Bull-Dozer
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2020
- Messages
- 92
This is about securing and retrieving flashlights, not so much about any particular everyday carry item. So, what's your method? Front pocket, backpack, attached/detached lanyard, glove box, sheath, lights staged in different areas, all of the above?
I recently separated my every day carry items into two categories: backpack (BP) and immediately accessible (IA). The difference being I don't always want to stop, dig around in a pack and go from there. To solve this I put certain items in my pockets for immediate accessibility. IA items usual relate to defense and utility, as it pertains specifically to lights I typically put my headlamp in the pack and my handheld in my pocket.
The straps of the headlamp wrap up neatly in the small pack's upper frontmost pocket with an in-pocket lanyard (more on that later). The handheld fits neatly into the side knife pocket of all my cargo pants and shorts which brings us to my general rule of always trying to maintain two points of retention. For the handheld, for instance, the two points are the knife pocket plus a lanyard ran to my belt made of cobra braided 550 paracord. The lanyard is long enough I typically don't have to detach the light from the lanyard's carabiner to use it.
I once had a drill sergeant with a Ranger tab on his shoulder. He passed on a lot of solid lessons from that part of his career. One that stuck with me was this: cordage is cheaper than an article-15. Point being if you don't want written up with docked pay for losing gear then tie everything to yourself. I never lost anything after that which eventually developed into my two points of retention mentality.
This especially helps to combat the routine forgetfulness that comes with sleep deprivation which I find myself dealing with all too often. Now I go so far as to sew lanyards with carabiners inside my backpacks incase I forget to zip a pocket. Old Sergeant Baker was right, paracord is still way cheaper than any hassle or headache.
I recently separated my every day carry items into two categories: backpack (BP) and immediately accessible (IA). The difference being I don't always want to stop, dig around in a pack and go from there. To solve this I put certain items in my pockets for immediate accessibility. IA items usual relate to defense and utility, as it pertains specifically to lights I typically put my headlamp in the pack and my handheld in my pocket.
The straps of the headlamp wrap up neatly in the small pack's upper frontmost pocket with an in-pocket lanyard (more on that later). The handheld fits neatly into the side knife pocket of all my cargo pants and shorts which brings us to my general rule of always trying to maintain two points of retention. For the handheld, for instance, the two points are the knife pocket plus a lanyard ran to my belt made of cobra braided 550 paracord. The lanyard is long enough I typically don't have to detach the light from the lanyard's carabiner to use it.
I once had a drill sergeant with a Ranger tab on his shoulder. He passed on a lot of solid lessons from that part of his career. One that stuck with me was this: cordage is cheaper than an article-15. Point being if you don't want written up with docked pay for losing gear then tie everything to yourself. I never lost anything after that which eventually developed into my two points of retention mentality.
This especially helps to combat the routine forgetfulness that comes with sleep deprivation which I find myself dealing with all too often. Now I go so far as to sew lanyards with carabiners inside my backpacks incase I forget to zip a pocket. Old Sergeant Baker was right, paracord is still way cheaper than any hassle or headache.
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