​I would hate to think that people would view the term “EDC(Every Day Carry)system” as an extreme concept. Technically we all have an EDC system in some form or fashion. Think of a woman with her purse that she takes everywhere with her. Her purse is merely a form of off-body EDC with all the goodies and comforts she will need in order to function in her daily life from work to recreation. Heck, even guys have an EDC like their wallet, cellphone, and keys. The concept I am discussing in this article is intended to help you establish an EDC system that merely adds certain items in a way that has minimal impact on your daily life, but adds another level of preparedness, which never hurts.

​When I was in the military, we did most of our training slick or slow. Rarely did we perform training or practice with a full combat load on unless we were on the range and doing a dry rehearsal, which was rare. I get the concept of training slick, but I found it to be a painful experience just having to deal with the strain of a full load in combat. Practicing running or carrying a load for a long time would have prepped my body a lot better, I feel. I think it is vital to isolating and developing the muscular structure to support the specific movements needed in order to maneuver efficiently and effectively fight with a full combat load. Speed and endurance are vital characteristics, so practice it and work on it.

As a grunt, you carry what you need for the mission, which may be alot. Past that, you have to make sure you are taken care of, which adds more gear. In this case, you will want a system like this sewn on British PLCE belt webbing, shown above, to give you ample storage space for 18 hrs worth of fighting gear. This system is designed to allow you and your team to be completely self-sufficient for about 18 hours without logistical support.

There are plenty of people who have been carrying, or able to carry a firearm daily in their EDC. However, from many of the posts and videos out there, people have either not done much real thinking about how their EDC system works or they don't have enough experience training and using the gear they experience. In my experience, the more you use something and the harder you train with it, the more likely you are to uncover problems. This is what I like to do for my channel and blog. I like to push the limits of my gear and my own capability in order to expose weaknesses. In this article, I am going to share lessons with you that I stumbled upon or realized after making a grave error.

Not too long ago I invested in an M&P Compact in 40 caliber. I actually like it and find it to be very manageable compared to the Glock 23 Gen4 I have. There are other things besides recoil characteristics that I like about it, but that is not the focus of this article. What I want to talk about is a recent development that is making me kind of have buyers remorse.

When I got my Glock 23 Gen4, I immediately went in search of some affordable magazines that I could use for training. It is common for many people to regard anything other than OEM Glock magazines as strictly training magazines. However, let us not underestimate the need to have reliable training mags so that we aren't getting too accustomed to our guns giving us problems. Training and practice is the time we are supposed to be developing good habits, not anticipating the next issue.

It has been a hot minute since I have given the Beretta 96A1 any trigger time. I honestly was actually looking at selling the pistol in order to make some dough for something else. However, after handling the pistol a bit, I decided that it was time to put some rounds through it and see if there was any spark between us. The recoil was firm and the hits were right where I wanted them to be. The gun just has this odd characteristic that makes it hard to hate, but somewhat of a challenge to dedicate solely to. Let me use this article to explain what I mean.

Recently I took a huge step out of my comfort zone and took a course on how to use a red dot sight on a pistol. The idea of using an MRDS (Micro Red Dot Sight) on a pistol has seemed more like a trendy move and didn't appeal to me in the least. However, I like to step outside of my comfort zone often and try new things, so I coughed up some cash and took a course on the pistol MRDS using a rental pistol and gear. What an experience! Anyways, in the next few paragraphs, I want to glaze over a few things that I noticed that a red dot can do for you that irons never could.

It seems that there are two schools of though on priority of how one should try to get their hits in combat or self defense. Most of the argument seems to come from two types of shooters with different levels of experience. When it comes to combat shooting, it is important to not only be able to employ speed, but also to be able to take those fast shots and place them in an area that will have the best effect on target, such as the CNS(Central Nervous System). However, which one rules above the other and will be a more valuable tool to practice and build?

The British military, along with other European based countries such as Australia, still use some version of belt kit like the set displayed above. The reason this type of gear has stuck around for so long is because of its true load carrying capability. Soldiers in the UK military generally do not appreciate their old school belt kit due to how it rubs them raw at times. However, it would seem that the troops do appreciate how well belt kit can distribute a 24hr fighting load. It has been a great piece of gear for light infantry in the past, and I do not think that has changed much, if any.