Daily Preparedness

For those of you who were not aware, I am a fan of the television show NCIS. Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, as played by Mark Harmon, has a set of rules that he lives by. Throughout the course of the show he quotes the various rules and there are any number of websites you can visit to get a list. A couple of my favorites are:

Rule # 3: Don’t believe what you are told. Double check.

Rule # 4: If you have a secret, the best thing is to keep it to yourself.

Rule #8: Never take anything for granted.

Rule #9: Never go anywhere without a knife.

Rule # 15: Always work as a team.

Now, as it relates to the topic of this article – Daily Preparedness – one might think that really only Rule #9 applies. I like Rule #9. My children – including my 12 year old son except when he’s going to school – all obey Rule #9. My wife obeys Rule #9. In fact, a long time ago when I was in the custody of my Uncle Don – a former Marine and Vietnam Vet – I was told never to leave the house without a knife, a gun and a lighter. That way I could always kill food, clean food and cook food (make fire). Of course, he put in the caveat that I should only carry the gun if I could do so legally or be assured that I wasn’t going to get caught (I loved my Uncle Don a lot).

Truth be told, there’s a lot more I take with me each day than just a knife… or a gun and a knife and a lighter, but what we actually carry on our person isn’t the end all be all of daily preparedness. If it were, then most of the articles we read online would be about “EDC” or Every Day Carry. It is a popular and common topic on many firearms forums and blogs, but daily preparedness goes beyond the gun you have on and how many spare magazines you have.

I submit to you that the first and foremost thing you need to be prepared each day is awareness. I’ve written a slew of previous articles about those folks who go happily about their days completely unaware of their surroundings. I consider them worse than sheep. At least sheep are aware the wolves are out there and present a threat. I think of those completely unaware people as lemmings. They tend to go about their daily business in such a way as to ignore warning signs and any other valuable information – and they do this 100% voluntarily. At some point they knew that threats exist in our world. At some point they knew that any place you go in public carries with it some level of potential danger. At some point they made a conscious choice not to overburden their limited stress management skills and simply ignore the world around them with the exception of those items that remind them of peace, love and happiness. Lemmings… DON’T BE A LEMMING.

If you HAVE to be something less than a sheep-dog (those that protect the sheep and fight the wolves), then at least be a sheep. At least be aware that danger does exist and don’t fool yourself into thinking that if you ignore the world then the danger will never touch you. At least sheep don’t get in the sheep-dog’s way. At least sheep are smart enough to point out danger and cry for help.

Moving on to those I commonly refer to as sheep-dogs, you need to be prepared each day so as to be ready to not only survive in the world but to emerge victorious from any encounter with a wolf you might have. Awareness is your first and potentially most vital asset. Assuming you’re safe in your own home, then allow yourself a lazy state of mind when you wake up, tend to your morning ablutions and get your cup of coffee. About that time you should be taking in the daily news and a part of that is paying attention to what’s going on locally; tuning your senses to what’s reported as part of the world in your immediate vicinity.

Of course, we all love to read and/or hear about how much climate change is our fault or about how free healthcare for every human on the planet is a wondrous goal or about how the White House has held another wonderful event to honor someone in history and only nine people who weren’t invited got in to have their picture taken with the President or Vice-President. I know we all get a great kick out of that stuff. But what you should be paying attention to are the crime reports for your neighborhood, the areas along your travel route to work and in the area of your workplace. What are the crimes being committed in those areas? Armed robberies? Car-jackings? Purse-snatchings? Rapes? Murders? Many times such crimes occur in spurts and the local reports will tell you what you should be aware of and have your guard up against. Such information can help you plan not only what you will carry on your person that day but also help you decide if you need to adjust your normal route to work or change how you normally travel.

Obviously what you decide to carry on your person is largely determined by your work environment and the legalities of your locale. In Maryland it’s next to impossible to get a concealed carry permit so carrying a gun is out of the question for many. TASERs are not however and I know a few people who have acquired them. Other defensive weapons can be carried such as Pepper Mace / OC Spray, Kubotans, key-chain flail weapons, etc. The key is, before you leave your house, as you’re loading your pockets or purse, to know what you’re taking with you that will or can serve as defensive weapons.

After that I’d recommend you make sure you know what you’re putting in your pockets or in your purse that can be used as an OFFENSIVE weapon. What can you attack with? In the process of self-defense, especially in states with Stand Your Ground laws, you need to have an almost intuitive awareness of what weapons you have and how you can use them under what circumstances. This, in my mind, is where the gun and the knife come in. Even if used as tools of self-defense, they are designed to deliver injury to an attacker. They are weapons of aggression and there’s no shame in that. An attacker will no doubt be using a weapon of aggression against you should you need to defend yourself with a knife or a gun, so using a weapon of aggression in return is merely “an eye for an eye”.

What else? There are the mundane items that we all tend to carry: a checkbook, wallet, keys, maybe a lighter (if you smoke), possibly a pen in your pocket. Looking at that list I’d never leave my house without the wallet, lighter and keys. Why? Well, everyone needs a form of identification and most of us also carry credit cards / debit cards in our wallet so that’s somewhat mandatory. The keys – for your car and/or house of course. The lighter? I put that in my pocket each day for two reasons:

1) Because my Uncle Don told me to never leave the house without one, and

2) Because, on rare occasion, I enjoy puffing a good cigar.

So in my personal case, since I’m a retired officer in possession of a valid LEOSA card, I usually have on my person when I leave my house:

 A gun with at least one spare magazine
 Three knives (one small pocket knife, and one folder of decent size in either front pocket)
 A rescue tool (the BLACKHAWK! HawkHook because I like having it with me)
 A zippo lighter
 Personal wallet
 Badge wallet (with retired ID and LEOSA card)
 Keys
 Cell Phone
 Challenge Coin
 Flashlight

That last one takes many folks by surprise. A flashlight? Every day? To go out in the daylight? Yep. Here’s why…

I can remember times when I’ve been in a large department store or a small “mom and pop” convenience store and the power has gone out. With no warning I have found myself in a dark room with the only available light coming from either nearby windows (mom and pop places) or emergency lights as much as 200 feet away near an exit. Do you have any idea how comforting it is to be able to reach into a pocket, knowing the placement by touch, and pull out a decently powerful flashlight to illuminate my immediate area? I’ve done this once or twice and it’s been interesting to see the looks on people’s faces as they realize that Joe Average Citizen has a flashlight. First the look on their face says, “Why?” and then it says, “Who cares? We’re glad!”

Of course, Daily Preparedness doesn’t end there. Prior to leaving your house, depending on the weather reports, you made decisions about jacket, coat, sweater, etc; umbrella or no; hat, cap, gloves, galoshes, etc. If the weather is going to be ugly (as it has recently been with winter storms across our country) part of your Daily Preparedness might be in making sure you have necessary emergency items in your vehicle in case you get stuck or come across someone else who is. (That’s discussed elsewhere in this issue)

If you carry a backpack or briefcase each day, there are a couple other things I’d suggest you put in them just to have handy in case. These items fall into the category of “Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”

Snack food. This is so simple and often neglected. So many of us run through busy days that we have no time for lunch or we promise ourselves we’ll get something on the go and then never have time to stop someplace. Drop two or three granola bars into your pack or briefcase. Even if you’re on the move and can’t stop for food one or two of those granola bars can calm the grumblings in your belly and give you the energy you need to get through the rest of the day – until you find time for a full plate at dinner.

Water. I’m NOT talking about a hydration system built into your pack – although that’s not a bad idea if your lifestyle and dress attire permit it. I’m talking about a reusable 8 to 12 ounce plastic or nalgene bottle that you can put in a pack pocket or that will fit in your briefcase. After all, you need hydration more than you need food and if you chew a couple granola bars you ARE going to want something to wash it down with.

Basic First Aid Items. The MOST basic is a trauma kit with a tourniquet, pressure bandage and hemostatic agent, but I’m not talking about “basic first aid” for one of today’s warriors. I’m talking about Basic First Aid even as it might apply to a businessman in a meeting. Some Motrin or other pain reliever, swelling relief agent; a few band-aids of a medium size; a small bottle of hand sanitizer and a small tube of crazy glue.

If you have these items with you and have started out your day aware of your surroundings and equipped with the intelligence information available on your daily news program, then you’re way ahead of the “average person” curve. In fact, you’re prepared to deal with (I’d guess) about 99% of the “emergencies” people run into each day. Of course, the list needs to be tailored to suit your lifestyle and your professional environment. Carrying these things is easy if you wear tactical pants or cargo pants to work each day, but if you wear a suit you need to figure out where you’re going to put what.

All comments, thoughts and criticisms are appreciated. Stay Safe!