I’ve always believed that having tools close at hand is essential to being a highly effective, prepared human being. Because of that philosophy, I usually carry quite a bit of stuff with me — 12 different items distributed between five pockets!
While I love having good kit close at hand, I don’t always have the time or luxury for a full EDC loadout and sometimes this stuff just gets left at home. However, the one constant, regardless of time or clothing, are my keys. Unless I’ve locked myself out of the house, I will always have my keys with me.
Most people I know don’t carry nearly as much stuff as I do, but they all carry a set of keys. Because everyone always carries keys, it’s my opinion that keychain based tools are the most universal and logical foundation for any EDC loadout.
While this advice is useful for gear heads like us, it’s especially relevant when it comes to equipping our friends and family members who are currently not interested in preparedness. In my experience, adding a few small, well-chosen items to someone’s keychain is the most reliable and effective way to ensure they will have the right tools when they need them, without pushing them beyond their comfort limits. [Read More…]
The mini survival kit is often misunderstood. I’ve seen some information put forth that might lead people to believe that a mini kit is useless. Yet people like Ron Hood, Doug Ritter and myself, among many others, have recommended them for years — and for good reason.
When utilized properly, they can be a valuable addition to one’s gear. [Read More…]
Duct tape is one of the most useful things on the planet. It can be used to secure, repair, or build in ways that other materials such as rope, glue, or conventional tape cannot.
Because of the hundreds of applications for this miracle material, I have always loved duct tape. I’m especially fond of Gorilla brand duct tape, which has 50% more glue than conventional silver duct tape and adheres to damn near anything.
Unfortunately, while convenient to use, duct tape is very inconvenient to carry around. It comes in these large, 20-yard rolls with a big hole in the center, which makes the tape take up far more space than it should. When you’re carrying a full bag, that extra space could be crucial.
I have found three different ways to easily carry around duct tape: in a mini-roll, a collapsed roll, or on a keychain. [Read More…]
The Ten Essentials is a tried and true list of should-have items for outdoorsmen. It was developed in the 1930s by the Mountaineers, a climbing group in the United States of America’s Pacific Northwest region.
Most of us spend more time daydreaming of granite spires and alpine lakes than traveling in those areas. In reality, we spend our days in cubicles, patrol cars, or running errands around town.
Today we’ll look at how to adapt the time-tested Ten Essentials to our every day urban context. [Read More…]
We’re excited to announce the release of the 2nd Generation ITS Tactical Discreet Messenger Bag! We’ve listened to suggestions from our end users and worked hard with Zulu Nylon Gear to integrate some awesome new features!
The Discreet Messenger Bag represents features unseen in other bombproof tactical messenger bags; A bag laden with tactical features that doesn’t look tactical! With no exposed MOLLE/PALS or visible velcro, this bag is sure to blend right into any urban environment as your everyday carry or bug out / bail out bag.
Today we’ll go through all the upgrades we’ve made to increase its versatility and inherent discreet nature! [Read More…]
Here is the last of a five part series concerning every day carry kits and how we might use a structured decision-making process to put them together. The first part of this series introduced the idea of deliberate and structured planning for reasonably foreseeable contingencies.
The second installment focused on conducting a security threat assessment (in the form of a limited example), so we’d have a basis for making decisions about what to carry. The third offering expanded on the example by discussing planned responses in light of the threats previously identified.
The fourth article in the series took the limited example a step farther by suggesting tools, resources and supplies needed in order to implement the planned responses. As we’ve seen in some of the comments, EDC is something different for everyone since the threats we perceive, and how we choose to respond to them will be different based on our particular situation, knowledge, training and personal preference.
Now, it’s time to speak to assembling kits. Using the items from the limited example constructed in the previous articles, I’d like to show how our every day carry kits can be kept in different locations, and how they can take different forms. Sometimes it’s as simple as putting items in your pocket, and other times we’ll need a bag, box, shelf or container of some sort to help us keep our necessities close at hand when we need them. [Read More…]
Welcome to the fourth installment of a five part Every Day Carry series that shows how to use a structured thought process to create EDC kits for the home, vehicle, place of employment, and on our person. This article is where “the rubber meets the road” as it identifies the content of various kits using information from previous steps in the process.
In the last installment, planned responses were proposed for a list of twenty-eight security threats associated with the general areas of: crime; vehicle breakdown; and, severe weather. The threats were those that I perceive as reasonably likely to occur in my lifetime, associated with my lifestyle, and threatening my security, safety and health.
For the sake of brevity, this article will focus on planned responses for six selected security threats. This abbreviated list should give us plenty to look at, and still allow us to get through this portion of the analysis in short order. [Read More…]
I’m super excited today to bring you what we feel to be the best messenger bag out on the market today!
The ITS Tactical Discreet Messenger Bag has been in development for over a year with Zulu Nylon Gear and represents features unseen in other bombproof tactical messenger bags; A bag laden with tactical features that doesn’t look tactical!
With no exposed MOLLE/PALS or visible velcro, this bag is sure to blend right into any urban environment; or with MultiCam as one of the colorway choices, blend into a tactical environment as a bug out bag / bail out bag.
You may remember a few months back when we highlighted the Discreet Messenger Bag Prototype on ITS and referred everyone over to Joel at Zulu to purchase. He had such a great response, we decided to make some crucial improvements and brand it as the ITS Tactical Discreet Messenger Bag for sale exclusively on ITS Tactical.
The ITS Tactical Discreet Messenger Bag is capable of fitting into any role you require it to; We know you’re going to like the improvements and hopefully adopt one for your EDC (Every Day Carry) bag. [Read More…]
Today we’re going to get into the third installment of our five part Every Day Carry series that suggests a structured approach to creating EDC kits for the home, our vehicle, our place of employment and to be carried on our person.
In the previous installment, a security threat assessment was conducted for three limited areas of interest: crime; vehicle breakdown; and severe weather. Using my lifestyle as an example, these three “vertical slices” were examined in detail to show how the process I’m suggesting can help create kits that are useful to respond to what we reasonably believe to be serious threats to our well being – matters that threaten our security, safety and health. (For an overview of the suggested analytical process, see the first installment in this series.)
In this article, I’ll take each threat element and create what I consider to be reasonable responses. The purpose of knowing the likely responses is to help us determine what tools, resources and supplies will be needed to effectively respond to the threats. This will form the basis for selecting candidate tools, resources and supplies for inclusion in our every day carry kits. [Read More…]
This is the second in a five part Every Day Carry series to help show how careful and reasonable planning will promote better selection of tools, resources and supplies for EDC kits. The first article in this series presented an overview of the analytical process for deciding on the composition of our kits. In a nutshell, the process involves the following four steps:
- Security Threat Assessment
- Articulate Reasonable Threat Responses
- Identify Necessary Tools, Resources and Supplies
- Allocate Items Among EDC kits kept at Home, Work, in your Vehicle(s) and on your Person
This article addresses the first step in the process, conducting a security threat assessment to identify the scope of events we’d like to be better prepared for with our every day carry kits.
Since this is a structured thought process, we need to look at it one piece at a time for better understanding and to see how one portion of the analysis relates to others. If done correctly, we’ll have a complement of items that are essential for our EDC kits. In addition, the same process conducted in reverse will allow us to validate the content of kits we’ve already assembled. [Read More…]
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