Seb Gorka is a massive Dorka, but the idea behind the article was pretty interesting. What do we carry when we leave the house on a given day? I've long been a fan of the gear bag/man purse solution - every since I got my first mobile device, an Apple Newton in 1994. The idea is you don't have to locate all the different bits you want and load up your pockets, you just grab your keys and gear bag and you're off!
So this is my current gear bag of choice. It's a Maxpedition Beefy Organizer - the size of an oversized wallet, it would be perfect if it had a shoulder strap. But it's pretty close to perfect as it is.
Clipped on the front is my longstanding favorite every day carry knife, the Benchmade AFCK Mini. It's no longer made, but you can find them used and they are a superb choice. I also stuff a couple of elastic hair ties in the net pocket on the front - when they break you NEED to have a backup available.
Here it is opened up. Since the AFCK lives on the front, I've set it to one side. But you can see how neatly everything just fits inside, always easy to get to. Pocket stuffers are easy to spot - they're always digging around in their various pockets trying to find something. It's like enduring a pat-down search a dozen times a day, except you're doing it to yourself.
And here's the gear:
1.) My 'glasses'. Just 1.5x drugstore cheaters, they were given to me years ago by an old girlfriend. My eyesight isn't that bad, but by golly when you need 'em, you need 'em bad.
2.) Aformentioned and beloved Benchmade AFCK
3.) Nail Clippers. The BIG size, because they're just easier to hold onto, and they generate a very strong clipping force. Leverage and stuff.
4.) Telescoping pointer. Yep, it's old school - I went through my laser pointer period decades ago - but when you pull it out and extend it, you automatically get everyone's attention. Kids today, amiright?
5.) Tactical pen. Yes, you can write with it, and as a non-lethal self defense weapon it is utterly unrivaled. The 'point' isn't that sharp - it's not a knife - but if you use it to strike nerves, joints or even skulls, it ends the fight in a hurry.
6.) 7 Power monocular telescope. I'd love to carry a pair of binoculars - being able to see things a block away is remarkably useful - but obviously they're too big and heavy to be part of a gear bag. The monoculars are of good optical quality and are plenty small and light to always have one with you.
7.) Power brick. It's a gotta have. This is a 10,000 amp/hour battery that can charge my phone five times. It's one of the great insurance policies you can buy.
8.) Kubaton. Simple aluminum cylinder, you can really 'punch above your weight' when you have one of these and know a few weird tricks.
9.) Pillz. Yes, I take pillz. A lot of pillz. If I'm going to be gone for more than an hour, I want to have the requisite pillz (and coffee beans!) with me.
10.) Smiths PP1 Multifunction sharpener. Knives need maintenance. This has both ceramic and carbide guides depending on the condition of the blade in question. Plus a hone for serrated blades. It's indispensable.
11.) This is a cheap little Gerber folding knife. I once bought like a dozen of them - this is the last one I have. I don't like to use the Benchmade for the more 'industrial' tasks, so the Gerber is my box cutting type tool. After the Battle of Cupertino, I was searched, searched again and taken to the jail. It was only then I realized that they had missed the little Gerber I had tucked in my elastic wristband. Believe me, THAT was a delicate negotiation!
12.) Simple little flashlight. One AAA battery. Nothing special, but it lights things up when it's dark, and it's easy to carry.
13.) Earbuds. I got these with the soft rubber cups, because the hard plastic ones hurt my fragile ears. They sound good, and they work great for both phone calls and music.
14.) Hairbrush. When your hair is measured in feet, not inches, a comb is of zero practical use. A decent little hairbrush with strong rubber spikes keeps things neat and orderly.
So there you have it. No guns, not tourniquets, no alpha-male signalling. Just the things I want to have with me, all in one place, effortless.
Please feel free to post your EDC in comments. Let's see what other people (who are not me) do.
...
O.K.
ReplyDeleteI keep my glasses right over my eyes at all times. Do carry a pair of shades that fit over the cheaters.
Keep earbuds in my ears at all times (listening to something/anything to avoid thinking too much, never a good idea w/ me) & my 'phone in my shirt pocket or hip pocket.
Have a crummy dull set of nail clippers on my key ring. Used to keep my Swiss Army knife on it, but the knife's eyelet broke off.
Nothing telescoping, for the eyes or for pointing.
I do have a charging dealie, but don't usually carry it w/, 'though if I ever leave the bunker for more than five or six hrs. again I'd bring it. (Don't use the 'phone that much & it doesn't seem to suck much juice.)
No hair stuff, just wear a ball cap all the time, for fashion & to hide the greasiness. (When the hair was longer I'd tie a hair elastic around one of my belt loops.)
Closest to a tourniquet is a bandanna (not showing, my sexual proclivities are nobody else's beeswax) folded in left hip pocket; never know when I'll have to wipe my sweaty brow or drippy nose.
When I'm out foraging I carry a messenger bag big enough (when unzipped) to hold a gallon of milk. (PROTIP: Do not let the bag slip/slide off your shoulder in wet weather when you have an easily breakable gallon of milk & your camera in it.)
The bag has a Bic pen & a few sheets of 3x5" paper in it, as well as a three AAA (The topper!) LED flashlight (US$1.00 at Target) on its key clip.
And that's it.
You can't get a shoulder strap sewn on your bag?