S1E3 Optimizing Everyday Carry, Self-Defense Preparation, and Tackling Emergency Situations: An In-depth Look at Survival Preparedness

Ever wondered how to optimize your everyday carry and loadout preparation? My co-host, David, and I dissect this topic, leaving no stone unturned. From choosing a firearm that fits like an extension of your own body to the critical role of easily overlooked items like knives and multi-tools, we cover it all. We even shed light on the often forgotten but essential topic of carrying an emergency flashlight. This episode serves as a primer to the comprehensive discussions we plan to bring to you in future episodes.
We then skim the surface of a topic that’s likely to resonate with everyone - self-defense tools and everyday preparations. Imagine the peace of mind knowing you're prepared, should a self-defense situation arise. David and I delve into this, exploring less lethal force options and their potential legal implications. We kick around the idea of having a cubaton or a knife handy, along with multiple first aid kits stashed in strategic locations. The emphasis is on proper training and picking quality, sterile tools suitable for any situation.
Switching gears, we then plunge into the realm of emergency preparedness, a topic that no one should take lightly. We walk through the significance of having basic survival items like food, water, a camp stove, and cell phone battery packs. We even toss around ideas about the functionality of gas-powered generators and manual pumps during power outages. Rounding off, David and I entertain the idea of establishing an educational class centered around preparing people for life-saving scenarios. Prepare to be armed with knowledge, better ready to tackle any emergency. This is not just another podcast episode; it’s your survival guide.
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00:15 - Everyday Carry and Loadout Prep
17:31 - Self-Defense Tools and Everyday Preparations
26:31 - Emergency Preparedness and Everyday Carry
38:32 - Armed Guardian Podcast on Various Topics
Hi, welcome to the Arm Guardian podcast, season one, episode three. I'm your host, brian. Today, david and I will be discussing the topics of everyday carry, loadout prep or go bag and things that you might want to consider having in those situations. So sit back and listen today as we discuss these topics and just kind of give you a broad overview, and we will be breaking these down a little bit more as future episodes. So enjoy your favorite drink or whatever you want to do while you're listening. We have decided to make blackout coffee as our official drink of the show. Click in the show notes for a special link and a coupon code to get a special discount and visit the store and enjoy today's episode. Hi, welcome to the Arm Guardian podcast. Today we got David and myself. We're going to be talking about everyday carry or your loadout. What should you carry every day? We're going to discuss several topics, just kind of give a flyover on what we think your everyday carry should be and some things to consider when you're looking at them, and we'll have this episode. We'll break it down further into other topics individually later on, but just to kind of make sure, whenever you do we talk about in our classes of everyday carry, and we mentioned specifically making sure you've got a firearm that you're willing to carry, that's not too heavy, that's not too bulky, that fits you right and that's something that you should carry every day. Some of the things that we look for is no position no, are we going to carry appendix kidney, small of the back three o'clock, how we're going to carry and getting used to that carry position where we're not printing or drawing attention to how we're carrying, just basically getting comfortable doing that and then you're going to have to exercise your draw habits, and where you can smoothly and effectively get the pistol out on demand without bumbling for it. So that's pretty much what we look at for when we carry our weapon, our EDC, everyday carry, and we'll also talk about a little bit of loadout, a go bag and some things like that a little bit later. But, david, what are some things that you think of that? When we talk about EDC, what comes to your mind?
Speaker 1:Well, we're carrying the weapon that fits you well, whatever that may be, could be a revolver, that's in the all type of clothing where the place where you live I mean if you live in a coder environment, you might be able to get away with carrying something a little bigger and still be able to carry it concealed. If you live in the south where we live, not so easy. You might have to think smaller but carrying a weapon that you're comfortable with that you can conceal well or carry properly. Also, making sure you have spare magazine, speed loader, spare rounds in some way shape or form.
Speaker 2:I like to carry at least one spare magazine with me, two if possible, but at least one Right as far as gun access, your lower capacity magazines, like your single stacks or your really subcompact pistols, where you are limited with your magazine or a magazine amount that you can carry, making sure that you've got enough ammo to endure the fight if you should have to encounter some.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir. And also another thing I think a lot of people don't think about, but you know it's crossed my mind several times on carrying if you're carrying a semi-automatic, carrying a spare mag is, if you have a jam, sometimes the easiest way is just to reload. Do a quick reload, reload, yeah, yes sir, so you have that option. I give you more tools in the toolbox, as far as that goes, to be able to recover from.
Speaker 2:What are some other things that you think of when we talk about EDC?
Speaker 1:Knives it's good to have a good knife. Also, multi-tools are really great, I like you know. Whatever Leatherman type multi-tools or Gerber there's several different ones out there those are great. But knives, I mean there's many different kinds of knives, you know, finding one that works well for you, whether it be a partially serrated, straight edge knife man, there's so many knives out there. That would be something I think we could spend some time on at a future date.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because you just got to be. What's your intention? Are you using it for a self-defense? Are you using it as a combine? Because there are some that have the glass break. Some of them have the seat belt cutter on it. What's your intended carry? And that's something that really should consider whenever you are looking to carry a knife and trying to dig in my pocket. For what my everyday carry is, if we can kind of see it, it's the Smith Wesson. It's got the glass break, it's got the seat belt cutter, it's got the belt clip and then a locking blade and it's partially serrated. So this is what my everyday carry knife is and I strongly encourage everybody to carry one, just because sometimes you may not be able to get your pistol out, and the knife is going to be your close combat self-defense weapon that you are able to use until you are able to get that distance to draw your pistol. So that's my thought on knives and being able to carry them and considering them as a tool for your self-defense.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, and I actually prefer the straight edge knife. That's just my personal preference. I have some partially serrated too. I know they work good for different purposes, but that's my everyday carry knife and I also do carry a multi-tool, most of the time also with a knife just for simple stuff, like if something goes wrong with your car or whatever. I found quite a use for it in the past. Also, Mr Brown, what do you think about flashlights? What's your take when it comes to flashlights? What do you really like?
Speaker 2:I really like carrying an individual light, a real small, compact light, nothing real big. This one's about as big as the thumb, as you can see. It's got actually this little bezel here that you can kind of hard to show with the virtual thing but background, but it's got the serrated pieces right here that you can actually use as an impact weapon and it would actually while you're attacking someone. It would apply some pressure points but it also would possibly collect some DNA if you had an attacker that was able to get away. Now you've got that. But I like keeping an external light. This one has a medium, a strobe, high, high, low and strobe. I've got another one that does the high, low and medium with the strobe, but Having these and having it staged where you know what you need it for. I prefer having this instead of a weapon-mounted light for concealed carry, just because having a weapon-mounted light and using it for a potential attack, unless you, if you haven't identified an attack or a threat, and you pull your gun out and you're using the flashlight, you're violating one of the universal safety rules and that opens you up for possibly being doing something wrong attacking or pointing a gun at somebody without identifying the threat and could put you in some legal problems With this. You use your flashlight If you identify a threat. You can two-handed grip the gun with one hand and, depending on what flashlight hold you use, hold the flashlight with your other hand. Or, if you use this, you identify a threat and you're carrying a gun with a weapon-mounted flashlight or weapon-mounted light, you can just drop the flashlight and then activate your weapon-mounted light because you've identified a threat. But it's just something that I, for home defense, I would say a weapon-mounted light for me would be what I would use, but I wouldn't use it for concealed carry. Plus, you also have to consider the bulkiness, the added bulk that you've got to try to conceal and be comfortable with whenever you're carrying a weapon-mounted light, because some of them are a little awkward, a little bulky and it makes it hard to, like I said, carry them and conceal them because they'll poke, rod, stick you where you get uncomfortable and go from there as far as Well. I don't want to wear this. I'm just running to the store because this flashlight's going to poke me, ride on me or something. So, for concealed carry, I won't say I'm not a fan. It's just not my preferred way of using a light. I would rather have the individual flashlight and then use it in addition to the weapon with the flashlight hold. So I know some people that I'm going to have a flashlight on my weapon and I'm going to use it and if that's you and that's your, you decide to carry like that. That's your choice and something that you have to be comfortable with. But you also have to look at the responsibility of if you pull the weapon on somebody and without identifying a threat or recognizing that someone's not a threat but you pointed the weapon with the flashlight on them you possibly could be facing some legal challenges and think about going to court and your attorney or the DA they're already going to have your weapon for evidence. So they'll pull your weapon and they'll make it safe and everything and they'll say the defendant pointed this gun at this person with this bright light and I think that you're just opening yourself up for some legal challenges that will be hard to overcome. But there are some good lights out there for weapon mounted lights but again, I'm just for a home defense situation. That would be the only time I would for my nightstand or my home defense firearm, whether it be a shotgun, ar or pistol. Having a weapon mounted light.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, yes, sir, and I'm like you. I like a simple flashlight, like what you said. The smaller ones are great for everyday carry. I mean, I have some bigger ones for other stuff, but those are by far the best for everyday carry and they're a lot easier to carry than carrying a big one, right, yeah, so how about OC spray? Do you recommend OC spray?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I carry OC spray every day. I've got it actually on a key chain and it's a turn nozzle and then you press it to deploy it and this is a streaming spray. They make several different delivery methods. So what you decide you want to carry or the way that you carry in, the environment that you carry in. You may not want to carry a mist or a fogger in an outdoor setting because the mist has the potential of coming back on you where, in a different environment, it would be acceptable. The stream is better for direct application and that's pretty much what law enforcement officers use is the direct stream. But they do make foggers, foams, gels and things like that and each of them have their own place. And I recommend people, if they're interested in learning about OC or self-defense, take a class which we offer one. I'm a saber pepper spray instructor for civilian people and you just get this and you can carry sometimes pepper spray where maybe you can't carry a firearm, and it just gives you that added tool that you can use in a self-defense situation. So you go into the post office legally you can't carry a firearm inside postal property, but I don't know. There's no law that I have ever found saying that you can't carry pepper spray in a post office. It just talks about firearms. So just having the alternative for self-defense in case you need it until you're able to escape or retrieve your weapon, that's something that you just I would recommend. And there's several different makers of pepper spray. They're Saber Palm, several others Mace brand that are out there, but just do your research on it. Law enforcement carries Saber and that's what I've carried before in my career and I'm not sure what you carried whenever you work the road, but it's something that I'm comfortable with that brand and I've used it before and I trust it. So it's just another option for you to have. I'd rather have options than get into a situation where my only use of self-defense is firing the weapon, where maybe I could have used pepper spray or other less lethal options that we're getting ready to talk about for self-defense. So any tool that I can have on me as a possibility and there's no stepping stone as far as use of force, as far as if you carry these other less lethal options, whether it be a cubaton, pepper spray, a knife or anything, there's no, you don't have to progress each step If someone confronts you with what you feel is a deadly force. You have the right to counter that, to stop that threat, that when the threat ends, of course you have to back down, but there's nothing saying that. Well, if you carry all this, you've got to try your knife first, try your OC, try your cubaton, try a taser or anything like that. They're just tools. A mechanic has a big box of tools that the shop where you take your car to get worked on does. He use every one of those tools on your car? No, it may not need that tool for that job that he's doing, but he's got the tools there in case he does need it. And that's the way that I see these other less lethal options that we have to work on our self-defense. I am talking about some of the other less lethal options out there. Mentioned cubaton. It's basically a small stick about 12, eight to 12 inches long. It's usually on a key chain. I used to have one but I don't have one currently. It's hard plastic. It's good for pain compliance, pressure point compliance, whether you do it on the ear lobe under the nose, the pressure point up underneath the jaw to get somebody off of you. You can also use it to jab at somebody. It's just a good. Civilians don't necessarily carry batons like law enforcement, but it's a miniature baton for civilians, the way that I look at it. You also have tasers and stun guns. Those are options too. I don't carry either of those, but I do carry the OC, the knife. I'll carry some sort of object maybe not the actual cubaton brand, but I carry something with me at all times that even a pin, a regular pin here you can use that as your little cubaton to apply the pressure points and stuff like that. So just things to improvise in case you haven't met the options for deadly force but you've got somebody that's attacking you or threatening you that you can present to stop or get away from an attack. And that's what we're looking to try to teach people is avoid, if at any cost, avoid the situation. But if you can't be prepared to do what it is whether it's physical, ground piting using a less lethal just get to the training and stay on top of it, because that's some things that we can use and will potentially help us in court if we use those and something were to get brought up that we were used excessive force. No, he used this less lethal force to stop the attack, instead of just pulling out a pistol and presenting it or even firing at somebody or firing and hitting somebody. So it's just some options and, like I said, it's like a mechanic at your car shop. They've got all these tools, but they don't necessarily have to use all the tools to work on your car. Your car may not. Whatever your car's doing may not require that. So that's the way I kind of look at self-defense and that use of force break. Continuum is that we have tools available but let's pick and choose what will work best for us in that position. Yes, anything on that.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, I was going to say I think that's well put. You know, it's good to have you know, even though some you know different people may or may not carry certain things. It's good to have several options, tools that we can use for different scenarios. I think that's great. What about first aid kits? What would you be your recommendation there?
Speaker 2:I would encourage having multiple kits. They make belt kits, they make ankle kits for everyday carry, which typically includes some sort of blood clotting gauze and a couple of chest seals and a tourniquet of some kind, typically in a gun environment. If you were to shoot somebody or it's one of your relatives which in a self-defense encounter, you're not obligated to render first aid to that person. Because if you do go after and offer first aid to that person or attempt to, then it could be construed that you're not afraid of that person. So you go on to help this person after they got shot, cut or whatever. You negated your actions so you were actually intimidating the person into the fight. From what I have gathered which I'm not an attorney, so I suggest people consult with an attorney before they act on it. But that's just my thought process and from my training, I would rather for an attacker not assist them, call medical, call 911 and report it and tell them that person was shot, stabbed, injured. But you know you get out of dodge and wait for the police to show up to deal with the situation, having some sort of kit in your vehicle. How many times have you been traveling and witnessed an accident and not having a first aid kit. If you had a first aid kit you might be able to stop and render some sort of good Samaritan first aid until first responders get there. We encounter that all the time. See the bad accidents out there. Again, you're not obligated but as a good Samaritan Georgia you're covered under the good Samaritan law. But I understand that you can assist even if you don't have you're not an EMT or anything like that you have some lessened liability because you're assisting in an emergency situation to try to save somebody's life or prevent serious injury from occurring. So just get first aid training. Have a kit, keep one in your vehicle. Keep one or two in your house. Have one if you're carrying, close by, if you're not on your body whenever you're carrying. Like I said, they make them for belt attached to the belt, your ankle If you wear. Have a backpack or something. Throw it in the backpack, attach it as a molly unit to your tactical bag or something. Just be prepared. Have some good first aid training. We're not looking to make you certified as a first responder or EMT or anything, but have enough to stop the bleed, basically to sustain life and the kids have. We even offer a class where we talk about building your own kit and what you would need for each situation. So just getting with somebody to help you build that kit is a good thing. Good quality kit of first aid stuff that would be lyria, stuff you can get from Tmoo, wish and stuff like that where it's maybe not regulated or not quality being imported, but you've got good, sterile, safe, effective first aid gear that's tested and recognized, that you know is of a good brand, that it's not going to apply a tourniquet and the tourniquet tear or rip because it's improperly made. So, yeah, just have that good first aid kit. What are some other things other than concealed carry or traveling per se for an accident or something? What are some other things, David, that you think we should consider as far as our loadout or everyday carry when we leave the house?
Speaker 1:Well, I mean talking about leaving the house for everyday carry. I mean, of course we've talked about things you want to keep on your person, on your body, but there's also a sense of when we leave our house we take some means of transportation. Most of us is cars or trucks or some sort of vehicle SUV I guess some people may ride motorcycles but whatever it is having things there that you can access, maybe a spare toolkit, right Bottles of water, make sure your spare tire is aired up, make sure you have the proper jack, whatever you may need to change your tire. You mentioned a first aid kit carrying on your person, keeping one in your car In the winter months we're coming into the winter now Blankets, something to keep warm if your car broke down. There are many things like that for depending on where you're at. Yeah, carry you, but that would be one of my things.
Speaker 2:Some heat or weather related food substances, water and stuff like that. You don't have to get a big 40 bottle pack from Walmart to carry in the car. Carry a couple bottles in some sort of bag with some stuff like granola, Something that would give you the energy to sustain you if you were stranded. Years ago when we had the freeze here in Georgia, especially up in North Georgia, cars were stranded on the interstate for hours I think there were some that were over 12 hours that they were stranded out there Just having something that is life sustaining until people are able to get to you to assist you or get you out of that situation. Some things that you might want to consider Even the military surplus MREs or food storage containers, having those nothing of that. I know that they make some of those without our vehicle, made specifically to store in the vehicle, so those would help you whether you're stuck in an ice storm, you go up north or out west to the northwest where you're traveling in heavy snows and get snowed in somewhere You'll survive for a period of time before and have stuff there to aid you in case that were to happen.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir. And then another thing. I think this is more for at home, but as far as preferring for a much. But you can even put it in a car Having a little small stove, camp stove takes little propane, cylinders and also a lantern. It's been very helpful for me around the house and even going out places, but power goes out, or something like that. I can access it and use it as I need to.
Speaker 2:Even something else. We live in electronic age. You may lose power but you still may have cell phone service because a lot of cell phone towers will be backed up with getting you a little battery pack that is charged and ready to go in case you had power so you can charge your cell phone for emergency calls and things like that. You don't want to use your phone consistently to be on Facebook or a lot of stuff, because in a true emergency situation you're looking to sustain and limit your feet, prepared to endure for the long haul in case you need it. So keeping your phone charged or something for phone calls or for checking the weather or emergency alert, good old high capacity battery surplus charging thing would be great to have and keep charged up. So extra batteries for your flashlights, if you have like with this tactical one. This is a lithium 123 battery, having a couple of those just in case you needed it too and the battery started dying. Now you got extra batteries there. You just throw in and keep using.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, and I agree, and I should keep up. I'm normally by the big packs of the AAA and then the ones you're talking about right there, because those are some of the, and then the CR 2032s. Those are some of the batteries that I use the most. Used to be the double A's, but it seems like a lot more stuff's going to to other style batteries. But I mean, I still keep some of the double A's on. But yeah, the charging, I mean with this last storm that came through here, I actually really thought about that. You know, that's something we oftentimes do take for granted, and I guess we'd go charge our phones in our cars, but those little charging things would be. You know, in our age, you know it's hard to do much without our phones or computers or other devices, and so absolutely, and even in a home setting.
Speaker 2:I've got a actual gas power generator keeping you know, safely stored gas and the generator where you can pull it out. Of course you don't want to bring the generator in the home, you don't want it really right up against the home, but you've got a gas power generator that will provide electricity for some of your cooking needs lights, you know little things like that. That will help sustain you as well in a situation.
Speaker 1:You're well pumped if you need it, or something like that. I mean, if you need it.
Speaker 2:If you're not on city water or someplace that has forced water you know out in the county, you've got to supply power to that well, unless you have a manual pump where you can work, which I know some people that still have those as emergency means, and it's just something that people don't, they've gotten away from, they've gotten lacks and convenient with the things that are available out there today and kind of losing a little bit of touch to preparedness and what happens if X happens. So just thinking ahead, being prepared and that's something that we're I know we're working on trying to get accomplished where we can kind of build a class to help educate people to be prepared, and it'sI think that's something that is not probably not going to be a big demand class, but I want to. I think that if we don't offer that, we're doing a disservice to the people that we talk about wanting to educate, train and prepare for life, death, health defense, life preservation, and that's something that I think that will be beneficial. But it's just one of those niche subjects that not everybody's going to be interested in, but they're going to be people out there that are interested in it. Anything else that you can think of on this topic of everyday carry or load out gear for an emergency, whether you have to keep it in the vehicle, the house or in case you ever got where you were, ran out of the house and had to relocate temporarily. Got anything else that you can think of?
Speaker 1:No, sir, not at this time. We've covered a pretty big range of things, which I think's great. I think matter of fact, I think some of these things we could, we can discuss even more in depth, but for a general ideal, and I think we've covered a lot, yeah, I think it's what the podcast that I intended whenever I envisioned it and started coming up with it and then you've got it sparked your interest too.
Speaker 2:I think you caught the idea of what I was doing that hey, let's throw some knowledge out there, throw some ideas out there that people may not think about or maybe they haven't thought of. They may have heard it before or heard it talked about, but let's give them a little bit more meat to kind of get them thinking where, hey, they can take care of themselves or their family should something ever really hit the fan or things get really bad in life, the world. So, just know, we talked about other preparedness things in your go-bag if you were to ever have to leave your house so your house got destroyed, a tent for you and your family, keeping the if you just you and a wife, or just you by yourself, keeping a little small two man tent that you can pop up somewhere to give you shelter, just things like that. Consider so well, that pretty much covers the topics that are the topic that we wanted to carry today. Just kind of get people thinking about everyday carry and preparedness emergency preparedness, I guess is the best way to tag it as things to think about. That maybe you haven't thought about in a while. Things are getting. We're in the hurricane season right now. We've had one that just skirted us. Luckily it was a very low thing. It was actually downgrading as a tropical storm as it passed us. But some places got hit pretty hard close to us and that's when people think, oh my gosh, what, what you know, what would we have done? Well, that's not the time to be thinking about that. You should have thought about that ahead of time. No, beforehand, and just getting people the information that they can kind of be prepared. So yeah, I think the I think we're doing a good service on know what we intended, given the people knowledge and their information. So, anything else you want to add before we sign off here, david, no, sir, I think I think we've got it covered. Alright. Well, this is our, our off-week podcast from a guest. We just let everybody know we have a big list of people that are coming on. That we've confirmed and we actually are. We're in the process of getting those episodes recorded. We recorded one this morning on revolvers and are they still a valid thing for concealed carry? And we even talked about some other things other than revolvers. So I'm excited about that. We've got one coming up this Saturday that we're gonna be recording. So we're we're building our our guest list and our podcast. So just stay tuned, listen up. If you have any ideas, feel free to email us at podcast, at blueberry tacticalcom. You got an idea topic or want some more information? Me or David will be more than happy to reach out to you via phone, email to discuss something, maybe help you accomplish what you need to do, give you some advice. So, just like our podcast we're on. All the major podcast hosts leave us a five-star review if we're doing something that you like, great. We even accept constructive criticism. That helps us grow as instructors, as presenters, and feel free to share and tell your friends about our podcast. And it's not always gonna be necessarily firearms. Some of it's gonna be training topics like situational awareness, emergency preparedness. So just enjoy listen to us and hope you get some educational content from it. Anything else, david?
Speaker 1:no sir all right.
Speaker 2:Hope everybody has a wonderful day again. Thank you for listening to the armed guardian podcast. Remember to learn, train and survive. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast for those of the hosts and the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the podcast publisher, its affiliates or any other entity. The information contained in this podcast is for entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as medical, legal or financial advice. The podcast publisher and its affiliates assume no responsibility for any liability, loss or damage caused by the use of information contained in this podcast. Listeners are advised to consult with a qualified professional before making any decisions based on the information contained in this podcast.