Even the most dependable gear wears down over time. Luckily, there's something you can do about it. By following a regular maintenance routine, you’ll keep your EDC in working order and get the most out of your gear. To put it simply: take care of your EDC, and it’ll take care of you. In this guide, we’ve made maintenance easy. Read on to learn how to keep your gear in tip-top shape for the rest of this new year, and to ensure they're in it for the long run. Keys 1. Remove keychain items that aren’t keys, including car remotes or decorative items that shouldn’t get wet Plastic keychains may be ..read more

The other day I took my wife out to a restaurant for her birthday. As we were shown to the booth, I noticed my wife making a point of sitting with her back to the restaurant entrance. After being married to me as long as she has been, she now understands that I want to be facing the entrance of almost every room I spend a lot of time in. Because of my tactical mindset, she has a tactical mindset. I used to have to fight my family for the “gunfighter seat.” They eventually understood that it might be a good idea for the person that is armed to face the entrance. What is a tactical mindset? You ..read more

The other day I was at work a little late. That meant I left work later than usual. I work on a federal installation that is run mostly by the military. That means that every morning and every night the flag is raised and lowered. If you have ever spent much time on any military base you will know that for a few minutes each day, tribute is given to our nation and to its flag. Traffic stops, and the vehicle occupants sit quietly to pay respect. Where ever people are walking, they stop, face toward the main flag pole and salute or stand reverently with their hand over their heart. I experienced ..read more

I have not been the kind of person who varnishes anything. Sometimes I am brutely honest. I don’t set out to insult or offend anyone; I just don’t believe in beating around the bush. The First Amendment states, in relevant part, that: “Congress shall make no law...abridging freedom of speech.” Freedom of speech includes the right: • Not to speak (specifically, the right not to salute the flag). West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943). • Of students to wear black armbands to school to protest a war (“Students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse g ..read more

Gasoline storage With Hurricanes pounding the East coast I thought I’d check on my generator. It was fine and I cranked it up and ran it for a while. I then thought about my supply of fuel. I’m sure many people don’t store much fuel. They may have a 5 gallon can or maybe even two for weed-eaters and lawnmowers. I have done a lot of research into gasoline storage because I feel I need 100 gallons or so for my generator and other equipment to be worth anything to me. If my generator will only run for 1 or 2 tanks, I’m not sure it was worth the investment. Not only that, gasoline is a very valuab ..read more

Power This morning my alarm went off as usual. I lay in bed listening to our dog bark at something. About 1 minute later the power went off. I got up and called the power company to report the outage. As I drove in to work I thought about our dependence on electricity. What could you do in your home without electricity? Can you cook? Would you have heat or water? Would your toilets work? We have tried to answer these questions with alternatives. We can cook on our propane stove in the kitchen. Or we have a wood stove, for heat and cooking. We have a solar oven that my wife has cooked in regula ..read more

I was surfing the web and went to one of my favorite forums. There was a sad story and graphic pictures of someone who shot themselves. They had forgotten the rules and ended up shooting their own hand with a “checked” weapon. “How could someone be so stupid?” you are probably asking yourself. A friend of mine was a Border Patrolman. He is now a Customs agent. At the time of this incident he had been through the academy ( 6 months of training including weapons), and had been an agent for about 2 years. Agents must qualify with their service weapon every 3 months. So he was no stranger to his w ..read more

One of the longest running TV series that started in September 2003 is “NCIS” which is a spinoff from the popular “JAG” series. Currently NCIS has entered its tentieth season. The main character is Leroy Jethro Gibbs played by actor Mark Harmon. Gibbs is a retired Marine Sniper. Over his time as a Marine and a NCIS agent he develops “rules” to live by. Here are the basic rules. Rule #1: Never let suspects stay together. Rule #1: Never screw over your partner. Rule #2: Always wear gloves at a crime scene. Rule #3: Don't believe what you're told. Double check. Rule #3: Never be unreachable. Rule ..read more

I deal with PTSD. The incident that triggered this stress happened many years ago in a far-off place. I have worked through this and it doesn't effect me as it did long ago. But it still does effect me. Anxiety for no reason some times messes with my head and hypervigilance goes with it. I have medigated this problem and have found that breathing helps. I learned many years ago about the effects of breathing. In a course given by the state department on situational awareness I first learned about tactical breathing. I used it in teaching shooting as an instructor and had success. I used it aga ..read more

I've been asked how to get through one of these checks for a government job. I just went through a security clearance update. I’ve been through many of these and even more background checks. A security clearance is similar to an extensive background check. When I was in the military, I held a Top Secret security clearance. All this means is that more time and deeper checking goes on than the Secret clearance that I hold now. Organizations that require security clearances like members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Mormons) because they usually can pass these checks easily ..read more