Overview
No, we aren’t going out and about wearing breeches, buckle shoes, and tri-corner hats. It would be fun, but it wouldn’t fit the concept of the modern Minuteman, who blends in with everyone else but is prepared to respond to emergencies and be a responsible citizen.
My concept of the modern Minuteman is someone that is prepared, trained, and mentally ready to take action, has the right gear to do so. And they are also something of a Gray Man that does not stand out from the crowd. If you’re old enough, and like spy and action thriller type books, you probably read Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity (not the movie, ignore that). Jason Bourne was The Gray Man long before that new book and movie. Heck, you may even know what “Cain is for Charlie, and Delta is for Cain” means. But I digress, back to the topic at hand.
Last week I started pulling together a series around this idea called "If You’re A Minuteman …" that is intended to be my perspective, lessons learned, and input on being a prepared and ready citizen. This next installment is on clothing and gear. Which is going to vary based on location, situation, and scenario. Eventually we can get into using the gear and the training necessary, but that isn’t today.
I will be naming some gear and clothing brands and giving links to them. These are brands that I have personal experience with and like for myself. Your mileage may vary. None of this is an endorsement, just Eric saying this is what I use and you should have something like this. But choose your own brand, your own gear, and your own clothing that is specific to you and your situation.
Don’t be Tacticool Joe
You all know what and who I mean by this. You see them in your own town once in a while, maybe more often. Tactical cargo utility pants, t-shirts with guns on them, and operator type boots. Likely they have a tactical belt on that you can see because their t-shirt is tucked in and they have Oakley blades perched on top of their Sig Sauer ball cap.
You know these guys, shopping at the local Safeway with their head on a swivel, obvious as all get out.
So, if I’m a bad guy, guess who I’m gonna shoot first? These dudes are the anti-thesis of The Gray Man unless he happens to be at a gun range or a gun store.
As much as I love my Kore Essentials tactical belt, I do not wear it in a way that you can see it. It’s an obvious gun belt. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic. I can hang a full size 1911, in a leather holster, plus 2 spare magazines in a leather mag pouch, off this belt and it doesn’t sag. If you were keeping track, that’s about 6 lbs of gun and ammo. But cover it up FFS.
Clothing and Preparedness
Philosophy is important here and is going to dictate the clothes for the situation.
First, and most important, is that you have to blend into the environment you are in. Don’t go into downtown Manhattan dressed for hunting in Georgia and think you will blend in. Just as obviously, don’t come hang out in rural western Washington (where I live) and wear a suit and tie and think you will blend in.
Next, the clothing has to be durable and stand up to the conditions. During an emergency situation you are likely to have to exert yourself physically, kneel down, low crawl maybe, run and jump, be exposed to water, mud, and blood. Depending on the situation, there are going to be trade offs. Your business clothing that lets you blend in while in downtown office space may end up pretty ruined after 5 minutes of crazy emergency response.
Finally, the clothing must accommodate you and your gear well. It needs to have pockets where you can carry stuff that you need. It needs to enable concealed carry if you carry a pistol daily. It has to be comfortable for extended periods of time. In a real emergency, you may not get to shower or change clothing for many hours, or even a day or more.
For about 90% of us, even those living and working in urban centers, this really boils down to jeans. Jeans are the modern working man’s uniform, whether blue collar or white collar. With exceptions, of course. I once worked for a very big name employer and had to be dressed to the nines. But that could be good shoes, designer jeans, a button down shirt and a sports jacket. Which is what I wore to work and travel and meet customers for 3 years while in that job. However, another job I held required me to wear a suit and tie every day. We didn’t even do Casual Friday. Your job dictates as much as your local environment.
That said, today, in general, I wear jeans, a casual shirt, Merrell Moab shoes, that belt I mentioned earlier, and all my daily carry gear. And this will work for almost all of us, male or female, on a daily basis. Swap the shoes for ones you like. Use the shirt to show your personality and not be totally Gray.
And yes, I have all the gear I’m about to talk about handy in this picture.
Bottom line is that you need to have comfortable, durable clothing that matches your surroundings.
Me dressed for that fancy job I talked about. This blends into almost any urban setting, whether going out in the evening or going to an office during the day. Yes, I was a few years younger and a number of pounds heavier.
Just note that in both pictures the clothing is comfortable and durable. It’s not going to stand out in the situations that I am going to be in. In both cases, I have my daily carry gear on my body in those pictures.
By the way, if I was in Europe I would dress differently. And I most certainly would not wear a ball cap ever. That is an American thing and will cause you to stand out there. The next picture, I took in Stuttgart, Germany a few years ago. There’s two men in the picture. One looks like he is European and the other is clearly American. I took the picture to show some of my team what I am talking about (I work in security, both cyber and physical).
The Oakleys, trucker style ball cap and t-shirt are a dead give away.
Gear and Preparedness
Alright, I think you’ve got the idea on how to dress. Let’s get into gear that a Minuteman ought to be carrying. Again, I have a philosophy behind it that guides me to what I carry with me.
Side note: we are not going to be dealing with concealed carry/every day carry firearms in this post. I am reserving a whole post just for that topic. For now, just be aware that you need to take into account your concealed carry weapon if you are going to carry one.
First thing to think about is what are the standard situations that I am likely to encounter and what will I need with me to tackle those situations. As you leave the house, you will encounter situations from the mundane to the extremely unlikely. Most of them can be addressed with the same gear, so standardize for the normal situations and likely emergencies.
Second thing to consider is the durability and usefulness of the equipment. Much like clothing, you may be using this gear for extended periods of time and it may be in rough conditions. However, it can’t look out of place. So, no carrying a tactical range bag with you while you are shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue. Spend the money to buy useful, rugged gear that will be solid in daily situations as well as emergencies.
Finally, the gear must accommodate you and your clothing well. This is the corollary of point 3 under clothing. It has to be able to be stowed in your clothing (and possibly a backpack) easily, but still be accessible to you. it has to be comfortable for you for extended periods of time. In a real emergency, you aren’t likely to be able to run into Target and grab a new pocket knife.
Again, leaving aside the concealed carry firearm, here’s what I carry directly on my body every day. I can carry all of this whichever of the pictures above I happen to be in.
Top to bottom
car keys for a Toyota 4Runner and a Toyota Camry, plus a P38 can opener, and my gym card
Ridge wallet with driver’s license, debit card, and some cash
VFW life member (I can get into the VFW and American Legion halls for a beer)
Concealed Pistol License - in WA I have to have this on me when I carry
Costco card - you do have an Exec Costco membership, right?
My main credit card, Chase Sapphire Reserve, one of the best out there
US Lawshield - concealed carry insurance in case the bad thing happens
Fenix PD35 flashlight that puts out 1700 lumens of light
Leatherman Skeletool that has all the essentials I need
POM pepper spray
1-64 Armor challenge coin from Desert Storm. There’s 100 of us that have one. I better not be caught without it.
In addition, I have sunglasses and a ball cap handy and I have first aid gear. I keep all that in an Eddie Bauer daypack that isn’t out of place in most situations I am in. People carry daypack bags routinely, so this isn’t out of the norm at all. The sunglasses are Oakley SI Unstoppable glasses. They meet all relevant safety standards, but look like normal civilian daily wear not glasses a shooter wears. You may not be able to buy them if you aren’t active military, retired, veteran, or first responder. But you can buy similar glasses as a civilian.
First aid gear ….. this stuff is in my day pack. I can deal with most trauma scenarios with this gear.
Never treat a casualty with your own bandage or tourniquet. Thus, I have two of each. If something bad happens to you, someone else can use your gear to treat you and potentially save your life. I know how to use a CAT tourniquet, but not everyone does so I leave the instructions with it. All of this fits nicely in my daypack along with a notepad, a pen, pencil, some 550 cord, a lighter, and my iPad.
I have the same set of gear stowed in each car for emergencies. I made sure my kids have the same gear in their cars.
You may say “gee, that’s paranoid”. However, in 1986, about a year after Basic Training, I was driving an Army jeep in a small German town. Three cars in front of me, a German on a bicycle was hit by a car and had a cut scalp and broken nose. My passenger and I jumped out, saw the injuries, and we provided first aid using the first aid kit in the jeep. Without that kit, I wouldn’t have been able to stop the bleeding while waiting for emergency medical services, which took over 5 minutes to arrive.
Keep a first aid kit in your car. You never know when you’ll need it.
Finally, just food for thought. I know many of us like Oakley blade style glasses and shooting glasses. They are great. BUT they look tactical. If you are trying to be a Minuteman in the Gray Man style, leave your shooting glasses in your range gear and get some glasses that are normal in the civilian world.
Left is tactical, right is casual. Both are functional in all ways. So choose the ones that fit the situation you are in. Don’t be Tacticool Joe.
Be prepared like a Boy Scout, but don’t be obvious.
My List of Gear and Sources
Jeans - Vertx Defiance jeans: Looks like nice, casual jeans but has 11 pockets, and built for tactical situations
Shoes - Merrell Moab 3: I wear both the shoe style and the low boot style and look perfectly normal. But they are waterproof, have Vibram soles, and are very sturdy.
Shirts - I tend to just buy whatever isn’t too expensive on Amazon and then my wife buys me things she thinks are fun from Gruntstyle and Til Valhalla Project.
Upscale clothing - I shop at Jos. A Bank for suits, sports coats, shirts, slacks, and dressy jeans. I buy the Traveller line that doesn’t need to be ironed, I did enough of that in the Army.
Belts - Kore Essentials for leather dress belts, tactical EDC belt, and range belt :-)
Glasses - Oakley Standard Issue. You have to be military, retired, veteran, first responder or law enforcement to buy these. But Oakley, Rayban, Maui Jim, and more have good sunglasses that fit in well and offer good eye protection. If you’re qualified, you ought to be buying Oakley Standard Issue. The price is about half what you would pay otherwise.
Multi-tool - Leatherman Skeletool. Great tool with pliers, knife, wire cutter, changeable screwdriver blades, and bottle opener. Slides in your pocket very nicely.
Self-defense spray - POM Pepper Spray, which is the strongest pepper spray available. I get it on Amazon.
Flashlight - Fenix PD35. This thing fits in your hand, but puts out 1700 lumens. The battery is rechargeable. It has 5 different brightness modes and a strobe mode. The brightest setting will have the bad guy flinching and closing his eyes. Fits easily in your jeans pocket.
Wallet - Ridge wallet with money strap. Also slides in my pocket easily and carries all the stuff I need.
First Aid gear - I got all of it via LA Police Gear. The Condor pouch is discontinued, apparently, but they have similar stuff and the prices are fine. My base was the NAR Individual Patrol Officer Kit (IPOK) and then I added bandages and trauma shears, also from NAR.
TQ Pouch - Amazon no name. This was inexpensive and tactical looking. Since this pouch is never visible unless I have to pull it out and use it, I went for functionality.
Daypack - Eddie Bauer. They make really useful stuff of this nature (and clothing, too) and it lasts forever. I have this same model, but it came in a different color at the time. Regardless, this is a great daypack.
That’s it for this time. Jump in the comments and let’s talk about it! Comments are open to all paid subscribers :-)
Oops, almost forgot …. here’s those leather Kore Essential belts. They can handle up to 4 lbs of gear, so easily a holster and a loaded pistol. Look good, don’t they?
And finally ….. Next week we will tackle the other piece of daily gear, concealed carry firearms. Including holsters, approach to concealed carry, how to actually be concealed, spot the gun, and training. Especially training.
Until then ….. Embrace the suck my friends! And stay gray.
Great article. Confession time. I do wear a "US Veteran**** My Oath Never Expires" t-shirt occasionally. Got me a thumbs up at the Walmarts...
Wore it today, but we were at the range.
For me, older female and politely chubby, Duluth Trading Co pants fit like a dream, have tons of pockets and not only flex but can support my IWB holster from "On your six" on my