Do you have an EDC (Every Day Carry) list or Bag? If so, what do you put in it? Many individuals have never even heard the term before. If you ask someone what items they take with them every day, you would get answers like car keys, cell phone, wallet or purse, and a driver’s license maybe. In our Basic Training 101 class, we cover what items you might want to consider when preparing for your day. There are two forms of thought for EDC items: Being prepared for your day and being prepared for anything that might come your way.
Let’s talk about the first form which is being prepared for your normal work day. There are a few obvious items that you should have in your possession: car keys or bike(if you happen to bike to work), bike lock(only if you have a bike), some form of identification albeit driver’s license or student id, cell phone, and either a wallet or purse. These are things that probably 95% of the population carries with them everyday. Some other items to consider would be a fire source (waterproof matches, fire steel, flint, or lighter), flashlight, a watch, a pocket knife, seatbelt cutter, pen (tactical or regular), pepper spray, usb drive, and maybe a leatherman multi-tool. Some items you might want to consider for the trunk of your car would be a medical kit, space blankets, jumper cables, blanket, paracord, duct tape, and maybe a lifestraw. Of course there are always more and different things you could add to your own list. It is about creating items that you could use in case of an emergency, so you would be prepared to deal with whatever might be thrown your way. There is no way you can obviously prepare for everything, but as long as you make an effort to do something you are on the right path.
The other side to this is trying to be prepared for anything that might come your way. There are a LOT of survival shows, Bear Grylls, Survivor Alaska, Dude your Screwed, Doomsday Preppers, and several others. Each show has some interesting tips and ideas that you might consider if you are prepping for possibly the end of the human race. When I watch these shows, there are many individuals who are very creative with their prepping ideas like hydroponic farming and utilizing solar panels as an energy source for their house. There are other individuals whose ideas are far more drastic like underground bunkers, building means of transportation that resembles modern tanks, and so forth. I think that if we as a society took some steps to conserve and create our own food and electric sources we would be much better off in a variety of ways. We have become a society of massive communication, however most of it is not personal. We communicate through text messages, emails, and facebook, yet there is no personal interaction any more. I think that we have desensitized our communication and lost our ability to become sympathetic and empathize with other human beings because of the lack of face-to-face communication.
You might be asking yourself, so what is the proper EDC list or carry bag? My suggestion is to carry some things that you are comfortable with. For some this might be your cell phone, car keys, and pepper spray. For others they might prefer a firearm, multi-tool, keys, and some form of identification. The key is to think about your day and what could possibly happen and try to be somewhat prepared. When you wake up for the day, you should always have a game plan of things you would like to get done. An EDC carry list should be included into your daily plan, because most people think that accidents/incidents will never happen to them UNTIL IT DOES. Crimes and accidents are a lot like cancer and death. Most people always assume it happens to other people, but never people they know or love. Take a stand for the protection of you and your loved ones and develop an Everyday Carry list. If you have questions, please feel free to email us at tony@defendyourown.com.