The Martialist: The Magazine For Those Who Fight Unfairly

Minimum Accessories for Personal Preparedness (Revised 2006)

By Phil Elmore

Human beings are tool-using creatures. As a species we have created a mind-numbing array of useful (and sometimes not-so-useful) tools, conveniences, gadgets, widgets, and novelties that can make daily life easier. No tool is useful if you do not have it, however. For every emergency, there is a tool or accessory that can assist you in overcoming adversity -- but you must have the tools you need when you need them.

Contents of the author's on-body preparedness kit include all the essentials.

As the old saying goes, "You can't make an appointment for an emergency." You can, however, make sure that you are equipped on a day-to-day basis with useful tools and accessories. You can't anticipate every problem, but you can take the sting out of many of them. The minimum you should carry to be prepared for life's emergencies includes funds, a means of communication, and the basics of utility, self-defense, and self-preparation.

While most of your minimum accessories can be carried on your person and in your pockets, I recommend that you take the time to create a small, mobile, on-body kit so you have the bare minimum necessary to live as a prepared martialist. The specific categories and items I recommend you cover are these:

Cash

Communications (a wireless phone) or CB radio

Light (a flashlight)

Fire (a lighter)

Water (potable aqua)

Tools (a multitool, ideally, or at least a knife)

First Aid

Bandanna

Shelter (disposable pancho and/or emergency blanket)

Direction (a compass)

FUNDS

I'm going to assume that you already understand the single most important thing you need to have with you on a daily basis: money. Cash is most important of all, but you should also have credit or debit cards (typically these will be carried in your wallet -- I never go anywhere without mine) on which to fall back in case of more extreme need. Nothing will hamstring you more than simply lacking funds in modern living. Make sure you carry enough money. I carry a backup stack of twenties in my on-body survival kit.

COMMUNICATION

No matter who and where you are, you should be carrying a wireless phone. Phones are so inexpensive and easy to get these days, thanks to the numerous prepaid plans on the market, that the people who make wireless phones are practically driving around on the backs of Mardi Gras floats hurling handfuls of these things into crowds. A lifeline to medical care, towing for your car, concerned family members, or to your employer when you're stuck in in traffic, the wireless phone is a way for you to reach whomever you must in an emergency -- and for those about whom you care to reach you when they need you. Sure, your phone is probably giving you a brain tumor -- but that's years away, while your car is right here and right now while it's sitting in a ten-foot ditch after sliding off an icy highway.

Wireless phones are vulnerable to signal coverage problems and dead batteries, of course, which is why you might choose to carry a prepaid phone card (something Morgan Atwood also recommends for the urban encounter survival kit). That way you can use a land line, either in a place of business or through a pay phone, with a minimum of hassle.

LIGHT

You should get into the habit of carrying a flashlight all the time, even during the day. Flashlights are very useful utility tools even at the best of times. I've used mine for everything from checking cables behind the computer to crossing busy streets at night. If the power goes out and you're indoors away from windows, you'll be glad you had a light. You just never know when you might need a light source -- and today's tiny LED torches make it possible to carry a useful light all the time without effort.

FIRE

The ability to make fire when you need it is one of those things that separates us from the earliest proto-humans. Fire is infinitely useful. It creates light, it creates heat, it can be used to boil water and cleanse implements, it can cook food, it can harden wood, it can seal ballistic nylon and paracord... the list goes on. You cannot afford to overlook this. In a minimial on-body kit, a simple disposable lighter will do. The lighter in my kit is a Gander Mountain high-temperature model, which is resistant to wind and refillable with commonly available butane.

WATER

Some survivalists and martialists carry bottled water or water rations with them. I don't do this because of the weight such supplies add to the kit. You can carry a small bottle of potable aqua tablets without difficulty, however. Carry the neutralizer tablets too, if you don't want to drink something that tastes like utter crap. (Even then, don't get your hopes up.) In my daily carry bag I carry a filter straw, which accomplishes the same function but doesn't require mixing anything.

TOOLS

In a market flooded with high-tech multitools, you have no excuse not to include one in your daily kit. Most multitools include a knife, a couple of drivers, and some pliers, which ought to get you through most moderate emergencies.

FIRST AID

I can't count the number of times I've needed a simple band-aid when I was away from home (or away from the emergency first aid kit I keep attached to my desk at work). Even if your "first aid kit" consists of a handful of band-aids, it's better to have those than nothing. If you can include an entire small first aid kit, so much the better.

BANDANNA

A bandanna is one the most useful multi-purpose items you can carry on your person. I keep one folded up in my back pocket every single day. It can be used for everything from a dust filter to a sweat rag to a handkerchief to a bandage -- to a weapon.

SHELTER

I saw a guy walking down the street downtown wearing a disposable blue plastic pancho the other day. "Once you've done that," I thought, "you've pretty much given up caring what you look like." There's no way to wear a disposable pancho or snug yourself into a silver space blanket and retain your dignity. The fact is, though, that in an emergency, if you want to stay warm and dry, you had better hope you have one, the other, or both. Folded panchos and space blankets are very common, inexpensive, and don't take up much room. There's no excuse not to tuck at least a pancho into your kit just in case. (Space blankets are often thicker, which is why you might choose to carry just the pancho.)

DIRECTION

There's nothing more annoying than standing on a street corner looking at a map of an unfamiliar city and having no idea which way is which. I carry a compass built into a carabiner on my travel vest for this reason. Every survival kit should include a small compass, if for no other reason than such an item helps you orient yourself when you're reading a map or just plain lost. Following a compass will prevent you from going around in circles, too (unless you're trapped on the electromagnetic purgatory that is the island of Lost.

ONE EXAMPLE: MY ON-BODY KIT

My personal on-body minimalist survival kit contains the following items, all arranged in a handy nylon belt pouch for hands-free toting (except for the multitool, which is carried in its own sheath, and my PDA/wireless phone, which is not shown and also has its own sheath):

$100 Cash

Toollogic Flashlight Knife

First Aid Kit with Small Pocketknife

Disposable Pancho

Compass and Emergency Whistle

Doug Ritter Pocket Survival Pack

Lighter (Wind Resistant)/li>

Earplugs

Eyeglass kit and Eyeglass strap

Sharpie Marker

SwissCard

Photon Microlight

Potable Aqua

Matches, String, Wire, Thread, Needle, Safety Pins, etc.

Humvee Tool (Whistle/Magnifier/Compass/Thermometer/LED Light)

Bandanna

Razor Blade/Razor Tool

Leatherman Charge Ti Multitool with Driver Kit

PREPAREDNESS AND WEAPONS

As a martialist I believe minimum accessories for personal preparedness include weapons. If you have a permit to carry a firearm (or you live in one of the rare locales where a permit is not required), you should do so. Regardless of whether you do, you should also carry a tactical folding knife, a flashlight that can be used for self-defense, and/or a pocket stick.

The tactical folder deserves mention by itself simply because of its versatility. Yes, a knife is a potentially lethal weapon that makes an excellent self-defense tool. The virtue of the tactical folder, however, is that it can double as a utility blade in an emergency. (Make sure your knife is legal where you live -- check your local and state laws). I actually prefer to carry two knives -- a utility knife for daily chores and a dedicated self-defense blade that stays as sharp as possible. Your utility blade could be something very benign, too, from your multitool to a Swiss Army Knife or Leatherman Micra on your keychain.

THE BASICS AND GOING BEYOND THEM

Funds, a means of communication, and basic survival and utility supplies and implements are the basics of a good daily carry kit. It is possible to go beyond the basics to achieve a much higher level of preparedness in a relatively small package (though your survival kits will get larger as you go).

The excellent Doug Ritter pocket survival pak.

Remember that every survival kit is a work in progress. There are small items that could be added to a daily on-body carry kit that I have not included, such as condoms, rubber bands, safety pins, string or cord, painkillers, and the like. Your emergency accessories are limited only by your imagination and effort. You will discard outdated items and replace them with fresh supplies or updated and improved technology. You will think of things to add that I have not mentioned here (or you will discard items I have included for which you do not see a need). Personal taste and individual circumstance will dictate much of what you choose to carry daily. What is important is that you formulate a plan and act on it.

Don't wait until you need these items. Start assembling them now, while you can.

Good luck.