When disaster strikes having your bug out bag ready at a moments notice will ensure your safety and security in the hard days ahead – right?
The answer to this is not as simple as we think. Bug Out Bags are just one type of Go Bag and may not be ideal in all situations. It’s not just about having a good bag with reliable gear. It is about having the right bag and gear for the situation you are about to face!
A great wilderness bag may have little application in an urban setting. A fully stocked bug out bag may slow our movement when seconds matter. Choosing the appropriate bag and gear for the unique emergency you are facing is essential to improving your survival odds.
We know it can be difficult to plan for the unknown – that is why RECOIL OFFGRID has partnered with ARC to give you the tools and knowledge you need to get your kit dialed in.
Combining ARC’s expertise with the latest technological innovations has led to the creation of a powerful tool that will help you build the ideal Bug Out Bag, WUSH Bag, INCH Bag, or Get Home Bag for the emergency situations you are likely to face in the area you are living in or operating in.
This tool goes beyond providing a generic packing list – it takes emergency type, expected duration, climate, threat level, speed of egress, and much more into account while putting together your ideal kit packing list.
Your Custom Go Bag List is Just the Beginning
Having an ideal Go Bag for your unique needs is valuable, but having the knowledge and skill to use the tools in your Go Bag in a real emergency will give you the edge you need to not just survive but thrive!
RECOIL OFFGRID has curated topic specific content to provide you with recommendations on gear, teach you vital survival skills, provide advice to enhance your mindset, and offer guidance to keep in you in peak physical condition.
Expert Advice to Trust Your Life With
Every aspect of this program has been created by industry experts with the intention of removing gimmicks and fluff to provide sound recommendations based on real world experience.
American Reconstruction Concepts was founded by Michael Caughran a U.S. Air Force SERE Instructor that has survived in the world’s harshest environments and hostile locations. Today American Reconstruction Concepts trains civilians, law enforcement organizations, and military professionals the art and science survival, evasion, resistance, and evasion.
The RECOIL OFFGRID team has a diverse range of skills deriving from military experience, wilderness and urban survival expertise, firearms instruction, and more. OFFGRID’s rigorous standards for gear testing and article content ensure the readers are getting the best in equipment recommendations and up-to-date survival knowledge in each article.
Grab Your Bag, It’s Go Time!
Are you ready to take the first step to becoming more prepared to handle the uncertainty of a chaotic world? Click the links below to learn more about different types of Go Bags utilize ARC’s free tool to build your ideal Go Bag. Remember, one bag can’t handle every situation. Use ARC’s Go Bag building tool to help you put together Go Bag kits for different situations!
Familiarize yourself with different bag types, learn more on how to properly utilize your go bag resources and see our recommendations for bags and the gear that goes into them!
You don’t need to be a participant to become a casualty. Civil unrest is a feature of American life that has accelerated in both frequency and organizational sophistication over the past decade. According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), the United States saw nearly 20,000 demonstrations in 2025 alone, a 77 percent increase over the prior year and the highest annual total since the summer of 2020. The overwhelming majority of those events, over 99.5 percent, involved no injuries, arrests, or property damage. But that statistical comfort evaporates when you’re the one standing at the intersection where the 0.5 percent happens.
Whatever you think about the people marching, set it aside. That’s not the focus here. Instead, the focus is pattern recognition: How modern unrest organizes, how it moves, how it tips from noise into something that closes roads and rewires your day. If you can read those patterns early, you get options. You decide when to leave, which route you take, whether the errand can wait. If you can’t, someone else’s timeline becomes yours.
No matter how organized, a protest always begins the same way: people gathering in one place for a specific reason. This is the Assembly and Expression phase of the event.
The Three-Layer Communication Stack
Modern civil unrest operates across three distinct communication layers, each using different platforms and tools, each offering you a different lead time for anticipating what’s coming. Understanding these layers, and knowing how to monitor them, is the most actionable skill you can develop.
Layer 1: Public Discovery
This is the broadcast layer: where grievances are amplified, where calls to action go viral, and where you’ll find the first indicators of a planned event. It’s also the layer you have the most access to.
X remains the real-time newswire. This is where calls to action trend first, where journalists live-post from events, and where law enforcement telegraphs response posture through official accounts. During the 2025 anti-administration “No Kings” demonstrations — a recurring series of mass protests opposing executive overreach that drew over 5 million participants across more than 2,000 events in a single weekend — X was the primary platform for national coordination.
TikTok is the mobilization engine for Gen Z. Short-form video is how calls to action spread fastest among younger demographics. Britannica’s retrospective on the 2025 global protest wave documented that youth organizers relied on memes, short videos, and live streams to coordinate events across countries. Look for videos with specific date/time callouts, route descriptions, or “what to bring” logistics framed as educational content.
Instagram handles infographic distribution. Organizers publish polished instructional graphics — know-your-rights cards, protest supply lists, rally point maps — on Stories and carousel posts 24 to 72 hours before a planned event. Stories disappear after 24 hours, so screenshot them.
Reddit hosts community-level planning. City-specific subreddits and cause-specific communities host logistics discussions that are searchable and archived. Sort by “new” rather than “hot” to catch planning threads before they gain traction.
Facebook Events remains the most commonly used platform for formal event creation, particularly for permitted demonstrations. Date, time, location, organizer, and expected attendance are all listed. This is your most straightforward early warning indicator.
Nextdoor and Citizen: Protect the World provide hyperlocal street-level intelligence. Nextdoor captures neighborhood-level tension indicators. Citizen aggregates real-time 911 dispatch data and user-submitted video across dozens of metro areas. During the 2020 George Floyd protests, The Wall Street Journal reported that Citizen became a key tool for monitoring protest developments and police responses in real time.
How to Monitor Layer 1
X Pro, the multi-column dashboard formerly known as TweetDeck, is the most efficient tool for this. But as of March 26, 2026, X moved it behind their Premium+ paywall at $40 a month. If you’re paying for it, build columns around your city name plus “protest,” your local PD’s account, local journalist lists, and the #breaking hashtag. That setup gives you a live feed without having to manually search. If the subscription isn’t worth it to you, Hootsuite’s free tier or manually bookmarked X keyword searches get you most of the way there.
For passive monitoring, Google Alerts costs nothing and requires almost no maintenance. Set alerts for “[your city] protest” and “[your city] demonstration” and the results land in your inbox. You don’t have to be watching for it to know when something’s moving.
Twilert (twilert.com)runs a similar function specifically on X, keyword and hashtag alerts delivered by email. The free tier limits you to one daily alert, which is thin for serious monitoring, but it works as a low-effort tripwire if you only need one search term tracked.
TikTok and Reddit fill a different gap. Search your city name plus “protest” or “march” on TikTok and filter by most recent. Video from the ground tends to surface faster than news coverage. Your city’s subreddit, sorted by new, runs the same function in text, local people posting what they’re seeing before it reaches any outlet.
The Citizen mentioned earlier app ties it together at street level. Free, available in most major metros, it pushes alerts sourced from 911 calls within whatever radius you set. Map view, user-submitted video. It won’t tell you what’s organizing, but it’ll tell you what’s already happening two blocks from where you’re parked.
During the Confrontation phase, there will be interaction between protesters and first responders, or even between two competing protest groups.
Layer 2: Encrypted Coordination
Once a public call to action gains traction, operational planning migrates to encrypted platforms. You won’t have direct access to most of these channels, but understanding what organizers use tells you how organized an event actually is.
Signal is the gold standard — end-to-end encryption by default on all messages, groups up to 1,000 members, minimal data retention (the company stores only account creation dates and last connection times), disappearing messages, and a built-in face-blurring tool for protest photos. After the 2025 White House Signal leak, the app received renewed public attention for both its security capabilities and its adoption across government and activist communities alike.
Telegram offers massive broadcast reach — supergroups hold up to 200,000 members — but only encrypts one-on-one “Secret Chats” end-to-end. Standard group conversations are not end-to-end encrypted. Following founder Pavel Durov’s arrest in France in August 2024, Telegram updated its terms to allow sharing of IP addresses and phone numbers with authorities on valid legal requests.
Discord provides real-time voice and text coordination via server/channel structures that mimic a military tactical operations center, but text messages are not end-to-end encrypted. The platform maintains a dedicated Government Request Portal and cooperates fully with law enforcement. During the 2025 Nepal protests, organizers migrated to Discord after the government banned 26 major social media platforms.
WhatsApp uses Signal’s encryption protocol for end-to-end message protection, with groups up to 1,024 members. However, it’s owned by Meta, and metadata — who talks to whom, when, and from where — is fully visible to the parent company.
Mattermost is a self-hosted Slack alternativeused by structured organizations. Extinction Rebellion UK’s publicly available Rebel Toolkit documents their layered approach: Mattermost for internal team coordination, Signal for sensitive action planning, Telegram for broadcast announcements, and WhatsApp Communities for lower-sensitivity outreach.
You can’t intercept Signal messages, and you shouldn’t try. But the existence of this layer tells you something critical: If you see a public call to action on social media, assume there’s a deeper coordination infrastructure behind it. A Facebook Event with 200 RSVPs may have 2,000 people in the Signal group behind it.
Watch for operational security indicators in public posts: “DM for details,” “link in bio,” and “join the Signal” all mean coordination has migrated to encrypted channels and the event has moved past the casual interest phase.
The Unrest and Dispersal phase is the most dangerous and chaotic of any civil unrest event. This is where agitators look for targets of opportunity.
Layer 3: On-the-Ground Communication
During live events, organizers and participants use a mix of digital tools, radio hardware, and analog methods to maintain coordination and operational continuity.
Smartphone Apps
Signal groups provide real-time text coordination among organizers, legal observers, and medic teams. Disappearing messages are typically enabled. The Citizen app tracks police response in real time via 911 dispatch data and user-submitted video. Zello, a push-to-talk walkie-talkie app operating over cell data, has been reported in use by protest marshals for voice coordination.
Mesh Networking Apps
These tools become critical when cell networks are overloaded by crowd density, intentionally throttled, or shut down by government order. This is not hypothetical: Nepal banned 26 platforms during the 2025 protests. Iran has repeatedly severed internet access, cutting off tens of millions of citizens from all connectivity.
Bridgefy is the most widely adopted Bluetooth mesh messaging app, claiming over 12.5 million users (a company-reported figure, not independently verified). It operates via Bluetooth Low Energy with a direct range of approximately 330 feet between devices, with messages able to daisy-chain through intermediate users. It saw over 60,000 downloads in a single week during the Hong Kong protests and over 1 million after the Myanmar coup.
However, this app has documented vulnerabilities. Peer-reviewed research found it permitted user tracking, lacked effective encryption, and could be crashed with a single malicious message. A subsequent audit found their Signal protocol integration was implemented incorrectly. Another penetration test identified user impersonation flaws. Use it for low-stakes coordination when connectivity is gone. Do not trust it for anything where being identified creates a safety risk.
Briar is the stronger option for security-conscious users. Open-source, designed specifically for activists and journalists, it connects via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Tor. All messages are end-to-end encrypted and stored only on user devices with no central server. Approximately 2.6 million downloads. Currently Android-only.
Baofeng radios are inexpensive and popular. They can be used to coordinate and monitor with very little investment of money or time.
Radio Hardware
Physical radios remain in active use for protest coordination. FRS channels 1 through 22 (462/467 MHz UHF) are license-free and heavily used for short-range voice coordination between marshals, medics, and logistics runners. GMRS shares these frequencies with higher power output under a $35 FCC license. Critically, the “privacy codes” (CTCSS/DCS tones) on these radios provide zero encryption or privacy, they only filter what your speaker plays. Anyone with a radio on the same frequency hears everything.
Baofeng UV-5R dual-band handhelds ($25 to $40) are ubiquitous at organized protests. They transmit on VHF and UHF bands with no encryption capability. All transmissions are in the clear and straightforward to monitor.
Meshtastic, running on inexpensive LoRa hardware ($20 to $50), is the emerging technology worth watching. These devices create AES-256 encrypted mesh networks for text messaging and GPS sharing over one to three miles urban, three to five miles rural, with no internet, no cell service, and no license required in the U.S. (users outside the U.S. must verify regional LoRa frequency regulations). Devices pair to a smartphone via Bluetooth, and can integrate with ATAK, the same blue-force tracking software used by military and law enforcement.
Modern apps allow you to digitally monitor public channels on your phone and can give you real-time intel on what is going on.
Analog Methods
Don’t overlook the low-tech layer. Organized groups use hand signals for direction changes and warnings. Designated marshals in identifiable colors (fluorescent vests, colored armbands) provide visual command-and-control.
Megaphones and human mic relays propagate information without electronics. Legal observer phone numbers written in permanent marker on forearms remain standard practice.
How to Monitor Layer 3
Broadcastify + Scanner Radio app: Thousands of live police, fire, and EMS feeds from real scanners. Search by county/city. Listen for resource staging, mutual aid requests, and dispersal orders. Free.
Citizen: Protect the World: Push alerts, incident map, live video. Your most valuable single real-time tool during an active event.
FRS/GMRS handheld ($20–$50): Motorola Talkabout or Midland X-Talker. Auto-scans all 22 FRS/GMRS channels for unencrypted marshal/logistics voice traffic.
Baofeng UV-5R ($25) + CHIRP (free): Scans VHF/UHF bands. Program local public safety frequencies from RadioReference.com.
RTL-SDR dongle ($30) + Software-Defined Radio (SDR): Wideband scanning, 25 MHz to 1.7 GHz. For the technically inclined.
Legality note: Monitoring radio frequencies is generally legal in the U.S. under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Some states restrict scanner use while driving or near active crime scenes. Check your local regulations. Transmitting on frequencies you are not licensed for is a federal violation.
Getting lost in your phone when in, or near, civil unrest severely limits your situational awareness and prevents you from recognizing potential dangers that may be nearby.
Escalation Dynamics
Research published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution identifies two primary predictors of whether a peaceful protest will escalate to violence: recent state repression, which lowers the perceived cost of violent action for participants, and spontaneous, less-organized gatherings (which reduce the ability of nonviolent participants to constrain more radical actors).
Phase 1: Assembly and Expression
Participants gather, chant, hold signs, listen to speakers. Police staged at a distance. Routes may be pre-negotiated. Your concern is route disruption: blocked intersections, diverted traffic. Decisions you make at this time may be to alter your route, delay travel, or proceed with heightened awareness.
Phase 2: Confrontation
Research identifies a critical danger zone during the first one to three hours when confrontations are statistically most likely. Micro-triggers include police-protester lines breaking down, one side being outnumbered in a confined space, individuals falling, and communication breakdowns between organizers and law enforcement.
Indicators to watch for are sudden crowd compression, vocal shift from rhythmic to aggressive, improvised barriers, face coverings going up, smoke, breaking glass, and police transitioning from observation to tactical formation. This is your cue to leave, now, not in 5 minutes.
Phase 3: Unrest and Dispersal
Property damage, looting, fire, projectiles, less-lethal munitions. The crowd has fractured. Crimes of opportunity spike in surrounding blocks. Your priority is immediate extraction. Move perpendicular to crowd flow, seek hard cover in commercial buildings (not glass-fronted retail), avoid chokepoints, and get above ground level if vertical options exist.
: Even without phones or wireless technology, there are hand signals and voice communication that is used by organizers to manage protests and civil unrest.
The Awareness Protocol
Days to Weeks Out: Environmental Scanning
Monitor for catalysts. High-profile court verdicts, legislative actions, police use-of-force incidents, immigration enforcement operations, and anniversary dates of previous unrest. The Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton tracks these nationally. Locally, watch city council feeds, local journalists, and neighborhood apps for tension indicators.
Hours Out: Active Monitoring
Shift to active monitoring. Check law enforcement social media for road closures. Open Broadcastify for your county’s dispatch feed. Watch Citizen for incident clustering. Track local hashtags. Identify primary and alternate routes. Top off your gas tank. Face your vehicle toward your primary egress direction. Confirm family communication plans.
In the Moment: Tactical Awareness
Scan for exits, barriers, and crowd behavior. Identify safety zones: unlocked buildings, side streets, vehicles providing cover. Ask the fundamental question: “If something changes right now, where do I go?” Monitor tone and tempo. Sudden silence, escalating vocal intensity, breaking glass, sirens. Watch body language. Running, aggressive posturing, clustering, coordinated clothing. Stay off your phone unless actively navigating. Tunnel vision from scrolling is the single fastest way to lose situational awareness in a dynamic environment.
The Bottom Line
Civil unrest is not going away. The structural drivers — economic inequality, political polarization, institutional distrust, and the accelerating power of social media — are intensifying. The global protest wave of 2025, which swept through countries on every inhabited continent, is not an anomaly, but a preview of what is yet to come.
Your job is not to predict which cause will generate the next event. It’s to understand the mechanics well enough that the event doesn’t catch you flat-footed. Monitor the open-source information environment. Recognize the patterns. Know the escalation indicators. Have a plan. And when the tone shifts, move on your own terms before the tempo forces your hand.
Disasters strike with little regard for our expectations or sense of stability. A quiet afternoon can turn into chaos with the shuddering of the ground beneath our feet or the wail of an unexpected siren. In these moments, time seems to split into “before” and “after,” leaving people suspended between instinctive survival and the need to make sense of what is happening. While the external forces of a disaster are often the focus, the parameters of how our human mind reacts to such events is equally as powerful.
Understanding how we react during all phases of a disaster is not only intellectually compelling, but crucial for how we approach public safety and disaster preparedness. As natural hazards increase in frequency and urban environments grow denser, the psychology of disaster has become a field of growing importance. Researchers now look closely at the behavioral patterns that arise when danger erupts because these patterns can determine who reacts quickly, who hesitates, and who survives.
According to recent studies by the American Psychological Association (APA), “disasters don’t just cause short-term trauma, but reshape social, emotional, and cognitive functioning over years. This has led to a strong cultural interest to develop programs that address such effects with the merit they deserve.” Let’s face it, disasters are in no short supply today. From increases in weather-related events to a potential countdown to World War III, there’s a lot to be stressed about and even more to overcome if we are affected by such adversity.
What happens inside the mind during emergencies has become an issue of great importance in the field of disaster research. By examining the science of instinct, decision-making, group behavior, trauma, and resilience, we uncover the hidden psychological forces that shape every crisis. In doing so, we reveal not only why people behave as they do but also how understanding these patterns can help communities prepare for calamity and endure it as well. But in the throes of disaster, what exactly is happening in our brains to lead researchers to develop programs that aid in recovering from disaster-based trauma?
Disaster shakes the ground beneath us and rewires the brain for survival, resulting in heightened fear, clouded judgment, and imprinted memories long after the danger has passed.
The Neuroscience of Crisis
At the heart of the human response to disaster lies the body’s oldest survival mechanism as the fight-flight-freeze response. When the brain perceives a threat, whether real or imagined, the amygdala sends an urgent alarm through the nervous system, bypassing slower rational processing. Within milliseconds, adrenaline surges through the bloodstream, heart rate increases, pupils dilate, and muscles tense. These changes are adaptive as they prepare the body to react quickly to danger. Sam Sheridan, author of the book, The Disaster Diaries, says, “The key takeaway here is that it’s easy to think you’d react well in an emergency, but when stress hormones take over, your body doesn’t work the way you expect.
“You can’t predict how you’ll respond under extreme stress until you’ve faced it.” Popular culture tends to view “fight or flight” as the only two options, but “freeze” is equally common particularly in overwhelming situations. Freezing is not a sign of weakness or indecision. Instead, it is a biological strategy meant to increase survival by reducing detection or conserving energy when immediate action seems futile or when the brain is still gathering information. In disasters, freezing often manifests as a few seconds of paralysis or disbelief, creating moments that may feel longer than they are.
Under acute stress, the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for logic and weighing consequences, begins to lose dominance. As survival instincts take over, cognitive bandwidth shrinks. This phenomenon, called cognitive narrowing, causes people to fixate on the most immediate threat while ignoring important cues around them, leading to decision paralysis, or the difficulty choosing between options or failing to act at all. Research from aviation and firefighting communities demonstrates that even trained professionals can experience momentary shutdowns in high-pressure situations. The brain’s tendency to revert to overlearned habits during stress means that preparation and rehearsal can dramatically improve outcomes. When logic wanes, practiced behaviors take over.
In crisis, adrenaline surges, cortisol rises, and the brain shifts into survival mode meant to protect us when it counts.
Human Behavior in the First Minutes of Disaster
While understanding the physical and chemical components of the brain might be interesting, it doesn’t piece together until we understand its relevance to how we actually act during those moments when we’re neck deep in the disaster itself. One of the most paradoxical findings in disaster psychology is that most people underestimate danger even when it is happening right in front of them. This phenomenon, known as normalcy bias, describes the brain’s attempt to maintain a sense of stability by assuming that things will continue as they normally do. Normalcy bias explains why individuals may continue shopping during an emergency announcement or assume a trembling building is “just a passing vibration.”
The brain resists abrupt changes to its mental model of reality, often delaying critical action. In many disasters these delays can be fatal. They’re also not limited to the incident as it happens. Often, normalcy bias creeps in before a disaster ever happens, delaying effective preparations for a disaster before it occurs. Emergency professionals often see normalcy bias in communities who don’t believe they could be prone to school shootings, or the elected official who may brush off emergency recommendations in the form of budget cuts because there may be more “pressing” issues to allocate funds to.
Training, though, reduces uncertainty. People who rehearse emergency procedures respond more quickly and effectively during crises because their actions rely less on conscious deliberation. Airline passengers who mentally review exit locations have significantly higher chances of surviving evacuations. Firefighters and first responders benefit from repeated drills that strengthen pattern recognition and calm reflexes under stress. Preparedness is both a physical trait and a psychological learned action. Those who have mentally rehearsed disasters, even informally, tend to exhibit clearer thinking and faster decision-making when real danger arises.
Working in crisis situations can leave emergency workers with lasting emotional and physical fatigue, heightening stress and burnout, straining relationships, and disrupting day-to-day life while they continue to face high-pressure demands.
But What Helps Others Make It Through a Crisis?
Situational awareness, or the ability to perceive, interpret, and anticipate environmental cues around you, is one of the strongest predictors of survival. People with high situational awareness are not necessarily calmer during a crisis. Instead, they exhibit traits that are more attuned to the unfolding pattern of events. They notice early warning signs and shifts in the environment that others may ignore. It’s an essential skill that any professional in disaster preparedness worth their weight in gold would highly encourage to develop. Situational awareness, however, requires practice which requires us to think in terms of “what if” and develop plans for rapid action.
These small mental habits can make a crucial difference when seconds count. Sam Sheridan continues with his thoughts on learning how to apply more situational awareness in our daily lives. Sheridan states that “a little situational awareness goes a long way. It’s mentally preparing yourself. If something happens, where would I go? What would I do?’ Just thinking through possible scenarios is helpful. It’s something we can practice every day just moving through life. It’s a skill we can all develop, and it’s something that helps in all kinds of situations.” The takeaway from Sheridan is that situational awareness is not a born trait, but a learned action that all of us can take the time to practice and implement into our daily lives, regardless of our environment.
It’s not just enough to mentally prepare for a crisis however. Psychological coping strategies shape behavior as much as physical abilities. Adaptive coping includes actions like problem-solving, regulating emotions, seeking help, and maintaining focus on achievable tasks. These behaviors keep the mind anchored and functional. Maladaptive coping, on the other hand, can worsen danger. Denial, impulsiveness, substance abuse, or fatalistic beliefs, such as “there’s nothing I can do,” reduce the capacity to act effectively. People who experience overwhelming stress with no coping tools may shut down or become irrational, increasing risk for themselves and others.
Disaster strains families emotionally, raising stress, disrupting routines, and testing connection. Our pain, however, can be a shared support that becomes the foundation for healing.
Aftermath Psychology: Finding Meaning from Tragedy
As we traverse down the path of the disaster timeline, there must be a finish line to the calamity. Maybe it’s hours from the initial incident or, possibly, weeks to months. The memory of such events, however, will last years. Our hope is to release the trauma once things return to stasis, but the likelihood is that many will experience long-term trauma from mass-casualty events. That doesn’t mean that we are lost to a life of anxiety and depression. We can develop a greater insight into ourselves, find meaning in the disaster, and eventually build emotional resiliency. Before that happens, we have to learn to cope with the emotions we have after the crisis and that means understanding the differing psychological impacts we experience.
Immediately after a disaster, it is normal to experience shock, numbness, rapid mood swings, or intrusive memories. These reactions are the mind’s attempt to process overwhelming events. While distressing, they are not necessarily signs of long-term disorder. Some individuals do develop persistent psychological challenges, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, or complicated grief. Risk factors include prior trauma, lack of support, prolonged danger, or intense exposure to life-threatening situations. Understanding these patterns helps communities provide appropriate care and reduce the long-term burden of trauma. People often believe that traumatic memories are accurate because they feel vivid.
In reality, stress hormones disrupt the brain’s ability to create coherent narratives. Memories may be fragmented and can lead survivors to question their own recollections or experience guilt about actions they do not clearly remember. It’s important to understand, however, that unreliable memories do not indicate deceit. They reflect the brain’s attempt to encode overwhelming events with limited cognitive resources. Recognizing this helps survivors make peace with their experiences and helps investigators conduct fair assessments after crises.
But what about the psychological impacts on collective society? Disasters rarely affect individuals in isolation. Communities share the emotional loss of disaster and the long journey toward normalcy. Collective trauma can shape a community’s identity, influencing how people view safety, leadership, and each other. Rituals such as memorials and public gatherings during anniversaries help people process these shared wounds and provide opportunities to create meaning from the disaster. This allows societies to honor loss while reinforcing their collective resilience. Communities never forget the tragedy, but they can proactively choose connection over fragmentation. In the aftermath of tragedy, creating shared meaning is often the bridge that makes that possible.
Disaster can trigger intense loneliness, depression, and anxiety, leaving people feeling isolated and emotionally overwhelmed long after the immediate danger has passed.
Lessons for the Future: What Psychology Can Teach About Disaster Preparedness
It’s really simple. Clear communication can save lives. Vague or technical warnings often cause confusion and contribute to delays and denial. Effective messaging is specific, brief, and actionable. If you tell someone “Evacuate immediately to higher ground” rather than “There is a risk of potential inundation,” people respond best to urgent but calm instructions delivered through trusted channels. Consistent messaging builds credibility long before disaster strikes. It’s a learned ability though, and it takes those who work as disaster professionals to help train not only each other, but our friends, families, and neighbors as well.
Think of it as a crusade to pass on life-saving knowledge to those around us. Just as people learn first aid, they can learn basic psychological strategies for crisis survival. Emergency literacy includes knowing how to regulate physiological stress reactions and make fast, simple decisions. Mental rehearsal, such as imagining what one would do during an emergency, can improve real-world performance. Teaching people how to evaluate risks cultivates a sense of preparedness that counteracts paralysis. Amanda Ripley, in her book The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why, states, “People often assume things will return to normal, leading to inaction.
“Overcoming this requires mental rehearsal to train the brain for the unexpected.” We as individuals can and should learn how to regulate stress responses, make fast and simple decisions, mentally rehearse emergency actions, and evaluate risk without becoming paralyzed by it. Emergency literacy strengthens both individual and collective resilience. If clear communication is the spark that prompts action, widespread preparedness is the fuel that sustains it. It should always serve as a reminder that survival is rarely accidental, but rather the result of knowledge shared before it is ever needed.
Bridging Psychology and Policy
At the end of the day, disaster plans must incorporate behavioral science. Policymakers who understand psychological patterns can design better community support systems and empower communities rather than simply informing them. This will create societies more capable of responding effectively to crisis. Governments spend billions hardening its physical infrastructure yet invest far less in strengthening the human infrastructure that determines how communities actually respond. True resilience isn’t built by concrete alone but rather depends on equipping citizens with the psychological readiness to act when it matters most. When psychological insights guide policy, the result is not only improved safety but also greater trust between institutions and the people they serve.
Disasters test the limits of human endurance, confronting individuals and communities with sudden uncertainty and loss. Within these moments of crisis lies a profound window into human psychology. The instinctual surge of fear, the hesitation of normalcy bias, the power of collective action, and the enduring process of recovery all reveal the extraordinary complexity of the mind under pressure. Understanding these psychological forces is both academic and essential and help communities prepare more effectively. In turn, we respond more clearly and heal more completely and in lifespan of a disaster, this is never a bad thing. As disasters and disruptions accelerate, we must invest as intentionally in psychological resilience as we do in steel and concrete, because in the decisive moments when systems fail and uncertainty surges, it is the strength of the human mind that determines whether we endure.
Shared Shock, Different Scars: 9/11 and COVID-19
Both 9/11 and the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped daily life and left deep psychological marks but in profoundly different ways.
The attacks of September 11, 2001, were sudden, violent, and concentrated in time. The trauma was acute and highly visible including images that many in the nation will never remove from their memories. Psychologically, 9/11 generated intense fear and a surge of collective unity. Many Americans experienced heightened vigilance and anxiety about safety, particularly around travel and public spaces. Yet the crisis had a defined beginning, and for many, resilience grew from shared rituals such as vigils and memorials that created a strong sense of solidarity.
COVID-19, by contrast, was a slow-moving and prolonged, invisible disaster. Instead of a single catastrophic day, it brought months and years of uncertainty. The psychological toll stemmed not only from the illness itself, but from isolation and disrupted routines that created economic stress and social division. While 9/11 briefly united much of the country, the pandemic often magnified differences in risk perception and personal behavior. Loneliness, burnout, and chronic stress became widespread resulting in “pandemic fatigue” in most world societies.
Both events produced collective trauma, but their timelines shaped recovery. After 9/11, many people rallied around a shared narrative of rebuilding. During COVID-19, the absence of a clear endpoint complicated healing, leading to what some experts call “cumulative stress.”
The comparison underscores a key truth that trauma can arise from both sudden shock and sustained strain. In each case, community, whether through physical gathering or virtual connection, remained central to resilience, even when the path forward looked very different.
Your Brain on Disaster
When disaster strikes, your brain doesn’t stop to reflect but reacts automatically, largely outside conscious control. This response unfolds in five phases:
Phase 1 – Alarm: The amygdala detects threat and triggers fight, flight, or freeze, causing a racing heart, rapid breathing, tunnel vision, and intense fear or anger.
Phase 2 – Logic dims: Activity shifts away from the prefrontal cortex, making clear thinking, decision-making, and processing information harder. Small problems can feel overwhelming.
Phase 3 – Stress surges: The HPA axis releases adrenaline and cortisol, mobilizing energy and narrowing focus to survival.
Phase 4 – Memory shifts: The hippocampus and amygdala encode vivid or fragmented memories. Triggers may spark strong reactions in which some details are sharp while others become missing.
Phase 5 – Connection heals: Calm, supportive presence lowers stress hormones and restores balance. If you feel unlike yourself, your brain is doing what it evolved to do. Recovery begins with safety.
Situational Awareness: An Everyday Superpower
No matter the situation or scenario, situational awareness is one of the most practical skills you can develop. At its core, it means:
• Being fully present • Understanding what’s happening around you • Recognizing potential risks • Anticipating what might happen next
Experts often break it into three simple steps: perceive, interpret, decide.
Step 1: Notice your environment such as people, exits, unusual behavior, changes in mood or tone.
Step 2: Interpret what those observations might mean.
Step 3: Decide if action is needed, whether that’s moving to a safer spot, speaking up, or simply staying alert.
Situational awareness should not be focused on paranoia but rather a fine balance of being alert and attentive. That means limiting distractions (yes, even your phone), scanning your surroundings periodically, and trusting your instincts when something feels “off.”
The payoff to being actively situationally aware is greater confidence in your decision-making and improved personal safety. In a world full of distractions, awareness is a quiet advantage … and one that’s always within your control.
Spring has a way of softening the edges of winter just enough to make people forget how quickly conditions can still turn against you. The ground thaws, the light lingers in the sky longer, and the urge to get outside returns. This transitional season is also where gaps in preparation tend to show themselves. Gear stored for winter gets pulled out and dusted off, systems are reassembled, and assumptions are quietly tested dripping with anticipation.
With Mother’s Day landing squarely in the middle of this seasonal shift, it’s worth recognizing readiness has always been rooted in care for family, for capability, and for the people who depend on us when things don’t go as planned. Mothers understand this instinctively and are those who are prepared to confront the day’s challenges more often than not.
Moms don’t prepare for convenience, but continuity. Moms keep extra food; they remind us to “wear a hat!” and build redundant safety systems in our daily lives. As we move toward warmer months, Gear Up is honoring that mindset as we dial in for the realities that spring unveils. Preparedness is not about individual items, but systems that support us and loved ones. Keep these things in mind and you’ll go far.
Knives by Nuge Bruin Swedge
MSRP: $355
URL: knivesbynudge.com
OG Rating: 8
NOTES In stark contrast to Tom Nugent’s giant hands, he makes what many, myself included, consider to be a fairly narrow handled knife. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. All Knives by Nuge are purpose-driven tools. Nuge’s Bruin is specifically designed to get deep inside of areas with narrow constraints, specifically field dressing white tail deer comes to mind. Having a thinner-built grip area means more maneuverability and precision without the hand fatigue that is associated with larger or chunkier options.
A blade length of 3.75 and 8.25 inches overall, the 3/32-inch CPM-154 blade is blackened and tumble finished. Perfect for chopping, slicing, and other bushcraft chores, the Sabre-ground Bruin Swedge has superior durability and edge retention. Bruins are available in up to six different colors of canvas Micarta or G10 grip scales and ship with beautifully crafted leather sheaths.
Halfbreed Blades MIK-08 Tracker
MSRP: $258
URL: halfbreedblades.com.au
OG Rating: 8
NOTES If there is anything in the gear world, I am not shy about, it is my love for tracker knives. This MIK-08 Tracker is no exception. It has long been my opinion that tracker knives are the multi-tool of the bushcraft world. Starting out with 6.69 inches of cutting surface, a modest belly starts at the drop-point tip and can be used for chopping and fleshing, down to the concave radius where you’ll be focusing your feather sticks and culminating at the straight portion of the blade where you’re able to perform camp tasks like batoning through firewood.
Austrian-made Bohler K110 makes up the overall length of 11.7 inches of the drop-point tracker, while G10 makes up the grip scales. The MIK-08 comes with a well-thought-out molded Kydex sheath you can scout carry or go vertical. Cheers, mate!
Wiley X WX Axe
MSRP: $206
URL:wileyx.com
OG Rating: 8.3
NOTES Sunglasses are very hit and miss in my experience. After a week in the field with the WX Axes, I was in love with them (as were everyone else who got a pair). They quickly became my daily go-to frames based on a few key features outside of the incredible comfort. Shatterproof Selenite polycarbonate lenses protect your peepers from not just the sun, UVA, and UVB, but are also ANSI Z87.1 rated against impacts.
Wiley X uses a non-metallic Triloid Nylon frame that is tough and lightweight while the dual-injected rubber temples keep your frames on your head in camp, on hikes and bikes, or firing lines. All WX Axes come standard with polarized lenses for reducing glare from snow, water, and roads at the same time strengthening clarity, color, and contrast while reducing fatigue in the eye. Available in multiple frame and lens colors.
Steiner Micro Pistol Sight (MPS)
MSRP: $632
URL: steiner-optics.com
OG Rating: 8
NOTES Steiner’s MPS is not only a solid option for your pistol, but I’ve also found them to be a great addition to a shotgun as well. The MPS is a closed emitter, which means the source of light will not be interrupted by external elements, as the open emitters generally known as RMRs are. Equipped with Steiner glass, the MSP is a true 1x magnification and has a generously sized window for rapid target acquisition.
The German styling of the exterior is a love-it-or-hate-it design. I happen to enjoy it quite a bit, as there is a bit of personality there. With 13,000 hours of battery life and eight brightness levels, two of which are night vision compatible, and ACRO mounting footprint matched with the previously mentioned features, this a strong option for consideration for your red dot needs.
Artilect Performance Women’s Sprint Tee
MSRP: $90
URL: artilectperformance.com
OG Rating: 7.6
NOTES Spring is famous for throwing us curveballs when it comes to weather forecasts. Fortunately for us, Artilect chose to spoil us by creating this Sprint Tee from Nuyarn 115 GSM. Nuyarn is a merino wool combined with nylon to create an ultralight material that is great as a base layer or as a stand-alone during warmer days.
With dry times five times faster than standard merino wool, the Sprint Tee will assist in keeping your head in the game or concentrating on having fun, because of the exceptional comfortable level provided by the material. For an added touch, Artilect has embedded reflective tape in the seams of this shirt to increase visibility should your adventures take you near trail heads, road crossings, or the occasional missed turn on a path. It’s available in four colors and sized from XS-XL.
Le Bent: Women’s Feathertop Hooded Ls Tee
MSRP: $160
URL: lebent.com
OG Rating: 7.7
NOTES Le Bent hit the mark with the Feathertop Hooded Ls Tee title on this garment. Weighing in at just 4.4 ounces, the merino wool and bamboo blend is sure to keep your mom comfortable this Mother’s Day. Meant for warm to mild weather, the mom in your life will love this four-way stretch fabric that provides UPF50+ protection from the sun as well as being quick drying and moisture wicking. If the built-in hood and naturally relaxed fit doesn’t sing, “I love you, Mom!” loudly enough, maybe the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification will drive the depths of your love home.
Le Bent has painstakingly selected fabrics free of over 1,000 known chemicals, dyes, and threads with even tighter constraints on materials coming into direct contact with your mother’s skin. Be proud that you scoured the web and found a gift befitting the unchallenged queen of the family.
Forloh Women’s Raider Fleece
MSRP: $130
URL: forloh.com
OG Rating: 7.5
NOTES Nothing says “mom” like pre-planning to be warm and cozy in cold weather. This means layering up. Mom seems to know best about this. You can always remove layers if you start to sweat or generally overheat, but you’re out of luck if you show up with a deficit of clothing. Enter the Forloh Women’s Raider Fleece Vest. Made from 100 percent sourced and made in America Polartec Shed Less anti-microfiber technology, this vest is great for hanging around a campfire or using it as a mid-layer while braving the cold.
Made of Shed Less Polartec fleece, this garment won’t molt or pill the same way most fleece products do, making this a cleaner overall product. Forloh also utilizes Brrr Pro enhanced cooling, wicking, and drying technologies to keep the mom in your world comfortable and in the moment.
Paramo Velez Adventure Smock
MSRP: $390
URL: paramo-clothing.com
OG Rating: 8.3
NOTES Probably the most high tech and meticulously designed garment I’ve received in years, the Paramo Velez Adventure Smock is ready for whatever you throw at it. You want to scurry up a rockface, hit a tough trail, go blasting through a bike course, or do all three? That won’t be an issue for the Velez Adventure Smock. Starting with the zone design, the Velez was laid out in such a way that allows for air to move through the garment to keep you comfortable as well as dry.
Two “dual phase” chest pockets can act as vents, while forward facing mesh-lined zippered arm vents increase or restrict air flow. PFAS-free Analogy technology from Paramo includes an inner “Pump Liner” that pushes liquid water away from your body, not only the vapor built up from exertion. There is no crinkle sound from a layer of plastic, as the Nikwax Analogy Waterproof fabric sheds water from the outside.
5.11 Women’s Industry Pant
MSRP: $98
URL: 511tactical.com
OG Rating: 7.2
NOTES In my opinion, one of the best things 5.11 Tactical has done in recent years is making their highly capable lifestyle gear. The wearer keeps many of the high-functioning features like adaptive stretch materials and sequestered magazine pockets, while applying these key features to clothing that does not scream “Tactical!” As a matter of fact, they don’t scream anything. They tastefully say something casual, functional, and understated. The 5.11 Industry pant is available in men’s and women’s sizes and share the same features.
These are a great option for the woman who loves being outdoors, getting in the thick of things, or just enjoys a good weekend of spring cleaning. Moms are going to love these for the comfort and utility they provide as well as the all-day comfort, saying nothing of their ability to shed dirt and grime from a day of yard work and planting flowers. For Mother’s Day, let her take in the outdoors while enjoying the flattering fit and clean style of the 5.11 Tactical Industry Pant.
Sea To Summit Big River Dry Bag
MSRP: $65
URL: seatosummit.com
OG Rating: 8.2
NOTES It seems like there is no end to the use of a good dry bag. What’s not love, right? You stow your valuables in one, keep them safe from the elements, and pack all like items together for safety’s sake. What happens when all you need are the items in the dry bag? You’re always stuck carrying it around by the folded-over closer as a handle like some kind of awkward purse. Not anymore! Sea To Summit has made a couple changes to the outdated thinking of dry bags.
Not only are there tie-down and attachment points similar to MOLLE or PALS webbing on the sides, but there is also a D loop at the base of the bag. Now you can add a shoulder sling to this overbuilt waterproof bag and go fast and light should you decide to. Adding to how well thought out this bag is, the all-white lining increases visibility when searching for much needed items.
Gregory: Zulu 65
MSRP: $300
URL: gregory.com
OG Rating: 7.5
NOTES Planning to step off the tail for an extended time period or just like to bring a bunch of gear along? Gregory Zulu 65 is right up your alley. Weighing in at just 4.28 pounds, the Zulu 65 sports trekking pole attachments, sleeping bag compartment, U-zip opening front panel for fast access to the main compartment with a drawstring closure at the top. A Speedclip hydration hanger makes it easy to attach your bladder and is paired with a routing system on each shoulder and sternum strap for your hose.
For small items you’ll need fast at hand, there is a zippered top cover, and for quickly stashing a hat, gloves or small towel, there is an outer mesh pocket secured with a side-release buckle. The enveloping mesh padded hip belt articulates with you as you traverse the trails, the mesh back allowing for a bit of standoff to keep air circulating and you comfortable.
Katio Electronics KL101 Emergency Camping Lantern
MSRP: $70
URL: kaito.us
OG Rating: 7.6
NOTES Katio has a reputation for supplying consumers with as many features as they can in the space they’ve got to work with. This KL101 is no exception. Equipped with a hand-crank rechargeable battery, AM/FM weather radio, SOS alarm, and detachable handheld flashlight, this waterproof lantern does not shy away from tough use.
When we’re under stress the last thing we want to be thinking about is how gingerly we need to handle our life-saving gear or supporting electronics. After some use in the field, the KL101 has earned its place in my gear locker. No need to worry about powering small electronics with the KL101, with its solar panel top and battery charging crank.
Nemo Equipment Satellite Camping Chair
MSRP: $200
URL: nemoequipment.com
OG Rating: 7.6
NOTES Nemo Equipment never disappoints with their offerings and has become a household favorite amongst outdoorsmen and women wise to the brand. Nemo’s Satellite Camping Chair checks all the right boxes with its simple-yet-innovative design. Full body support and a comfortable height of 23 inches ground clearance is a welcomed surprise in such a package. Easily reclining the high-back and headrest with ergonomically located sliders to adjust for different seated tasks from relaxing, eating, or getting a little work done on the laptop is a welcomed feature.
Packing all those elements into a 17.5x8x6-inch packed down kit is impressive. Robust while especially elegant, this camp chair’s assembly is nothing if not sleek. The intuitive design with shock cord captured poles makes setting up a snap even in low light conditions, while the carrying case doubles as a ground sheet to keep the legs from sinking into the ground. It’s available in four colors and has a seating capacity of 350 pounds.
Helinox Helidisk
MSRP: $100
URL: helinox.com
OG Rating: 7.1
NOTES Not that I’ve done any scientific studies or anything, but do you know what moms seem to love? Games! Games in the living room and games on vacation. So, I would assume they’re going to love games while you’re out camping too. Helinox has put together a fun game where you get to decide the level of difficulty and how many tries you get. This is a very easy system to unpack and set up.
All you need is a little space away from the campfire. You’ll end up with two stands each that you’ll also track your scores on, a pedestal, and a cup that is the target you’re attempting to knock off with a frisbee-like disc. Take this car camping or to the park. Team up or go solo, you’re going to have a good time, a lot of laughs, a little friendly family competition, and a whole lot of memories.
Sea To Summit Frontier Ultra-Light Collapsible Pour Over
MSRP: $31
URL: seatosummit.com
OG Rating: 7.8
NOTES Few things make moms happier than a good cup of coffee in the field. I’m not talking about instant freeze-dried stuff you dump into hot water. You’re putting thought and a little comfort into your outdoor journey this spring with mom. Sea To Summit had me very excited when this fold-flat Frontier Ultra-Light Collapsible Pour Over was released. Made from food-grade heat-resistant silicone that is not only BPA free, but also non-PAS.
This thoughtfully designed compact piece of gear has a super fine stainless steel mesh. This is important for keeping coffee grounds out of mom’s morning brew as well as being easier for you to clean. As an added benefit the pour-over platform is sized right for most mugs and cups as well as wide-mouthed bottles. If you’re planning overnight or just day trips, don’t leave this essential piece of gear behind. It’s sure to keep morale high and mom happy in the woods.
High Camp Flasks Firelight Flask 750
MSRP: $130
URL: highcampflasks.com
OG Rating: 7.8
NOTES I’ve rarely found a quality wine or spirit worth taking on a trip that wasn’t in a glass bottle. Since I’m not a fan of traveling with glass in a suitcase, backwoods pack, etc., the Firelight Flask is a great option. Not only is this good for cold or room temperature drinks, but it’s also a great option for hot drinks. High Camp Flasks Firelight Flask 750 will accept an entire bottle of your favorite wine, spirit, or 25.4 ounces of your preferred hot drink and maintain its temperature for up to 24 hours.
The flask is fitted with two 10.5-ounce magnetically connected vacuum sealed cups. Each cup has six shooter grooves for a pleasant nonslip grip. Shrouded underneath the top cup is a well-knurled twist-off cap with seal, covering a wide-mouth opening finished beautifully with a no-spill lip for a clean pour. Available in four colors.
Slightly Grittier, Still Controlled
Each piece of equipment is something I’d happily add to my gear locker; however, two of the items have earned a second look and some added attention. The WileyX – WX Axe glasses are something I’ve been using now for five months nearly every single day. The lightweight comfort and perfectly clear lenses with no distortion detectable from edge to edge was the lure, but what set the hook were the safety features, clip-on side shields, and knowing that I can get them with a Rx when that day inevitably comes for me.
Halfbreed Blade’s MIK-08 Tracker is much more than a tough-built rugged-looking blade. It’s a tool that is extremely versatile to those who take time to learn the intended purposes behind the sweeping design. Building shelters, field dressing small and large game, clearing brush, or processing firewood, I’ve not found an outdoor task this knife is shy about tackling. Once you pair the features of the knife with a sheath every bit as adaptable as the blade it carries, you have a knife that is worthy of serious consideration of being by your side.
This is one of the most difficult things I have ever written. We lost Reuben Bolieu — someone who was truly a shining light in the greater outdoor, survival, and wilderness skills community. Reuben was a talented writer, having published articles in just about every major publication in our space. Reuben was an avid adventurer, world traveler, knife designer, and survival skills instructor. He was a real one, no fluff, no bullsh*t — just experience that he loved to share in his writing, during classes and expeditions, or at events. Reuben’s professional resume was impressive, though most people who talked to him would never know it, as he had very little interest in showing off.
Reuben was so much more than the sum of his extensive professional experience. He was an inspiration, a guide, a mentor, and a friend. Reuben possessed a rare selfless kindness that the world so desperately needs. He was the kind of person who just wanted to see good people succeed and used his own personal experience and accomplishments as a toolbox to help propel others forward.
Reuben at the ESEE Knives booth at Blade Show 2025
That respect and kindness extended to everyone he met. A few years ago, while attending BLADE Show in Atlanta, some of us were hanging out in “the pit” after the show had closed for the day. Reuben met us with someone we didn’t know in tow. He introduced us to him, and we all spent the night hanging out and mingling with others in the pit. I later found out that Reuben met this gentleman at the ESEE booth earlier that day, and in conversation learned that it was his first time attending BLADE Show and he didn’t know anyone else there. Reuben invited a total stranger to hang out with him and his friends simply because he seemed like a cool guy.
Reuben had a profound impact on my life. When I left my career in financial services due to health complications, I was a bit of a lost soul. I didn’t know what to do with myself, and I fell back to my old passion for writing by starting a blog. I always enjoyed writing, but it was a hobby and I was far from a professional. Reuben took the time to read my work, review my website, and offer a ton of advice as to how I could improve. He pushed me to start pitching my work to others and taught me how to do that.
While I continued to grow as a professional writer, Reuben was there to celebrate my successes and when things were challenging, he would always say, “Remember, Nick, when things get hard, just keep going.” This simple advice really got me through some of the hardest stretches of my life, and I’ve passed it on every time I’ve needed to.
I will forever credit Reuben for being a pivotal factor as to why I am where I am now, and the only silver lining in him leaving this world is he won’t be able to argue with me about the significance of his role in it anymore.
Reuben, Nicholas Italiano and Tom Nugent at a “Meeting of the Minds” at one of New Jersey’s finest pubs.
More important than any impact on my professional growth, Reuben was a friend, a true friend who cared and with no expectations beyond asking us to pay that same generosity forward. Reuben never wanted to be a burden to others and always wanted to lift others up. It was rare to hear him complain, and most of the time when he expressed frustration with other people it was because he felt they had in some way wronged someone he cared about.
While we didn’t see each other in person more than a few times a year, each time was like picking up exactly where we left off. It didn’t matter if we were relaxing around a campfire with a few drinks and good company or navigating the madness of a major industry event, good times were had.
Reuben doing jungle things.
Work talk was minimal, quickly overtaken by overly serious debates about the superior canned corned beef, shared recipes, and the stories of our adventures. Reuben was an amazing writer, but he was an even better storyteller. Every campfire was a mix of new stories and ones he’s told before — and even the ones heard many times never got old.
While many of our friends attend various outdoor events for work, the true joy that comes from them is seeing the people we don’t get to see that often. For me, and for many others, something will be forever missing.
Reuben was at home in the outdoors.
Honestly, I could fill a book with all the things I want to say about Reuben Bolieu, but I don’t need to because everything he taught me and every good time we shared lives inside me. While Reuben has left this world, he truly lives in the people who were fortunate enough to be a part of his life.
If you knew Reuben, I’m sure you share in this grief. But, as Reuben reminded me so many times, “When things get hard, just keep going.” That is my message for you all today. Just keep going. Keep carrying Reuben’s light inside of you, and when possible, treat people as Reuben would.
To build the right EDC bag you need to consider your environment — those in an urban area require a different kit than those in a rural or wilderness area. Some of us regularly traverse both environments daily. My routine takes me through miles of undeveloped state forests, with little infrastructure or cell reception, to busy suburban and urban streets.
Carrying both a wilderness survival pack and an urban survival pack is impractical, and lugging my full-sized wilderness pack in a busy urban area is uncomfortable and would draw more attention than I would like. To solve this problem, I built a Minimalist Gap Bag to cover my basic survival needs for both environments.
Badger Claw Outfitter’s Rover EDC Pack
Badger Claw Outfitters has a long history of making versatile and bombproof nylon, leather, and waxed canvas gear for hunters, hikers, and outdoor adventurers. The Rover EDC pack is part of BCO’s newer lineup of EDC items that pack the same build quality and intuitive versatility that the brand has become known for.
The Rover measures 18 inches tall, 11.5 inches wide, and 4 inches deep, allowing it to carry very close to your body without adding an unwieldy hump when navigating tight spaces or crowded areas. Despite the slim profile, the Rover offers about 10 liters of storage space providing plenty of room for your essentials and then some. The front of the pack offers a single zipper pocket to store any quick access items you may need. The interior has no built-in organization, but it does offer some attach points to add a variety of organizers that allow the end user to customize the pack as they see fit and for quick kit swaps.
The straps come equipped with an adjustable sternum strap and can be removed and reconfigured to easily convert the Rover into a sling-style bag. The straps also offer some attachment points for lashing gear or adding small quick access pouches. The Rover is constructed from Cordura nylon, ensuring durability and providing some weather resistance. Like all Badger Claw Outfitter’s products, the Rover is 100 percent made in the United States.
This kit build takes advantage of the Rover’s versatility by utilizing Badger Claw Outfitters’ Admin Panel, a Prototype Admin Panel XL, and Small Zipper Pouch. I’ve also opted to include BCO’s Scout EDC Pouch.
Comms, Navigation, and Electronics
This kit relies on my cellphone being my primary means of communication and navigation. A Dark Energy Poseidon packs 10,000 mAh of spare power to fully recharge my phone and then some. If cell networks go down in an urban area or I am out of service range when traversing woodland areas, the ZOLEO provides a means of backup text communication and allows contact with emergency services through a dedicated connection to the Iridium Satellite network.
For light, I incorporated the ASP Tungsten-C, which packs 600 lumens on high mode and 25 lumens on low. Its Tungsten-C is a durable weather-resistant light, making it ideal for both urban and wilderness use. It can be recharged using USB-C if needed but has a great run time at about 5.5 hours. Being a little larger than a typical pocket-sized flashlight lends to ease of use, especially in high-stress situations where you don’t want to be fiddling to find the buttons.
I also included a standard charging block and extra cords. In urban areas, plugs can be plentiful to top off your electronics. Many municipal lighting sources, like streetlamps, have outlets behind screw panels at their base.
Water and Food
Water is a necessity; unfortunately, it is also heavy. To keep it simple, I carry a Grayl that can both hold water and filter water found in both urban and wilderness environments. I included a silcock key. This small tool allows you to access water spigots that do not have handles, which are often found on the outside of large buildings. I also carry a small container of Bouy Electrolytes to ensure each sip of water is maximizing my ability to stay hydrated.
For food, I generally carry a few shelf-stable protein bars and meat sticks to provide short-term nutrients and fuel throughout the day or in an emergency.
Fire
Having the ability to make fire is well known in wilderness survival, but it is often overlooked in urban survival preparedness. Regardless of where we find ourselves, fire is essential for providing warmth, cooking food, creating light, and can be used for signaling. For fire, I keep a standard BIC lighter, an outdoor Element Sparky Carabiner that has a built-in ferrocerium rod, and Wazoo Firecards that burn even when wet.
Shelter
For shelter, I pack a RAB Siltarp and paracord, setting up a basic tarp shelter to protect from the elements is easily done with a little practice in both wilderness and urban locations. While it is not an ideal long-term solution, a tarp shelter will go a long way to keeping you alive in a short-term emergency.
Tools
A few basic tools can go a long way in skilled hands. For an all-purpose cutting tool, the Knives by Nuge Cub is a utilitarian fixed blade that is small enough to be carried in most jurisdictions, handle all your everyday cutting tasks, and has some serious outdoor and bushcraft capability.
A multi-tool is a simple, but helpful addition to any kit. While multi-tools are not ideal for most tasks, they can make a difficult task much easier in a pinch and allow you to reduce the need to carry many different tools. I opted for the SOG PowerPint; it’s very compact and can be easily opened and closed with one hand, adding to its functionality if one of your hands is occupied or injured.
Knowing how to use lock bypass tools is an essential skill that requires a bit of practice to master but is well worth your time. For me, bypassing locks have come in handy in both urban and wilderness emergencies. Being able to solve simple problems like locking yourself out of the house is a time and money saver. In a true emergency, being able to bypass locks can allow you to pass locked gates, access resources, or escape illegal detention. My kit includes the Tuff Possum Entry Kit, which includes several different picks and bypass tools that can help defeat most common locks.
First Aid
In most cases, simple bandages and over-the-counter medications can handle the bulk of the medical issues we face out there — but being prepared for a debilitating or life-threatening injury is always something we should account for. Beyond the basics for handling life’s little boo-boos, I’ve included a Sunshine Safety BRIK Micro Trauma Kit to tackle major bleeding emergencies.
Final Thoughts
Will the Gap Bag replace a dedicated go bag? Absolutely not, but it isn’t designed too. This Gap Bag is a lightweight EDC option that is easy to carry anywhere you go. The total weight on this build not including water and food, is just 6 pounds. Combine the light load with Badger Claw Outfitters slim profile Rover EDC Pack and you have no excuses as to leave the bag at home, ensuring you are prepared for any emergencies that may occur during a daily commute that takes you through the woods into the city and back.
EJ Work is probably not a company name that you are familiar with — but it is definitely one that you should be. EJ Work produces handmade and custom knives that would be a prize piece in any discerning outdoorsman’s collection, thanks to the functional and aesthetically pleasing designs and top-notch craftsmanship. Recently, EJ Work has also began crafting EDC and tactical-style knives with the same attention to detail found in their robust outdoor knife lineup.
For a custom and handmade knifemaker, attention to detail and the ability to design functional knives that set you apart from the pack often takes years, and Emmet, the maker behind EJ Work, started his knifemaking journey at 12 years old. Over the last three years, Emmet has really come into his own. You read that right — Emmet is a 15-year-old knifemaker!
The Commando Dagger
EJ Work’s Commando Dagger is reminiscent of the fighting daggers popularized by the British SAS and U.S. OSS during World War II. Though Emmet’s version is far more compact compared to the early military models, it is still a viable self-defense tool in an easy-to-carry EDC format.
Carrying the Commando
At just 8.25 inches in length and weighing 3.4 ounces, the EJ Work’s Commando Dagger is a lightweight carry option. The thin profile allows the Commando dagger to be easily and discretely carried in your pocket, on your belt, or in your waist band. The custom Kydex sheath can accept numerous mounting options, giving the user the option to mount the dagger to a pack, plate carrier, or chest rig.
Tough and Effective
80crV2 is commonly used by custom and handmade knifemakers. This steel is easier to heat treat and work within smaller shops that lack the large and expensive equipment major manufacturers have on hand. Fortunately for us, it is also a great steel option for a hard-use knife. 80crV2 is a high carbon steel known for being incredibly tough, which is ideal for a knife with a very fine tip like a dagger and many other tactical-style knives. While 80crV2 lacks the corrosion resistance found in stainless options, EJ Work coats the dagger blade to ensure long-lasting use without worrying about rust even in wet conditions.
EJ Work offers the standard version of the Commando Dagger in either G10 or Micarta handle scales. Both materials are known for their durability, chemical resistance, and provide a good grip even when wet. Emmet has included textured grooves in the handle that provides additional grip.
Ergonomics
The 4.25-inch handle is enough to provide my large-sized gloved hand a full grip. There are small grooves on the top of that handle that your finger can rest on to provide more control when handling and using the knife. The handle has “coke bottle” contouring that swells toward the center of the handle, providing a comfortable grip that locks into your palm and reducing the chance of slipping out during use. The handle has dual blade guards to protect your fingers from the sharpened blade while in use.
Use Case
The Commando Dagger is designed to be a self-defense tool. Like all daggers, EJ Work’s version is primarily designed to pierce. The edges of the Commando Dagger are sharpened; however, they are purposely not as razor sharp as a typical single-edged knife. The dual edges are sharp enough to cut softer material (skin, muscle, organs, etc.), and in a pinch they could do some utility cutting, but that is outside the blade style’s intended use.
The Commando Dagger is an excellent option for people who want to carry a compact easy-to-use self-defense tool. While I will always recommend that anyone who carries a knife for self-defense trains in proper use, dagger use is simpler when compared to martial fighting styles for single-edged fighting knives.
Self-defense use for the Commando Dagger extends beyond just defending against people. The 4-inch blade is larger than most common pocketknives, making it a good last-ditch option should you encounter an aggressive small- or mid-sized animal when traversing the wilderness.
Beyond self-defense, the Commando Dagger can also be a great addition to a hunter’s tool kit. The 4-inch blade and exceptional piercing capabilities allow for the ability to efficiently and humanely dispatch a wounded animal.
A Note on Legality
Unlike single-edged knives that often have utility functions, daggers are broadly viewed as weapons in most states. This often leads to restrictions on ownership and carry. Even in states where daggers are legal to own and use on your property, there are often restrictions on where and how they can be carried outside your home or business.
Final Thoughts
EJ Work’s Commando Dagger pays homage to the classic fighting knives that were vital to the success of military forces during WWII. Though smaller, the spirit of the original designs is seen in both Emmet’s design and material choices. If you are fortunate enough to work in a profession or live in a state that allows the carry of a dagger, EJ Work’s Commando Dagger is definitely one you should add to your lineup. Even if you do not plan on carrying the Commando Dagger outside your home or business, it is a great addition to any knife enthusiast’s collection.
I have been a knife user and collector for decades and have had the opportunity to professionally review hundreds of knives, and I can honestly say EJ Work has really impressed me. Emmet’s attention to detail and workmanship is incredible for any knifemaker and even more impressive coming from a 15-year-old. The Commando Dagger is my first experience with Emmet’s work, but I can confidently say it will not be my last.
The natural environment is indifferent to human motivation. Heat, exhaustion, dehydration, injury, and psychological stress do not adjust themselves to match a person’s level of preparation. Whether the situation involves a backcountry emergency, civil unrest, or an extended disaster, survival becomes a physiological challenge before it becomes anything else. Skills matter. Mindset matters. But when the body breaks down, every other resource collapses along with it.
There is a hard truth that most people overlook. You do not rise to meet the demands of a crisis. You fall back to whatever level of conditioning you have already built. Physical capability is the foundation of survivability. Strength determines whether you can move heavy loads, carry another person, or manipulate your surroundings. Endurance determines how long you can sustain effort under pressure.
Recovery determines whether you can perform again the following day, or even within the next hour. Recovery and adaptation are the true limiting factors in sustained performance.
Structurally, peptides fall between amino acids and proteins.
This is where modern medicine has begun to intersect meaningfully with human performance. Peptides have entered this conversation as tools that may support recovery, tissue repair, metabolic efficiency, and hormonal balance. When used appropriately and under proper medical supervision, they can serve as valuable additions to a disciplined training system. They are not shortcuts. They are instruments, and their value depends entirely on how they are applied.
Survival performance is not a single attribute. It is a system built from overlapping physiological processes. Under stress, the body shifts between energy systems based on demand. High-intensity efforts rely on anaerobic pathways, while sustained movement depends on aerobic capacity. Most real-world situations require both. Layered on top of this is central nervous system fatigue. Prolonged stress reduces reaction time, impairs coordination, and degrades decision-making ability. Hormonal changes compound these effects. Cortisol rises while anabolic hormones decline. Inflammation increases, sleep quality deteriorates, and the body’s ability to recover becomes significantly impaired.
In a survival context, injury is not simply a setback. It can be the determining factor in whether you can move, protect yourself, or sustain basic function. Performance must therefore be sustainable. The ability to recover, adapt, and maintain consistent output over time defines genuine capability.
Peptides are short chains of amino acids that act as signaling molecules within the body. They attach to specific receptors and trigger targeted biological responses. Unlike larger proteins or externally administered hormones, peptides generally work by stimulating pathways that already exist rather than overriding them. They can influence hormone release, support tissue repair, regulate metabolic processes, and modulate immune function. Their effects depend on dosage, timing, and individual physiology. Peptides function as messengers that improve communication within existing biological systems. They do not replace the foundational practices of health. They support processes that are already in motion when used correctly.
Before considering the use of peptides, it’s important to establish a solid baseline of consistent performance.
In clinical settings, certain peptides and peptide-related therapies are prescribed and administered under medical supervision. Growth hormone secretagogues such as sermorelin and ipamorelin stimulate the body’s natural production of growth hormone. These compounds may improve sleep quality, support recovery, and help preserve lean muscle mass. Their effects are physiologically appropriate and generally modest when compared to external hormone administration.
Compounds associated with tissue repair, such as BPC-157 and thymosin beta-4, are being studied for their potential roles in the formation of new blood vessels, the synthesis of collagen, and the repair of damaged cells. These mechanisms are particularly relevant in soft tissue injuries and chronic inflammatory conditions. Metabolic agents such as semaglutide and tirzepatide influence insulin sensitivity, appetite regulation, and the rate of gastric emptying. Improvements in body composition enhance endurance, mobility, and overall performance capacity. Immune-modulating peptides, including thymosin alpha-1, may support immune resilience during periods of prolonged stress and fatigue. All of these therapies require appropriate medical oversight, individualized dosing, and ongoing clinical evaluation. The phrase “research purposes only” is widely misunderstood.
It is not a marketing designation. It is a legal classification indicating that a compound has not been approved for human use by regulatory authorities. Products sold under this label are not held to the same standards for purity, accurate dosing, or safety as prescription medications. This creates serious risk. There is no reliable guarantee of what a product actually contains. Contamination, inaccurate dosing, and inconsistency between batches are documented concerns. Long-term safety data is frequently absent. Without a prescription and proper medical supervision, the use of these compounds becomes unguided self-experimentation. The distinction is critical. Medicine requires oversight, supporting data, and accountability. Research chemicals do not provide those safeguards.
In a clinical setting, under medical supervision, peptides can support recovery, improve sleep quality, and help retain lean muscle mass.
Peptides should never be used as substitutes for the foundational elements of performance. Consistent training, sound nutrition, adequate sleep, and effective stress management remain the primary drivers of physical capability. When these foundations are firmly in place, peptides may serve as supportive tools that enhance recovery and adaptation. In practical terms, this may translate to faster recovery between training sessions, accelerated healing after injury, and better preservation of lean mass during periods of reduced caloric intake. These effects can meaningfully contribute to sustained readiness over time. Peptides function as force multipliers. They enhance systems that are already operating effectively. They do not generate capacity where none previously existed.
There is a growing tendency among people to pursue optimization before establishing consistent discipline. This approach is fundamentally flawed. High performers across every domain share a defining characteristic. They are consistent. They maintain their standards regardless of the conditions they face. Peptides do not replace discipline. They do not compensate for poor lifestyle habits. They support individuals who are already committed to maintaining a high standard of physical performance. The focus should remain on developing resilience through steady, repeated effort rather than searching for external shortcuts. Sustainable performance is constructed through accumulated work over time.
Peptides won’t give you superhuman capabilities. You won’t rise to the occasion, you will sink to your baseline level of training.
All medical interventions carry inherent risk, and peptide therapy is no exception. Potential adverse effects include localized reactions at injection sites, hormonal imbalances, gastrointestinal symptoms, and interactions with existing health conditions or other medications. Appropriate use requires a thorough baseline evaluation, routine laboratory monitoring, individualized dosing protocols, and ongoing clinical supervision. Ethical considerations are equally important. The legitimate goal of peptide therapy is to support and maintain healthy function, not to artificially enhance performance beyond what the body can naturally sustain. Responsible use is defined by medical oversight and adherence to evidence-based practice.
Survival is not a theoretical exercise. It is immediate and unforgiving. Your capacity to move, think clearly, carry weight, and endure discomfort determines outcomes. Training builds that capacity. Discipline sustains it. Medicine may support it when applied with appropriate care and guidance. Peptides represent one component within a broader system of human performance. They are tools that can enhance recovery and resilience when used properly. In the end, the demands of any genuine survival situation do not account for intention or desire. They reflect only what your body is actually capable of doing.
Peptides do not compensate for bad habits, and they do not create capacity where none previously existed.
Disclosure Statement
This article is intended for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The content presented does not establish a provider–patient relationship between the reader and Dr. Kristopher Hasenauer, DMSc, PA-C, or Dr. Amir Rahemi, PharmD. Any medical decisions should be made in consultation with a qualified healthcare professional based on individual circumstances.
Hasenauer and Rahemi are owners of Tier 1 Medical (T1RX Medical Group), where they evaluate patients and prescribe and dispense medications as part of a licensed clinical practice. The inclusion of information regarding peptides and related therapies in this article reflects general clinical knowledge and does not imply suitability or recommendation for any individual without proper medical evaluation.
For additional information about services, consultations, or treatment options, visit t1rx.com or call 877-GET-T1RX.
Preparedness culture runs on acronyms. Most of them are memory devices dressed up as doctrine — alphabet soup that sounds tactical until you actually need it. PACE is different. It’s a layered framework for thinking through your everyday carry that holds up when the situation stops cooperating.
P Primary Projectile
A Alternate Blade
C Contingency Less than Lethal
E Emergency Bare Hands
Surviving a violent encounter isn’t about having the coolest gear. It’s about having the right tools, the right mindset, and the skills to deploy both. That calculus changes depending on where you are and what you’re carrying. Let’s break down each PACE category with that in mind.
The moment is going to choose you. The only question is whether you’ll be ready when it does.
The Philosophy Behind Layered Defense
The PACE framework isn’t just about carrying multiple weapons. Different situations call for different tools, and your first choice won’t always be on the table.
Maybe you’re in a state with no concealed carry reciprocity. Maybe you’re in an airport. Maybe you’re at a family gathering where drawing on your drunk uncle would create legal problems that outlast the threat. Or you just can’t get to your primary in time. The point is, the situation decides — not you. Having a system means you’ve already thought through what happens when your preferred answer isn’t an option. That’s where escalation of force, legal exposure, and tactical reality all converge. Primary
As for everything in the life-saving equipment category, I recommend buying the best, most reliable gear your budget allows. That applies across every category here. In our courses we talk about the difference between effective and effective-plus-efficient. Your primary should be whatever gets you closest to that second standard, and your skills need to match what you’re carrying.
Primary should always be your most capable option, most “killy” if we’re being direct about it. But capable is relative to what you actually have on you. You can’t always carry a concealed handgun when traveling. And even when you can, proximity matters. If the threat is at contact distance and you have solid empty-hand or knife skills, drawing isn’t necessarily your best first move. Action beats reaction every time. The reactionary gap doesn’t care how good your gun is if you can’t get to it.
What You Need
For our purposes, the primary is a modern, magazine-fed handgun in 9mm or higher. Not a revolver. Not a .380 or anything in that neighborhood. That’s my position based on years of training, research, and conversations with people who’ve actually used their guns to save lives.
Why 9mm minimum? It’s the sweet spot of magazine capacity, controllability, stopping power, and ammunition availability. Can you kill someone with a .22? Sure. But we’re not talking about “can you.” We’re talking about what gives you the best chance of stopping a threat fast and reliably, under stress, possibly while injured, probably in low light, potentially against multiple attackers.
The handgun needs a quality holster. Bonus points if it’s fast to draw from, concealable, and workable with either hand, from a seated position, or flat on your back. The IWB appendix holster checks all of those boxes for a lot of people. Yes, everyone has an opinion on carry positions. Appendix isn’t for everyone, especially if trigger finger discipline isn’t locked in yet, or if you’re storing emergency rations around your midsection. But on pure performance, it’s hard to beat for speed, concealment, and accessibility.
Baseline requirement: something you’d bet your life on, with a round in the chamber. Not whatever was cheapest on the shelf that day. Your defensive handgun needs to be absolutely, boringly reliable. Find out your gun and ammo and magazine combo doesn’t run right on the range, not when someone’s trying to cave your skull in with a tire iron.
Most defensive shootings happen in low light. Train for the fight you’re most likely to face.
What You Should Strive For
For the ideal build, I run a full-frame 9mm. Harder to conceal than a compact, but you get better magazine capacity and a platform that’s easier to perform with when things go sideways. Add an RMR, a weapon light, a gas pedal if that’s your thing, and whatever else you’ve actually trained with.
Here’s why those upgrades matter. A red dot lets you acquire targets faster and shoot more accurately under stress, in low light, or with NODs. A weapon-mounted light lets you positively identify a threat without juggling a handheld. And yes, most defensive shootings happen in low light. These aren’t range toys. They’re answers to problems you’ll actually face.
Carry at least one backup mag, both loaded with quality hollow points. Federal HST, Speer Gold Dot, and Hornady Critical Duty are all proven. I run G9, but the brand matters less than the commitment to not cheaping out on the ammunition you’re betting your life on.
Why a backup mag? Murphy’s law doesn’t take days off. Multiple threats, a malfunction, a mag that doesn’t seat right. People who’ve actually been in gunfights don’t debate whether to carry one.
The Often-Overlooked Component
Gear matters. It just matters a hell of a lot less than skill. You can have the most tricked-out race gun on the planet, but if you can’t shoot under stress, move efficiently, or make decisions in the middle of a violent encounter that expensive blaster is dead weight. A thinker who can solve problems under pressure beats a trigger puller every time. Tactics over skills, skills over gear — in that order.
Get quality training. Not once. Regularly. Dry fire at home. Force-on-force if you can access it. Low-light drills. One-handed manipulations. Shooting while moving. Shooting from unconventional positions. When things go sideways, they rarely look like a square range.
Carrying a blade without training is just carrying weight. (Photo credit: @lucasolsoncustom on Instagram)
Alternate
At or near contact distance, a quality defensive blade will often beat a fast draw stroke. That’s physics and geometry, not opinion. The Tueller Drill proved it decades ago, and nothing has changed.
A knife doesn’t run out of ammunition, doesn’t malfunction, and doesn’t fail as long as you don’t. Depending on the situation, it can move up from alternate to primary. Distance, backdrop, tactical context all factor in. Close quarters in a crowded space? A blade may be the smarter choice than sending rounds into an unknown backstop.
Choosing Your Edge
There are a lot of good blade options out there and just as many bad ones. Minimum 4-inch blade, razor sharp, and it will never fold back on you. Fixed blades are almost always stronger and faster to deploy, but concealability is a real constraint depending on your lifestyle, dress code, and local laws. That’s a compromise only you can make.
I’ve run Cold Steel variants for a long time. The way they torture test their products tells me exactly what to expect when it counts. There are too many quality manufacturers to list here, but Lucas Olson Custom does exceptional work if you want to go that route. Whatever you choose, your defensive blade should not be your do-everything knife. The one you’ve dulled opening 10,000 Amazon boxes is not the one you want between you and a bad situation.
The same rule that applies to every other piece of life-saving equipment applies here. A gas station knife is not a defensive knife. I’ve seen people carry them thinking they’re covered. A defensive knife needs to be purpose-built, maintained, and tested. Cut things with it. Understand how it performs. Then, keep it razor sharp.
The Reality of Edged Weapons
Without getting into the specifics of knife fighting or the various disciplines, the blade is a stabbing implement first and a slashing tool second. Where your life is on the line, it needs to inflict serious damage fast. Timers and switches. A topic for another time, but if you know, you know.
Knife fights are ugly, brutal, and messy. There’s a saying in the community: The loser dies at the scene, the winner dies in the ambulance. That’s not a reason to leave the blade at home. It’s a reason to understand what you’re actually carrying. A knife is a lethal force tool, same as a gun. Use it only when your life is in immediate danger. Who the operator is matters more than what the tool is.
If you’re Jason Bourne or Baba Yaga, a pencil is enough. Most of us aren’t. Take a hard look in that uncompromising mirror and ask honestly: Are you skilled enough to be dangerous with a blade? Or do you need training first?
This gets overlooked far more than it does in the shooting community, where training is an assumed cost of carrying. People will drop thousands on firearms instruction and never spend a dime learning how to use the knife clipped to their pocket. If you carry it for defense, you should know how to use it.
Less-than-lethal has limits. Know them before you need them.
Realistic Testing Matters
When did you last sink a blade into meat wrapped in clothing and supported by bone? If you never have, it’s nothing like a gelatin block or a cardboard box. Different rules apply.
Build a realistic test target. Pork roast wrapped in denim and a leather jacket, with something standing in for bone structure underneath. See what it actually takes to cause stopping injuries. You’ll find out fast that most slashing techniques are largely ineffective against a clothed opponent, and that bone is harder to work through than you’d expect. That kind of testing will change what you carry and how you train. A good blade can get you out of danger or buy you the space to deploy your handgun. But not every situation is lethal force territory. That’s where a less-than-lethal option earns its place in the kit.
Contingency: The Gray Area
Contingency is where less-than-lethal options live: tasers, pepper spray, brass knuckles, flashlights with contact bezels, and improvised weapons. These aren’t just for situations where your life isn’t on the line. They have a role in life-threatening situations too, depending on what’s available and what’s legal.
This is the most nuanced layer of the PACE system because it requires judgment. You’re operating in the space between harsh language and lethal force, and that’s where most actual conflicts land. It’s also where you can get yourself in the most legal trouble if you don’t understand the use-of-force continuum.
The Case for De-escalation
There’s a strong argument that for most law-abiding citizens, de-escalation and avoidance is the best contingency move when your life isn’t on the line. I’ll go further. The best fight is the one you never have. Your ego is not worth dying for. Your pride is not worth prison time. Walk away, leave the area, apologize even if you’re not wrong. Whatever it takes to avoid violence.
That said, I’ve been in situations involving dangerous dogs and friends who turned violent after too many drinks. In those cases, my default is usually some kind of restraining or controlling technique over deploying pepper spray on someone I know. And I’ve seen tasers fail through heavy jackets, watched people keep swinging after getting sprayed, and seen less-than-lethal options escalate a situation instead of ending it. These tools have a place. They also have limits.
If you’re not dangerous without your gear, you’re undertrained. (Photo credit: Grey Man Academy)
The Tools and Their Limitations
Let’s be real about these tools. Pepper spray works until it doesn’t. Wind blows it back. Some people have a high tolerance to OC. And you’re contaminating the area, which means you’re in it too. It’s not a magic button.
Tasers need both probes to make contact and penetrate clothing. Miss with one, or get them too close together, and you get nothing. Effective range is limited. Determined attackers and people on certain substances will fight through it. Kubotan-style weapons, impact tools, and tactical flashlights with strike bezels put you at close range and require skill to use effectively. Force multipliers, not magic wands.
My Personal Approach
For my own part, I’ll keep a flashlight with strike bezel that has the added benefit of potentially reducing opponent’s visibility while I’m able to better ID threats. But I’ve had some time adding hands-on skills of controlling techniques that helps bridge this gap too. Not to mention, sometimes we don’t have weapons or our standard kit for whatever reason.
A quality tactical flashlight serves multiple purposes: It’s a legitimate everyday tool, it gives you target identification capability, it can disorient or temporarily blind an attacker, and in a pinch it’s an impact weapon. Not to mention that if it doesn’t look overly tacticool; it won’t have a problem going through TSA or most border crossings either. That’s a lot of utility from one piece of gear that doesn’t look overtly tactical. At the end of the day, as my friend Andre is apt to say, “The weapon is the man.” All else is supplemental. Which brings up empty-handed combatives skills.
Emergency
As Travis Haley puts it, “We don’t get to choose the moment. The moment chooses us.” And in that moment, you may not be properly armed. Bad guys don’t pick fair fights. They attack when they have the advantage and you don’t. If you’re not dangerous in the shower, you’re undertrained.
You might not have your gun. You might not have your knife. You might be naked and wet in a hotel shower when someone kicks in your door. What then?
Empty Hands
I’ve grown up around self-defense and street-savvy martial arts — karate, RATS, Krav Maga, Systema, BJJ, USAF Combatives, and Prot3ct. I’ve trained in or around most of them. For reliable, repeatable real-world destruction, nothing I’ve encountered comes close to Target Focus Training, derived from the Navy SEALs’ Combatives program — science-based injury mechanics combined with sound basic tactics. Simple, and it works.
Before the BJJ guys lose their minds, I’m not dismissing grappling. I still train it. It’s valuable, and it’s fun. But civilian self-defense means planning for worst case — multiple attackers, weapons, concrete instead of mats, and no referee to save you when things go wrong.
Prot3ct and Injury-Based Principles
Prot3ct operates on a specific assumption: Your opponent will be bigger, faster, stronger, better armed, and there will likely be more than one of them. From there, it maps the points on the body that produce reliable injuries, validated through sports science, prison footage, and real street encounters. The goal is turning your body into a bludgeoning and joint-manipulating machine that exploits the autonomic nervous system to produce hospitalization-level damage.
Eyes, throat, groin, knees, and spine are universal vulnerabilities. It doesn’t matter if the guy coming at you is a heavyweight UFC fighter. He still needs to breathe, see, and stand. This system teaches you to attack those vulnerabilities with gross motor skills that hold up under stress.
No techniques to memorize. Winning principles. I’ve seen it work, in real situations, in very little time. It strips away the useless movement, the ego, and the flashy stuff that looks good on video but falls apart in a real encounter.
The Mental Game
Nobody tells you that empty-hand fighting is mostly mental. You have to be willing to hurt someone badly. You have to override years of social conditioning that says don’t gouge eyes, don’t break joints. In a life-or-death situation, hesitation kills.
That’s where the uncompromising mirror comes up again. Are you mentally prepared to do what’s necessary? Have you thought through the scenarios? Have you visualized your response? In the moment, you won’t rise to the occasion. You’ll default to your level of training and mental preparation.
The uncompromising mirror doesn’t lie. Are you actually prepared or just equipped?
Putting It All Together
The PACE framework isn’t just about carrying multiple tools. It’s a tactical mindset that adapts to circumstances. Preparedness is layered. Different situations call for different responses. And the most important weapon you have is the one between your ears.
Here’s what that looks like in practice. You’re walking to your car after a late meeting. You’re carrying your primary, your alternate, your contingency, your emergency. A suspicious individual starts moving toward you with purpose. You don’t draw. That could be illegal, and it’s definitely premature. You use awareness and positioning to create distance. Verbal skills to de-escalate. Your flashlight to identify and potentially deter. Your hand moves toward your primary only if the threat escalates to the point where lethal force is justified.
Training Investment
If there’s one thing I want you to take away from this article, it’s this: Gear is the easy part. Training is harder. Mental preparation is hardest. But all three are necessary. Invest in quality gear within your budget, then spend ten times that in time and money on training. Take classes from reputable instructors. Practice regularly. Study real-world encounters. Learn from people who’ve actually been there. And be honest with yourself about your capabilities and your gaps.
The responsibly armed citizen isn’t just someone who carries a gun. It’s someone who understands the moral, legal, and tactical weight of using force. Someone who trains regularly, stays current, and keeps working to improve. Someone who recognizes that the ability to take a life comes with the responsibility to preserve one, starting with good judgment and de-escalation when there’s still room for it.
Conclusion: Choose Your Hard
Living prepared is challenging. Training correctly is hard. Carrying quality gear and maintaining proficiency every day is inconvenient. But you know what’s harder? Being unprepared when your life or the life of someone you love is on the line.
The PACE framework gives you a structured way to think about your carry and your defensive capabilities. Options for less-lethal situations and life-threatening ones. A reminder that preparation is layered, and that your most important tool is your mind. So, take that hard look in the uncompromising mirror. Are you really prepared? Do you have the right gear? More importantly, do you have the skills to use it? And most critically, do you have the mindset and judgment to know when to use it and when to walk away?
The moment is going to choose you. Will you be ready?
Most people are waiting for a sign that things have gotten serious enough to act. I’m here to tell you that sign already passed.
I’ve spent over a decade developing survival skills in others. As a former SERE Specialist, current contractor, and tactical trainer, I study one thing above everything else: how people survive when the unexpected turns catastrophic. What I know is that the threat environment we’re operating in right now demands a response. Not someday. Right now.
This is not a doom piece. I don’t do those. Fear without a plan is just anxiety. What I want to give you is a clear-eyed look at what we’re actually facing and a practical framework for what you can do about it starting this week.
Before the first shot is fired, awareness is already your most powerful defensive tool.
Everything Depends on Situational Awareness
Before we talk weapons, loadouts, or medical, we start where every prepared person has to start: reading your environment.
Situational awareness is not a tactical buzzword. It is your earliest and most powerful defensive tool. It gives you initiative before the first shot is fired. Everything else in your kit, your EDC, your truck gun, your IFAK, only comes into play after you’ve already seen what was coming. Or didn’t. Awareness is what shortens that gap. I teach the OODA Loop, Cooper’s Color Code, and behavioral profiling in my courses specifically because pre-attack indicators are observable if you know what to look for: baseline disruptions, unusual concealment, target glancing, and atypical movement in a group. Your brain will register these things if you’ve trained it to stay engaged rather than defaulting to autopilot.
The practical application is simple. Walk into any public space and give yourself 5 seconds. Identify exits. Note who seems out of place. Position yourself with sightlines. Don’t park your face in your phone in a parking garage. Don’t sit with your back to the door. None of this is dramatic. It is the habit of someone who has decided to be responsible for what happens to them and their family. The gray man doesn’t look tactical. He just sees more than everyone else in the room, and he’s already two steps ahead before things go sideways.
One pistol and one magazine is a starting point — not a plan.
The Threat is Not Theoretical
Intelligence and law enforcement officials, including former CIA targeting officer Sarah Adams and current FBI leadership, have been publicly warning about the threat of trained operatives embedded inside the United States. The FBI and DHS have documented concerns about Hezbollah-linked sleeper cells and IRGC proxy networks, with threat assessments issued under both the Biden and Trump administrations flagging Iran as the primary state sponsor of terrorism.
Iran’s model has long relied on plausible deniability: fund, train, let others execute, keep the fingerprints clean. What’s changed is the geopolitical temperature. U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, the elimination of senior Iranian military leadership, and public calls for retaliation have raised activation risk significantly. A mass shooting in Austin in March 2026 is being investigated as a possible Iran-inspired attack. The suspect had no known cell connection, just apparent ideological alignment with the conflict. The Afghan weapons question adds another layer. Hundreds of thousands of U.S.-made firearms left behind in the 2021 withdrawal are now unaccounted for, distributed across militant networks internationally. Where those weapons ultimately land is an open question.
We are not in a “something might happen” posture. We are in a “when and where” posture. The sooner you accept that, the sooner your preparation becomes meaningful.
The October 7th Blueprint
I come back to October 7th constantly in my teaching because it is the most instructive recent case study we have of what a coordinated, well-funded, operationally sophisticated attack on a civilian population actually looks like. People were cooking breakfast. Families were getting kids ready for school. Within hours, entire communities were being systematically swept through. Bomb shelters built to protect against rocket fire became killing grounds when attackers threw grenades through the open entrances. Structures designed to save lives were turned into traps.
What made October 7th so effective wasn’t just the violence. It was the intelligence. Hamas spent years gathering it. Seized documents confirmed they had detailed maps of every kibbutz, knew where the security cameras were positioned, knew the layout of police stations, knew standard emergency response protocols. They hit first responders first, specifically to task-saturate law enforcement and strip away the protective layer before turning to the civilian population.
That is the playbook. And if we are honest about what a well-funded, multiyear-prepared network could execute here, we have to assume they have done the same homework. Response times, substation locations, infrastructure chokepoints — they have had time to figure it out.
Here is the part that deserves more attention: Some people survived because they were armed. Not because they were elite operators. Because they had a pistol. Because they had a rifle. Because they had trained, and when the moment came, they acted. That is the lesson. You will not always be able to prevent the attack. But your preparation will determine whether you can protect the people around you when the professionals are overwhelmed.
Your pistol gets you back to your vehicle. Your truck gun is what allows you to operate at distance.
Your Loadout (Be Honest with Yourself)
Most of us are not carrying in a way that’s calibrated for what we just described. One pistol, one magazine, and a vague plan is a starting point — not a system.
Think about the geometry of a real attack scenario. A standard grocery store aisle runs roughly 20 yards. Can you make an accurate shot from concealment at that distance, under stress, with adrenaline flooding your system? Can you deliver a pelvic girdle shot or a head shot on demand against an armored threat? Be honest. Most people who carry practice at 5 yards, standing still, no pressure, perfect conditions. That is not the fight we are preparing for.
Start with pistol fundamentals and be brutal about where you actually are. Run reps from concealment, not from a competition rig, not from a square range draw, from whatever you are actually wearing at the grocery store on a Tuesday morning. You will find gaps. Fix them.
The truck gun conversation needs to stop being a YouTube build and start being an operational reality. Your pistol gets you back to your vehicle. Your truck gun is what lets you engage at distance, cover your family, and answer a threat that’s running a rifle. Caliber matters less than reliability, simplicity, and whether your family can run the system.
Stage ammunition in your vehicle. Think hard about realistic magazine count for a scenario involving multiple trained, armed attackers. Two magazines is not a plan. Build your loadout around the threat.
Consider a plate carrier. Not a full battle belt setup you will never have on your body when something happens, but a slick, low-profile carrier you can throw on fast, hand to your spouse, or size-adjust on the fly. One carrier that works across different body sizes is worth more than a custom-fitted rig that only runs for you. Simplicity in your kit is not a compromise. It is a force multiplier when time and stress strip away your ability to manage complexity.
Family – Your Primary Mission and Your Biggest Gap
I have said this in our classes before, but it bears repeating. Your family is your first mission set. Not the stranger across the store. Not your neighbor. Your family first. Get them out. Get them safe. Then, reassess.
Here is the part most prepared people do not want to sit with: If your family is untrained, they are your greatest vulnerability in a dynamic situation.
If your spouse has never handled your truck gun, you cannot hand it over and go do work. If your kids do not know the family SOP for a public attack, you will burn precious seconds managing their panic instead of managing the threat. If you have never walked through a dry rehearsal of what happens if something goes wrong at the grocery store, the first time your family executes that plan will be live.
I will be the first to admit this is personal. It is an area I have had to face honestly. Training your spouse on your weapon systems is not optional. It is a tactical requirement. Run dry reps together. Verify the recoil of your chosen system is manageable for them. Check ammunition compatibility across your household loadout. If you go down, they need to be able to use what you were carrying. Establish rally points.
Have a communication plan for when cell service fails, because it will. Print physical maps. Have a real conversation with your teenagers about what they do if something happens when you are not there. This is not fear-mongering. This is what families in conflict zones do as a matter of survival. We just have the opportunity to do it before the moment requires it.
CPR on a hemorrhaging patient doesn’t save them. Knowing the difference does.
Triage and Medical
If you are carrying a gun and not carrying medical, you are half a prepared citizen at best.
The Austin attack is the example I keep coming back to in class because the footage says everything. Three civilians killed almost immediately and more than a dozen wounded. When the shooting stopped, bystanders were performing CPR on gunshot victims. CPR does not address hemorrhage. Depending on the injury, it can accelerate death. The people helping had good intentions and no applicable training. That is the gap we are talking about.
Packing a wound, applying a tourniquet correctly, managing an airway, treating wounds by location on the body. These are not advanced clinical skills. A civilian can learn them in a single day of hands-on training. I had IFAKs for years before I took a serious trauma course and realized I did not know how to use half of what was in them. That class changed my level of confidence and my sense of responsibility in a way that a gear purchase never could.
Minimum baseline: tourniquet and hemostatic gauze on your person or staged in your vehicle. Then, go take a real hands-on course — not YouTube — a class where you work on a manikin under time pressure and walk away knowing how to treat what is actually in front of you. Make sure your spouse has the same training. In an October 7th-style scenario, first responders get hit first. You may be the only person on that scene with any capability to help. That knowledge, or the absence of it, is the difference between someone making it and someone not.
The kinetic threat is only part of the picture. Infrastructure is the other half.
Infrastructure, Grid-Down, and Thinking Past the Firefight
The kinetic threat is only part of the picture. Historically, coordinated attacks target infrastructure because the cascading effects do as much damage as the violence itself. Sometimes more.
Power grid substations are soft targets with enormous downstream consequences. A Federal Energy Regulatory Commission analysis, later discussed in Senate hearings, found that simultaneous strikes on as few as nine substations could cascade into a national grid failure lasting 18 months or longer. That is not a fringe scenario. It is in the federal record. And in a population that has lost the skills to feed, water, and sustain itself independently, the secondary casualties from a prolonged grid failure are staggering.
This is where my 5-Basic-Needs/Go-Bag framework becomes relevant outside of a pure tactical context: communications, health, personal protection, sustenance, and travel. The non-firearm categories are every bit as critical as personal protection when you are talking about infrastructure attacks or grid-down scenarios — water purification, long-term sustainment, a generator with stabilized fuel, hard-copy maps, and a communication plan that does not depend on cell towers.
Look at what happened in western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. Official response was slow to reach the hardest-hit areas. It was the surrounding community that moved first. Private citizens with ATVs hauled supplies through roads that were impassable to full-size vehicles, while government resources were still staging. That is not an anomaly. That is what community resilience actually looks like when systems are overwhelmed. Be the asset for your family. Then, be the asset for your community. That is the standard I hold myself and the people I train to.
Training – Quality Over Quantity
There is a difference between training and accumulating training experiences. I have students who have taken three classes in two months and wonder why their skills are not progressing. They have not had time to process and apply what they learned. Take a class. Work that material for months. Build it into your dry-fire, test it at the range, and find where you have plateaued. Then, go take the next class. Depth beats breadth every time.
Dry-fire should make up roughly 80 percent of your total training volume. Ten to 15 minutes a day of deliberate dry-fire will do more for your fundamental skill development than a monthly range trip. Use live fire to validate your dry-fire and to surface the deficiencies that recoil and real conditions reveal.
Train under stress. Run a shot timer. Do your dry-fire session after a hard workout. Have your spouse call out commands mid-rep. The adrenaline dump of a real event will erode every skill built in a comfortable environment. Stress inoculation closes that gap, but only if you are actually building it into your practice.
Get physically capable of doing what the scenario demands. Can you sprint 50 yards without pulling something? Can you carry your child from one position of cover to another? Can your spouse drag you if you go down? These are not gym questions. They are functional survival questions. You do not need a gym membership. You need to move your body consistently enough that it does not fail you when it matters.
Six years of an effectively open border didn’t just let people in — it let in what they were carrying.
The Foundation Beneath All of It
I want to close here because this is actually where everything starts. In Luke 12, Jesus is talking to his disciples about anxiety. About worrying over food, over clothing, over what tomorrow holds. He tells them plainly: the Father already knows what you need. Seek His kingdom first. The rest follows.
What hit me is what comes right after that in the same chapter. Jesus immediately tells a story about servants who are ready. Lamps burning, watching, prepared for when the master returns. Prepared and trusting are not opposites. They are the same posture.
That tension is real for me. I can run a class on worst-case scenarios and still lie awake at 2 a.m. running through everything that could go wrong. The work we do in preparation is legitimate and important. It is a form of love — for your family, for your community, for the strangers you might be the only one capable of helping. But the weight of what we cannot control is not ours to carry.
Do the work. Train hard. Be honest about your gaps and close them. Prepare your family. Know your environment. And when the anxiety creeps in about everything that might still go wrong, give that to God. He already knows the outcome.
Most parents do not think about what happens when disaster finds their child at school until the moment it does. Then, the phone buzzes, the robocall lands, and the stomach drops. Calm in Chaos is written precisely for that gap between knowing something bad can happen and actually being ready to act when it does.
The book is not a scare tactic. It does not traffic in worst-case theater. It is a working guide, the kind you thumb through once, mark up with a highlighter, and return to when the news gets loud. The author understands that parents carry two burdens simultaneously in an emergency: the operational problem of locating and retrieving their child, and the psychological weight of not falling apart in front of the kid once they do.
The Breakdown
Twelve chapters move from school safety protocols and family emergency planning through specific emergencies, active shooter scenarios, sex trafficking, disease transmission, and digital safety without losing momentum or drifting into policy lecture. Each subject gets a practical treatment calibrated to what parents can actually do: build a plan simple enough for a 12-year-old to execute, understand what reunification looks like from the parking lot side, know the school nurse before you need her, teach your kid to read a digital interaction the way a trained eye reads a room. The chapter on situational awareness introduces the Cooper Color Code without military jargon. The sex trafficking chapter names the threat most parents categorize as someone else’s problem, until it is not.
What holds it together is the consistent refusal to separate the operational from the emotional. The mental and emotional preparedness chapter makes the argument that preparation does not eliminate fear. It changes what fear does to your child’s ability to act. The reunification section reads like something written by someone who has stood in that parking lot waiting for a name to be called.
The Verdict
Where most school safety literature speaks to administrators and first responders, this book plants its flag squarely in the parent’s corner. It translates institutional protocols into plain action, maps the terrain between school lockdown procedures and what you actually do from your car, and gives families a realistic framework instead of a laminated checklist that lives in a drawer. The tone manages the considerable difficulty of taking school emergencies seriously without making the reader feel like they are failing their children by not having done this already.
For parents with school-age children, this belongs in the same drawer as the emergency contact card. It is not a read-once book. It is the kind of resource you return to when the news cycle shifts, when your child asks a hard question after a drill, or when a district communication arrives and you realize you do not fully understand what it means.
About the Book
Book: Calm in Chaos: A Modern Parent’s Guide to School Emergencies
