With an active lifestyle it is hard not to see the occasional injury. Add a lot of mileage as an athlete and you can expect to see the negative side of all those miles.
All In, All the Time
Carrying concealed is something you either go all in or just walk around edges. Very few take the plunge or at least on a long term basis. Once you reach the level where you truly are carrying everyday your gear selection becomes essential. Add your work conditions and other obstacles and finding a good system becomes complex. The mistake many make is investing in one system then being so shut off it becomes your only way. At some point you find yourself looking at the round hole as a square peg.
The Path Less Traveled
When I carry, I typically have my go to or standard load out. It solves 50% of all my known problems for a good load out. I enjoy the comfort and capabilities it provides. I have been shooting these platforms for long enough to know them like the back of my hand. When something changes and I have to move off my beaten path I do so cautiously, but optimistically. Moving off the beaten path can be the result of several different factors or just one big one. It really doesn’t matter, the point is can you accommodate or improvise. To avoid being disadvantaged.
Nun-Yah…
I get asked all the time what I carry. Truthfully I rarely answer. Partly because I keep the information close to my chest, but also because it changes periodically. I will go from my go to blaster, to the one I reserve for special occasions, to the one I use because I’m being lazy. I feel as though I have good coverage to manage most of the crazy thrown at me or that I might walk into on my own. Lately, I discovered a flaw in my plan. It happened while on vacation, but it gave me great insight into changing things up on my load out. The catalyst was managing some injuries. These injuries forced me to carry well outside my normal load outs.
Some Things Don’t Change
The good news is principles transcend. It doesn’t matter, to a certain extent, what you may be holding as long as you apply the same principles. There will always be subtitles, but they mostly go unnoticed if you are focusing on the right thing at the right time. What I was pleasantly surprised by was the ease of my new carry method. When I say ease, what I’m talking about is my existing equipment I could make work. I didn’t have to go out and buy anything new or different. What was not easy was the changes meant I was sore in places I haven’t been sore in a long time. It took some getting use to carrying in this new configuration, but I’m already well adjusted and acclimated. Since then I’ve been putting a lot more time into this new load out. Practicing, shooting and sourcing additional supporting equipment. Maybe I should have given this more thought before my vacation, but I didn’t. Now, I have the advantage of the lessons learned to move forward.
Having used this setup at my last instructor course it gave me that comfortable feeling again. Don’t let your environment or equipment make all the decisions, think through how you can best accommodate or improvise.
