First off, please excuse my photography. The only functional camera I have regular access to is the one on my tablet. For any who are curious, that desk is a beater I rescued from the junk heap with the intent of using it as a cutting board for leatherwork, hence the stains and, well, holes.
Moving on, in no particular order.
First off, pocketknife. Never leave home without a good blade, even if you grab nothing else. I use this thing a dozen times a day. I would NOT recommend trying to use a blade for self-defense unless you've had serious training with edged weapons; a gun or pepper spray will serve you better. As I was once told, the winner of a knife fight is the second guy to bleed to death.
My go-to pocketknife is a Columbia River Knife and Tool M-21 folder. It's a nice sturdy folder, good size (about a 3" blade). the blade geometry is nice, it comes to a reasonably good point and has a nice deep belly, making it useful for shaving tasks such as skinning an animal. It doesn't have any serrations, which is my preference, since it's easier to sharpen that way.
hand fit isn't anything to write home about, but it's not a bad thing either. there's also a very effective flipper extension which, with the teflon bearing, makes it one of the fastest-opening folders I've used that doesn't employ some sort of spring. Also keeps your hand from slipping up onto the blade. Since I neglected to take a photo in which you can see the flipper, have a stock photo courtesy of Google Images. Little nub at the bottom is what I'm talking about.
At $30-ish, price point is attainable, and I haven't broke the thing in 9 months. I had a very similar model that lasted me for about 3 years before I left it in South Korea. Point of interest, it has a run-of-the-mill liner lock with an additional little lever (the red dot you see along the back of the grip in my photo above) to make sure you don't close the thing on your fingers while using it. There's a slight learning curve to closing the thing, but once you get used to it it doesn't get in the way.
Next up, notebook and pens. You want something to write on and with, not only for mundane stuff like phone numbers and grocery lists, but to take down info if you're involved in a motor vehicle collision or something.
I carry a Rite-in-the-Rain notebook cover and notebook, Zebra pens, a Pentel mechanical pencil, and a sharpie. RITR notebooks are plain neat gear; I once ran a sheet of the stuff under the faucet for a minute or so to see what would happen, and it was still perfectly usable afterward. On the other hand, pencil doesn't erase well off of it, and compared to normal paper it's expensive.
The notebook cover is nice, holds a standard spiral notebook well, has slots for your four favorite inksticks, and a zipper. Simple and effective.
Zebra pens aren't the very best I've ever used, that would be the Fisher Space pen. Zebras, however, are cheaper and perfectly functional for my purposes.
Now, the pencil. I use Pentel Quicker-clicker mechanical pencils because they're the only pencils I can find that actually feed lead reliably. HOWEVER, manufacturers need to stop putting the rubber grips on all their pencils. Some of us can't stand the bloody things and also find they make the pencil very difficult to put into a slot such as the ones on flightsuit sleeves, or my notebook cover. Thankfully the notebook cover's middle two slots are wide enough to accommodate larger writing tools like sharpies, and can manage the bulky rubber grip.
On to my light. You want a good bright light somewhere you can get to it quickly, not only for mundane tasks, but for illuminating and disorienting an attacker in a self-defense scenario. If you're carrying a firearm this becomes CRUCIAL, as you don't want to shoot at anything you can't see well.
I carry a Fenix PD30 flashlight. Claims to put out something like 250 lumens at peak output, which, in my experience is plenty. I'm not going to try to take beam shots because of the previously mentioned lousy tablet camera. Variable output on this light is controlled by partly unscrewing the front bezel, which is a bit awkward but manageable. It eats CR123a batteries, but not very fast under normal use. I replace them about every 6 months.
The pocket clip hasn't broken yet, but I'm seriously considering removing it, because I always carry the light in some kind of holster. The included holster is typical, here meaning not the best. It keeps the thing from falling off your belt, but it's not very sturdy, nor very quick to access. I whipped something up with leather to replace it.
My first major gripe with the light is that it doesn't have a momentary-on step in the tailcap switch, which is something I'm given to understand they've fixed in the more recent PD32. My other gripe is that the crenelations on the bezel were sharp enough to chew a hole in the back pocket of my pants before I got around to building a good holster.
Overall the light is a "meh." It's perfectly functional, stupidly bright, but it's not the best compact high-output light on the market. Go check out my friend Ian's blog over at http://specialcircumstancesinc.blogspot.com/ if you want more info on flashlights for various purposes.
While the Fenix works, it's a pain to switch modes and the batteries are pricey. I'm planning to supplement it with a smaller light that takes more common batteries, and hang onto the Fenix as my high-output light. I'll probably go with a Streamlight Stylus Pro penlight. I had a good run with their MicroStream until I lost the bloody thing. (Are we seeing a pattern yet?)
Next up, cell phone. After your knife, this is the one other item never to leave home without. If you're in a vehicular collision, or witness someone go into cardiac arrest, or God forbid you're attacked, you want to be able to get EMS, Fire, Police, the National Guard and/or Men in Black rolling as soon as possible. If someone in your family is injured, you want them to be able to contact you after they get the cavalry moving. Mine is a simple flip-open job, and nothing to write home about.
Carrying coins is a somewhat irritating endeavor. I think we should just go to all paper currency, but that's another blog post. I don't like them in the bottom of my pocket, so I carry this nifty little pouch. No idea where I got it. In addition, it might not make a half-bad sap or thrown weapon in a pinch.
Keys. Self-explanatory. Get a carabiner so you can clip them to yourself when hiking or rafting or whatever.
Not only do sunglasses keep you from having to squint like Sméagol or something, but will protect you from cataracts resulting from UV light exposure. Also consider getting something that's rated for impact protection; you only get two eyes and they do NOT grow back.
I wear a pair of Oakley Half Jackets I got (relatively) inexpensively through Oakley's US Standard Issue program, which offers a limited range of their stuff to military, police and emergency responders at reduced prices. I'm not allowed to tell you how reduced, but if you might fit the above categories, give it a look.
My glasses have interchangeable lenses. but I mostly stick with the G30 lens, a pinkish-red tint supposedly developed for golf that gives you reasonable sun protection, but isn't so dark you have to immediately whip them off if the sun ducks behind a cloud. Also is high-contrast, similar in effect to yellow shooter's glasses.
With the glasses I carry a microfiber bag. The set came with one, but I lost it somewhere, so I picked this one up at REI for $12 or so. I mostly use it as a cleaning cloth, but it's also nice to have something to protect the glasses if I stick them in my pocket.
If you're not already CPR trained, you need to get that way ASAP. It's not complicated, and it really does make a difference in cardiac arrest survival rates. If you are CPR trained, you need to carry a barrier device and gloves. This one is about due for replacement; it's been kicking around in my pocket for a year or two.
After one too many times wiping my nose on my sleeve, I elected to start carrying a snot rag. I went with fabric over Kleenex or something because I don't have to find a trash can after I use it. Also, in an absolute emergency, I could use it with my sharpie as a tourniquet. Not exactly hygienic, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The wallet is another one for the "don't leave home without it" list. You always want to have some form of ID on you, and preferably some money. While technically you're not required by law to carry ID unless you're operating a motor vehicle, it still smooths over interactions with law enforcement.
Besides that, if something extremely unfortunate happens to you and you end up unconscious in the ICU or in the fridge at the morgue, the appropriate people can be notified. If this happens and you're not carrying ID, you become John or Jane Doe and it may be days or weeks before they manage to figure out who you are and contact your loved ones.
In addition to my knife, I like to carry a multitool. While it does have a knife blade, the knife is easier to access, and fits the hand better. However, there's a lot I can do with this tool that I can't do with a knife.
My tool of choice is a Leatherman Wave. It has all the tools I tend to use on a regular basis and not a whole lot of excess fluff. You can also get a whole set of additional bits for the screwdriver, but I've never needed them, and I can't really justify to myself buying or carrying them.
A few things I like about this tool in particular: you can access the blades (serrated, plain edge and saw) as well as the file, without opening the tool. All of the tools, bits and blades, with the exception of the pliers, have positive mechanical locks rather than just friction locks. This makes it a bit harder to close a blade or something on your hand when you're using it. The machining is top-notch; the plier teeth fit very well together and all the joints are smooth.
It folds up to a surprisingly small size for a full-sized tool like this. The pouch it came with it reasonably well-constructed, with no loose stitching or structural problems, but it was obviously intended for several different models of tool and so doesn't ft this one perfectly. Sometime I'll get around to making a new sheath for it.
Just like eyes, you only get two ears and they don't grow back either. Plugs are nice to have when you want something to fit in your pocket. When I'm shooting or something I typically prefer muffs.
For my belt I use a Wilderness Tactical Products instructor belt. They claim to have originated the idea of the belt that can be used as an emergency harness. I've never used mine that way, but it is a good stiff belt, will keep pouches and tools from flopping around when worn. It's interesting to me that the D-ring is incorporated into the buckle rather than being a separate piece of hardware.
They sell several types by stiffness: 3-stitch, 5-stitch, and with a polymer insert. I have the 5-stitch. I think it would be suitable for carrying a compact handgun outside the waistband without too much flop, but it's still flexible enough that it has a little give and moves with you. I imagine the 3-stitch would only really be suitable for inside the waistband firearm carry, and perhaps for very light tools. The polymer insert is intended for competition use, and for those intending to carry service-framed handguns outside the waistband. I don't imagine it would have any give to it at all.
I also typically carry my tablet computer, but I don't have a picture of it since I took all these pictures using the built-in camera. I'm not going to take a selfie. It's a Samsung Galaxy tab 2 7", and I've not had any problems with it after about a year. It's nothing to write home about, but it does the job and was relatively cheap.
If you've stuck around this long, I hope you've learned something that you can use. Until next time.
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