Tactical Insertion

A Tactical Insertion (commonly abbreviated to TI or Tac Insert) is an equipment that appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Call of Duty: Ghosts. Tactical Insertions appear in the form of flares in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and a small beacon in Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops II. They can be placed wherever the player chooses, allowing the player to choose where he or she will respawn.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Tactical Insertion is an equipment in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and is unlocked at level 11. It takes a few seconds for the Tactical Insertion to activate after hitting the "equipment" button. It can be deactivated by enemy players by hitting the "interact" button near the Tactical Insertion or by shooting at it. The Tactical Insertion appears as a handheld flare, appearing with green light to friendlies, red light to enemies. A crosshair-like chevron (V) is shown when the Tactical Insertion is being placed, and points in the direction the player respawning will face.

Tactical Insertions can be useful in objective game modes such as Domination or Demolition as the player can respawn near objectives, saving the player the time and effort to run across the map, which can possibly prevent enemies from capturing objectives or planting/defusing a bomb. However, placing a Tactical Insertion takes some time and can delay one's assault. Also, using a Tactical Insertion means that one has to give up another, possibly more lethal equipment, such as C4 or Semtex. The Tactical Insertion is useless in Search and Destroy as the player cannot respawn. Another downfall of the Tactical Insertion is that spawn killing a Tactical Insertion user is made very easy as an enemy can simply wait for the player to spawn and quickly dispatch him without the player having any time to react.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
"Drop-zone beacon that allows you to place your next spawn point. Unavailable in Free-for-All game modes."

- Create-a-Class 2.0 description

The Tactical Insertion returns, but this time the player can cancel the insertion between lives to discourage Tactical Insertion spawn camping. In addition, it is now unusable in the Free-For-All game mode to prevent boosting.

Placing the Tactical Insertion is less audible than in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The beacon flashes red to enemies, but green to allies, once per second and has a fairly large area. In addition, it emits a low beep with every flash, making it easier to find. However, many players may mistake it for being part of the scenery, as many maps have flashing lights, therefore making it much less distinct than the bright flare in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Tactical Insertions can still be destroyed by any enemy player by hitting the "interact" button in its vicinity, or by explosives. Shooting or knifing them is also possible. Flashbangs, Concussion Grenades, and Nova Gas can also destroy them.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
The Tactical Insertion is unlocked at level 61 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer. It is identical to the Tactical Insertion in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. However, it is found in the special grenade slot. The time used to prepare the Tactical Insertion is also the same although it can be shortened with the Perk Quickdraw Pro.

Unlike the Call of Duty: Black Ops version of the Tactical Insertion, it is usable in Free-For-All modes again, and cannot be canceled so the player will always spawn on the insertion, oftentimes if placed in an area with multiple enemies, could lead to a second death.

The Tactical Insertion also appears in the game mode Infected. It is used by the infected players. It can be very useful to use as the player can plant it near enemies in one position.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II
"Drop-zone beacon that allows you to place your next spawn point. Unavailable in Free-For-All game modes."

- Create-A-Class Description.

The Tactical Insertion appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It is much more visible than in previous games, generating a tall red or green beam. It can still be smashed by standing over an enemy one and pressing the action key. Like the Call of Duty: Black Ops version, the player can cancel their planted Tactical Insertion in the killcam/respawn menu, and to prevent boosting, it cannot be used in the Free-For-All game mode.

Call of Duty: Ghosts
The Tactical Insertion returns in Call of Duty: Ghosts, exclusively to the Infected game mode. It was removed outside of this to prevent boosting. The Tactical Insertion, like in Call of Duty: Modern Wafare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, appears in the form of an emergency flare, but looks slightly different. It is very useful in Infected as it can be placed near where the survivors are and so they can swarm their position.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

 * The flare that is used at the end of the mission "Whiskey Hotel" is a complete reuse of its model and skin. Also, red Tactical Insertion flares can be found on the floor in the mission "Of Their Own Accord".
 * Occasionally, when spectating, the player cannot see it.
 * During the Alpha phases of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2s multiplayer, it was going to be a green/red glow-stick, not a flare. Proof of this can be seen in Robert Bowling's (fourzerotwo) Twitter account during later Q&A sessions and the official strategy guide. It was changed to a flare because the developers thought the glow-stick wasn't "cool enough".
 * It does not have a third person animation for "preparing" the flare, or placing it. It uses the standard grenade animation instead.
 * If the player cancels it while they are putting it down, they can still hear it clicking.
 * If the player were to look carefully, the words 'Golden Beard' can be seen over the words 'Emergency Flare', the latter of which is in a smaller font size.
 * It was originally going to be a Tier 3 Perk, as there is a image file in the PC game files named specialty_tactical_insert.iwi.
 * It can also be seen in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 teaser trailer.
 * Due to a glitch (now patched), the player used to be able to shoot using the tactical insertion. This is done having a class with One Man Army Pro, highlighting the desired class, and pressing 'A' or 'X' on the Xbox 360 and RB and R2 for the PlayStation 3 at the same time.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

 * The words 'Tactical Insertion' and a Treyarch logo can be seen on the label of the Tactical Insertion while prepping it.
 * When it is placed close to a wall, it can be seen glowing outside the wall/room.
 * The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 style Tactical Insertions can be found in Call of the Dead lying around the map.
 * The model used for the Tactical Insertion bears a strong resemblance to an SDU-5/E strobe beacon.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

 * It reads, Keep Out Of Reach Of Children.
 * Again, it appears as an emergency flare, almost identical to the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 variant

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

 * Its model from Call of Duty: Black Ops is used for the markers to direct gunships in "Suffer with Me".
 * The coordinates shown on it change for every map and these coordinates shown are the coordinates to the map in real life.
 * Some maps have coordinates that do not match, such as Turbine, which has coordinates for somewhere in China but is actually based in Yemen.
 * There is a QR code on the top part of the Tactical Insertion.

Call of Duty: Ghosts

 * On the Taxtical Insertion, the words 'Emergency Flare' can be seen..
 * The Tactical Insertion looks like a low quality model, possibly as a placeholder of what it would have looked like, before it was removed from all game modes (except Infected) to prevent boosting
 * The flare in Extinction is identical to the Tactical Insertion model in multiplayer