Everyday EDC and Survival

I always have a few $2 bills in my wallet, a MC, an Exxon CC, and the usual ID's, etc, inc CCL. My other rear pocket has either a Spydie S30V Native, Buck 110 or Prince, or SAK. My front left pocket carries the KSF sheath I've shown elsewhere, with a BRK&T 'Huntsman' and a 2xAAA Nuwai/River Rock TM-311X LED flashlight - and my car/house keys. My other front pocket has either a S&W 642 or a 296 in a Mika's pocket holster. If I am wearing cargo pants, one lower pocket will have a spare speedloader, else, there is one in the Jeep, where I also have a waterproof jacket and more tools. I need a BOB in there, too, with more goodies. I made up a 'survival' kit of sorts in an Altoid tin, but it sits in my desk drawer, where it likely isn't much good. Neither are my other 'survival' goodies, including a GPS & compass, spare light & batteries, saw, etc. It gives one pause to consider the utility of such items... stowed away in my home office desk!

Stainz
 
I never go to the city, but if I did I would take my wallet,SAK, and a car to get to the nearest Wal-Mart where all my city survival items can be found. I try to get by on as little as possible (minimalist type of person), and I have never even HAD to have my SAK to keep me alive in the city, but it sure is handy.
 
Morablades said:
That's a good idea.
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Mine has a couple of singles and a bunch of expired/deactivated cards to make it look more authentic if it is examined. It would probably be a good pickpocket decoy too.

As for edc/preparedness, I have a multitool, lighter and flashlight with my daily carry stuff, and some additonal stuff in my car.
 
i carry a vic farmer, spyderco endura, fenix light, bic lighter, cellphone, photon keychain light, pill box with:

advil -- caffeine pills-- and immodium pills.
 
I carry an Under Armour bag with the following:
HME saw, for anything possible
Pouch with a couple of Snickers bars
4x 24" pieces of duct tape
deck of survival playing cards
wall charger for cell phone
small first aid kit
Leatherman Blast
Streamlight TwinTask flashlight
4 pack of AA batteries
spare CR123A batteries
Leather gloves
pill bottle with aspirin, Imodium, extra days medicine
Bottle with Strike Anywhere Matches, Lifeboat Matches and striker
Bottle with tinder
Red Bandanna
Handwarmers, Heatsheet
Small bowl
I have other things but can't think right now, just got up.
 
I live in the country now, but when I go to the metroplex, I have in my car my "bug out box" which contains lots of gear.

Also in the box is a medium sized backpack which can be stuffed with things in the box to become a "bug out bag". If I don't have time to stuff the bag, also in the box is a Maxpedition bag that has some essentials in it.

I always have a cell phone, 2-4 knives and a pistol on me, so... I guess I'm ready for most anything.

Andy
 
I EDC:

1) Leatherman Charge TTi with extra bit set
2) A big tough folder for all the box work and crate opening/strap cutting, usually either the Boker Mil Tan or CRKT M21
3) A Mora, usually either the 2000 or wood handle laminated steel. I made custom kydex sheaths for all my FB's that are horizontal carry. It's just more comfortable for me and doesn't show nearly as much.
4) Primary sidearm, usually either a 1911 with extra mags or the Hk USP40 with an extra mag
5) Secondary sidearm, a KelTec P32 with 10 rd mag and an extra 10 rd mag
6) Wallet with all health info and insurance/bank/ID cards etc.
7) $200 cash and four quarters
8) A necklace my wife made with my wedding band, a cross made out of a nickel, and a wistle with a built in red LED light
9) Self winding watch
10) One Zippo with extra flints in bottom in a holster
11) Mini Bic
12) Cell phone

I ride a motorcycle EVERY DAY. Rain, snow, tornado, or shine I ride one of my bikes. The only time I drive a car is if it's not wife weather and we're going somewhere together or if I have to make the monthly grocery run. In which case I take the same stuff. Since I ride a bike everyday, I always have rain gear, which is surprisingly warm in the winter, and my tank bag. My tank bag has a shoulder strap so I can carry it with me like a backpack.

In the Tank Bag:

1) Extra pair of gloves
2) Tire inflation kit with CO2 cartrages and plugs/patches etc.
3) Snap-On tire gauge
4) Homemade tool kit with a ratchet set, adjustable wrench, screwdrivers, safety wiring tool, etc.
5) Tons of zip-ties of various sizes and colors
6) Two rolls of electrical tape
7) One large FB, usually either an RD-7 or RAT-7
8) One camp/work light that can be seen from space
9) One mini Maglite
10) about 75' of 550 paracord
11) Goggles with two sets of lenses, one extra tinted and one for night-time brightening.
12) One balaklava
13) Two waterproof 5 gallon carry bags
14) Battery pack for my Garmin (Garmin is mounted to the front cowling bracket)
15) Extra AA's for my lights

With that stuff I am pretty much ready for anything that could come my way in my area or anywhere that I go riding. I also only live about 2 miles from where I work and only 1 mile from where I do all of my shopping so if for some reason I had to make my way back home without transportation, I could very quickly.

The funny thing is that even with all of that stuff on me, all you see is a guy with a tank bag, a zippo, and a Leatherman. Everything else is hidden.
 
I live in the suburbs but I find myself in urban areas all the time at the most random moments, so it helps to have some things specifically for urban survival.

Primary EDC (aka what fits in my pockets and what I never leave the house with)

-Altoids Tin with Motrin, 2 Jolly Rancher hard candies, band aids, waterproof matches, gauze, cotton soaked in vaseline and wrapped in aluminum foil, and extra pair of contact lenses.
-Spyderco Delica
-Purell Hand Sanitizer
-Sturdy Pen
-Inova Microlight (I lost my Inova X5 *sigh*, I'll probably get an Inova X0 soon)
-Cell Phone with Turbo Cell Charger
-Leatherman Kick (I'll probably get a Leatherman Squirt for my pockets, since it's lighter)
-Small Flint/Steel Firestarter on my keychain
-12 Inch Hardwood Stick

Daily Go-Bag (aka the bag I take while driving to work and to places that are 20 minutes or more away from home)

-Everything is stored in a Rothco Messenger Bag
-Steel/Flint Firestarter
-Vaseline Soaked Cotton Balls in a plastic bag and scrapes of fatwood.
-Johnson & Johnson Travel First Aid Kit
-Hand Crank AM/FM Radio
-15 inch Kamagong (Filipino hardwood) stick
-More Jolly Rancher Hard Candies (They don't melt like chocolate does)
-Extra Change of Clothes (Jeans, Socks, Underwear, and Shirt
-Travel Mouthwash, Toothbrush, and Toothpaste
-Travel size Saline Solution
-Cold Steel Roach Belly (not exactly a field knife but is cheap, sharp, and can handle basic tasks)
-TomTom GPS with Car and AC Adapters
-Knife Sharpener
-Leatherman Kick (I'll definitely upgrade to a Leatherman Blast...I'm a poor college kid so the Kick was all I could afford)
-Bandanna
-Small Umbrella
-Small Folding knife
 
you guys sure carry alot to go to the city. i live in the city and usually just carry an al mar shrike and at night on the bike ill carry springfield xd9 compact. but the thing about the city (richmond va), everything you will need is within walking distance. even from the hiways. dont see much need for survival gear in the city. just keep it at the house where ill be if shtf.
 
^ you would be surprised at how small and discrete all this stuff apcks down though. I got mine into a 12" x 10" x 6" bag, basically a book bag.
 
chuck buck said:
you guys sure carry alot to go to the city. i live in the city and usually just carry an al mar shrike and at night on the bike ill carry springfield xd9 compact. but the thing about the city (richmond va), everything you will need is within walking distance. even from the hiways. dont see much need for survival gear in the city. just keep it at the house where ill be if shtf.
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I do agree that some people carry some crazy stuff in crazy amounts. For me personally, everything I carry is something that, at some point in time, I wished that I had.For instance, all of my tools and flashlights and zip-ties and stuff I keep in my tank bag are things that I have actually needed before.

One time I had a flat tire whilst on a ride through Smokey Mountain Park on my way back from Pigeon Forge to the hotel. It was the middle of the night and there was nothing but mountains, trees, and animals around. It's not a stretch travelled at night in the winter time hardly at all. Luckily I had everything I needed to fix it right there on the spot.

As far as all the stuff I carry on my person, I smoke so I always have a lighter and a back up in case my zippo runs out of fluid, (I'm in the process of quitting, but I'll still carry a lighter on me when I'm done), I have had to use my multitool a ton already so it's a must, everything is something that I use. I know it might seem like a lot when it's in a list that long, but it's really not that much stuff and I don't even notice it.
 
chuck buck said:
you guys sure carry alot to go to the city. i live in the city and usually just carry an al mar shrike and at night on the bike ill carry springfield xd9 compact. but the thing about the city (richmond va), everything you will need is within walking distance. even from the hiways. dont see much need for survival gear in the city. just keep it at the house where ill be if shtf.
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I agree, I find myself wanting to take a lot of stuff when I go out to get the paper, but then reality sets in; if I lock myself out, its not like I would go build a shelter in my backyard:) (I always have my keys & a cell phone).

When I leave the house I always have my cell phone, leatherman micra, and a Spyerco (like the POLICE, but a little shorter), and as soon I get my concealed weapons permit, a Beretta Px4 .40S&W. If I travel someplace out of the ordinary, I always have extra clothes (for all weather situations), LMF II, and other basics.
 
I carry the right kind of clothes for the occasion, always a fixed blade (from something as 'urban' as a Ka-Bar Large TDI knife to pretty much anything that's under 5" in blade length), often a basic and not too huge Leatherman or a SAK Ranger, and typically a cellular phone and my wallet. Sometimes I'll bring a small flashlight. I don't like to go too heavy on the everyday EDC.
 
I have items on my keychain, in my pocket and in my wallet.
Keychain-Fenix 1 AAA LED, Victorinox classic, Peanut lighter, Ferro rod (no handle i drilled a hole through the rod and put a sak ring through the hole), small aluminum container with mixed cottonball/vaseline mixture inside.
Everything on my keychain has a micro-u-clip attached to its ring so i can quickly remove it from the keyring.Theres a u-clip attached to the keyring itself so i can attach it to my belt when i am so inclined.
Oh yeah there are 2 or three keys on there too, lol.
I used to carry a lot of keys but whats the point? They were all keys to stuff in my house, its easier to just leave those keys at home.
Besides that gives you room to put other "non-key" things on your keychain,lol.

Wallet-credit card sized sharpener, swisscard, flat/thin/flexible magnifier, coughlans polymer mirror (cut down to credit-card size).

Pocket-Leatherman XE6 (its grey not one of those pepto pink ones, lol!). The XE6 has a u-clip that clips to my belt.

If i'm casually day walking/hiking i carry a small brunton compass,a fox whistle and sometimes a lockblade (OHT or modded Opinel no.7 or Buck 110 or SOG Tomcat).

I occasionally carry a little old well-patinaed carbon steel Imperial Stockman. But only when i know i want to whittle something that day.

I need to get a really small compass for edc and maybe one of those little aluminum keychain whistle things edc.com sells.

Edit:I should probably put a garbage bag and a few bandaids in my wallet too.
 
Two neat additions:

Tiny LED light attached to keychain for your car keys.

A few yards of BRAIDED fishing line (I like the 80-pound test stuff from Wal-Mart) (and I mean braided, not the monofilament stuff, which kinks and is hard to tie) wrapped around a card in your wallet. That way you've always got some serious cordage.

I often carry a pocketknife, but I've shied away from the card knives (Spydercard, ToolLogic) which I otherwise like, because my business takes me often enough into places like courthouses and government buildings that I'm afraid I'd forget some day and accidentally take a knife into a place where it's not allowed and I'd get it confiscated. If I didn't frequent such places, I'd think about incorporating a ToolLogic card or the like into my usual wallet carry.

I do keep redundant survival kits in my office drawer (fanny pack), briefcase (Cody-Lundin-style neck rig with the basics), and car trunk (serious survival/bugout package in a German military-surplus-type rucksack, plus a tent, food, and water). Since I'm never more than arm's reach from one or more of these, I figure I'm covered just about anywhere I go.
 
I carry some duck decoy cord. It is incredible with 150# test. I keep a pair of keys in my shoelaces in case somehow I lose my keys.
 
I dont carry a bunch for EDC. My stuff is:
benchmade griptillian
Ti card(credit card knife)
wallet with little to no cash
bandanna
koozie(never kniow when your gonna need it)
keys w/ swiss key tool, bottle opener, spring ffrom a slipjoint knife(lockpick, million other uses)
Pen or pencil of some sort
cell phone

I'm a student (graduate in May, finally) so I have a backpack with water, powerbars, and the occasional books and such.

Not much but I have been looking into making a small urban psk out of an altoids gum container. Wouldnt contain all the woods stuff more of like any meds,cash, small blade, first aide and not sure what else I'm gonna put in it.
 
On my belt I carry a Leatherman Charge TTi. In it's nylon pouch (in addition to the multi-tool itself) I have a Fisher Space pen and a lighter, the extra-bit-set, and a small mini grip plastic bag with a few phone numbers and a 50 eur bill in it. They all fit in nicely.

My keys are on a retractable key reel, so the keys are sort of both in my pocket and on my belt. In addition to keys, on my keychain I have a Swisstech Utilikey, a Photon Microlight, and a small whistle (even though usefull in an emergency, I use the whistle mostly while walking my dogs).

On my right front pocket I have the two things I use the most; a Led Lenser flashlight, and a Spyderco Crickett (Plain edge). On my left pocket I usually have my cellphone.

I maybe could ditch the Crickett, since the Leatherman has a nice blade on it, but the Crickett is just too handy... It's quick to draw, and it looks so cute and harmless that I can use it openly anywhere. And that thin VG10 blade is sharp! Also, I haven't used the Utilikey much, but my keychain is quite light, and that thing doesn't really weight anything.

I don't consider my Maxpedition Jumbo -bag to be "EDC", since I don't have it with me always, but I do carry it around 90% of the time. In the Jumbo, I have a lot of stuff, inc. a small first aid kit, sunglasses, a scarf, gloves, mp3-player with a radio (and some extra batteries) etc.
 
Since we're talking about urban survival, I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned data security/backup.

I carry a lot of the stuff mentioned upthread, so I won't repeat any of that. But I also carry a 2 Gig USB flash drive on my key chain. On that, I have encrypted archives of all the data that would give me serious pain if I lost it. This includes my tax and financial files, my address book, and various photographs that would really kill me to lose (mostly of the kids at various ages in their lives).

I realize that not everyone has a huge dependency on digital data (yet), but if you do, stop and imagine for a moment what would happen if your primary hard drive and all your backups went up in flames for whatever reason. What data would have you up in the middle of the night sweating because you lost it?

I actually lost all my critical data due to a hard drive crash once, and the fall-out from that was not fun. So now I make sure to have encrypted archives of all of this on my key chain (I also have a copy on a 2 gig SD card in my cell phone -- redundancy is a good thing).

Truthfully, except for the occasional mugging, the most likely disaster scenario most urban/suburban dwellers need to prepare for is a house fire, followed by the natural disaster of your choice knocking your house down. If you think about it, most of the stuff you own can be replaced (eventually) but once lost some data can never be gotten back again.

2 gig flash drives are now reasonably inexpensive. But if you decide to add one to your EDC, do make sure to encrypt your archives just in case you lose the flash drive for any reason. I currently use AES256 symmetric encryption and gpg to perform the encryption, but any symmetric encryption algorithm that you pick should be enough to keep street scum from digging through your files. I also keep a copy of gpg on my flash drive (both Windows and Mac OS X installers) so that I don't have to scrounge around for the program if a disaster strikes and I'm on a non-familiar machine.
 
Well, I do not drag along much stuff for travelling to and from work. Hey what can happen in a 800 meter walk? Anyway, here is a picture of my EDC I had when a reporter took a picture of it for my knife exhibition next week.
http://hem.passagen.se/nodh/jordoskog0215.pdf
It is a LM Fuse, Fenix P3DQ5, Fällkniven U2, paracord, whistle and Silva lighter.
No, I do not carry six fixed as EDC :) The lighter should be replaced with a firesteel to be more sturdy though. It wasnt popular to light tea candles at a restaurant with a firesteel though :)
 
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