My EDC for 2023 (Everyday Carry)

I told you yesterday about the tactical pen that I carry every day.

Today, I’m going to share what else I carry every day.

I’ll tell you right off the bat that some of the things that I carry are looked down on by other instructors.

They’re unpopular.

Uncool.

I don’t care.

And I’ll tell you why.

But first, here’s what I carry…

To be clear, I only carry one flashlight and one pepper spray at a time.

Occasionally, I’ll carry 2 pistols, but it’s rare.

Oftentimes, I’ll have a 2nd or 3rd knife on me…but not every day.

Firearm – Glock 26 (subcompact 9mm) in a CompTac Minotaur holster with a Magpul 12 round mag that I wear on my strong-side hip

or

a S&W 43C .22 revolver in a PHLSTER IWB holster that I wear appendix, either on a belt or on an Enigma.

Knife – Emerson Commander with a “wave” opener that causes it to deploy faster than what’s possible with the fastest switchblade.

Flashlight – Either a Surefire Stiletto or a Surefire Backup

Pepper Spray – Either Mace or POM with flip-up safties

Heartrate Monitor / Watch – Garmin Forerunner 245

Tourniquet – RATS

Tactical Pen – Super Stealth Tactical Pen

So, what’s the problem with what I carry and why do I carry those things anyhow?

One of the biggest things
to keep in mind
is that mission drives gear.

My mission on a typical day is not to take down ISIS terrorists or a cannibal motorcycle gang.

I have drawn my pistol on moose, coyote, and other 4 legged critters way more than I have on 2 legged threats.

So, what I carry may not be right for your situation and threat matrix.

I carry a subcompact Glock when a full size Glock would be better because I’m more likely to carry it and 3-gun competitions have shown me that I can engage targets out to 100 yards with my little subcompact quicker than most shooters can with a carbine.

There is no world where I would rather have my subcompact than a full size if I was in an actual fight, but the subcompact I actually have with me will always be better than carrying nothing and having a full-size at home.

I used to carry a 5 shot .357/.38 revolver, but I switched to an 8 shot .22 revolver.

One of the reasons is because I can put 3-4 hits on target with the .22 in the time that I can put 2 on target with the .357/.38.

If I knew I only had 1 shot to stop a threat, I’d want the .357/.38…but that’s not normally the case.

Both the 5 shot .357 and the 8 shot .22 are “2 bad guy guns” in my opinion.  I figure it would take 2-3 hits with .357 or .38 to stop a threat in a timely manner and 4 hits with a .22.

My scandium .357/.38 is the only gun I own that I hate to shoot because it hurts.  I LOVE shooting my little .22.  That means I shoot it more and I don’t have to overcome a hardwired aversion every time I press the trigger.

The holster that I carry my Glock in is a hybrid holster.  Many say that hybrid holsters are the devil and should all be run through a shredder, burned, and then burned again.  Hybrid holsters are notorious about breaking/separating, not standing up to grappling and ground fighting, and the top leather getting soft, curling in, and causing negligent discharges on re-holstering.

Maybe it’s because I know the background of the people who designed the Minotaur…but I bought this one 11 years ago and have probably worn it more than 3,000 days.  I’ve done Dry Fire Fit workouts in it where I’m rolling on the ground, I’ve logged in it, I’ve worn it trail running at least 2,000 days, and I’ve worn it in state, national, and world championship matches.  It’s still going strong.

To be fair, I’ve bought a few other popular hybrid holsters and had them break or the top leather start to fold frighteningly quickly.  The criticisms are valid in general…but they don’t apply to all hybrid holsters.  One general guideline I would give you is to never get an IWB holster where the leather against your body goes above the back-face of the slide or, if you do, cut it with trauma sheers immediately.

Lights:  Neither of my lights are “hard use” lights for “serious duty.”  They’re for me living my normal life.  When I do “hard use” things, I switch to bigger, brighter, badder lights.

To be honest, the main reasons I carry the stiletto is because it doesn’t wear a mark in my pants, I can bite it with my teeth easily (hands-free), and it’s rechargeable.

It’s something I use every single day and it’s much more important for me to have a light that’s ideal for practical use and usable for tactical use than one that is ideal for tactical use and not practical.  On the other hand, my by-the-bed and battle belt lights are big, damn bright, and excellent tactical tools.

So, what about my tourniquet.  The RATS.  The tourniquet that is popular to hate.

I got my first RATS from the Special Forces Medic who designed it, Travis Hall.

In the early days of the global war on terror, he found himself WAY outside the wire, in Indian country, working with tribal militia.

When they’d use their TQs and someone would get medevaced, The TQ would stay on the patient and Travis couldn’t get re-supplied through big Army.

It got to where he might be the only guy with TQs and he’d have to get to injured people/animals for the TQs to do any good.

So, he experimented with lots of designs.

Another guy in his unit, Jeff, had family with a manufacturing business.

Travis would come up with designs, they’d make them and send them and Travis would test them.

Most failed or weren’t quite right.

The RATS worked.

It worked on adults and it worked in situations where other TQs didn’t like military working dogs, skinny Afghan elders, kids, goats, and other indigenous livestock.

The biggest thing was that since they were skipping Army supply chains, they eliminated all the friction and EVERYONE could carry multiple TQs.

And that’s what caused the problem.

The fact that they had the nerve to go outside of normal procurement channels pissed off a LOT of people…the RATS was blackballed and stuff snowballed from there.

Fast forward to today…Travis caries both RATS and CAT tourniquets…because there are advantages to both.  So do I.  I carry a RATS on me 90+% of the time and have CAT TQs in my vehicles.

If I’m doing live fire training, I carry a visible CAT on my belt and always have a RATS in my pocket.

When I first got the RATS…?8? years ago, it was the only TQ that my 5 & 7 year old sons could use on my thighs and actually stop circulation.  That was kind of a big deal for doing remote logging with them.

The RATS is similar to a subcompact pistol in many respects.  It may not be a “duty” TQ, but for a citizen, the RATS you have with you is better than the CAT in your car.

Similar to a subcompact, the RATS is not quite as idiot-proof as people think a CAT is.  That doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.  It does.  But if any individual can’t make it work quickly and easily, I would suggest they get a different TQ, train more, or both.

Tactical Pen:  You know what I carry that doesn’t have any controversy around it?

The Super-Stealth Tactical Pen.

This pen is designed to look and feel like a *normal* pen so that you can use it without people gasping, so it can go through the tightest security without a problem, and so you can have it in your hands as a situation is escalating without your aggressor knowing how effectively you can wield it and how it can stop a fight at bad-breath distances in less than half a second.

Here’s the thing…

They’re going fast.

Hundreds of gun owners have bought them over the last few months.

This week, because of the emails I sent out, they’re coming back and taking advantage of the savings on 5-Packs.

So, if you don’t want to miss out, click here now to get yours ASAP.

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