Post-Restøck Clarity

“If civilians are wearing plate carriers and using them in that way, then things probably aren’t going well.” — Rébél

Ten minutes on the tacticool side of Instagram and you’d think everyone is rehearsing a coup. Ten minutes on political X and the revolution starts Tuesday. Owning the equipment isn’t the problem. Forgetting what preparedness is; that’s the problem.

Preparedness is not obsessing over the least likely catastrophe. It’s raising your odds in the emergencies that actually happen. So what are we talking about when we talk plate carriers, tactics, and kit? And why do we make this stuff?

The second question is easy. This is America.

The first one needs honesty. Natural disaster. Civil unrest. A contract. An active shooter. Traffic. Fire. Weather. Those have precedents. Civilization collapsing because someone on the internet said so does not.

Despite the club mascot and a goat named Rébél occasionally shitposting about tea in a cold harbor, no. Nobody here is overthrowing the government. If you think the end is next week, I’ll leave the porch light on. We make equipment. What you do with it is your business. If you’re a civilian buying it for preparedness, keep one foot on the ground.

You are far more likely to work a wreck than trade shots with an agency. Fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, protests, riots: these are not hypotheticals.

Those are the days knowing how to use what you own might matter. Want to follow Howe up a mountain in NODs and look H.A.W.T in our kit? By all means. This is America. Tag us.

Want to actually practice preparedness? Then be boring on purpose.

Take a Stop the Bleed course. Get range time static, moving, and under stress. Dry fire until it bores you. Take a reputable class (Boykin’s the kind of name that belongs in that sentence). Learn to protect yourself, your people, and your property without turning your living room into a movie.

And put the equipment on. 

If you bought a Vakarian, wear it. Don’t let it become closet furniture that comes out for the Gram and one range day a year. Load it the way you expect to carry it.

Walk in it.
Ruck in it.
Move in it.
Get filthy in it.

Dirt. Not a subscription.

Figure out what works and what doesn’t before you need the answer. If your knees file a complaint with management, welcome to the club.

Almost none of this is about the apocalypse. Cardio pays off whether you’re carrying a med bag across a parking lot, working in kit for hours, or chasing your kid through a park. If your scenario requires movement under load, finding out you’re smoked at 50 yards should not happen in said scenario. A prepared person is not the person with the most nylon.

It’s the person who can use the kit they already paid for.

Range. Class. Medical. Strength. Miles on the gear. Be paranoid if that’s your hobby. Just tag us. We like seeing people who love the gear and the gear itself outside the closet.

By Nick Middaugh