Hello all,

I have been an avid reader of this forum and I have participated in some of the discussions. I am having a problem with my EDC that I cannot figure out. Let me break down my EDC and explain why it is lacking.
I always carry:
Victorinox Swisstool RS or SAK Huntsman (depending on where I am going, ie church, a formal engagement, etc)
Cell Phone
photon like flashlight (cheaper LED light that I got for XMAS)
Some sort of flame (lighter)
Leatherman Micra
going to carry a whistle today
One qt Nalgene. (Yes I do carry it EVERYWHERE, addicted to water)
But lastly, NO PSK.

Here's why. I hate having pockets full of stuff. The leatherman and the light are on my key ring. This alone drives me nuts. With all the keys I have to carry and the HUGE key FOB that chevy has for its keyless entry system, along with the detachable keychain that I have seen in some posts, my keys ARE ENOMROUS. I have tried to carabiner on the belt loop, but I feel dumb.

Living situation is that I live on a military base. I drive five minutes to work. When I go out in the woods, I do carry everything else, and more, but thats a different post. When I go out sightseeing (city or country) I do carry extra food and water in my truck, but not on me. Carrying a pack in downtown DC draws attention right about now, especially going in and out of museums where theyhave you check them anyway.

I have a PSK, but I put it in an otterbox. I wanted something that I could get into quickly and that would be water/crush proof at the same time.

I have a BUG OUT BAG in my military gear. It has to be packed all the time anyway.

I guess my question is pretty simple. Without adding anymore stuff to clog my pockets, what can I add to my EDC that will help me out? The one thing I am thinking of adding is one of those small pill vials you can get at most outdoors stores for a few dollars and filling it full of water pills, but thats about it.

Any Ideas??

Thanks, Garrett

You could put some plasters (adhesive dressings) and a fresnel lens in your wallet. They don't take up much room at all.

whats lacking ? well EDC is just the stuff you carry for every day use and in or case, we add some extra surival thingy's "just incase". what you carry should be the things you want to have on you. You don't have to carry particular items because we do. You should carry the things you find importent to have on you. Everyone is diffrent so everyone's EDC is diffrent. i do promote carring some survival equipment, though.

if you want to carry more without having fulled pockets, you could use pounches.
you could add a knife, some first aid items,

Appropriate carry is completely dependent upon the scenarios that you consider likely / important enough that you want to be prepared for them more than you want whatever comfort you might lose in carrying that preparation. These things are all relative.

Aron Ralston

1) Do some scenario thinking, brainstorm it, check with the FEMA web site for what they consider likely or worthy of preparation, read more here but come up with a list of scenarios that might happen. Go wild here and include everything from being hasseled by the scecurity guard at work for carrying a wire saw to an asteroid hitting the potomac with ensuing flooding and fire.

Aron Ralston

2) Go through the scenarios and determine which you think will be above a level of likelyhood that it is more likely than other risks which you take without concern already. I like the benchmark of traffic fatalities in my area as something I risk without any real thought or preparation (other than wearing my seatbelt - which I honeslty don't always do) That is a realistic predictor of what types of risk probability to which I am willing to expose myself.

Aron Ralston

3) Go through the complete list and rate them again for the level of damage they will cause if they occur to you while you are un-prepared vs what level of damage you could avoid through reasonable preparation. (This will rule out preparing for things like asteroid collisions because no-matter what preparation you take you will suffer annihilation anyway.)

Aron Ralston

4) Go over the rated list and determine what EDC items you could have that might mitigate the risk or likelyhood of any of these scenarios and you will have a long list of gear that you might want to carry. Now get inventive on what gear could do double and triple duty and how to carry as many functions with as little gear as possible.

Aron Ralston

To simplify this you might just take advantage of the wisdom of the forum and carry the stuff most of us do - though there is wide variance there as well. I might suggest that you carry some bandaids, some duct-tape, some cord, some wire, a Large trash bag, and a knife as a minimum. I think that this could be assembled in a package roughly the same size as you wallet (which should have a phone card (or atleast the number from the phone card, an AMEX and a MC card, a Condom (multi-purpose tool), some business cards( for note-taking and passing out), a fresnel lens, and about $100 in bills no larger than a twenty and perhaps $2.00 in change. This minimum EDC could be carried as a wallet on right and left side ( BTW this is better for your spine since you will be sitting balanced) and knife and cellphone on your belt on right and left side. The nice leather holster for my leatherman wave has never drawn a bad reaction from anyone. Many times it isn't even noticed until I have a use for it and produce it from under my jacket and impress someone with the fact that I have the tool needed for the job. OTOH, I don't have to pass through metal detectors on a regular basis.

Aron Ralston

In urban DC with a 5 min walk to work on a weekday where you will go to work, stop by the convenience store and video store on the way home and then plunk yourself down on the couch till sunrise with the beer and video you might think that you don't need much - and you might be right. OTOH, I might think that I need a Glock to simply leave my apartment in that same environment and wouldn't walk into the convenience store or video store without un-latching the holster. You feel comfortable without making much by the way of self-defense preparation in that environment - I don't. Neither one of us is right or wrong. You will certainly have less hassle visiting museums or getting into work and fewer of your friends and passerbys will notice you and you will encounter those situations everyday so being prepared for them is important from the perspective of probability. I will be much better off if I leave work late one evening and there is an unsavory character waiting at the entrance of my apartment building - that is certainly less likely than that I would be required to deal with stowing my sidearm on the way into the building every morning but the extra effort would be worth it to me on that one evening.

Aron Ralston

So, in a long winded manner, my answer on whether your EDC is too much or too little is, it depends.

Iam a vet and find that alot of the equipment i carry ties into my work eg.
Mobile phone-can ring clients-vica versa
Wave-cutting ropes and to hgold animals still in the field etc.
AAA maglite-for looking into animals mouths, eyes, opther dark places, possibly there accomodation.
Carabiner-for holding things or attaching things-aniumal leashes to a holding point, holding spare equipment in field surgery.
whistle-is purely for survival
Resusitation pack-has spare pair of latex gloves which can be used if i'm on my own and my current pair split. i also had a owner have a heart attack on me!

You see what i mean!

Mark

This is where my ideas that everyone seems to be appossed to come in.
My shoe survival kit! (carrying survival items under an innersole)
Wearing a survival bracelet made out of paracord or in my case a watchstrap.
Possibly even wire and wire saws incorperated into clothing.
This also a place where the Pro Survival Kit belt kit would be good.
These are my ideas for easier/less bulky carry of survival items.

Any chance your cell phone is in a leather belt case? As they tend to stretch, you could put some items in a small ziplock bag taped to your phone - between the case and phone.

Garrett,

Instead of suggesting additions to your pockets/belt etc. I would suggest a review of your potential daily risks like MiniMe above. For instance, on the drive to work is there a chance you could go off the road into a ravine/ditch/river etc where you would not be seen? At work or at home is there a risk of the building being destroyed by natural or manmade disaster?

With cell phone, knife and lighter, you have some communication and shelter capabilities. Personally I have added more shelter devices and signalling devices than you carry. I have evaluated the risks to being forced out of my worksite and having to set up shelter as moderately high. I have added a whistle, flashlights, small signal mirror in addition to a Ham radio to my kit. I also carry redundant fire kits. Cell phones are great most of the time but in a disaster are not as good as Ham radio. Whistle for trapped but out of sight and signal mirror for the same reason.

I carry both a small hank of paracord, and a plastic tube tent for shelter building.

Another thing to consider that adds nothing to your carry is what do you wear? Do you always have sturdy shoes or boots on, do you always wear a shirt, do you always have a hat and coat either in the car, at your desk etc? Do you always keep your car and house keys on you at all times, do you keep spare keys available, do you keep cash on you at all times, do you have a family plan with emergency contacts, a list of numbers in your pocket (not just stored in the cell phone), do you have a calling card, do you know where your family may be or where they will go in an emergency? Planning in my view beats equipment as you then know how to respond.

You pose a few very good questions that right now are not applicable but in the near future, after I transfer, will require more review of my EDC.

As far as being driven or driving off the raod and not being found, there is very little chance of that due to regular military police patrols along the roads I take to the office. As far as by building/home being destroyed by a disaster, I would have to say that it is no less than anywhere else. They are both standard military issue and should hold up if something happens.

As far as what I wear, well I do wear utilities to work, so sturdy boots and clothing are included. I have spare EVERYTHING which doesn't impress the Mrs. until she needs something. I have all key numbers in my wallet and I have the card number memorized, so I good there.

I am impressed with what you carry in your EDC. Where do you put it all? I assume you carry a PSK with wuite a bit in it, but what about the tube tent? Just curious.

Garrett

I always wear a Filson vest, so my EDC includes all my pockets, shirt, pants, belt, and the vest. I posted up my EDC stuff a long while back. I have revised this to be a bit less stuff, but for the most part it is still generally accurate. (note I carry fewer knives now, and have slimmed down the shoulder bag to mostly a Ham radio, batteries and shelter).

The Filson vest has 7 pockets including a full width double back pocket. I keep my Tacoma Mt Rescue tube tent and paracord back there along with a boiled wool helmet shaped hat and in the winter wool gloves. Mine is a custom made Style 8 in wool, and I also have the tin cloth version for hot days. Here is my actual vest with several years on it. I needs a bit of repair around the hard tools carried in the left upper pockets.


Take a look at the tin cloth version and see the back pocket here:
http://www.filson.com/8.HTM

I do not routinely carry a PSK box on my body, but have distributed many items around my person. I find this easier to do. I also keep grab and go kits in the car, at my desk, and carry a shoulder bag as my Ham radio station.

Here is my old post. Long, badly formated and slightly out-of-date, but you get the idea.

http://www.equipped.org/ubbthreads/showt...=4813&S

It sounds like a full time job just lugging those keys around. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> You might be able to get rid of some of the bulk by moving the light and Micra to somewhere besides your key ring. Not only will this make the keys easier to handle, but if you lose your keys, you won't be without some of your tools.

Perhaps you could put the light on a chain and wear it around your neck.

I am not familiar with the Micra, but is there a sheath available for it? Between moving the Micra to your hip and moving the light, that would get some of the bulk off of your keys.

You might also consider carrying a single cutting tool instead of two. If either of the cutting tools you now carry is not sufficient by itself, perhaps you could replace them both with a single tool that provides what you need.

As far as additional equipment, you might consider a few moistened towelletes, such as Wet Ones. They come in convenient individual foil packets. If you plan to use your hands to eat, you need to make sure your hands are clean. Also, if nature calls, you may need something to wipe with. The Wet Ones really clean well, and are REAL comfortable. If you happen to have a hemmorhoid, or are raw from overusing the 80 grit toilet paper at the office, these are a real treat. I don't mean to appear crude, folks, but this is a fact of life.

Another thing I would suggest to you is a small first aid kit. Mine is in a cassette tape case, which is made of a soft, waxy plastic, not the brittle, clear plastic that you usually see. I like it because while sturdy, it is not as breakable as the clear plastic ones, and is not quite as deep, either. It measures about 1/2 inch deep, compared to the 5/8 inch depth of the clear ones. It contains:

2 -- 1/32 ounce packets of Neosporin
2 -- alcohol (70%) towelettes
1 -- Sting Aid towelette (by Sawyer) (would have packed more, but that&#8217;s all I had!)
3 -- ¾ inch band-aids
4 -- 1 inch band-aids
2 -- 5/8 inch band-aids
2 -- 3/8 inch band-aids
4 -- medium size butterfly closures
2 -- generic immodium tablets (for diarrhea)
6 -- tylenol
5 -- 2 inch safety pins
1 -- single-edged razor blade
1 -- 2x3 inch non-stick gauze pad
1 -- tweezers in vinyl case
A 2x3 inch fresnel lens will be added (good for seeing splinters, thorns, etc.)

I would also suggest that you get your hepatitis shots for your own protection. If you render first aid to someone, and your barrier fails, or you don't have a barrier, you will be much safer.

THanks for the advice. I printed up your list for my next outting for gear. I do have my micra and light on a separate key chain. I have the keys on oneside of those quick release key rings. The other pieces are on the other of the key ring. The problem arises in the fact that the key chain is huge and then key fobs. So the problem is solved by breaking it down and carrying one half in one packet the other in the other pocket. I clip them together in the office and at home. Works well.

Garrett