Tactical Fitness Report with Stew Smith Podcast · Stew Smith

TFR246 - 30 Yr Police Capt SWAT Commander Teaches Us About EMDR PTS

·54 min·3 clips

Dan Willis says first responders suffer 140 police suicides a year and 20 extreme post-traumatic stress cases.

1. Tactical Fitness Report with Stu Smith centers on Dan Willis, a 30-year La Mesa Police veteran, former SWAT commander, and academy instructor talking about trauma recovery for first responders. 2. Stu Smith frames Willis as a retired police captain whose experience matters because he has trained more than 15,000 first responders and now teaches wellness across 41 states and five countries. 3. The episode asks what police officers, military personnel, and other responders can do to prevent trauma from taking over sleep, family life, and mental health. 4. Willis says his mother taught him that service means using a good mind, a healthy body, and a kind heart to help others and protect the community. 5. He describes being a sickly boy who still kept telling himself, 'I'm going to be a police officer,' because the job felt like a calling. 6. Willis explains that after earning an AA degree in criminal justice, he could not get hired by San Diego PD and decided to pay his own way through the police academy at age 21. 7. He says his class had about 70 people, with roughly a dozen open enrollees and only two or three who put themselves through as he did. 8. Willis compares his 1985 academy experience of 19 weeks and four hours on 'emotional survival' with today's 900-plus hours and more de-escalation and wellness training. 9. He recalls early patrol on the graveyard shift from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., learning La Mesa streets, radio procedure, and the Thomas Brothers maps while calls were unfolding. 10. He says first responders live in constant hypervigilance because their brains stay on guard for people who could 'kill you if you get the chance.' 11. Willis says his first useful stress tools were nature, meditation, and forcing himself to stay active with his wife and children after 12-hour shifts. 12. He describes visiting dozens of National Parks and using time away from work as a way to renew energy and calm his nervous system. 13. He says a turning point came about seven years into service when he saw himself at his daughter's birthday party and realized he was emotionally present only for work. 14. Willis says his ex-wife told him, 'you're here but you're not here,' which he uses as evidence of how police trauma can shut down relationships. 15. He tells officers to ask, 'what good can I do here?' at homicide scenes, child-molester cases, shoplift calls, and other incidents so they stay constructive rather than overwhelmed. 16. He argues that wellness is prevention and maintenance, not just recovery after collapse, and says people can heal if they acknowledge the injury early. 17. The interview style is conversational and practical, with Stu Smith asking direct follow-ups about training, SWAT standards, and what the book 'Bulletproof Spirit' contains. 18. The tone stays earnest and instructional, with Willis moving between personal memory, field examples, and specific guidance like 10 minutes of morning meditation. 19. Listeners interested in first responder wellness, trauma recovery, and police leadership will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners looking for light banter or entertainment probably will not.

As heard by us

A direct talk about trauma and the slow wear of first responder work.

Tactical Fitness Report moves from service work into the damage that can build over a first responder career. Stu Smith talks with retired police captain Dan Willis, a former La Mesa officer, SWAT commander, and police academy instructor, about service, trauma, and the case for…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a plainspoken trauma talk rooted in real policing.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Tactical Fitness Report with Stew Smith Podcast