How to get prepared in three easy steps

I carry a Leatherman Juice CS4, a small Fenix AAA flashlight, mini Bic lighter, and lip balm in pants pocket. No holes in my Carhartts yet. I use the flashlight more than the Juice. I like having pliers, openers, scissors, knife blade, screwdrivers on hand all the time.

Firearm is a Kel Tec PMR 30 around my property and a Colt LW Commander for trips to town or elsewhere.

AlexanderA said:

ETA: In today's world, financial literacy is a far more important survival tool than carrying a pocketknife or a flashlight. I've seen plenty of lives ruined by poor financial decisions. None by the lack of a pocketknife.

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You're 100 percent right about the importance of financial literacy. However, there's no need to make this an either/or situation, @AlexanderA. A nice emergency fund is very helpful in many, many situations, but mine didn't help me open the stupid clamshell packaging on a watt meter this weekend. Sure, I could have walked back around the garage into the house and gotten a cutting implement from the kitchen, but my SAK was right there in my pocket.

Carry or leave whatever works for you.

bdickens said:

When thinking about preparedness, we tend to focus on the sexy stuff. Socking away a year's supply of MREs, bug-out bags, and particularly guns and ammo aplenty to ward off hordes of Zombies or the entire cadre of the Hell's Angels and Banditos combined.

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I'm not worried about The Hell's Angels or The Banditos. I'm worried about The Karens.

Seriously, the only thing I would add to this is carry a Multitool in addition to a knife

I work as a security guard (AKA a FLASHLIGHT cop) having a flashlight on me is sort of a prerequisite. At work I generally carry two, a pocket light (350 Lumens) and one on my belt (1000 lumens) the pocket light is the one I use the most. It's also the one I carry when I'm not at work. I got a CSPD trainee in trouble with her FTO at work one night because she was trying to write down a description from me in the dark and I pulled out my pocket light to illuminate her note book. The FTO laughed at her and she turned BEET RED. I'm sure she heard about it all night.

My daily carry knife isn't a super cool tactical folder. At work I carry a 25 YO Buck 110 that I bought when I was in the Army. When I'm not at work I carry a Buck 110 slim that I bought a month or two ago that I am REALLY liking the more I carry it. It's a light weight version of the 110 with a pocket clip that can be adjusted for ambidextrous carry.

As I mentioned previously, I would add a good Multitool to the list. I carry a Gerber that I've had since I was in the Army. It has a diamond hacksaw blade on it that a guy I was in the guard with actually used to cut a padlock off his duffle bag once. It only took him about 10 minutes.

I only have two points of disagreement with Grant Cunningham's article. I don't loan out my light, knife or Multitool to coworkers. The only people I would loan them to already have their own.

The second is the USB rechargeable lights. I wouldn't buy a light that didn't have that. It's an absolute deal breaker for me BUT the lights I carry will also run on AAs in an emergency.

AlexanderA said:

I'm 75 years old. I haven't "needed" a pocket knife since I was a Boy Scout.

I actually have a fairly large collection of pocket knives. The truth is, that for each of their functions, a dedicated tool would be better (including a fixed-blade knife).

When I need a tool (a knife or whatever), I get the dedicated tool. I find that I simply have no use for pocket knives.

I carry a bag of tools in my truck. A pocket knife is not included.

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You never go into a store to buy something where a whole bunch of what you want are bundled together and if you had a knife you could cut the tape and take the one or two you need, instead of having to wait for a salesperson to show up?

Honestly this post/article is so dated it might as well be talking about how to talk to your kids about Kaiser Wilhelm.

Here’s the 2020 version: If you want to be prepared, get yourself a face mask, a bunch of nitrile gloves, and a container of hand sanitizer. Use them any time you go out in public and don’t want to die or be part of a chain of events that leads to family/friends dying.

A pocket knife and flashlight aren’t going to save anyone’s life. If everyone carried and used mask, gloves, and hand sanitizer it would save tens or hundreds of thousands of lives.

bdickens said:

Honestly, you're missing the larger point.

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You mean, Don’t fixate on the cool/fun things that rarely if ever get used, make sure you have things that are actually useful even though they aren’t glamorous?

I didn’t miss that point, I updated the examples to be more relevant, and less sexy.

Knives, like guns, are things people like far more than need. So are flashlights. They get carried because they are cool. Yes, knives are useful enough but honestly most actual uses can also be done with a key, finger nail, or ball point pen. I’ve gone a literal decade without ever needing the flashlight happens to live in my pocket.

But face masks, nitrile gloves, and hand sanitizer? Not sexy at all, but they are the essence of preparedness and taking personal responsibility for the health of yourself and those you care about.

When it comes to non-firearms strategies and tactics, steps to slow down the active pandemic seem much more topical and relevant.

I won't argue about the mask and hand sanitizer, but I for one use my pocket knife daily and my flashlight multiple times a week. Could I get by without them? Probably. So I'll concede they aren't things I "need." But I find them more convenient than cool.

Legionnaire said:

I won't argue about the mask and hand sanitizer, but I for one use my pocket knife daily and my flashlight multiple times a week. Could I get by without them? Probably. So I'll concede they aren't things I "need." But I find them more convenient than cool.

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Don’t get me wrong, I think they are good to have. I have a nice little assisted opening pocket knife that does come in handy... but even when I have a “need” it’s often just quicker to use whatever is at hand be it a fork or fingernail.

Nowadays a physical flashlight is redundant 98% of the time. Every phone has a decent flashlight built in, and that flashlight is always with everyone. I haven’t needed the fancy LED flashlight I bought years ago because 99% of the time if I need a flashlight the one in my phone is easier to get to and quicker to use. Telling people to buy a flashlight is dated advice.

But I feel like - especially around here - it’s also preaching to the choir. Who here doesn’t carry a knife and flashlight (including phone)?

Masks, gloves and sanitizer don't come with compelling evidence of their effectiveness. The masks are probably effective to contain respiratory projectiles from infected people, but they almost certainly provide no protection for healthy people from aerosolized virus particles. If a mask protects a healthy person, it's the mask on the sick person they're too close to. There's no evidence of virus particles being absorbed through skin, so gloves offer no more protection than hand washing and hand sanitizer and would be costly to dispose of as frequently as hand washing can have the same effect. Yet the little evidence we do have is that most infection does not come through contaminated surfaces where hands are involved in the transfer of viral particles.

My conclusion is not to forsake masks, gloves or hand hygiene, but rather not to trust in a false sense of security from these measures. I do not think these things engender preparedness or personal responsibility because they don't work. They're like rape whistles. The danger is real, but the solution pales in response to the actual hazard.

Personally, I don't think much of phones or the reasoning behind carrying them. If you told the community of gun enthusiasts thirty or forty years ago that they would be carrying government and corporate-controlled microphones and cameras with satellite geolocation tracking service everywhere they go, they would have balked and used expressions like "over my cold dead body." Anyone who carries a phone should really ask themselves what benefit they get from it. Being closer to Facebook surveillance so they can have propaganda in their pocket?

Really, this is about EDC-type preparedness. What phones have become is not the thing that you think is a necessary item for preparedness. You're just being a sucker for the sake of a little convenience and an unwillingness to do what you need for yourself.

I carried pagers and then phones from the early 1990's until some years ago. I couldn't continue to ignore what had been made of that technology. I don't miss it and I will never go back.

labnoti said:

Masks, gloves and sanitizer don't come with compelling evidence of their effectiveness.

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A decent body of science at this point indicates that masks are effective. The problem is that most people are looking at these things backwards.

The purpose of masks is to reduce Rt, the effective reproductive rate of the virus in this time and place. They aren’t personal protection equipment, except as part of a defense in depth strategy. Evidence supports them being effective- as long as mask use is widespread amongst people who believe themselves to be healthy. That last part is the key: Rather than trying to protect you from virus-bearing particles that have already reached you, they limit your exposure to such particles by reducing and filtering the sources of such particles. That means filtering particle emissions from people who either don’t believe they are sick, or don’t care about the potential impact to others. That reduces Rt. Holding Rt below 1 means that the number of infection sources goes down and your risk of infection likewise goes down.

Put in a gun context: knowing the 4 rules means that you probably won’t negligently shoot anyone, but it doesn’t make you personally safer. Teaching everyone else the 4 rules does make you safer. It doesn’t stop bullets from punching holes in your body if they hit you, but it reduces the chance that a bullet will be negligently fired in your direction. When we teach other people the 4 rules we make ourselves safer even if we were already following them. Masks are the same. Everyone should be wearing them in public right now just like everyone should know the 4 rules.

We’re seeing this in countries and states where face mask usage has been prevalent and Rt is below 1, compared to places (like Texas, where I live) where face mask usage is rare and infection rates are soaring.

Gloves and sanitizer are personal protection because most people can’t keep their fingers out of their eyes/mouth/nose. Gloves are a good reminder, and sanitizer is something you can do periodically while you are in a high exposure environment.

Ed Ames said:

They aren’t personal protection equipment, except as part of a defense in depth strategy.

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To a degree, they are PPE. It depends on the type of mask. An N95 isn't 100%, but it will protect the wearer far better than a t-shirt or bandana pulled over the face. But you're right -- the main reason for masks is to contain particles from infected people. And unless you are wearing a certificate around your neck that you tested negative in the past 24 hours, my assumption is that you're positive. It's like the "unloaded" gun -- show me and I'll believe it.

I may be a bit hardcore about because I and other family members have risk factors. It makes no sense for me to die just because somebody didn't want their face to get sweaty.

toivo said:

To a degree, they are PPE. It depends on the type of mask. An N95 isn't 100%, but it will protect the wearer far better than a t-shirt or bandana pulled over the face. But you're right -- the main reason for masks is to contain particles from infected people. And unless you are wearing a certificate around your neck that you tested negative in the past 24 hours, my assumption is that you're positive. It's like the "unloaded" gun -- show me and I'll believe it.

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Good points. I don’t focus on the PPE side of masks because that’s where all the people who don’t see the big picture go off the rails. “A cloth mask won’t protect me”, “people just touch their faces and get infected anyway”, etc.. But yes, a mask can be effective PPE as well.

I may be a bit hardcore about because I and other family members have risk factors. It makes no sense for me to die just because somebody didn't want their face to get sweaty.

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And everyone has someone in their life who is high risk.

Plus...well, I don’t know any group that takes a less political or more clear headed view of certain types of threats than the US military. Their first reaction upon seeing the harm that Covid-19 does to even young bodies was to say that anyone who had ever received a positive covid test was barred from military service. Cannot join. They backed off when they realized that they wouldn’t be able to recruit anyone if they kept that policy, but it’s still a red flag for them. Why do people think that was? Maybe the same reason that a young covid “survivor” would need a need lung transplant afterwards, or the reason physical therapists are being trained to provide physical therapy to survivors....because it frequently causes long term damage even to otherwise healthy young people.

I’ve known a few “low risk” 30-somethings who have had it now, and most report that even now (in some cases months later) they have diminished lung capacity. We may well be looking at a generation of people that have breathing issues for the rest of their lives.

Not something for even a “low risk” person to mess around with, and let’s face it, almost everyone on THR is high risk.

DoubleMag said:

Anyone besides me carry a Bic lighter even if they don't smoke?

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Yes keep one in my car also in my truck to heat up sealant tape to cover holes in the trailer

I carry a gun and knife daily but no flashlight, usually the knife is for opening boxes not any real “survival“ Situation.

I also don’t tote a murse like the guys are want to do nowadays, I like as little in my pockets as possible.

If I have pants on there's a knife and flashlight in them, guaranteed! I keep a Spyderco Dragonfly in HAP40 on a NiteIze 'biner/ring along with an Olight I3E EOS and a spare lithium AAA in a Delrin battery capsule. And a house key, I almost forget to mention. At a minimum then I'll at least have that, and usually a lighter. We're prohibited from bringing firearms onto the premises where I work which is kind of a bummer but when I'm not at work I have a sidearm, spare mag, tactical-type light and a more robust knife (still a Spyderco, usually either a Delica in HAP40 or a Native in REX-45).

All in all I guess you could say I agree with Cunningham. If a problem is solvable with a tool, I can usually do with one of those. Of all the things I carry it's the flashlight that puzzles people the most. When asked why I have one I point out that it's dark for half of the 24 hour day and 100% of the time indoors when the lights are off. Once I helped a server change a tire, and funnily enough no one was willing to lay their cell phone down in the wet snow. That's one reason I have a real light! I've never smoked but the lighter comes in very handy as well, for tasks ranging from thawing frozen parts of cooler/HVAC systems to lighting pilot lights to melting cord ends. And of course, IMO everyone needs to carry a knife. Note that I didn't say every man but every person.

In earlier times it wasn't uncommon to read about how people were able to adjust to, and survive, many of life's daily problems and "inconveniences" with a jackknife, a handkerchief, some string or a twist of wire and a windproof lighter.

I remember carrying a Boy Scout pocket knife and an early Boy Scout branded pocket flashlight (2xAA batteries, flip-top w/metal case and a pathetic amount of light). Then came carrying a cobbled together pocket first aid kit. Those things came in handy

Eventually, the Boy Scout pocket knife was replaced with a Buck 110 on my belt and a Schrade Old Timer 80T Stockman pocket knife, and later still a Gerber FSII (carried in a pocket leather slip sheath) replaced the Buck 110, being lower key since it was carried in a front pocket; which was itself replaced with a Kershaw KAI 2040 single lockblade (also carried in a leather slip sheath, and I still own that one ).

Then came discovering the versatility and joys of SAK's being added to the mix.

A career in law enforcement made carrying a folding lockblade and one or another model SAK very practical and helpful. Ditto the advent of increasingly better pocketable flashlights, especially when working my final plainclothes assignment. I frequently used a small flashlight that slipped inside a sport or suit coat pocket a few times an hour throughout my normal day (when outside my office). Gotta be able to navigate low/no light conditions, see possible/actual threats, etc. Sure, I also kept backup lights in my unmarked car, especially larger ones, for those times when more light was needed, our caseload ran into the evening hours, etc.

Nowadays, in retirement, I still find I don't like to leave home without having at least a small high-power LED light and a knife or 2 (or 3) in my pockets. I even like having a knife and a small light on me just walking around the house. Sure, I have a nice expensive tool chest and tools, as well as some multi-tools, but it's the small and handy pocketable gear that's instantly helpful.

Like hot water, having access to conveniently portable light and a sharp blade are some of the handy conveniences of civilization.

DoubleMag said:

Anyone besides me carry a Bic lighter even if they don't smoke?

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Zippo with a Thunderbird butane insert so it doesn't dry out because I don't smoke at all or use the lighter daily. Besides firestarting, the lighter is also a backup flashlight/torch. I EDC one of those also.

Bics in all the cars/trucks. Camping with the 4x4 once, I had to start the fire with jumper cables and some scrap metal. After that I bought a couple dozen Bics and sprinkled them all over the place. I do have waterproof matches and firesteel in the survival kits but for the price of Bics this doesn't have to be complicated.

Scripto 7 pack in bright colors caught my eye the other day, standing in the checkout lane . Lime green, red, orange orange, white, etc.

Now if the persons in front of me weren't 6 feet forwards, I couldn't have seen everything...that's all I'm gonna say