Help to Be Equipped for Chicago

WOW! This website and forum are just great!

But way too much for me to digest.

I will tell about myself and ask for your help.

I am a businessman in Chicago.

I want to be PREPARED for everything. I want something to carry but I wear suits. I was thinking of that Kit from Doug.

I want to be equipped for the car. And the house.

I can't digest all these posts. Can someone narrow it down for me?

Thanks
Dave

Greetings, fellow Chicagoan! Glad you made it here. There is a lot to digest, but I'd suggest going to the home page and checking out the Survival Kits and Gear & Equipment sections. They'll give you a good framework. Some of those lists seem overwhelming, but they get you thinking in the right direction.

For urban use, I wouldn't pick up the Pocket Survival Kit first. Don't get me wrong--I have one and it's great. But I'd look at Doug's "Don't Leave Home Without It" equipment first. That's under the Personal/Pocket Size Survival Kit section. You don't need the same models, but these basic items will put you miles ahead of most folks in terms of preparedness. Then start to think about or look into what types of scenarios you might run into and gear your preparedness in those directions. That's where these forums can come in very handy.

What is your current EDC (Every Day Carry, the stuff you do NOT leave home without)?

Currently I have no kit. I carry nothing. Living in the big city, I always think if I ever get pulled over, and have a knife or multi-purpose tool, they will throw me in jail. Cops here are bad.

I think snow and freeze, car breaking down are the things I'm most concerned with. And sadly, living near an airport, I'm concerned with attacks by terrorist of some type.

Okay, first, I wouldn't worry too much about getting caught in a terrorist attack. Not much you can do about that but relocate.

A vehicle is a tool. Maintaining the tools we use and rely on is a survival necessity. Keep your car in good running order, and you minimize the risks.

Urban EDC ought to include the following, though this is by no means a thorough or complete list:

A spare stash of cash
A good multi tool (not considered a weapon unless going through an airport, depot, or other such public transportation portal)
A pocket sized first aid kit
Various small useful items (safety pins, dental floss, duct tape, etc)
flashlight

It takes time to develop the appropriate edc for your needs. Each of us has a unique combination of daily needs, so the list really depends on what you do and your knowledge of what you might need for any given situation you might face vs. what you are willing to pack around with you.

For instance, I pack 40 lbs of body armor daily as part of my EDC, but that is here. I am not likely to tote that around back home much. The bottom line is don't expect any quick and universal answer for what you should carry with you. The best suggestion is to take the time and effort to research it, ask pertinent questions of others (you are already on a good start just by being here in the forum), and then making some important decisions about comfort, budget, and contingency.

Good luck. Feel free to ask all sorts of questions. Lots of product review, Macgyverisms, and just plain good sense amongst this group. We are all in the process of learning how to do it better.

Hey Ben
what are "Macgyverisms" -- being ignorant of that particular show -- I think you refer to "macgyver" -- I never watched it and don't know what the premise of the show was............

field expedient might be a synonym. Basically finding available material from your immediate location and making do. Macgyver had a knack for such things as welding a bike frame with a couple nickels, a set of jumper cables, and a car battery. Well, I think you get the idea.

Welcome from Burbank. We have an REI store in Oak Brook once you get a clear idea of what you'll need.
http://www.rei.com/stores/oakbrookterrace/index.html

Welcome E4C,

A couple of things to consider:

1. Read up. See the book lists elsewhere on this site. That will give you some background and a strting point for what skills to accquire.

2. "What" you are preparing for will determine how you prepare. ( A quick brainstorm on likeliest events for Chi-town: Traffic gridlock*, loss of power, Blizzard/ storm, other)

So start with a flashlight, car tools, bottled water and warm clothes.

TRO

* I don't mean a slowdown -- I mean nothing moves for 6-10 hours

In Detroit my most basic EDC is a Vic Rucksack, a small folding knife, flat pack duct tape (which I use far more than I ever thought I would), a Gerber Infinity Flashlight, a pen, an ACR whistle, a bandana, 20' para cord, two large zip ties, a few first aid items in my wallet, a Zippo and a Hot Spark and some vasoline cotton balls. I also have a neck knife with an LED on a cord. This sounds like a lot - but it all fits in my pockets without much show. I also generally have a Maxpedition Jumbo with a lot of redundancy but other stuff that's usefull daily - not least of which is a Nalegene full of water and a better flash light.

Start carrying some things and see what you use most / least and what you feel may be most helpful in the situations that you feel you're most likely to encounter. I use my lighter, knives, duct tape and flashlights daily.

Don't forget the cell phone. It is a very imortant part of your EDC in Chicago.

When I'm downtow I myself find a small compass handy since I get turned around easily, but if you're there a lot the buildings and roads provide direction. You might also carry a map of the city/burbs, if you don't already.

I tend to think a Leatherman Wave is better for urban carry than a large blade.

I think AnotherInkling's advice is good: Start with Doug's suggestions for "Don't leave home without it" gear.

Then, If you carry a briefcase or bookbag, consider adding a small first aid kit such as an Adventure Medical Kits Ultralight .5 and maybe one of Doug's PSKs and an inexpensive emergency poncho. Those three items would give you a lot of utility in a fairly small space.

From there, a zillion different directions you can go. You might want to do some searches on this site and see what people EDC (everyday carry). You'll pick up a ton of ideas.

Once you've got your EDC where you want it , you can start thinking about home kits, car kits, BoBs, etc. Warning: It can get a bit addictive, but it's fun.

There's no real deadline ... just increase your preparedness a little bit every opportunity you get. Next thing you know, you'll be thinking about upgrades.

Equipped4Chicago

Hello and welcome. I live in Chicago as well and have given this subject quite a lot of thought. I live at approximately Montrose and Clark in an apartment. I don’t work in the loop but am downtown a lot on business.

As far as the knife situation is concerned I carry a 3 inch blade folding Gerber lock blade in my brief case. I hate to admit it but I was riding in Chicago with a friend from out of town and we got pulled over. His tags were expired. The officer asked us to step out of the car. They asked the standard questions of do you have any weapons on you>…(Mind you we were both in suits.) I politely informed the officer that I didn’t have anything “on” me but I did have a folding knife in my brief case. He searched my briefcase found the knife and gave a little chuckle and told me that it was no problem I am allowed to carry it. In addition to that I was at the state building last week picking up some legal forms and had my brief case with me and so was the knife. I was already in line at the metal detector when I remembered about the knife. I figured I would just see what happened expecting to either have it confiscated or held for me. My briefcase and knife went through the x-ray machine and they didn’t say a word. I don’t know if I was just lucky or they missed it but just walked right in.

I also carry a small flashlight. As I am sure you are aware we have a little problem with high-rise fires and probably the occasional stopped elevator.

Other than that I ALWAYS carry a CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) rail card with at least $20.00 on it. I figure this will get me out of the city if we have a traffic jam. If CTA is out of commission I have a bike. With a Bike you could go from the loop to Elgin in about 2.5 to 3 hours. Wisconsin border in about 6 to 7 hours. You can also take your bike on the CTA. I don’t have it but it wouldn’t hurt to have an open ended Metra ticket as well.

I always carry cash, Phone, Credit Cards, Calling Card, lighter, CTA fair card. In my briefcase Knife, flashlight, poncho, matches, change, Chemical hand warmers.

I am an avid camper so I use all of my camping gear as my home emergency equipment. Also of course I have 5 gallons of drinking water and a couple cases of MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat)

Cameron

WOW! Thanks all!

Considering I always have a briefcase, I can store things in there. I will do more research for a top notch flashlight also. Bus card was a great IDEA! Calling Card is another super IDEA!

Keep those suggestions coming. I hope I get the hang of this thread to best utilize it.

You can find a ton of information about flashlights at candlepowerforums.com

I think the best way to "get equipped" is to sit down and try and think of what sort of scenarios you can encounter daily. Chicago wind and snow, broken down car, transit strike, power outages, etc. Then given your daily patterns and distance traveled you should be able to outline a few highly likely scenarios that you would like to be able to respond to. Start asking questions about:

How will you get home from work? Should you even try and get home from work? How will the kids get home from school? What will the school do with the kids? What will my spouse do? Who can you leave messages with outside of the state in an emergency? Loads of questions like this for each of your likely scenarios. The plan is more important than the tools in my view. The tools and necessary skills fall out of the plan, but without the plan all you have is a sack of tools.

Take a real easy scenario at first...a Chicago blizzard while you are at work...toss in a power outage or two and then figure out the family plan.

Also you state that you carry nothing...actually you probably carry a load of stuff. Inventory your daily carry of money, the sort of shoes do you wear, your typical clothing set etc. Each of these items may need improvement based on the questions you formulate based on your scenarios. An office kit could be the result of this sort of review...better shoes or boots, overshoes, windpants, sweater, windproof, mittens, money, city map or transit maps, water.

Then the daily carry stuff can be improved as you see fit or supplimented with a car kit.

Being prepared for everything seems an huge goal, but being prepared for "known" things actually makes you about 100% more prepared for the unknown things.

To minimize blathering on endlessly, I do highly recommend Doug's main site for specific kit development....but strongly recommend a family discussion of events that will require some sort of thought on everyone's part, and then a development of a family plan along with some basic tools.

If you can stomach a bit more reading you can see more of my urban philosophy in two articles I have posted. These cover my kit contents and my attempts to evaluate scenarios that will affect me.....the absolute key is to develop you own skills and kits bases on your likely issues.

http://outdoors-magazine.com/s_article.php?id_article=171