FAQ: Standard Acronyms

BOL: Bug Out Location - a place designated as a secondary residence away from primary-home. A BOL could be as simple as a campground, an owned hunting-camp or a family-farm. See threads Secret BOL Communications and BOL - How close / How far for further discussion.

BOV: Bug Out Vehicle - A vehicle purchased or modified for a quick trip to your BOL - any mechanical-based conveyance unit, not to be confused with a living conveyance unit such as a horse or mule. Depending on funds, the BOV could be as simple as a bicycle with packs or as extensive as an 18-wheeler / camper unit. See threads Best Vehicle, BOV trailer and Basic BOV ideas for further reading in the Vehicle Discussion section

BO: Bug Out - Leaving the safety of your home and heading out to another location that is expected to be safer than what your home was. BuggingOut is normally experienced with major environmental concerns such as flooding, forest-fire, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, etc. See BOL / BOV above. May also be known as GOOD - Get Out Of Dodge or Evacuation (Evac).

BOB: Bug Out Bag - also known as Bug Out Kit. Usually a backpack filled with life-essentials. See linked thread BugOutBag/BugOutKit for more details about building your BOB. Also, post up your BOB or read about other's BOB's in our registry: http://www.preparedsociety.com/bug-out-bag/

GHB: Get Home Bag or Get Home Kit (GHK). Imagine you are away from home (work or vacation spot up to 1 1/2hr drive at highway speeds away) and you need stuff to get back home and your vehicle is not capable of taking you there. Consider GHB to be a light-duty BOB with basic hiking gear in this pack to help on your long walk. Consider footware, weather protection such as poncho or solar-blanket, sleeping gear, a means to filter water (survival straw) and GORP as part of the survival kit. Your gear shouldn't be larger than a hiking fanny-pack and should be good for up to 48hrs.

PAW: Post Apocalyptic World - What is expected on how the world would be like after WW3.

WROL: Without Rule Of Law - If police, military and other "essential services" fall / fail there will be no "law" controlling how the masses interact with each other. Members of society will either try to work together (keeping law-n-order) or will try to work against each other (criminal-activity), and, there would be no-one to enforce the existing rules (speed limits, murder, rape, etc) and no punishment for breaking those rules. Think to what is now known as the WildWest.

BIL: Brother In Law - you also find MIL, FIL, SIL - inlaw titles used. You will be able to figure out the MIL as Mother In Law vs MIL as Military by the usage in the writing of the original poster (OP).

DD: Dear Daughter - you also find DS (son), DW (wife), DH (husband) to list immediate family members.

FAK: First Aid Kit - pronounced the same as FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), but does not mean the same thing.

EDC: Every Day Carry - the items that you keep with you at all times. Can include wallet, multi-tool, knife, FAK, snack-foods / drinks, beauty-supplies. A woman would have her common EDC-items in a purse and a man would normally use his pockets or backpack or shoulder-bag (courier-bag).

LTS: Long Term Storage - primarily used when describing foods that are prepared through smoking, salting, dehydrating and canning. LTS does not describe fresh or frozen foods due to the possibility of the food going bad if power is lost.

GORP: Good Old Raisins and Peanuts - TrailMix, Granola, Dried Fruits-n-Nuts.

MAG: Mutual Assistance Group - Family, neighbors, friends that are all willing to help each other survive through work-groups, garden-space, hunting, butchering, etc.

MSM: Main Stream Media - The normal news sources that you see on TV or read in the newspaper.

MZBG: Mutant Zombie Biker Gang - Those with no regard for society as a whole. Not to be confused with the basic Zombie (as listed below).

TEOTWAWKI: The End Of The World As We Know It

JBT: Jack Booted Thug - One who oppresses others, often times just for their own pleasure. Can also mean someone with just enough power over you, junior police officer or recruit who feels their self-importance.

FIFO: First In First Out - Food rotation. The first food stored is the first used to keep it fresh.


For fun:


Zombies: Zombies - those people who follow the crowd with no intentions of doing humanity good. Rioters could be classified as zombies. People who have turned their brain to mush through the use of illegal drugs could be classified as zombies. Street-thugs could be classified as zombies. The nice old lady down the street would not be a zombie. See the difference?

Terrorist: Terrorist - a person or group who truely believes that using extreme violence (like bombings) as a means-to-an-end is justified, is classified as being a terrorist. This is not always someone from outside of your local area. There are ECO-Terrorists who will blow-up equipment (vehicles) and pipelines to make a point. Some claim that there is an arm to GreenPeace that support or commit ECO-Terrorism regularly. There are RELIGIOUS-Terrorists who believe that their god has told them to kill the infidels.


There will be more terms and acronyms added to this list over time. Check back from time to time and if you find an acronym used that isn't listed here, send me a PM (Private Message) with the information