    Do you bug out to home or work?

    What three (3) items do you grab and why?


    To be clear - I'd never be stuck in the city again.. Nor would my pockets be so "empty"...

    I'd grab the following items and head back to the office and wait out the madness. In my offices I've always kept a decent cache of items that I could use for the journey home when the time is right.. Office would have water, shelter, food, etc.. And I'd have keys to get in.. Lock it up and stay safe..

    I'd take the gym bag so I could change into more comfortable clothing and hopefully blend into the surroundings and hopefully not stand out too much.

    Pepper Spray easily concealed and you can "appear" to be non-threatening. Use it as a stand off weapon - spray the threat and get moving... Keep moving...

    Flashlight also easily concealed, can be used to momentarily blind (especially on strobe function) while "the event" occurs during daylight, on the trip back to the office, the light can be held in your fist when striking or used as a small kubotan if the fight is in close.. After dark the effects are even more important..
     

    randomuser

    Ultimate Member
    Nov 12, 2018
    5,778
    Baltimore County
    And people think that running is worthless. If you can run 20 miles (even if you go really slow) you can get away from most any mob. Running lets you catch someone who is trying to get away and get away from someone trying to catch you. People hate on running because it's work, but it is an underrated skill.

    gym bag
    3l water
    hitch wrentch or pepper spray, tbh, pepper spray would most likely be best even though of limited supply as I'd be on the move and want to be light. Instead of fighting a quick spray and keep moving. You don't need to win a fight, you just gotta be able to get away from it.
    and run home far ahead of any mob.
     

    Alea Jacta Est

    Extinguished member
    MDS Supporter
    If you work in the city and EVER think you might be stuck there or traveling thru...FOUR WAY SILLCOCK KEY is a must.

    I’d take:

    Water. Drink as much as you can hold immediately. Save container and carry it in...

    Gym bag, etc. you can put a rock or whatever in a sock and fashion a weapon. The protein powder and container are golden. Change of clothes to summer garb important. The comfy shoes are key. I’d likely change as quick as I had an opportunity...away from the car. The bag itself will come in handy if you find or pilfer Critical stuff. Keep your street clothes. Ditch the work shoes.

    Knife. Because I’d feel naked without a knife at hand. Tool or weapon...more likely tool here because crowds of denizens won’t respect a guy in gym shorts brandishing a knife...

    Summer time suggests at almost 1900 that you might have at best two hours more light. Hot and humid suggests the remaining distance home might be achievable but...how well do you know the city streets off the highway? Well enough to handrail and get back up on highway at some point or handrail the rest of the way home. Also begs the question of your level of fitness. If you’re fit, heading home might be a good call. If I was fit and knew the handrail options, I’d get off the highway by going back the way I came til I felt safe to get Down off the highway. If I wasn’t fit, then I’d almost certainly head back to the office. The office building itself has plenty of water in the piping system. If power is out, is water out? If so, drain by gravity, from a lower level into your container and voila, you’re gtg. Likely vending machines a plenty so you won’t starve. The “event” could be short or long. If short, you’ll have other opportunities. If protracted, you’ll need to figure a plan b. That’s much better done when you ain’t in the dark, on the streets and pumped full of adrenaline...

    Flashlight is a distraction among the choices. Your eyes will adjust to whatever level of light there is. Potential weapons among the choices are also red herrings. You’re not going to successfully defend yourself against a crowd with anything there. Shovel in the city Ain’t a tool, it’s a wannabe weapon. Was it winter, I’d find the tarp more attractive. Flares had potential for creating distractions or as a weapon but, meh. Medical kit was hardest to say no to...the shears, duct tape, sharpie and tourniquet would have been stripped out and put in the gym bag but sometimes, less is more and in this scenario, that’s my call on this choice.

    Fitness is king here. That and local road knowledge would drive my decision on which way to go... “Unrest” being nominal OR widespread would also Strongly affect my decision.
     

    smokey

    2A TEACHER
    Jan 31, 2008
    31,412
    I'm going to pull a kobayashi maru and say that what I typically have with me would get me out of that situation just fine.
     

    cstone

    Active Member
    Dec 12, 2018
    842
    Baltimore, MD
    Gym bag, 3L water, e-tool. I would head back to work in the knowledge that I have additional items I may need stashed away as well as familiarity with how best to defend a bunker position till morning. I would presumably have a charger for my phone and the ability to monitor the situation in the city while at my office as well as contact anyone outside that could come for me if I needed an extraction. At first light in the morning, I could go back and check on my vehicle in the hopes that it was still there and functional. Even in some of the worst urban rioting in the US, mornings are some of the most calm and least threatening times for movement. If my vehicle was missing or burned out, I could contact my insurance company, call a Lyft/Uber, or ride public transit to a point closer to home where I could then walk or be picked up by a family member without putting them at risk of coming into the city.

    Be safe.
     

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