[Poindexter]

I mean, i get what an extraction is, but an insertion? seems like once you've got someone out, you just sorta drop em off with their new corporate owners, right?
I feel like i'm missing something here.

[Kincaid]

Guy gets gene therapy to look just like Renraku's hot new research guy.  All you need to do is get his slow, asthmatic butt into "his" condo in the archaeology.

[Poindexter]

ok, i see where you're going. so, it's like, for getting spies, assassins, and saboteurs in?

[Reiper]

ok, i see where you're going. so, it's like, for getting spies, assassins, and saboteurs in?

Pretty much, could also be getting equipment in too. Plant evidence against someone, plant a bug that doesn't use the local matrix connections, etc.

The mission I have my guys on right now on my online campaign is literally inserting the entire SR team into a research lab (replacing the real incoming group), of course the entire point of the insertion is an extraction of a research subject though.

[Namikaze]

As stated above, but instead of just spies, saboteurs and property I'd like to suggest that you might find yourself fighting against two heads of the same company.  Person A works for R&D with Company XYZ.  Person B also works for R&D for Company XYZ.  They both vie for the same pool of R&D funding, and Person A wants an employee of Person B.  Person A hires the runners to first extract the employee from Person B, and then to insert the employee into Person A's compound (all the while fighting the stooges of Person B).

[Bushw4cker]

Insertion, I was a little worried when I saw that Namikaze replied. Especially after the "Green Wings" reply I got on my post.... Thanks a lot, you've ruined Death for me!

[martinchaen]

The term "insertion", at least in modern military jargon, refers to the method in which operatives (usually covert) are deployed to the battle field.

For example, special forces can utilize High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jumps to get behind enemy lines. Taskforce Dagger, one of the first units with boots on the ground in Afghanistan, used personnel disguised as locals and good old-fashioned horses to get to some of the more remote locations in country. SEALS are trained in water-based insertion using advanced rebreathers and thermal gear.

While I know little of how spies actually work (and seeing as most of what you see on TV is highly glorified), any job that involves getting into somewhere you're not allowed/supposed to be qualifies as an insertion; the goal of the op could be anything, as suggested by others, but the method of which you gain entry will be the insertion. Planting false evidence, obtaining proof of something or another, setting up an extraction, and any number of other options.

[Vidnaut]

Insertion and extraction could very well be the same thing in some cases.  It's what the SSD does with targets that are extracted from their entourages.  They bug the cybereyes and ears of said extraction target, put up a fight to keep it for show, and then let who ever did the extraction walk away with a full counter-intelligence tar baby as they listen and watch from its point of view.

[ProfGast]

Kinda a late response to this thread but… if you want an example of a Shadowrun-type Insertion watch the Firefly episode Ariel

It also gives a fun idea of what happens when the muscle tries to bluff their way in.

[WellsIDidIt]

Insertions tend to be part of a bigger picture most of the time.

A good example is the movie Argo. While it's glorified for the big screen, the basis of the script are the declassified files of the event. The end goal was an extraction (exfil), but to do it they had to insert a spy into Tehran as a movie producer, then insert the extraction targets into society as part of the film's scout crew. It's worth a watch if you're looking for a non-action spy film.