Vehicle Preparedness Kit

Times I, or my close friends have used our EDC guns: 0

Times I, or my close friends have used medical gear: Many

I bought a brand new truck in February 2025. I currently have over 10,000 miles on it. Like many of you, I spend a lot of time in my vehicle. It makes sense to have things staged in your vehicle so that you can be an asset to society, get home safely, and not be caught without any tools when the situation calls for them. 

This is not a post about “truck guns”. You wont see body armor, helmets, extra rifle mags etc here.

Here are my requirements for things staged in my vehicle:

• Must be easily replaceable

  • Vehicle breakins/ theft happen

• Must not be a key component of other kit

  • It just needs to live in my car, no chance of forgetting

• Must not hinder normal, every day use of the vehicle

  • If it gets in the way, you will eventually take it out

• Must have a practical use, outside of very niche scenarios.

  • Vehicle space is limited, nothing weird that doesnt need to be there

Keep in mind, I am not talking about overlanding, vehicle recovery, etc. I was in that community for a while, and they are a great resource if you want to look into winches, jack stands, and all that fun stuff.

The categories we will go through in my own kit:

• Medical

• Communications

• Vehicle 

• Survival/Sustainment

Medical

This scenario has played out over and over again. You are driving down the road. You come across a fresh vehicle accident. There are injuries. What do you do? Do you know how to help? Do you have what you need with you to help?

The first thing you need is training. In emergency medical care, you can cause more harm, or easily prioritize care on the wrong casualty, leading to someone's death. There are so many good places to train, do some research. My own personal training has included Army CLS, DMOC Live Tissue Training, and more recently training with Paul Pollack from Baer Solutions. Start with simple training like Stop the Bleed and CPR training, and work your way up from there. 

DO NOT BUY OR USE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT THAT YOU ARE NOT TRAINED ON HOW/WHEN TO USE. I see this so often. Dudes will buy a needle decompression kit, and have no clue how to identify a tension pneumothorax, or know when it is necessary to jab someone. Please dont get in over your head. Learn first, then buy.

On the legal side, look up good samaritan laws in your state, be sure you aren't liable if you make a mistake or accidentally cause more harm.

This is what I carry in my vehicle:

• 1x SOAR MedMag

  • 2x Hyfin Chest seals

  • 1x trauma dressing

  • 1x celox hemostatic gauze

  • 1x NPA

  • 1x gloves

•  1x Trauma kit (some random maxpedition pouch from 2007)

  • 2x Israeli bandages

  • 2x quick clot gauze

  • 2x z-fold gauze

  • 2x gloves

  • 2x CAT TQ

  • 1x RMT TQ

  • 1x SOAR Needle decomp needle

  • 1x cravat

This is all gear that I am trained to use, and do my best to stay current with training on. Your mileage will vary here. This is not the end all be all list, and you may be qualified to carry and use more or less than this, this is just what I have landed on for me at my skill level. 

Communications

The goal of my communications here isn’t anything fancy. I want to be able to monitor emergency frequencies, and connect with friendlies when I get near them.

 A huge aspect of this is just powering my radio and cell phone. It is why I am carrying a battery bank, and the UV9R is able to charge via USB-C.

For any trips into remote territory, I have my Starlink mini in a small and sturdy case I can easily throw into the truck.

• UV9R radio

  • USB-C chargeable, waterproof

• Solar powered battery bank

• Charging cords

• Starlink mini Kit (if used for a trip)

  • Includes 4hrs of power via Anker battery bank, tripod, and power cord for using off of truck power.

Survival/Sustainment kit

This is about as far into catastrophic event preparedness as it gets in my vehicle. My goal with this gear is to get me to my destination if I lose access to my vehicle, or am stranded for an extended period of time due to unforeseen circumstances.

My goal here are to meet my survival needs. Water. Shelter. Heat. Calories. Signaling.

Stored in the in-floor compartments in my truck, so completely out of the way:

• Cana Water Decon kit

• Spare gravity bag and in line filter, that are not a part of my normal water kit.

• 2x collapsible water containers

• Dude wipes

• Chem lights

• Snack bag full of snacks, liquid IV, celsius packets

• 550 cord

• Spare set of wool socks

• Poncho

• Swagman roll (season dependent)

• Thermal blanket

• Hot hands

• Dog water bowl

Stored in a readily accessible spot, glove box, or center console

• Spare glasses

• Vehicle exit tool

• BCM pen/glass breaker

• Rechargeable flashlight

• Headlamp

• Spare 21 round magazine

Vehicle

Nothing crazy here. The neat thing about the battery jump cables is that it can double as a battery bank for other devices as well.

• Standard jack and spare tire

• Tire repair kit

• Bungies and straps

• Michelin battery bank jump starter kit

• Fire extingusher

A note on "truck guns"

I think leaving a rifle in your truck all of the time is a good way to have a rifle stolen.

No, I am not "using my pistol to fight to my rifle" getting my active shooter response quick reaction force kit and running into the mall to save the children, or whatever fantasy scenario is cool. 

I generally focus on just being really good with my pistol, and in every day life, if its a bigger problem than that, its not my problem.

That being said, this is where I think people need to use their brains, do a risk assessment, and make their own choices. 

Generally, if the situation is to the point where having a rifle makes sense, there is a very small likelihood that I am still going to make that trip.

But, I will bring a rifle with me at certain times. This is where IMO, having a rifle with a folding stock or brace is great.

Be sure you understand reacting to contact in a vehicle, have practiced getting your rifle deployed, thought about how you might bail from your vehicle, if you are gonna go down that road of "truck guns".