The holiday party at my new company is going to be a classy affair. I'm not used to that. The men will be wearing suits and ties. The women, real dresses. No jeans, no casual trousers.

That means I have to dust off the old funeral suit. If anyone has suggestions on how I can be equipped without looking equipped, I'd love to hear them.

I can't have anything hanging from my belt, either, except the usual accepted cellphone. My SureFire is out, as is my Leatherman. My wife bought a very nice new dress for the party, and she has told me how she wants me to look (yikes), which rules out most beltwear and most of my gear.

I get hives whenever I'm too far away from my stuff, so I'm practicing by leaving my SureFire in my coat pocket. There's no place for the Leatherman.

Is anyone else childishly annoyed by having to attend parties where you gotta dress the way you used to in church?

A small SAK and a Micra or Squirt should fit into a pocket of the dress suit. A metal case for cigarettes or cigarillos could provide room for some items of your regular kit and provides a pretext for carrying the lighter. A Photon or small Maglite could be attached to the key chain. I´m aware of the fact that this is much less than desireable but it´s better than nothing at all. If you´re lucky you could even extend the kit to your wife´s purse.
You could put a picture of your stuff into wallet to ease the signs of deprivation <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />.

You put a smile on my face, Max. Thank you.

My wife has agreed to put my pill case (I get migraines) in her purse. That helps.

As for the lighter, I never make excuses for it. If someone asks why I carry a lighter since I don't smoke, and I'm in polite company, I say it's great for lighting table candles that have blown out.

If the setting is more casual, I say I'm a pyromaniac while grinning maniacally. It works. <img src="images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

I hear that if you down a few ephedrins, you can soak up a lot more alcohol before passing out.

I have also heard the same stories about drinking 1/2 cup of vegetable oil before drinking.

This IS what you mean my "equipped," right?

Depends on where & what you want to carry. I carry my cell just behind the point of my left hip. My SureFire 6P rides just aft of that in a Kydex carrier from BladeTech. The large lockblade goes into the right rear pocket, next to the bandana (carried as a handkerchief, & for formal occasions, it's a black one). SAK Classic always goes in R Front pocket, along w/change. Keys are in L Front (Photon II on the ring); wallet & comb in L Rear. This is how I went to church yesterday, in coat & tie.

At times, I've carried the SF 6P in a coat pocket (just be sure to balance it with something on the other side!). A smaller SureFire would be easier (one of the Executive series), but I don't have one.

Improvise, adapt, & overcome!

Happy Holidays!

David

try this thread on preparadness for the "Brooks Brothers Brigade"

lol. good work.

I have found that my Wave can be moved to my inside jacket pocket when placed next to my wallet. If this is a bit heavy, try placing it next to your wallet in your rear pocket. This works well if the pants aren't "too" loose in the rear. That problem may be increase exponentially as some people might not have enough rear as it is. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Seriously,

Just wear what you want and damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!! Actually, try getting a micra and photon. I at least have those on me for a formal occasion. They wont attract attention at all.

My wife always asks me for scissors or a knife when we go out for a formal, and most of he time I clip my milie to jacket pocket anyway,

Just my two cents

Garrett

I like that philosophy. You're the kinda guy I hang around at those kinds of parties.
-Luke

No, no, no. What you have to do is make something else MORE noticeable. Just show up wearing your normal EDC items, and NOTHING else, and I guarantee they will not even be seen. <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

That's the LSU way.

.....CLIFF

Craig,

It's time to break out the lanyard / neck carry, this is a special occassion right??? You'll be wearing a tie anyway so wear your "ETS Tie" LOL. It's amazing how much you can hang on a lanyard without much notice, the formal tie and coat/vest tend to hid quite a bit, if it is a tuxedo affair with ruffled shirt [gag] there is further camoflage. Seriously, use some rubberbands to hold the rattling down to a dull roar <img src="images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> and go for it.

Regards,
Comanche7

I wear suits a lot. I find that my Spyderco Military wears well on my dark suits with its dark clip so no one sees it. I have my whistle and Photon on the key chain so that is covered. I carry my Altoids FAK in the inside left breast pocket normally. If you keep a jacket on then belt stuff is even less of a problem. I don't carry a multi tool, but I don't know why that coudn't fit in the right hand breast pocket. My phone is in the right hand breast pocket. Wallet left front pants with keys. Usually I have a bunch of other stuff in my computer bag, but this is obviously not the case at a party. In those cases I really try to keep my wits about me and keep track of the nearest exits, things like that. Oh and I have always carried a bandana suit or no suit. They can fit anywhere.

That is what I usually wear when I am all dressed up. The black clip of the 705 blends into my pants pocket when im wearing black and my pocketwatch (which belonged to my father) clips to the silver knife's pocket clip. Then on my keys I have a Photon, a Squirt, and a BSA hotspark. I feel pretty well equipped that I have the main things covered with having 3 knives(one being a small multi-tool), 2 means of fire, and 1 form of light (technically more since the lighter or fire can be used as a light). Sometimes I wear one of my Movados in place of the pocket watch, but I like wearing it. It always seems to start a conversation with someone. <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Oh, and my wallet has some little survival items in it too, so I feel okay.

Having to take part in performances throughout the year, i frequently don a tuxedo. I naturally have my keys with me, and on them I have a Leatherman Micra and a Photon II. Also, I have found it helpful to have a "gentlemens" knife in the EDC rotation. That used to be a Kershaw Chive...until I lost it. I'll prolly pick up another one in the near future. Having a nice knife on the other end of a pocket watch chain is an accepted practice. Lighter is easy...get a nice zippo or something similar. FAK...well, the venerable altoids tin kit works well, and if worse came to worse, your wife could carry that in her purse. Be creative...you generally have lots of pockets in a suit. Just be sure to balance stuff out. It also helps to have a well fitting suit; as I have found out, stuff in the inside pockets show a lot more now that the suit is a little more...shall we say snug.

-Chris

I know -- I'm the Craig who posted it! <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I like to ask similar questions now and again because different people will answer and sometimes the same people will give different answers.

All of this gives me new ways to think about situations. Sometimes I say to myself, now why didn't I think of that. <img src="images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

SPEC.-OPS.™ TAC-TIE™ - WORLD'S 1ST LOAD BEARING NECKTIE

Ah yes, the ol' misdirection! Houdini would be proud. <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

go tigers!

-Luke

What's a 'milie'?

What are those survival items and what kind of wallet do you keep them in?

My wallet is a regular tri-fold leather wallet and in there I keep:

1. One of those fold up survival info cards
2. A fresnal lense
3. A few saftey pins
4. Some Spiderwire (I forget the exact length)
5. A piece of hacksaw blade (coated in nailpolish to stop rust)
6. One of those card SAK things with a light
7. A folded up piece of tinfoil

Being I don't keep many credit cards on me and my identification is kept seperate in my badge wallet my regular wallet isn't too thick.

Don't have this yet. Can you give me a web site or a brand name or something?

They were made up by a member of this forum (Billvann), I printed one out and laminated it. His site is here: http://scouter149.home.att.net/PSKsheet.htm

Even if you have the info memorized they are good to carry.

Thanks, dude. How do you keep these from disintegrating in your wallet? Any piece of paper, folded or not, can get beaten up after just a few days.

I printed mine onto a white plastic “paper” designed for running through laser printers and used in making master copies of SOPs. I believe it is produced by AVERY and should be available in a STAPLES- like office supply store. The material will not fall apart, but after you cut it out does require some careful folding and hard creasing of the folds. Pete

You can also buy laminating sheets.

I have a laminating machine so I laminated mine.

I carry my Urban EDC with me all the time day and night and is made up from suggestions on this forum and comprises the following:
·A Cape Buffalo hide wallet (looks good and is strong) 110mm x 70mm x 20mm. I wanted it no thicker than 20mm otherwise it is too bulky
· A K.I.S.S. folder with combo blade in side wallet side pocket. It can be easily removed without disturbing contents if conditions require its removal.
· 2 business cards
· 2 blank business cards
· Thin Pencil
· Sterile surgical blade (backup sharps if the knife is out the wallet)
· Hot glue stick
· Bic mini lighter
· Phone card
· Sealed drinking straw with Betadine coated cotton wool. Can be used as antiseptic wipe or as tinder. Burns better than Vaseline.
· 2 meters duct tape folded into credit card size
· Sewing kit with large brown button, small white button, 1 meter white cotton , 1 meter brown cotton , 2 meters waxed floss, 1 large needle, 1 small needle, 1 small safety pin, 1 large safety pin. All on plastic sheet
· 2 Loratadene antihistamine
· 4 Panado 500mg painkillers
· 2 Sterile Bandaids 85mm x 25mm. For bigger cuts I can use the Betadine coated cotton wool plus the duct tape.
· 200 Rand ($30) in R100, R50, 2 x R20 and R10 currencies. Enough for a taxi to most places in town.
· 1 sterile wooden toothpick wrapped

Could not fit in a chapstick, the climate here is very dry in winter so I will try again in a few months. Would also like a small flat sample packet of sunblock. The wallet sits always in my back pocket and is comfortable when seated in the car and weighs only 130 grams. So no matter what I am wearing I always have this available.

In my pocket, key chain car keys: Leatherman Micra, Photon II Microlight and cutdown (35mm x 20mm) magnesium firestarer. Then there is the Nokia 8810 cellphone, bandanna/hanky.

If I am out walking the dogs I pack a pepper spray and an emergency poncho. Now is rainy season and storms come out of nowhere.

Found it. Someone may want to let him know some links on that site are broken.