You could be like Drew and Josh over at Dirty Civilian and keep a whole entire IBC tank in your garage.
I’ll try to answer this the best i can.. i hope im understanding the exercise you’re wanting us to discuss.
this has changed drastically for me in the last 7-8 years since ive been sick. before this, I would have answered much differently i think.
First line. Since im mostly at home these days, Im going to run it as if i am in fact here, and at night in bed. My first line is my nightstand pistol or bedside 12 guage mossberg persuader. If i have enough time, im grabbing the shotty, but if its a rush situation, im grabbing the 1911, and then attempting to clear/retake my home. At night, everything other than my mother in law that is living is with me in my bedroom. I would usually have more time than not, because the dogs would be the first true line. not just for alert but for defense as well. they do not take kindly to folks who come in alone. this then permits me to answer the call with my shotgun and putting my 1911 on me as well. between the animals and my guns, I should be set pretty well to survive an intruder.
flip the script though. First line isnt now an intruder.. its a weather event of some extremity. well again, im at home, so i can kit up how i wish, this would probably mean my battle belt, and a rifle of my choosing. Perhaps a Jakl, my scar 17, or my ddm4v11, or my 300blk pistol. on the belt would reside any one of my glocks, or Daggers, or sigs. in a perfect worldi’d probaly run with my m11a1 sig.
Flip it again, this time its a political and societal collapse. same basic defense setup as weather event, the rifle choice which i forgot to mention above would be based upon perceived need of the situation. the scar for instance would be distance. the ddm4 would be fore 500y -300 yards and closer.. and the pistol ar/ jakls would be for cqb to 300yards.. give or take. in my mind.. being at home again, i can modify as long as i have the option to step away from the defensive parameter that i would form with my neighbors in our shut off cul-de-sac. we’d also be organizing with the other capable neighbors.
beforei became physically unable, i was more of a wanna be prepper than anything. i tend to buy a lot of bottled water and canned goods to rotate monthly in bulk. i keep surplus bulk items all the time of simple supplies that are needed.. The biggest issues id have with my gear, is the fact i am medication dependent now.. and to an extent, electric dependent too. In the best scenario i could ween myself off the meds with little to no issues, and then its just a ticking clock before the cancer gets me in the end. thats long term hopefully so i wouldnt go anywhere from that.. but rather more so from MZB’s who would be ranging out and taking from those of us who have, because they didnt and they had all banded together to steal and kill to get whatever they can.
ok ive kinda rambled but i also dont like explaining all gear i may or may not have.. so i just did a brief overview of some basic defensive tools.
Its been great so far only had it out about 3 times but put 30 or so slugs through it, has great sights and is just really well constructed and balanced. Had to man up a bit and only used 2-3/4 rounds so far 
It is light enough to let you know it went boom.
And it’s blue 
Nonono—this is a great response! The question was intentionally pretty open-ended, and I think you nailed the spirit of it.
I really appreciate the outline, and the point about our neighbors not just being friends but assets is a powerful one. I know a pharmacist, and he told me that when things really get bent outta shape, people will often come in to “stock up” on maintenance meds while the pharmacy is offline. Makes sense from a survival standpoint—and honestly, insurance usually damages out most of the stock anyway, especially refrigerated meds.
I see people joke online sometimes that their disaster plan is to just wander around and “liberate” whatever their neighbors have—by force if necessary. That’s not just a bad strategy, it’s a quick way to get yourself removed from the gene pool. I always hope they’re just trying to be edgy online.
I think I really botched the wording of my question. I wasn’t asking folks “What do you own that fills all these roles,” but rather “What would you want to have (whether you have it or not), and what would you prioritize in a given situation?” It’s partially a gear question, sure—but your mindset and approach are exactly what I was looking for.
This was a great answer and greatly appreciated—thanks for sharing it!
Haah exactly it does remind me of WWII ship camo! It was 1 of 2500 or 3500 built by Berretta.
ok cool. thanks.
yea, especially since my area has a good number of previous military that have seen action.. one neighbor is a marine sniper, and i know i cna count on him too.. we’d have our a.o. pretty squared i would think.. if i could physically survive due to my health, i’d be ok i think due to the external support.
my wife is a pharmacist technician, and shes said the same mostly. sadly the meds i need are schedule 1, and usually they dont have enough in stock anywhere normally they usually have to make special orders for my needs. and theres about 8 meds i would need totally. so who knows.
yeah im sure many would, and you think it would be a bad strategy, but honestly, quantity over quality here, you get a gang of MZB’s of say 200 against the 10 of my neighbors, well it would be quite messy. and without having reinforced the ingress /egresses that folks would come from, we’d be overran just by throwing everyone at us at once. yeah you can full auto them down, but some would get through im sure. so theres that.. .and you’d be surprised what folks would do when they’re hungry and have nothing to loose. its actually quite scary.
well regarding what i would want to have.. .mostly is My health. thats #1, but since thats now unrealistic, i think i outlined some of the weapons for home based scenarios that id want to have. i could have been much more detailed, but again, i dont like putting alot of stuff online. even if i dont have it.
prioritizng what i’d have to have in a tier 1 situation, is :
- my immediate family that lives with me or around the corner.
- my dogs.
- my home due to its having been a storage facility for me regarding supplies for everything, food, weapons, shelter, clothing, water, secure location to sleep, etc.
- my truck, as its a dependable vehicle that is big enough to get thru small blockages, but small enough to park and manuever decently. and good enough on fuel to drive distances without having to worry on fuel for just about anything in the immediate SC area that i would think i need. plus its good for hauling anything i or my family/ defense team could scavenge and bring back to the complex.
- now we move into other things like desires : medicines from a open pharmacy, including many item sfor simple antibiotic things.. to help keep you healthy. when you have no society you would be surprised how much penacillin can help you and your people survive. A form of Reloding for the weapons we have.
I could go on with things that i’d want to have but the list would be absurd in length. lol
thanks gald you liked the answer.
Unfathomably Based.
Before the boating accident, I had enough guns and ammo to make a stand of it. Sadly I’m like GamecockOperator and am on a lot of meds, probably some of the same ones if he’s taking schedule 1 meds. I never have a large amount of those handy as they won’t fill more than a month at a time. I recently bought a couple of cases of MREs that my wife rolls her eyes at, but I like having a few days worth of portable food, for the family. The last thing I want is a plate carrier setup, but she would seriously roll her eyes, if not my head, at that. Besides, with my back being the way it is I couldn’t do much while wearing it, so not sure if it’s worth it.
yeah, most likely, and exactly on the fills. sucks.
i had those too, and got the same response.. plus over time they expired, so i got rid.
exactly, same. so not worth it. i probably couldtn even put it on much less lift it.
Just excited to get the question answered 
Wow. I was going to say that the safes go down when the power’s out and Schedule 2s are hard to get at, but most retail pharmacies I know of don’t even keep Schedule 1s on hand.
That would be a tall order, but how many standing armies of looters could there possibly be out there? And how motivated would they have to be?
Yeah, I think that’s where I also ran into a wall expecting answers to this question. I saw a few post here that were kind of similar “What would you pack if you has $1k to spend?” etc. I thought this was close enough to those to to get where I wanted to go, but I guess not for most folks.
I think I also might have used some obscure wording. This is the basic concept of a 3-Line setup from a military standpoint. It usually takes the form of a belt, chest rig, and ruck. I was trying to start a conversation about what this would be in a civilian application, and really managed to bone it up.
Only thing I might do is put my Son in it. He’s really the only one in the family, that practices with me. He is even starting to be better at pistol shooting than I am, which was something of a shock when it first happened. I was happy to see it though. At 18, he is right in line with the age range that wears plate carriers. Besides, I would rather he or one of the others, in the family, be protected.
theyre not standing. they form up, almost like naturally. especially from big cities.. think gangs of hungry people.. scary stuff.. MZB’s “Murderous Zombie Bikers” is what i call them ever since i read a book called “lights out” when it was first being written on the SurvivalMonkey.com site.. since ive gotten the book as he published, and i even got the signed version!
yeah your pyramid of the tiers is showing the issue outright.. alot of guys, me including, do not want to list out what we may have or desire to have to fulfil these tiers.
Similar with my youngest son except he’s fully exceeded what I am capable of.
Just read the description. I’m putting it on my reading list.
Yeah, I got that vibe. Again, just want to be clear, I’m not that interested in brands and model. Much more interested in “I would pack 10 lbs of fish food in my ruck for emergencies, because…” type discussion. Like how you explained your reasoning in your response.
Pretty much a moot point now, I suppose.
Too few folks think about food. Back before parenthood, I used to keep my Jeep stocked with instant coffee, a few ramen meals, and a Jetboil—just in case I wandered off somewhere in the woods and felt like spending the night. I still keep a pretty good stash of non-perishables in the house, and being coastal—with the weather we’ve had the last couple years—we’ve actually put them to use.
I’ve given a good bit of thought to carriers. These days I think I prefer the idea of running a slick plate carrier underneath a chest rig, rather than going with an old-school MOLLE PC. That way, I could throw the carrier on anyone who needed it without giving up the fighting load. But I agree—for 99% of use cases, a plate carrier isn’t necessary, and in most situations it would be downright counterproductive. But I do think a chest rig, or even a well-thought-out micro rig with just the essentials, could be useful if done right.
Handguns are a tough skillset, and a perishable one. And the more I look around, the more I realize how few people are truly good at it. I was shooting with a couple of younger LEOs recently. One was swapping departments to the other’s department and both were practicing for quals. They were awful. I wish I was a more interesting pistol shooter. I can handle my carry gun(G43x), but I hate it. I like my G17 because I shoot it so much, but that’s kind of it. I have a bunch of PSA ARs, but I haven’t gotten on the daggers yet.
IMHO the Dagger is an order of magnitude better than a Glock on ergos. The grip is sweet.
This is why I say “Why not?”
https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-dagger-compact-complete-polymer-frame-gray.html