Tim Kennedy's Everyday Carry | Special Forces EDC Gear Dump

Few on earth understand preparedness like our nations' Special Forces. Tim Kennedy is an incredibly dynamic human being. He has held many impressive titles including Special Forces Sniper, Army Ranger, UFC fighter, Founder of Sheepdog Response, and even more. He came to Gearbox Talk to dump his everyday carry (EDC) gear and teach us a thing or two. He shared the fundamentals of being prepared both physically and mentally, the importance of training, gear awareness, where to find credible self defense information and resources, as well as all the gear he keeps on him every day. You might recognize Tim Kennedy from his multiple appearances on "The Joe Rogan Experience". Joe Rogan and Tim Kennedy have discussed many topics throughout their episodes together and we highly recommend checking them out below.

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Gear Mentioned:

Fn 509  
Glock 17  
Glock 19  
Glock 34  
Gerber Ghostrike  
Gerber Fastball  
Gerber StrongArm  
TLR 1  
Petzl Headlamp 
SHEEPDOG RESPONSE Fanny Pack (Not yet available)

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Show Notes:

- Online Self Defense Resources
1. Sheepdog Response: https://bit.ly/GW-SR-HP
2. John McPhee
3. Pat Mcnamara
4. Kyle Lamb
5. Lena Miculek and Jerry Miculek
6. Diana Miller
7. Jeff Gonzales
- Joe Rogan Episodes:
1. Episode #1535  
2. Episode #1117  
3. Episode #497 

 

Full Show Transcription:  

Brad: Few people if any know more about being prepared than those in our military Veterans Day is this week and I see no better time frame to have the one and only Tim Kennedy on our show to talk about EDC (Everyday Carry) that's his everyday carry Tim has had an incredible career in the military the green beret has served with the special forces group he's been a sniper sniper instructor combatives instructor he was deployed in support of operation Iraqi Freedom among other deployments this is a well-traveled well-trained guy oh and you might also know Tim for his 15 years that he spent in MMA today he owns several companies one of which is SHEEPDOG RESPONSE which teaches tactical training if I've ever had anyone on the show to do a true gear dump it's Tim he literally just sat down pulled his EDC (Everyday Carry) out of his gym bag and went through all of his gear as one of the foremost experts on being prepared you do not want to miss this show also make sure you subscribe I mean right now because Tim's coming back on and he's going to talk about his hog hunting setup we're gonna go through the whole thing on an upcoming show but you'll miss it if you don't subscribe all right let's talk some EDC (Everyday Carry) with Tim Kennedy

Tim Kennedy welcome to Gearbox Talk man I'm excited to hear about your EDC (Everyday Carry) how's it going 

Tim: It's going well yeah it's awesome 

Brad: All right man I've heard you talk a little bit or quite a bit about being prepared right this idea of always being prepared before we dive into everyday carry can you give a little bit of like your fundamentals to being prepared before we talk about firearms or anything else like what are the things to keep in mind to stay prepared 

Tim: Yeah I think first we look at the most capable special operations units on the planet the the common theme amongst all of them is that they're mentally and physically strong you know whether ranger regiment or delta force or the navy seals everyone is like they're studs and you can't think that you're going to rise to the occasion when something dangerous happens right like somebody kicks in your door you're like ah I'm all of a sudden superman you know captain America and I'm like I'm gonna go do these these rad things I'm gonna move faster I'm gonna draw quicker you're not you're only going to perform to the level that you've previously trained at probably a little bit worse with that in mind you should probably be a stud so you should be mentally and physically tough if you want to be able to go and save your family from something bad happening that means you have to be capable of doing that and and so my approach is to be mentally and physically tough all the guys that I work with my team these guys are they're monsters like you look at them you're like is that a jaundice this guy a greek god no that's just like a random green beret that's that's ready to go do god's work so you know you have to have awareness not only of your surrounding but you have to have awareness of yourself like how how physically fit you are how much sleep did you have how much have you been drinking how fast you are with your draw what ammo you're carrying what gun you're carrying what optic you're carrying where your tourniquet is where your med bag is you know if you get into my truck my truck is a whole different thing you know like this is just the stuff that I was carrying at the gym today that I physically have on me right now I didn't I didn't set anything up 

Brad: I could vouch you were like wait what I was supposed to have gear and he's like no it's already here so I'll vouch that you didn't set anything up 

Tim: Yeah I'm really like just grabbing the thing that I have sitting here next to you and and so this is with me but if we go and hop in my truck that's that's a whole another level right then you walk into my work my work office and from the bags I have packed to go bags and work stuff kind of all pre-set up that's even another level you know so but the immediate preparedness is you're never gonna rise to the occasion you're gonna you're gonna fall to your level of training so I encourage you to train 

Brad: All right so real quick because I want to make sure we get time to talk about your gear like what are a couple quick resources people can check because a lot of my show is new they're they're new or they they've maybe they've had a gun for 20 years and they're just now realizing that they do need to train or prepare what are some resources that maybe even online I know you have some online you know youtube for youtube for example like where can people go to pick up some of this information 

Tim: Well I mean youtube's a great resource but just like you are not going to become a professional olympic level pole vaulter off of watching youtube videos you can watch instructionals and you can figure out footwork and hand placement but until you go and do it you're not it additionally there's a ton of charlatan's and I mean people that in my opinion it should be criminal to put out information that's not true that's true self-defense there's a lot of charlatans out there that's like no no stop so I you know SHEEPDOG RESPONSE is is a great resource we have a ton of online training we have a ton of youtube videos that teach very basic fundamentals I believe the fundamentals of marksmanship apply to speed surprising violence of action and will always overcome the fanciest bologna charlatan out there like somebody that can do the basics well he will always win he or she will always win so we we have a basic pistol one two and three we have a carving course we have a CQB course that will be dropping in a few weeks about how to clear your home if something happens there's a greater there's I mean I off the top of my head from John McPhee to Pat Mcnamara to Kyle Lamb Lena Miculek Jerry Miculek Diana Miller a bunch of incredible firearms instructors that have a ton of content on youtube and obviously I think SHEEPDOG RESPONSE is the best 

Brad: We'll put a link to SHEEPDOG RESPONSE in the show notes for anybody that's looking for that all right let's talk about some of the concealed carry that you literally just pulled out of your bag you know what's your go-to for your concealed carry you said this is your gym bag conceal which is obviously different than some of your others but what are you carrying with yourself on the daily basis 

Tim: I mean I think if you have a tourniquet a light a knife a gun and a method to call for help that's those are the basics that you need to have and you know they have tourniquets from rat tourniquets that are this big to cat tourniquets that you can fold up and put into a back pocket so in jeans you know I have to go to a school here in a minute and before you freak out I'm allowed to carry on on a school you know so but I'm not going to carry a big bag in there yeah I just want to look like a normal faculty member 

Brad: Not going to like open carry 

Tim: Yeah no never do that that's crazy talk so with with that you have a lot of different gun options I i prefer like a mid-sized I'm not gonna carry like a full competition you know I have like my pistol competition rig here yeah you put me on a shooting range with a bunch of world-class shooters I'm gonna try and hang with them but ultimately you need a you need a pistol that you can conceal easily but that you can perform well with the fundamentals of the smaller the pistol the more difficult that is to do so I'm comfortable with like a midsize pistol one of the great things about the FN 509 or the Glock is that you know the Glock 19 to the 17 to the 34 they're all essentially the same gun in in different sizes and you can shoot a 19 and it will shoot very similar to a 17 or a 34. just like the 509 midsize compared to the compact or the tactical so while I run a 509 tactical as like my my fun going to the range and shooting gun this is the 509 mid size that I'm carrying around me to steal so 

Brad: Something that's interesting so I've done I don't know Gearbox Talk you're like episode 25 or 26 or so what's interesting is that we have had several guys on Mike Larsen comes to mind Mike's been a firearms instructor for 20 years and he said the same thing that you did and I see so many forums arguing over things like hey you know that doesn't have the stopping power you want and and you'll you'll see a lot of arguments around stopping power but for you you're talking about comfort with the firearm and being able to perform with it so like it's 

Tim: Stopping power is not a thing 

Brad: Yeah it's like but but people argue if you get like you said there's a lot of yahoos that you shouldn't listen to online and you get enough 

Tim: Anybody that has been in war and has been in a gun fight will never talk about stopping power do you know like if you go to Kyle Lamb or John McPhee or Pat Mcnamara or Jeff Gonzalez a bunch of dudes that have been in war their entire adult lives you're like all right so would you rather carry a 45 for stopping power or a nine millimeter they're just going to laugh at you 

Brad: Yeah but to your point a second ago like I bring this up because a lot of people get hung up on that fact and it's like if you can't shoot it it doesn't matter every person I've had on to talk about EDC (Everyday Carry) brings this up and I bring it up here again because you just said it again and I don't think enough people are considering that they try to get the biggest thing that they can shoot comfortably instead of like you said leaning into what's comfortable to carry and comfortable to shoot 

Tim: Yeah yeah being able to accurately place around where you want it is is by far the most important thing you know white earth said fastest time but accurate final he didn't even address stopping power he just said accuracy is fine that's the end you can take him in the fast fine out and accuracy is final you know when we start talking about calibers for for hunting I think you're going to be surprised at a lot of times like isn't that kind of an undersized caliber like yeah but the bullet goes where it needs to go and the enemy the animal humanely falls down and it's easy cheesy like hopefully I'll never have to use a gun in self-defense but the bullets ulTimately are going to go where they have to go and I'm going to have enough of them that ulTimately I'm going to get a bullet to go where it has to go right to save and affect human life 

Brad: Right so what else what any specifics on what you you mentioned the things you carry are there any specific brands or or types styles of knife that you like to carry for your everyday yeah because we could do a whole show on knives in general I'm just kind of curious on what you're carrying 

Tim: Yeah so I really like the modality of what I'm doing dictates what I'm gonna have with me you know I love having a fixed blade knife and being able to have that on my belt line and that you know this comes out I'm feeling really good with you know a Gerber ghostrike but a lot of times I'm wearing jeans or I'm wearing shorts and I'm just going to put a folder like a fastball in my pocket and you know fastball comes out you know that's an assisted folder that's that's what that's in my hand I have three four inches of of usable blade length but from the fastball to the ghost strike to strong arm depends on what I'm doing on how much blade I'm gonna carry 

Brad: Do you are you a serrated blade guy or no 

Tim: No 

Brad: Not really what about on your flashlight you kind of mentioned that what's your preference I always find it interesting to see what kind of flashlight people are packing around we've had a lot of different takes on this 

Tim: I like the tlr-1 on almost every single gun and but you're not on my concealed carry I actually don't have a mounted light I am I'm i'm more often than not and and sporting this out of my fanny pack 

Brad: Oh no kidding the headlamp packing the headlamp around 

Tim: Yeah 

Brad: Which one do you have there 

Tim: This is a Petzl yeah but you know if we open up I think almost every gun in here you have a TLR there TLR there TLR there TLR there TLR there TLR there so 

Brad: Awesome man well this was a fun overview I wish we had more time but you know as you and I we did a Restless Native show together we're gonna do another Gearbox show together this was a fun quick look at some of the things you're packing around in your everyday bag did I miss anything or is there anything else you wanted to call out you kind of gave the overview of what you're carrying 

Tim: Yeah I mean I think so I'll lift this up so there's a little fanny pack my little gym bag right and I got a little I designed this bag little cell phone spot it's important to be accessible but not in the way yeah do I need that kind of out if your cell phone and wallet is sitting on top of your gun you have an issue so I have a separate compartment for how the gun is situated and I run a red dot I encourage everybody to run a red dot it's now you turn the red dot on and it stays on for forever in this kind of bright orange portion this is where I keep the tourniquet so easily accessible tourniquets and just in case you need it another constitution 

Brad: I'm picking up a trend with you man yeah I mean it's everywhere I love it 

Tim: Yeah if you have a question I don't need to we'll just whip it out and read straight from it 

Brad: You're the first person that's brought the constitution out of their everyday carry pack though you you have that title 

Tim: Well shame on everyone 

Brad: I know I know you're right we're gonna have to you had plenty earlier I'm gonna send you mailing addresses to send to them 

Tim: Then you know with capacity-wise you know 15 hollow point there's not a lot of work that you can't get done with that 

Brad: Nice no yeah great and who makes your your fanny pack 

Tim: I do 

Brad: Is this is it one that someone can purchase 

Tim: Yeah SHEEPDOG RESPONSE 

Brad: Okay so it's a SHEEPDOG RESPONSE 

Tim: It actually hasn't come out yet we've been working with for the past few weeks and we're really trying to get it to be made in America but not a lot of these things are made in America 

Brad: Yeah it's tough that's a tough road well when it goes live send it to us and we'll we'll put it out there because people will be excited to get that after seeing the show 

Tim: Sounds good 

Brad: All right man let's do another show and talk some hog hunting I appreciate the EDC (Everyday Carry) chat though 

Tim: Absolutely 

Brad: Thank you Tim and as I note with all of my veteran guests you know thank you for your service to our great country and you know if we put our divides aside we still live in a great country this is the land of capitalism freedom religion freedom of speech the right to bear arms and so many other great freedoms don't forget that you know so many like Tim have served and and people before Tim you know they've fought and have lost so much and it's a disrespect to their sacrifice to forget the freedoms that we are afforded today that doesn't change with a single election no matter how you voted if you enjoyed this episode surprise because Tim's coming back he's also been on my other show Restless Native which is an awesome conversation it's a discussion around the state of our nation and we talk about this crazy year and I really enjoy his take so make sure you check out the show from Restless Native and since you're still here you really enjoyed this I hope you'll share it with a friend just text it over to a friend and tell them you highly recommend checking out this show with Tim Kennedy and if you don't think I'm asking like the right questions when I have these EDC (Everyday Carry) guests on drop a comment on this video or on that wherever you're seeing this listening to this share with share it with me on GoWild you know tell me what you would want me to ask somebody like Tim Kennedy or Mike Larsen or Wes Robinson when I have these guys on and for those wondering yes the mustache is back I don't know for how long kind of snuck up on me it definitely snuck up on my wife but for today it's here all right thanks for watching today I'm out