I had my pride handed to me on a saltine cracker the other day..

I had my "kit" less than 50 yards away, everything we here on this site say we need to carry on us as far as a psk goes.

I was at work, in a very secure federal installation where you need proximity cards to get into the first 2 sets of doors. Not to mention I had to be screened into the parking lot by the 3 armed federal guards who electronically opened the barbed wire fence to let me in.


I headed into the building and signed in, settled down and started doing my job. Across the room there sat my small, politically correct backpack.

With that pack, I am completely able to survive at a minimum of 3 days. Water purification, shelter, first aid, fire making, para cord, you name it....

You drop me, and that pack into most areas and I would have zero problems staying alive until I either get rescued or walk myself out of there.

I needed to take a leak, so I headed to the bathroom. Less than 50 yards away. So like a million times before,I went there and walked into the bathroom, shut and locked the door behind me.... I did what I needed to do, washed up and went to unlock the door.

The lock had decided to fail at that moment.. I was locked in a small room, with a big steel door and no possible way out... I was trapped!! I kicked, I pounded, I tried everything.. (I'm 6'3 and 275 lbs so it was no small effort.. )

I work in a remote part of the building where the possibility of someone coming by was improbable .I was at the mercy of the fates, period.. If I had my leatherman I could have gotten out of there very easily.But that wasn't possible...

My multitool was in my bag, as was my emergency tool...

Eventually a janitor came by and let me out after 2 hours.

Stop and think about that for a second, and I mean really let it set in.

If it isn't on your person, it has no usefulness whatsoever. 1000 bucks of kit 50 feet away is useless, but 5 bucks worth of kit in your pocket is PURE GOLD.

Always keep the basics in your pockets. Always.. No matter where you are..

think about it....

Having worked in a similar environment before, I was always uncomfortable with the official and unofficial restrictions placed on what I could carry on my person.

If I was to appear as overly paranoid or eccentric, I would get less than good evaluations until I was judged incompetent and done away with or I would hear those fateful, dreaded words spoken to me, "Loss of confidence", at which time I would have been quietly disappeared/banished to Antartica or to a LORAN-C station at a desert Pacific Island such as French Frigate Shoal.

I am glad that I am now retired, having dodged those bullets for 22 years and 5 months!!!!! Now, I can laugh every month when my retirement check lands into my bank account!!!!

After thinking long and hard about what kinds of situations I could end up in, I started my journey of self-sufficiency with a SAK. There are too many scenarios that could become reality and those are only the ones that were thought of, especially in an urban environment. Tools were the common denominator. With tools you can create almost anything you can dream of in an emergency.

Being prepared for almost any situation is the reason I carry my SAK and Leatherman Wave wherever I go, 24/7. I also carry a Maglite Solitaire flashlight with me at all times. Even into the restroom. My wife thinks I'm nuts until she needs something done in an emergency. If I don't have 'em I feel a little under dressed.

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Glad to hear that it was only 2 hours. Could you imagine overninght?

We learn from such experiences, and again we learn that it does no good to "have" something but not be able to reach it when you need it.

Perhaps a minor rethinking of our EDC kits is in order. Personally, in my pockets (along with keys and usual loose coin/junk) at all the times are: 1) SAK 2) Maglite Solitare and 3) a "bic" lighter/matches. Maybe the EDC kit idea should be seen as add-ons to these. These three things are part of getting dressed.

May I ask how?

I carry a Leatherman, but it's a tiny P4. It's a compromise between the need to have something on me, and the inconvenience of weight and bulk. I'm not going to carry a big tool. So this raises the question of whether it is, in fact, too small to be of real use in a crisis.

It was for this reason that the Mission Wallet was invented.

Me too. I figure that is why Leatherman tools come with a belt pouch. Mine has a Solitaire in the little elastic pouch on one side, and an EZ-lap sharpener in the one on the other side. The pouch is ALWAYS on my belt...

No cell phone with you to call out?
Bill

a LOT of Federal Facilities (particularly if the deal with classified stuff) won't let you take a cell phone inside, much less anything else.

He never really said which Leatherman he has in his kit, only that it would do the job. I am carrying the new Squirt E4 because it fits easily in the mission wallet and the wire strippers and electrical wire cutters actually work. I don't need to EDC scissors and IMO the Squirt pliers are too small to be useful. The Leatherman in my kit is a Charge Ti. I wouldn't EDC that in an office setting either -- something to reevaluate.

'Specially those phones with cameras.

The feds (including the military) can be funny tho. When I was stationed in Panama, there was a classified area, run by the Navy, guarded by Marines, where all new military gear was tropical tested. Whenever they had aircraft involved, they required a USAF weather watcher to be on site, and the WW had to have at least a secret clearance. There were only a few of us with a clearance, so we got stuck going out into the boonies quite often (that is where I got the P-38 that is still on my key chain). But from time to time they needed a bunch of grunts, so the Army would sent over a couple of deuce and a halfs, loaded with Pvts and PFC's, none of whom had any type of clearance, and most had their little Instamatics in their empty mag pouches, clicking pics like crazy. Go figure...

The door had a deadbolt lock on it. There were 2 phillips screws that I could have unscrewed and tried to manipulate the lock.

Also, there was a ventilation grate in the bottom part of the doot that also had phillips head screws attaching it to the door frame. I could have easily squeezed thru.

A cell phone would not have helped. There is ZERO cell phone reception in that place due to its construction.

One of many reasons to work in the private sector.

Yes, thats it excactly. You can the greatest of survival stores, but if they are inaccessible when you need them they are useless.

I've had similar events happen to me twice in different settings over the course of a year.

First, I was at my local video store, using the bathroom, and when I was finished I went to exit the door. Lo and behold - there was no knob on the door. I was stuck. Or so I first thought. Luckily I had my Hinderer Rescue knife on my belt, and, using the small L-Bar that comes in the tool kit, I was able to put it in a hole on the knob housing that was left there and just turn it, allowing me to escape.

The second time was at work, and I got locked in the bathroom when the door jammed. The factory I work at has no cell reception either because of the concrete, and because it's so loud no one can hear you scream for help. I used the phillips on my Swisstool to unscrew a draft-dodger on the bottom of the door, put an Inova I have on "strobe" mode, slid it under the door, and waited.

I just sat on the toilet (lid down, and covered with the newspaper, of course, eww), and did some mini-crossword puzzles I have in my pocket sometimes. About 35 minutes later someone noticed the flashing light and helped get me out.

At least you had an unlimited water supply!

Would a whistle have helped in this situation?

I'm looking at the bright side: I've never had a job, nor will I EVER have a job that is so elite that the door wouldn't open. None of the outer doors have locks, and with all of the inner doors, all I would have to do is crawl under!

I never realized that being so low in the employment food chain had ANY benefits!

Sue

Hey,

I cannot remember ever being locked in a bathroom, but a couple of times I have had the lights turned off on me while I was inside.

The bathroom in my office building has no windows and without lights is "blacker than the inside of a cow"!

I need my keys to get back into my work area of the office so I always have them with me when I go to the bathroom, and on my keys is my EDC mini-LED, problem solved.

Mike

Automatic lights, the sensors turn on the lights when you enter and turn off after a while automatically with no movement, very nice, saves energy. . . The sensors can't see you on the throne. After that I started carrying a Mag Solitaire

Great points, bat69; thanks for sharing that. It's a great lesson on a concept the military guys here are surely familiar with: 1st line - 2nd line - 3rd line gear.

1st line gear is always on your person, 2nd line gear is sometimes on your person and 3rd line gear is for longer term sustainment. Adapt as needed to your situation.

For those of you working in various degrees of non-permissive environments (NPEs) another stealth option is Galco's Cop Ankle Safe. I was at an evening function last week where the dress code was tucked-in shirt but no jacket. I could not have a knife's pocket clip showing or my dangling CPR pouch on my belt. The ankle safe worked like a charm.

Brings to mind another thread I think I'll resurrect...

I've been in nothing but the private sector, and had to go to places where there are signs saying that you must surrender cellphones, cameras, zip drives, et al. Even getting a CD burned there took some heavy duty paperwork and a call to my boss to confirm I had a need to know on the corporate secrets.

*shakes head* In paranoia we trust; everyone else is out to get us.

Perhaps if someone was coming by randomly.

Cell phones are useless in my facility ( because of the buliding construction ) . Granted the lock failure was a one in a million, isn't that the only time we ever hear about this stuff?

Yes, eventually I was discovered to be trapped inside the room. I could have been stranded in a worse place than a bathroom.I had a sink, water, a toilet, etc..

But what came to mind was: "what if there was a fire and I'm stuck in this 6x6 room with no way out?" Great, I get to burn to death..

I was really mad at myself for not remembering my military training of: "if it isn't strapped to you ( meaning ON YOUR PERSON ), it isn't worth a damn bit of good if you really need it!" I realized that I had lost my basic survival mindset/situational awareness and become complacent.I was in a situation where I was helpless, and at the mercy of whatever came my way due to my own laziness.

Meanwhile, 30 yards away there was my PSK just sitting there.

Hmm, I gotta think that with your assumed talent, had there been an actual emergency, you'd have darn sure found a way outta that bathroom.

Your frustration is understandable, and I would feel the same way under similar conditions. I just bet you could've MacGyver'ed something to get you out if you really needed to. Not having the tools might've handicapped you a bit, but I have more faith in most folks on this site that they wouldn't just sit and wait for the end to come.

Still, lesson learned. Thanks for sharing.

I might wonder you were doing if I saw you go in to the loo with a small backpack, LOL. Sometimes it just happens and your never be ready.

cheers

I think the solution is to get a portable "camp toilet" for your office.

Oh, you mean the old yellow nalgene bottle you've been meaning to retire becuase the color is just annoying, filled half way with kitty liter?