You don’t have to be a “Doomsday Prepper” to appreciate that it is a great idea to have certain items with you in case of an emergency. Preppers and survivalists call these items their “EDC” (Every Day Carry) items. Depending on how far you take emergency preparedness, your EDC items may fill your pocket, a tactical “man-bag” or even a backpack in the trunk of your car.
Let’s take a look at a very modest EDC system that can fit on your keychain and could prove to be a lifesaver if the SHTF (Sewage Hits the Fan) ever happens in America.
Item 1: P-38 Can Opener
This item weighs next to nothing, can be purchased at any Army surplus store or outdoors / camping store, and weighs next to nothing. It is about the size of a small key, so it won’t weigh down your keychain, but if you ever find yourself in a situation where you can’t get home, it will easily open the canned goods that every smart prepper should have in the trunk of his car.
Item 2: Flashlight / Kubotan
Having a small, penlight battery flashlight on your keychain is a must. If there is a power outage, Murphy’s Law states that it will happen at the worst possible time, so having a light on your keychain could really come in handy.
If you are smart and get an aluminum model, like a quality mini-Maglite or a Brinkman light, then this can double as a Kubotan for self-defense. That is a weapon for close fighting that you use to jab in someone’s ribs or neck or (well, that’s a whole article series by itself!) to produce pain or incapacitate an attacker long enough for you to get away safely.
The other thing that this flashlight can do is break a car window in case you are trapped and need to get out (or get in to rescue someone after a crash) in a hurry.
Item 3: Leatherman Micra
Okay, many of the preppers and survivalists will bristle at this suggestion, as they would already have a good multi-tool on their belt to begin with. However, this is about suggestions for the top 3 things I would carry in my pocket on a keychain, and if you have this base covered another way, all the better.
The nice thing about a multi-tool like a Leatherman is that it gives you a sharp knife and several other options. Don’t underestimate the usefulness of a multi-tool; there are many backpacking survivalist types who take their Leatherman into the woods with them, and the biggest tool on the large Leathermans is a pair of pliers, which many wouldn’t imagine would be needed in the woods.
Now hopefully if you don’t already have an EDC strategy, this will give you a start, and you can get these three items for under $50 total. The worst thing you can do is to start analyzing and comparing and get into the over analysis that leads to paralysis and end up never doing anything.
The EDC kit that you have on you when disaster strikes is infinitely better that the perfect EDC kit that you never got around to assembling!