A Cache is a set of supplies stored/hidden away for emergencies or to recover at a later time. They are not limited to guns and ammo buried in the ground as most may think. Think back to movies where a spy may go back to a bus station locker to recover a bag of gear to egress or complete a mission. Many times when Special Operations Units go behind enemy lines or on extended missions they will cache supplies such as food, water, and ammo- where it is not feasible to carry a ton of gear during the operation.

Cache's can be buried, above the ground, hidden within structures or in plain sight. Much of that depends on your location and applications.

Because most of us are not clandestine operatives our cache's fall into two categories.

1. Grid down situation/Bug Out application
2. You need to get Off Grid/Escape and Evasion/Manhunt

A Grid Down situation or Bugging out is fairly self explanatory. Things have gotten out of control on a local/national/global scale and your survival depends on you leaving the area. This could mean caches along your bug out route to help resupply you. Whether that resupply is food, water, guns/ammo, clothing. It could also be supplies to get you from your work to home in the case you have to escape on foot or another mode of transportation other than your vehicle.

Imagine you are in a foreign country on vacation, business, military personal, or civilian contractor serving abroad and you've been targeted. You need to get off grid because you've been targeted or escaping and evading capture. This type of cache would contain a few different items than than a grid down type. Think more along the lines of cash, disguises, wilderness survival gear, lockpicks, and comm gear. You may ask why wilderness survival gear? When someone is targeted or hunted- it's difficult to stay hidden in an urban environment with our technological advances. Most criminal manhunts become lengthy when the fugitive evades into a wilderness environment. Less cameras and people to identify the suspect. Applying this mindset will also help you evade capture from those that may be trying to do you harm.

Now that you know the reasoning behind caches it may make sense for you to build some of your own.