While your XD is forever at your side while you are traveling out in the world, what do you have to accompany it on the journey? We talk about some of the more popular options out there for your consideration.
View attachment 1917
Lights
The funny thing about this planet is that the sun comes up and goes down every, single, day. This means that on a long enough timeline, we spend at least half the year in the dark. Even if the sun is out, we often find ourselves inside where it can often become, with little notice, doggone dark. This is why carrying some sort of illumination is important.
I remember sitting with my wife eating at our local Mexican place when the lights went out. While others started to break for the door, I calmly reached in my pocket, pulled out my 5-ounce 600 lumen Protac HL, turned it on, and placed it on the table pointed up to the ceiling. The light illuminated about half the dining room and I proceeded calmly to start my fajitas texanas. This kind of calmed things down and people started to re-assume their seats. In a couple minutes, the lights blinked back on and everything returned to normal.
While this example is not a "tactical" use of an EDC light, its one of the millions that it can come in handy for, while it quietly waits for that time when the lights go out and things are much more real.
View attachment 1916
Blades
When I was a youngster growing up in the rural south, my grandpa took me to the side one day while in early elementary school and showed me how to safely open, close, and use a folding pocketknife. Once I proved to him that I mastered the lesson, the knife was mine and ever since then I have usually had one in my pocket of some sort. I knife is a tool with a thousand and one uses and everyone I have touched was used for something.
It was the first possibly defensive tool I was given and if need be can always fall back into that role should I be without a gun.
As they say, pocketknife is like a melody: sharp in some places, flat in others, and annoying when it's stuck in your head. I like to keep mine in my offhand side pocket or back pocket to where I can draw it and use it with my offhand should I be in the middle of a weapon's retention situation with a firearm holstered on my strong side, or worse, my strong side is incapacitated.
I like to carry everything from full size heavy folders to small peanut style gentleman's knives. Even in slacks, a Garvey Jiffi-cutter (which are all steel and only cost about $1 a pop if bought by the dozen) or a Gerber razor knife is so slim that it is unnoticed.
Tools
I tend to find myself in the oddest of situations from time to time and items such as defense pencils, multi-tools, and impact weapons have doubled in other uses ranging from opening boxes to helping pry open car doors following accidents. Then of course there are paracord braclets, the staple of every modern EDC kit everywhere. You never know when a few ounces in your pocket can help save the day in way you never thought of when you left the house.
Mags
Besides your holstered XD, there may be no more important piece of equipment in your EDC kit than an extra magazine. Even if you are confident in the number of rounds that you have in the mag inserted in your pistol, there is always the nightmare scenario that you may get in a struggle or otherwise accidentally hit the mag release on your pistol, sending you ammunition supply skittering away when you need it the most. Having that second, backup mag in your offhand pocket or a pouch on your offhand side can then mean the difference between walking in your door again or not.
In the end, pick what you think is the most important, switch it up as needed, and be safe out there. Carry every day.
View attachment 1917
Lights
The funny thing about this planet is that the sun comes up and goes down every, single, day. This means that on a long enough timeline, we spend at least half the year in the dark. Even if the sun is out, we often find ourselves inside where it can often become, with little notice, doggone dark. This is why carrying some sort of illumination is important.
I remember sitting with my wife eating at our local Mexican place when the lights went out. While others started to break for the door, I calmly reached in my pocket, pulled out my 5-ounce 600 lumen Protac HL, turned it on, and placed it on the table pointed up to the ceiling. The light illuminated about half the dining room and I proceeded calmly to start my fajitas texanas. This kind of calmed things down and people started to re-assume their seats. In a couple minutes, the lights blinked back on and everything returned to normal.
While this example is not a "tactical" use of an EDC light, its one of the millions that it can come in handy for, while it quietly waits for that time when the lights go out and things are much more real.
View attachment 1916
Blades
When I was a youngster growing up in the rural south, my grandpa took me to the side one day while in early elementary school and showed me how to safely open, close, and use a folding pocketknife. Once I proved to him that I mastered the lesson, the knife was mine and ever since then I have usually had one in my pocket of some sort. I knife is a tool with a thousand and one uses and everyone I have touched was used for something.
It was the first possibly defensive tool I was given and if need be can always fall back into that role should I be without a gun.
As they say, pocketknife is like a melody: sharp in some places, flat in others, and annoying when it's stuck in your head. I like to keep mine in my offhand side pocket or back pocket to where I can draw it and use it with my offhand should I be in the middle of a weapon's retention situation with a firearm holstered on my strong side, or worse, my strong side is incapacitated.
I like to carry everything from full size heavy folders to small peanut style gentleman's knives. Even in slacks, a Garvey Jiffi-cutter (which are all steel and only cost about $1 a pop if bought by the dozen) or a Gerber razor knife is so slim that it is unnoticed.
Tools
I tend to find myself in the oddest of situations from time to time and items such as defense pencils, multi-tools, and impact weapons have doubled in other uses ranging from opening boxes to helping pry open car doors following accidents. Then of course there are paracord braclets, the staple of every modern EDC kit everywhere. You never know when a few ounces in your pocket can help save the day in way you never thought of when you left the house.
Mags
Besides your holstered XD, there may be no more important piece of equipment in your EDC kit than an extra magazine. Even if you are confident in the number of rounds that you have in the mag inserted in your pistol, there is always the nightmare scenario that you may get in a struggle or otherwise accidentally hit the mag release on your pistol, sending you ammunition supply skittering away when you need it the most. Having that second, backup mag in your offhand pocket or a pouch on your offhand side can then mean the difference between walking in your door again or not.
In the end, pick what you think is the most important, switch it up as needed, and be safe out there. Carry every day.
