Problem:
As a prepared civilian, we do not know what “mission” we will be required to do. In the MIL or LE, your job is fairly cut and dry, and you can tailor your gear to fit your mission. As a civilian we must be prepared for a variety of scenarios, objectives, priorities, and levels of societal degradation ranging from short term localized unrest, to full on loss of Rule of Law.
Solution: The solution is to build your kit so that it can scale up or down based on your needs. In my opinion, you can accomplish this by having a few components that work together in tandem, or separately. Having kit that functions with each other and independently will give you more capability, while saving you money on buying proprietary setups that you have to store, and wear separately.
I'm going to break down what I have set up in the following thread, so I can add pictures for each level. For now, here are the major components
A slick Crye SPC
Spiritus Systems 34A split front chest rig
Daily CCW contents.
Ancillary Add-ons
CCW Setup:
This is probably where you should spend the most time perfecting your gear, as it's going to be on you at all times, needs to fit into multiple types of clothing, and give you capability to handle the most likely scenarios in our normal world, while still not being a hindrance to your actual life. For me, that is
- G19 with Radian comp, MPS dot, and TLR7 light. In a TRex Ironside holster (IWB 3 o'clock)
- SOF-T TQ (back left pocket)
- Toor Darter Fixed blade (horizontal, beltline, 11 o clock)
- Streamlight Wedge XT 500 lumen light (back left pocket)
- 19 round spare mag (Front left pocket)
- Wallet (back right pocket)
- Cell phone (front right pocket)
Slick plate carrier setup.
There isn't much to this layer. You can simply throw on a plate carrier if you feel like the extra protection is needed. My logic around a plate carrier is different from many others. I only plan on wearing a plate carrier if a higher level of medical care is available to me. If things have deteriorated to the point where hospitals are no longer functional, I am ditching the PC in favor of more ammo and more water.
Plate carriers are not invincibility shields. You will likely be shot more than once, and the chances of all the bullets landing on a 10x14 hexagon on my chest/back is slim. However, they can save you from a fatal shot, providing you can get medical care for your other likely wounds. If you can't get that care, your plate carrier saved you from a quick death, in favor of a prolonged death at the hands of infection or a life of being a disabled liability in an SHTF world.
For limited societal collapse though (think 2020 riots), where you can reasonably be expected to receive medical care, I think it's important to have armor. With a slick PC you can make it work under a puffy jacket. This is also where 3A soft armor would be awesome to have. Most shootings happen with pistols, so having rifle plates isn’t as key as you may think, and it is much more concealable.
Chest Rig
This is your fighting loadout. IMO it is key that your kit works with or without armor. I have already done a specific post on my main kit which I will link here. There is a fast mod that i will use if we are using vehicles. It is the same Spiritus 34A split rig, but I replaced the LBV Expander kit with the standard Fat straps. It takes approx 2 min to switch back and forth. A slick back makes sitting in cars more bearable. The sustainment portion of my original kit is now in a bigger pack that I can either walk with, or load into a vehicle while I sit in a seat.
The split rig does a great job of quickly adjusting to use with or without a plate carrier, which is why it's my preferred type of chest rig (also very comfortable and distributes weight off the shoulders well)
Ancillary Add-ons and Flexibility
Ancillary Add-ons are your force multipliers. They are fairly high value pieces of kit that allow you to work in environments that you otherwise wouldn't be able to. Mainly night time, and an NBC environment. They can be added at any level of thde above kit as needed.
Flexibility is the key through all of this. I also have a Haley Strategic placard and dangler that I can add to the PC at any level, and a belt system that can work in tandem with the PC if I choose to go that route. My fanny pack is essentially an E&E kit, with water purification, IFAK, a small multitool, thermal blanket
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