In no particular order:<br><br>Becker C/U-7 w/sheath and pistol belt<br>L tool<br>poncho w/liner<br>water purification <br>water container(s)<br>paracord<br>spark-lite fire starter kit w/tender<br>longbow w/quiver of arrows<br>sharpener<br>sleep pad<br><br>Actually I guess I'm cheating a bit, because the sheath pocket has a mint tin mini kit :o)

Looking through my Jeep last night, I thought of this post. I guess the below would be my "can't take but only 10 items" list, if it came down to it. <br><br>1 - Leatherman Wave<br>2 - Pair of eyeglasses (since I usually wear contacts)<br>3 - Blast match<br>4 - 12'x12' tarp<br>5 - 1.5 liter dromendary bag<br>6 - Polar Pure water purification<br>7 - Ontario machete <br>8 - dental floss<br>9 - 550 cord<br>10 - Trifold shovel<br><br><br>

Most of you haven't chosen much signaling devices - why? Maybe using all the stuff and knowledge to stay alive would be a challenging and pleasant (?) experience, but I'd prefer to be rescued quickly. I mostly travel in central and western Europe, where help would be relatively near. My choice for a marine disaster would be: 1) lifejacket 2) thermal suit 3) EPIRB 4) water 5) strong flashlight 6) marine band UHF radio 7) handheld flare 8) cordage 9) multi-tool 10) camera to make pictures for ETS . For a land accident, replace 1) and 2) with sleeping bag and tarp and 6) with a cell phone. What do you think of that choice?

Greetings, <br><br>ETS has changed my life. By that I mean that I can't stop reading posts! I'm addicted! Anyway, a question: Do you guys really carry water purification and flints with you just to go a few miles down the street from your house to the grocery store? I completely understand and myself carry an LED, whistle, mini-lighter and SAK, (and as a dad, I also carry a first-aid tin) but are these other more wilderness-type items really necessary in an urban situation? I'm a huge fan of being prepared, and I definitely always have these things with me when I go backpacking, but I cannot think of a realistic *urban* scenario where these things would be necessary for EDC. As such, I have a "wilderness" PSK much like Doug's, and an urban "convenience kit" with the following:<br><br>-2 Xacto blades (remove for commercial flights)<br>-2 mini rectangular adhesive bandages<br>-2 small rectangular adhesive bandages<br>-1 antibacterial wipe<br>-1 large, 1 small sewing needle<br>-2 yards ea. dark gray thread, tan thread<br>-1 threader<br>-1 large, 1 small safety pin<br>-1 large, 1 small paper clip<br>-1 medium brown button<br>-1 small clear button<br>-1 small roll duct tape<br>-1 small piece glue stick<br>-1 wire twist tie<br>-1 one-inch pencil<br>-3 quarters<br>-2 elastic bands<br>-2 yards twine<br>-1 Bic butane mini lighter<br>-2 Immodium caplets<br>-2 Tylenol Cold caplets<br>-2 Tylenol PM caplets, 6 Motrin IB caplets in glass vial<br>-3 sheets Post-it paper, 1 business card inside lid<br><br>Thoughts?

I do carry firemaking, water purification, and shelter making tools with me every day.<br><br>Here is an urban scenario.<br><br>Leave work to go to lunch across street, March in Seattle, light misting rain....just across street really do not need coat.<br><br>Massive earthquake hits, worksite tumbles to the ground.<br>(maybe you did not go to lunch but got out of this building with only the clothes on your back, maybe injured)<br><br>You are now outside, in the middle of a disaster, coworkers buried, communications non-existant...hum light rain seems to be soaking in...<br><br>You can fill in the rest based on your possible actions.<br><br>March 7, 2001 we had a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Western Washington. Many of the buildings near my worksite caved in or crumbled. My building stood standing but we just today are "celebrating" the reconstruction.<br><br>I carry a plastic tube tent, firemaking tools, cord, PotableAqua, bag, and a fairly large pile of other stuff everyday, everywhere on my body. (See urban PSK and Vest threads). It is not that much of a burden, it is a piece of mind, sure I have never needed to build a fire in the parking lot out front but....Seattle is due for a large quake.....what will happen then?<br><br>Evaluate the likely threats to you in your daily life, natural disasters (earthquake, storms, volcanic); manmade disasters (Hazardous materials, dam burst); terrorism....and develop both Wilderness PSK and plans and different Urban PSK and plans. In my view the planning is the most important....the tools are easy (and fun) once you evaluate the risks.

Based on a hypothetical survival situation, I'd rank the top ten as:<br><br>01 FAK<br>02 8 x 8 silnylon tarp<br>03 50 ft 550 paracord<br>04 Cricket electronic lighter<br>05 Fox 40 whistle<br>06 Starflash mirror<br>07 Potable Aqua<br>08 1 L Platypus<br>09 Spyderco Native<br>10 Suunto Clipper compass<br><br>In my real-life day-to-day experience, the 10 most important gadgets are:<br><br>01 Palm m100 PDA<br>02 Spyderco Native (or other EDC user)<br>03 Photon II<br>04 Leatherman PST<br>05 Sony Z series cell phone<br>06 Compact reading glasses<br>07 Credit cards<br>08 Colt Mustang Pocketlite 380<br>09 Cricket electronic lighter<br>10 Leatherman Micra<br>

Okay, I can believe the scenario about an earthquake in Seattle taking down an office building. Admittedly, a tragic scenario, but still not one in which I'm convinced one would find themselves desperately needing to purify puddle water, erect a tube tent on-site, or snare pigeons. If you survive the quake, you're simply not going to die from thirst, hunger, or exposure in the middle of a major metropolitan area. You're just not. It's not like being in remote wilderness. If you're trapped in the rubble, none of your survival gear that involves roaming for food, water or shelter is going to help. The whistle would be the most important piece of gear at that point. After tending to victims with the best of your ability until the professionals arrive, you walk out (unless you're one of those professionals). Get away from the epicenter. The point is that even an earthquake does not immediately vaporize every molecule of civilization surrounding the disaster. Adequate water, food, and shelter will be in walking distance - not necessarily a short walk, but not one of sufficient length to kill you. I definitely agree that planning is essential and that the tools are easy and fun to learn, I'm still just not convinced you need some of them in an urban situation.

Gear,<br><br>You are absolutely right. The moderate earthquake did not result in the need to erect shelter, purify water or certainly procure food. It certainly did disrupt the abilty to get around in the city, shut down cell phone communiations, made our cars inaccessible (in damaged garage), and left many people without adequate clothing, car or house keys, money, ATM cards, credit cards etc.<br><br>This was all more of a big inconvienience than a dire life-threatening emergency. Some people were cold waiting around in the parking lot, but it was a fairly pleasant day, not raining or windy. This was a moderate earthquake. Should we experience the expected large quake, I am not so sure we will fare so well. <br><br>Rescue workers did not arrive at the building within minutes after this moderate quake, I would not expect them to arrive for a long time after a large quake. If we would have had seriously injured people we would have needed, at a minimum the ability to protect them from wind and rain, and possibly needed or wanted "clean" water.<br><br>To me, carrying around a few additional tools to assist in the provision of life sustaining basics is worth the trouble. I consider shelter and water to be the bare minimum that I should cover. Admittedly, a tube tent is certainly not ideal for shelter nor is iodine treated or boiled water an absolute requirement in this scenario....both are just something I have decided to have, along with a whistle, adequate shoes, gloves, knives, flashlite, garbage sack, contact info, etc all which may be more traditional Urban PSK items.<br><br>Certainly the exclusion of certain PSK items may be appropriate in your likely scenarios...I just have not been able to convince myself that fire, treated water or shelter is not going to be necessary in the city in a major disaster.<br>

I live ,as most of us must,in an urban environment. I can get in a car and be in desert, forest or mountain and on the ocean within an hour. People freeze,drown or die of exposure in view of the twinkling lights of Los Angeles regulary. It doesn't take a whole lot of planning to walk 100 feet off a roadside driving to Vegas for the weekend and break a leg, get disoriented or left behind. My avocation and vocation can take me off the beaten path on short notice. So yes, my psk is in my pocket.

Thanks for your replies, guys. I'll take these comments to heart. I do have a bottle of Potable Aqua tablets that I take backpacking, and have been wanting to transfer it to a smaller glass vial as offered from one of the vendors associated with ETS to make it fit in my tin. What I'm wondering is, how do you actually get more than a few ounces of water into an unlubed condom? It seems like with just holding the end open and pouring water in, the elasticity would overcome the weight of the water. I have some Reynold's oven roasting bags that I take backpacking, so maybe I'll fold one of those up in the tin for an emergency water container.