Weapon's Firing. Weapon's Firing. Weapon Stops.

Immediate Action Drills for the Mind

In both the military and policing worlds, there’s one truth you learn early:

Your weapon will fail. It’s not a matter of if, it’s when.

When it does, your job isn’t to panic. It’s not to freeze. And it sure as hell isn’t to overthink.

Your job is to initiate immediate action drills.

In infantry training, or in firearms training as a police officer, you get taught a simple and effective sequence:

• Weapon's firing.

• Weapon's firing.

• Weapon stops.

Now you run the Immediate Action stoppage drills.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a C8 rifle or your service pistol. The process is the same. You recognize the position of the bolt or the slide, and that tells you what the problem likely is.

And from that, boom, you know what to do. Not because you're thinking. But because you've trained it.

That immediate action kicks in like a reflex.

Because with PTSD it's the same thing. You’re moving through life. Weapon's firing, everything is going according to plan. Things are working. You’re in the fight.

Then suddenly…

Weapon stops.

You can’t breathe in the grocery store. Your chest tightens in traffic. You shut down in a conversation that feels like conflict. You go blank. You get numb. Or you rage.

And the worst part? You know what’s happening.

You’ve done the therapy. You’ve read the books.You can name the trauma. You can explain the pattern. But you still can’t fucking move.

Because your system is jammed. Because this isn’t a body problem, it’s a reaction problem. And it needs a trained, reactive response.

This is where Immediate Action Drills for the Mind come in.

Tactical Camper: Immediate Action Mental Drills

(Applies to any sidearm, rifle, or overloaded nervous system)

1. Bolt/Slide Fully to the Rear, Empty Mag

Mental Parallel: You’re dry. Depleted. Spent.You’ve been running hard, maybe too hard, and now your system has nothing left to give.

Immediate Action (Mental):

• Tap: Pull back.

• Rack: Re-supply: food, rest, connection, movement, sleep.

• Don’t “push through”—reload deliberately.

• Once ready, return to the fight.

2. Bolt/Slide Partially Forward, Jam

Mental Parallel: You’re locked up. Triggered. Flooded. Everything feels like it’s moving too fast. You’re spiraling. You can’t see straight.

Immediate Action (Mental):

• Tap: ground yourself, touch something, name what you see.

• Rack: Embrace the Shake.

• Reassess: where are you? Are you safe? What’s real?

3. Bolt/Slide Fully Forward, Mag not seated

Mental Parallel: You thought you were good to go. You loaded up. You showed up. But something didn’t click. You weren’t fully locked in.

Immediate Action (Mental):

• Reseat: recheck your fundamentals, your routines, boundaries, nutrition, triggers.

• Tap: lock them in.

• Rack: reset mentally.

• Re-engage: go forward, not blindly, but dialed in.

You’re not broken.You’re not weak.You’re a trained system under load.

And just like any firearm, that system can stop working under pressure. That’s not failure. That’s expected.

That’s why these drills exist.

You don’t wait until you’re under fire to learn how to clear a jam.You train it beforehand so you can trust it when it matters.

Tactical Camper exists to bring that mindset into your recovery. Not just “feel your feelings” or “talk about your trauma”, but operate through it, with the same structured thinking you were trained with on the range.

Final Word:

Weapon's firing. Weapon's firing. Weapon stops.

You don't rise to the occasion, you fall to the level of your training.

Run the drills.

That’s what Tactical Camper is about. Training.

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This reflection draws on my experiences growing up on the lakes and rivers of Muskoka, leading countless self-directed wilderness excursions, and later retiring as a Sergeant in the Canadian Armed Forces and in law enforcement as a Tactical Officer. The Tactical Camper philosophy is built from a lifetime of outdoor exploration, operational deployments, specialized tactical training during 22 years of uniformed service, and years of PTSD recovery — adapted to guide resilience, preparedness, and leadership in everyday life.