Getting shot at isn't exciting. Not even when you know it's a training exercise. When you've been told what is happening and how you're supposed to react. When you know that there'll be noise and smoke, but no actual bullet holes.

Even then, getting shot at is darned scary.

So scary, in many cases, that you freeze where you stand while your brain sorts out what's going on and decides what to do next. Even when you know exactly what you're supposed to do. When you've spent the last two hours practising each move. As soon as the mayhem starts, your brain calls a timeout.

I didn't think it would get me like that. A concert stage isn't quiet, after all. But I stood around just as clueless as everyone else for a few seconds longer than we all should have.

Which, given the way the army works, means a few more hours of training for all of us. At least until our brains stop worrying.

I wonder if wearing ear plugs would make a difference to our reaction time?