For me its a small whistle on my keychain.

I have a pair of Velcro crampons which I keep in my briefcase. Here in St. Louis, we sometimes have icy conditions and I feel better knowing I have them if I need to cross an icy street.

I used to carry a CPR mask. Currently, I carry an electronic alarm. There are also a few items in my first aid kit that I never needed, such as a trauma pad, N95 mask and hydration powder.

Jeanette Isabelle

My firearm. And I'm glad I haven't had to use it.

Not much. Over the years I’ve dropped stuff from EDC that was never used. Carrying stuff “just in case” is inefficient. There’s a lot of stuff a short walk to my truck or in my backpack, but not in my EDC pocket carry.

Do you mean EDC or in the PSK? I will address each.

EDC: Sidearm. I have never had to use my sidearm in an urban situation, luckily. A couple times I was glad I had it as things could have gone differently. I'll note that I have had to use my sidearm in a wilderness setting. EDC-wise, everything else that I actually carry gets used with some regularity.


Wilderness: I generally have a very well stocked PSK and I have a few options. For state parks and places where the odds of getting lost or stuck are minimal my kit is fairly minimal. Then I have an intermediate kit built around a water bottle bag. In theory it contains enough to survive an unplanned night or two in the wilderness, although it wouldn't necessarily be comfortable. Lastly I have a pretty comprehensive PSK/day bag that I built around a Mystery Ranch 2 Day Assault pack. At 27 liters it's still easy to carry but very close to a camping pack. With it I'm be fairly comfortable down to 40 or lower even without a fire, and with a fire I'd be pretty good in anything short of a very bad winter night.

I will confess to having to resort to a lot of the kit in one instance that I recounted here at ETS. Even then there are a few thing I didn't use. As Teacher mentioned I've never used my emergency whistle, nor have I ever needed my signal mirror. So far I've never used the space-bag/bivvy outside of just testing it. Certain items in the FAK have never been required in the field, either. Lastly I have never used the sail needle or fishing stuff that seems obligatory in PSKs. Truth be told I'm terrible at sewing so if I did need the needle it would be a mess. The fishing stuff is only there because it's part of an otherwise-useful kit I cannibalized to build my homebrew kits. I suppose there's little harm in having it as the weight is low but I probably wouldn't go out and buy more if it got lost.

Of course, just because I haven't used it yet doesn't mean I never will. I've played with mylar/space blankets for a couple of decades but never actually used one in a tough spot until this spring! Luckily I try to experiment and practice with all the stuff I carry so I don't have to figure it out on the fly.

My trusty 357 Magnum (S&W Mod 28). Displayed once to good effect in a non-wilderness encounter, but never fired.

Yep Hikermor
That is what I call equipped to survive
My incident S&W M66 same result

Because of my first aid training, I carried exam gloves for years.

PLB