Earlier we briefly mentioned Every Day Carry. EDC is something you do without knowing you do it. We all have things we carry in our pockets every day. There are some things I would suggest every person carry in their pockets to keep them better prepared.
While EDC is a hugely personal matter, the idea is everyday carry. There are a lot of tools, gimmicks, and gadgets marketed as EDC gear but I bet most items end up sitting in a change tray.
As I said earlier I am strictly limited on what I can take into my work. I have a small light on my key ring and a small plastic mirror I keep in my wallet. The light and the mirror help me search small places that I don’t want to stick a hand into. Other than that my EDC is limited to things my job gives me.
On the weekends my EDC expands. I add a small neck knife, a Swiss army knife, a lighter, and a Glock 19. With the ability to make repairs, light a fire, and defend myself, I feel the bases are covered. Many people would think that is either pretty light or too much to mess with. It is a personal choice dictated by your lifestyle.
When I go out to the land I keep a pair of fencing pliers and an adjustable wrench in my back pocket because I know I will need to snip, tighten, or bash something into working the way it should. I also took an ink pen and cut it to make a three-inch tube. I wrapped the tube with several yards of duct tape and then slid the mini roll of tape on a piece of paracord and tied it to my keychain as a key fob. For extra fire-starting redundancy without a lot of extra weight, I bought a pack of flints for welding strikers (a small metal tool you use to light welding torches) and drilled a small hole through the brass base of one. I threaded it into my old keychain so that I could use my knife to create sparks to light a fire.
One thing that has worked for me in the past was to buy a small aluminum pill bottle that fits on a key chain and make a tiny survival kit in it. You won’t have a lot of room but it is watertight. One thing I put in my pillbox was a small amount of #0000 steel wool. This fine steel wool will spark and burn when it is touched to a battery. I have even used a cell phone battery to ignite it.
One thing I would suggest you add to your EDC is a small, rugged USB drive. In the main directory, create a file marked emergency information. Identify yourself, your next of kin, contact information, and any vital medical information you may need to have emergency room personnel know. I asked my doctor for an electronic copy of my medical records. Another thing I did was scan all my important documents—driver’s license, deed, marriage license, kids’ immunization records, etc. That way if something happens in the middle of the night or my home is destroyed when I am at work I at least have some records. In normal times a scan is not good enough to use for formal government interaction, but in the event of a cataclysmic emergency I am betting it would help.