Get Real Self Defense Podcast
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Get Real Self Defense Podcast
Ep #27: Mastering the Everyday Carry (EDC) Philosophy: Boost Your Family Safety and Preparedness
Imagine being equipped with the knowledge to boost not only your personal safety but also that of your family. We let you in on some tips of mastering the Everyday Carry (EDC) philosophy, a concept that aims to ensure you're always prepared, whether that's through the contents of your pocket or the shoes on your feet. Join us on this journey as we delve into how to optimize your EDC to fit your environment perfectly.
We share my personal experience on choosing the Glock 43X MOS and the Tier 1 Concealed Axis Elite Slim holster. We also discuss the importance of functional yet comfortable clothing and how to blend in with the crowd strategically. We reveal the essential components you need to consider for your EDC, from your choice of a concealed carry firearm and holster to the seemingly trivial items you carry in your pockets.
But we don’t stop at individual safety, we also focus on family preparedness. We discuss how to equip your loved ones with basic knowledge and the right items in case of an emergency. Hear from us about the importance of balancing safety and normalcy, and learn how to prepare your family without instilling fear. Embrace the powerful concept of EDC and enhance your family’s safety and preparedness today. So, gear up and tune in to learn about simple yet effective tactics for everyday safety.
Check out some of the Gear mentioned in this episode:
Orvis Pants
Glock 43x MOS
Tier1 Concealed Axis Elite Slim
Shield Arms Z9 Magazines
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In today's episode of the Get Real Self Defense podcast, we will be going over EDC, otherwise known as everyday carry. We'll be covering things like what EDC actually means for those of you that don't know, as well as how to optimize your everyday carry, and then I will also be sharing some of my tips on what I like to do as far as approaching everyday carry, not just for myself, but everyday carry for my family and everyday carry for things like my vehicle. So with that, let's get started.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Get Real Self Defense podcast. Here you get your daily dose of personal protection discussion to help you be more confident and prepared to protect yourself and your loved ones. And now let's get real with self defense.
Speaker 1:All right guys, thank you and welcome back to the Get Real Self Defense podcast. I'm Adam Jolly and, like I said in the intro, we'll be going over EDC, otherwise known as everyday carry. Now, for those of you that don't know what EDC exactly means the idea of with everyday carry and at this point, just so we don't go back and forth, I'll just be calling it EDC at this point. What it means is what you have on your person and what that means for preparedness and self defense. So a lot of people kind of get in their minds when they talk about EDC or think about EDC for themselves is their firearm, their gun? Then that's what they call their EDC. So sometimes there'll be people that say, hey, what's your EDC? Or hey, let's go over your EDC, and oftentimes on YouTube and other places, they'll go over their gun. And while that is a very important aspect and in fact, in my opinion, a staple of your EDC, I think that sometimes that overshadows some of the other aspects that are really important for your overall preparedness in self defense and personal protection as a whole. So, like I said, edc, your everyday carry it's what you have on your person at any given time. So I want you to consider a couple things when you have your EDC. For those of you that do carry something like a firearm, do you carry it all the time? Now, when you're out in public? I'm sure the answer is yes. For those of you that do carry a firearm as part of your EDC, however, do you carry it in your house while you are home? Because, realistically, if you think about it, when you have your home, your home is your castle and you are typically going to be the only person that stands between you and those that assault your castle, and no good king would ever have guards not armed at any given time.
Speaker 1:Now, for those of you listening, that may sound a little extreme, but what I'm saying is my point is is that really your EDC, or is that EDC that's specific to environments? And that is the next point that I want to get into, which is with EDC. Edc is dictated by your environment. So when I go over EDC and give you guys tips, I'm not going to give you a list of what I think you should specifically have, because your environment's going to be different than mine. Where I live is very likely very different than where you live. Some of you might be living in dense metropolis areas with high populations and high foot traffic, versus some of the rest of us that may live on beach side properties or rural areas, and some of us may be even mountainous areas, where the elements such as the cold and whatnot, are a very important factor. So when you are doing your EDC and you are carrying, it is predicated by where you are at.
Speaker 1:So, considering that, let's now kind of dive into some of the nuances with what I think is EDC, for instance, your cell phone. That's pretty universal. Most of us have a cell phone, regardless of where we are at. Environmentally, it doesn't matter if we're in a metropolis or if we are in a rural area. We are going to, nine times out of 10, have our cell phone ready to go in our pocket or backpack in some way, shape or form Our wallet or purse. That is another EDC item. So hopefully you get my drift here, which is that, for those of you that don't have, or don't think that you have, edc, you actually do have EDC items that you have every single day.
Speaker 1:The question, though, comes into do you have EDC items that are useful to you if you needed to protect yourself or keep yourself safe. So let's go back to the idea of carrying while in your house. I bring that up because it was something that I hadn't really considered before, because most of us, when we're in our house or our castle, we feel relatively safe. It's our zone, it's our place to unwind and relax. But if you have your firearm tucked away in your closet cabinet, you're safe away from you, out of arm's reach. Are you really able to utilize it if something bad were to happen where someone comes into your house and invades your space? So that's just something to consider. Am I saying that you have to carry? No, while you're in your house, I mean, I'm not saying that necessarily, but it's something to consider. Where you're safe away from, it's a risk, which is why, in a future episode in the Get Real Self-Defense podcast, we will be covering ways to better defend your castle. Everything from you know things like the way to better lock down your doors and windows, alarm systems, cameras, so on and so forth that are super budget friendly and are still very efficient, but that'll be for another time.
Speaker 1:My point is that EDC is more than just your firearm. It's also what you carry and how you carry it and why you carry being very intentional with what you carry. So we've talked about phones, We've talked about cell phones as a whole. We've talked about the idea that your items, like wallets and purses, are EDC. So, with your person, you yourself and your environment, if you're thinking from a self-defense perspective, do you think that wearing flip-flops is a good or bad idea? Now again, it depends on your environment. A lot of these answers to the question depends, depends, depends. You'll hear that quite a bit in military and in, especially, law enforcement, where it's like is this the right move or is this the right move, depends. So you're probably going to hear me say the word depends quite a bit, just as a warning to those of you listening.
Speaker 1:However, when you are wearing something like flip-flops, is that a really good item to wear on the beach? Yes. Is it a good item to wear while you're relaxing or just trying to be low-key and have a good time and not do much? Yes. Would it be useful for a mountainous region? No, absolutely not. Would it be useful for a city region? Yes, unless you had to run away really fast or chase someone down who stole something or someone from you, or if you had to fight in those flip-flops? Would that be useful?
Speaker 1:So another factor to consider with EDC is what is going to be universally useful to you at any given time. Is it better to go to that environment, whether that be sunny and warm and nice or mountainous? Is it better to have some hiking or cross trek type shoe or flip-flops? So part of your EDC is what is going to give me the best bang for my buck as far as universality in my environment. That is something to consider.
Speaker 1:If you are typically someone who's a lifeguard working on the beach, then maybe flip-flops are part of your EDC, because while you're in the sand you're going to be barefoot half the time anyways. That's one thing. But if you are someone who is just walking near the beach and that is not your typical output and you're not going to be barefoot then maybe you should be wearing some sort of shoe. Who knows? That is up for you to decide. But again, the point is that EDC is more than just a firearm. It is what you carry every single day and that includes things like shoes. So consider shoes. My recommendation personally is that it's some sort of cross trek or hiking type shoe, Like I said earlier, at the very least some sort of running shoe or trainer shoe that you would use in activities such as track and field or lifting in the gym. But realistically, any shoe will do so long as you have it secure on your foot. Now let's go into the next reason why I think that a cross trek or hiking shoe is going to be a little bit better than most other shoes. Another thing would consider would be if you are driving and your car breaks down and you have to walk, you are going to wish you were wearing a better, more secure type of tread on your heels than something like flip-flops or really loose skateboard style shoes or crocs. A lot of people wear crocs for some reason.
Speaker 1:So with that, let's talk about pants. We're going to kind of start from the bottom and work our way up. Pants I love wearing sweats, I love wearing gym shorts and typically I'll be wearing those in my house. However, when it comes time to being out and about, I don't like wearing those things out and about. As a teenager, I enjoyed wearing the basketball style shorts and sweatpants, but as I've become more attuned and aware of my own surroundings and my role as a protector in my family, I have been wearing a lot more pants, things that have belts on them as well as pockets.
Speaker 1:Now, some of the cons to certain types of pants like, let's say, wranglers or Levi's for the classics is that they're very stiff in the groin crotch region. When you are having to run fast and possibly climb or squat or bend your knees in any way, shape or form you at least for me, it's kind of shooter's preference at this point, but I prefer to have something that has some sort of stretch in the groin area. So I like to get jeans and pants that have that stretching material, which is becoming more and more popular these days and more prevalent. So something to think about when you're buying your next set of pants is Will I have flexibility in them? Are they going to be solid when it comes to austere environments? Are they still going to be comfortable and kind of basically make that as part of your metric and for me I actually found that at Costco. For those of you that have Costco in the United States in particular, you may not have Costco in Europe I actually do not know or other regions. I know some of you listen all the way from Africa, and for that I appreciate all of you guys.
Speaker 1:But the point is that we have a store named Costco and there's a brand called Orvis that sells pants and shirts that are a little bit more rural, cowboy style, mountainous, and these pants are pretty cheap. They're like, I think, $19. And they're actually pretty nice and they're flexible and they stretch a little bit. They are weather resistant, such as rain and whatnot, and they have them in khaki style and whatnot. So it just looks really good and it still is very comfortable and it has a side pocket as well as the normal pockets. That is on the right hand side or the right leg. That has a vertical zip and that's where I can place something like a tourniquet or other items and that's really, really useful. So I'll link down Orvis in the description of this episode and that way you guys can kind of see what I'm talking about. But in basically any other item that I mentioned, I will try to make sure that that is in the description as well so that you guys can check it out. The point is, orvis is a decent product. I'm not affiliated with them, but those pants I'm a big fan of. They work really well.
Speaker 1:I'm working up shirts. Wear a shirt. It doesn't matter what shirt I always like to wear a shirt that's an underpants. I wear an under shirt because I do have a firearm as part of my EDC, and I like to have that shirt tucked in, and that way it's a little bit of a sweat guard and it just feels a little bit more comfortable for me and then on top of that, over top, so that it covers up my firearm, because I can seal, I can seal, carry my firearm. The types of shirts that I like to wear are baggier shirts.
Speaker 1:Typically, I don't wear t-shirts, though when I'm out and about, I'll actually wear a collared shirt of some sort, like a golf style tee or polo or button up flannels. Those are like my preferred style, and basically anywhere in between. Those are the kind of shirts that I like to wear exteriorly, again, because you're going to blend in with a lot of environments and crowds, with people, which is a whole another subject we can get into one day, called gray man theory, where you're just blending in with the crowd. The other factor, though, is that it's comfortable and it allows me to cover up the firearm that I have on my person, and it all is supposed to flow. I have decent footwear, I have my pants that are stretchy and mobile so that if I need to climb something or jump off something or squat or anything like that, I have those pants and then I have the shirt that is tucked in, so my firearm and my skin aren't rubbing against each other in any way that they shouldn't. That produces any sort of discomfort or sweat that could actually affect the firearm negatively, as well as the fact that then I wear the like some sort of baggy or slightly baggy, or shirt, like I wear larges for my body type and that allows enough to cover me as far as my firearm goes.
Speaker 1:Now, when it comes to wearing hats or glasses or anything like that, that's up to you. If you're in a colder environment, obviously you're going to want something like a beanie or a some sort of skull cap that keeps you warm. That's a given. That's just clothing. We're not going to get into those facets because that's common sense.
Speaker 1:You guys understand that Sunglasses are useful when you're out and about. You'll notice in TV shows in real life, there's a lot of first responders and team guys and stuff like that that like to wear sunglasses. One of the reasons why sunglasses are useful is to keep the sun out of your face for one, but two. It's also so that you can look around in new situational awareness without people noticing where you're looking. You could be standing off to one way but actually be using your eyes to be looking a different way and be noticing things and not appear like you're looking at that person or that thing. That's going on and that can be really useful for information gathering, while keeping yourself gray man or low key in that process. Now, obviously, sunglasses are not always going to be the appropriate measure for your environment, especially if it's really dark out, nighttime, gray and whatnot, but again, the whole premise is that these are things that you can have as part of your EDC, on hand ready to go should you need it.
Speaker 1:Now, some of the items that I think are really important to carry in your pocket are, for me, I carry a tourniquet. I always carry a tourniquet everywhere I go. It doesn't matter. Is it enough? Maybe, maybe not. What I mean by is it enough Is are they enough? Are there enough tourniquets on my person that I'm going to need? Maybe, maybe not, but again, I always carry one just in case, because massive hemorrhaging is a thing and people, whether that be in a shooting or, more likely, in some sort of car accident I might be able to help somebody stomp some bleeding, or myself, by having that tourniquet on hand. So I have that tourniquet and when I'm wearing my Orvis pants, for instance, I will put those in that pocket that is vertically aligned, like I mentioned earlier. So, having a tourniquet, I have my firearm. I'll get into my firearm later.
Speaker 1:With that I also have, aside from my wallet and my phone, I like to carry a lighter, and one of the reasons why I like to carry a lighter is because every human being should have the ability to make fire. If I am driving through the woods and my car crashes or goes kaput or something and I'm stranded out in the middle of nowhere with little phone reception, because where I live that is a factor where you can get deep in the mountains and in the woods and lose reception, and if your car goes haywire or sideways, then you are basically up the creek without a paddle, and so having the ability to at least be able to make fire quickly, having that lighter is nice For social engineering or for rapport building. Sometimes you can use the lighter to your advantage. For instance, if I want to build rapport with somebody, I can offer them a light If I I'm not a smoker of cigarettes myself, but other people are. And that's a way that you can be polite but also, at the same time, be able to build that rapport with somebody, to information gather, for instance as a law enforcement or military or just in general like if somebody seems like agitated at you, and that's one of the ways you can de-escalate.
Speaker 1:Hey, I noticed that you have a. You have cigarettes, you know, in your breast pocket. Let's just how about? How about I just light you a cigarette and we just talk this out? And that might be an angle. Is that situational? Is that janky? Yes, it's better to have that lighter, considering how small it is, than not, even if you don't smoke, because you can use it for several different things.
Speaker 1:Now, that's kind of my main, my main thing I like to carry the firearm, I like to carry my phone, I like to have a charger so that if my phone runs out of battery, does that mean that I have it in my pockets? Not necessarily. That's where you can carry a sling bag, a fanny pack. Again, it depends on your environment, but again, if you're going to be out for long trips. These are things to consider and if you're going to be in austere environments, that's also something to consider. And so now let's move on to my firearm.
Speaker 1:Everybody's firearms different and for me, I'm not a, if you will, like some of my friends like super, super into firearms.
Speaker 1:I don't like watch every history channel historical firearm breakdown of every type of gun on the planet. Some of my friends are really into that kind of stuff and I'm not nearly at that level. But I do understand firearms, I do understand how they function and I understand how to shoot, move and communicate and all those other things. And for me it took actually a super long time for me to find and decide on a gun that I wanted to make my EDC. I had other guns that I had carried, but nothing that I was really satisfied with. And I guess the first thing I want to share with you guys about firearms if you are still, if you're about to get into having a firearm as an EDC is the fact that you're you might change, you might change your mind, you might not like the gun you have. The first gun or two that I had, I, you know, spent money on them and I don't carry them? Do I still have them? Yes, do I still shoot them once in a while? Yes, do I carry them? Yes.
Speaker 1:Do I still no, and it's part of the game is you're going to find what works for you and what doesn't, and for me, after much research and much deliberation, I decided on my gun and my holster virtually at the same time, and what I decided on is a Glock 43X MOS, which, for those that don't understand or are not sure, basically means it's uh, glock is the brand, the 43X is the model and the MOS is the type that basically allows you to put a red dot sight on it rather than just using the iron sights that come with the gun. And the Glock 43X MOS is what I chose, and the reason for that is because I'm a fan of subcompact, because it's a little easier to conceal. I can conceal that in summer attire where I'm wearing a T-shirt and shorts, should I choose to, without it printing super hard and at the same time. The other problem, though, with subcompacts is that full size guns have a little bit more oftentimes stopping power, recoil management, and they can have a higher the biggest one is a higher ammo capacity, and for me I don't see myself shooting round upon round forever, but you never know. Again, being prepared is an important thing, so I understand the argument that full stack guns are a good suggestion or idea, and you can conceal a Glock 17, which is pretty big. You can conceal that. You can get away with that. Just you have to be deliberate with deliberate with how you wear your clothing. However, it's going to be much harder to get away with without certain items like, maybe, belly bands and things like that, when you're wearing summer type attire where you have less layers of clothing to cover up things like your firearm.
Speaker 1:So I chose the Glock 43 XMOS because of the subcompact, but also because Shield Arms, a company, had come out with a product that allowed the magazine to have the polymer removed, and then they expanded it and it actually carries now 15 and one in a subcompact versus 10 and one, and what's really cool about that is that you basically get closer to a full stack gun that carries 15, 19, however many rounds, while at the same time maintaining the integrity of it being a subcompact, and so I'm a really big fan of Glock as a whole. You basically can throw those suckers of the dirt like AKs, and they'll. Just you pick them back up and they're going to work just fine. Some other guns you can't really get away with that, and Glock's you can. So Glock's are super easy to use, they're simple to learn and understand the functionality of for new people that are shooting, and I just am a fan of Glock, like I said. So the Glock 43, xmos and the Shield Arms magazines that I had acquired before any changes were made in the on the West Coast as far as that goes, and those things got grandfathered in, thank goodness. But the idea is that I now have a little bit of a round count.
Speaker 1:I have an additional magazine that comes with me, and that is thanks to the fact that I have the holster that I have, and so my EDC holster is from Tier 1, concealed, and that is the Axis Elite Slim, and I chose that one due to the fact that it fits well to your body. It is very concealable and my favorite part is the fact that it has what's called Alteclips, and the Alteclips basically just cinched down to the fabric of your clothing rather than around the belt. A lot of the different Concealed Carry holsters out there on the market will basically hook over the belt and clamp down on the belt that you wear, and that's how you maintain retention when you are drawing, so that it sticks to your clothing, obviously, so that you're able to separate the firearm from the kydex holster or the leather holster. The problem is that I'm not. I wasn't a big fan of that, because it just wasn't. It wasn't enough for me.
Speaker 1:I wanted to be able to. What if I wanted to wear gym shorts and carry? What if I wanted to go to the gym, for instance, and wear something that wasn't jeans or pants and still be able to carry my firearm? As an example, and the Alteclips from Tier 1 Concealed basically made it so that it cinches down to the fabric of your pants and kept the integrity there so you could draw. And it goes behind your belt, so you can actually wear your shirt tucked in, for instance, and have your belt not show the holster hooking over it and it's behind it, so people don't even tell when your shirt's tucked in that it is actually concealing a firearm. And on top of that, I can go to the beach and wear board shorts and it'll still work with my board shorts.
Speaker 1:Is it perfect? No, if I were to sprint, that thing will shake out eventually a little bit and get kind of wonky, but it'll still hold. When I mean shake out, I mean that it won't fall out, but it'll kind of hang in a weird way that is kind of over the top, rather than cinch up between my body and the fabric, because the fabric is different. It's not holding the same, but with pants especially, and shorts, with the belt, it crushes it. It does it so well. And the thing cool thing is you can customize the entire setup for the firearm that you have, the type of colors you want, all the way down to what side, and if you're gonna add a light to the whole thing, they custom make it and it's really nice. So again, glock 43X, mos, the Tier 1 concealed axis, elite slim, I'll have those down in the description if you want to check them out.
Speaker 1:Again, not affiliated with any of these things as far as getting any sort of portion or proceeds, just want to share that with you guys. That's what I carry A lighter, a tourniquet though I don't think that's enough, but that's just the minimum of what I carry every single day and obviously your wallet, cell phone, someone and so forth. Now that more or less is you as your person, you carrying every single day. What kind of things do you think you need again, for your environment? You're gonna have to make adjustments. If you're out in Alaska, you may want more to be more forward thinking as far as you know, warmth, food and shelter, depending on where you're at or where you're commuting to. Or maybe you need a beefier gun, because everybody in Alaska carries and, as such, being concealed isn't as big of a deal versus where I'm at. So, again, your EDC and how you set up is gonna be different, and you have to just consider what your operational environment is, how Murphy's Law could play into your life, like we talked about before in previous episode of the Get Real Stuffed Events podcast, and then act accordingly. Now, if you have any questions on that, feel free to email me at adametsmartsafetyfencecom. I'd be happy to answer any question that you have, like I normally do with you guys. I really appreciate the conversation that we have. So if you feel that you want to reach out, feel free to reach out.
Speaker 1:Let's move on to the next thing, though, and that is EDC for your family. Now, this will be pretty quick. Reason why it's pretty quick is because, if you already have an idea for EDC for yourself, you'll be able to basically make EDCs for your family and your loved ones. So if you have kids. Obviously your kids are not going to carry a firearm and at least if your kids are children they're minors and you know they're still going to middle school and elementary school or even high school they're not going to be carrying guns on their person. But let's say you have.
Speaker 1:I'll use my kids. For example, my eldest is six, so my six-year-old. If I want to make sure that my six-year-old is prepared, I have to consider that he's a kid and what's the number one fear that I'm going to have that he gets lost or taken. So while we're at about, I have to think about does my son and this is actually something that I've been working on myself recently, is not something I have down to a science yet and I'm still working with him to develop this but if he goes missing, does he know my name, not just daddy, but does he know my name? Does he know where, his address if he goes missing, so that if someone says where do you live, does he know, does he know my number?
Speaker 1:I remember back when I was a kid, I used to have all my family's, you know numbers memorized. I used to know my address. But as we've gotten more and more electronically dependent and AI dependent. It's really easy for us to be like Wally and the movie Wally and, have you know, be like the overly large people out of shape, people that are on the ship. Just having everything automated for them and that's kind of where we've ended up is a lot like. I don't barely remember what I had for breakfast sometimes, let alone what I used to remember as a kid when it came to addresses and phone numbers. And so does my kid know my name? Does my kid know my address or his address? Does he know his or the phone number he needs to call if he goes missing? Does he know who to talk to or is he just going to go up to a random stranger?
Speaker 1:These are all EDC tactics that you need to have prepared for your, your kids. What about your, or even your grandkids, maybe? Maybe you have grandkids and you want to make sure that these kids are. After listening to this, you want to make sure that your grandkids are prepared. You can help your guide, your, your own children who have those kids, your grandkids and come up with a plan to make them better prepared, potentially, or just have your kids listen to this podcast so that they can get some mind-setting ideas on how to better prepare their children, but the point is is that if they're lost another thing is that they can be lost for a while do they have snacks on their person if they go missing, because they're gonna get hungry? And oftentimes, when we're hungry and tired and scared, our brains do things that normally or we would react in certain ways that we normally wouldn't think to act. And children are no different, if in fact, they're probably worse with those things because they don't have those parts of their brains developed like we do. So do you have that set up? What about your spouse, your loved one? If you're the protector, the home, whether you are male or female, does your spouse, your partner, are they also going to prepare with you in the same manner, or are they even prepared to support you in that way?
Speaker 1:For instance, as an example, I watched a video of a shootout with these law enforcement guys and one of the law enforcement members they were. They were shooting, they were had a shootout with a guy downtown and the guy was like a block or two down and everyone else pretty much cleared out from the block is the shooting and he was kind of pinched in the alleyway, trying to avoid the. He was using the alleyway as cover while he was shooting down the street towards the cops that's the way to put it and this cop was using another alleyway tuck in as cover and his partner was with them and he had been shot in the leg. His partner had showed up. Well, he said, hey, what's going on you good, and he said, hey, he's right over there. I got shot the leg and he was holding the angle with his firearm because that was really important for security. Well, the partner that just showed up immediately grabs a tourniquet and puts it on his partner's leg, while his partner is standing there pulling the security by aiming his firearm down towards the bad guy who they were shooting at.
Speaker 1:My point is if you had your firearm and you had to do a situation like that, would your partner even know of? Do they even have a tourniquet? Would they know where yours is? Would they know how to apply a tourniquet? Now, some people might think this kind of stuff is extreme, but again, it's that the whole idea of self-defense is that self-defense. The idea of self-defense in itself is extreme because you're talking about something that's out of norm.
Speaker 1:Most people don't want to be violent. Most people don't want violence in their lives, but yet we know that violence happens, which is why we prepare for it, and some of that violence could come in the form of bleeding or massive hemorrhaging. And does your partner know how to support you? If you didn't have time to tourniquet yourself, or maybe you were passed out bleeding because of something that happened to you like a car accident, would your partner know what to do? Could your kids learn what to do? Yes, that is a thing that you could do and there are actually kids out there that know how to do those things because their parents prepared them as such.
Speaker 1:Have I done that with my kids yet? No, not yet, but soon. We mostly my eldest and I have mostly been playing with room clearing, where we go together with Nerf guns and practice good muzzle control and making sure that there's trigger discipline and all that kind of stuff, because I'm trying to prepare him to understand basic safety firearm principles for when they end up getting older and when my son gets older to actually shoot for real when we go to the range. But I digress. So the point is that these are things to consider if your kid gets lost or if a family member gets lost, for instance, like I used my son as an example. These are things that I have to consider. Do they have an ID card? Maybe Is there a way to get an ID card for them, or some sort of identification? How are they going to store it? Like I said, maybe a little fanny pack or something? These are things to consider.
Speaker 1:Now, the last thing that I want to share as far as EDC is the one thing that we use pretty much every single day, and that is our car. Most of us have a car. Most of us have some way to transport ourselves Not everyone. Some of us have the uses of buses or motorcycles or bicycles, but most of us have a car in some way, shape or form that we use. And I'll never forget the book that came out recently called Prepared by Mike Glover. I'm a big follower of what Mike does at Fieldcraft Survival.
Speaker 1:In his book that came out this year called Prepared, he covers a part about medical and cars and I highly recommend if you want to get better ideas of EDC to glean from his book. You can get it on audio format or, obviously, purchase the real copy, but he talks about if you had a family of four? If you were a family of four and you had a rollover accident, do you have enough tourniquets for each limb that you and your family have? Now, if you think about it, four limbs right, there's the arms, the legs so four limbs on each person and four people that means 16 tourniquets. So that's something to think about is do you have enough tourniquets in your car for your family? Do you have enough just basic medical equipment like that in case there was a bad accident or in case something happened If your car were to break down in the middle of nowhere and you had to sleep for the night and you couldn't get the car on and it gets cold? Do you have things like space blankets? You can buy those at the stores like North 40, cabela's Field and Stream Bass Pro Shops, and they're really cheap. You can get them online really cheap and, again, those things kind of stay warm, and Mike even talks about the usefulness of space blankets in his book, and so the point is that these are things to consider.
Speaker 1:Does your car, does your car's EDC have something prepared in case it were to break down or if you were to have a car accident? Does that mean bring another entire engine? No. Does that mean bring tankards and tankards of gas? No, but does that mean maybe have a spare tire that's functional? Yes, do you know how many times as a cop I've had someone get stranded, that I had to go help out, that they had a flat tire and their spare was also flat because they hadn't checked it and maintained it? Quite a few. So these are things to just consider.
Speaker 1:Again, I'm not going to go super and deep with those. Those are up to you. You just got to consider if I'm driving across the desert in Arizona from one point to another two, three, four hours at a time, and where there are spots that are really, really stranding, where I'm not going to see a lot of people. Maybe I should have food, maybe I should have water, maybe I should have blah, blah, blah, blah. Go down the line. You got to consider those things because once they are there, they are there every day, the same way that you have your wallet, your purse, your cell phone and for those of us that have been carrying awhile.
Speaker 1:So I hope that this gives you some insight on how to realign your mindset when it comes to your EDC and for those of you that haven't even started yet. Hopefully this gives you some insight into how you can approach your own EDC. And overall, I'm still working on my EDC. That's the final thing I'll say about that. I'm still working on mine.
Speaker 1:I'm still trying to refine and better understand how I want to best go about operating with my family in the environments that I am in and make sure that my family still has a good balance of being themselves and being aloof of the dangers to some degree, because that's my job is to protect them from the danger.
Speaker 1:But at the same time, I want to make sure that my spouse and my kids are prepared and have their own EDC, so to speak, should something hit the fan that comes out of left field that we're not prepared for, so that we can basically come back together and be safe in the process and hopefully reduce any of the dangers or harm that may come from those things that come out of left field. And so, with that guys, thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Get Real Self Defense podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to hit this podcast with a five store review wherever you are listening to this podcast. And with that guys trained today, protect tomorrow. Stay safe out there, and I'll catch you guys next time.
