- Introduction to Scenario Learning: Guest Post Series with Michael Barr
- Auftragstaktik in One Simple Diagram by Chet Richards
- "Leaders Are Teachers": Great Insights on Leadership and Developing Your People from The Mentorship Forum
- Great Review Over at the The Mentorship Forum of My Favorite Resource on Developing Adaptability "Raising The Bar"
- Rethinking the Traditional Teacher-Student Relationship in Conflicts
- Command and Control During a Disaster: Podcast
- The Evolving Warfighter Sits Down with Don Vandergriff and Talks Mission Command
- Developing and Preparing Cops for the Adaptive Challenges of The Street: Instructors Roundtable Podcast Episode
- Unreflective Speed of Action...Do You Think Its Time Policing Reflects on the Tactical Influence of Time?
- Break It Down Show Podcast: Don Vandergriff - Mission Command, Trusting Your People, To Win
- I See You...Back Up! On The Call to Win in Crisis and in the Aftermath to Win in Life
- Technological Negation of Human Sexual Dimorphism: A Guest Post by Franklin C. Annis, EdD
- Guest Post Home Security Guide from Bank Rate
- Commonwealth Police Legacy Program of Instruction: Sound Decision Making for Cops
- Outstanding In Your Face and Much Needed Book Policing and It's Leaders Can Learn From
- THE TRUTH BEHIND RACIAL DISPARITIES IN FATAL POLICE SHOOTINGS: Great Research Every Cop and Every Citizen Should Read.
- Thought on Discipline: A Great Podcast Series from All Marine Radio, Every Police Leader Should Listen To
- Gary Klein – Cognitive Psychologist, Studies Decision Making in Crisis on The Break It Down Show..Outstanding Episode
- Tactical Decision Making Facilitation Guide Maj McBreen: The Lessons Transfer to Police Instruction as Well
- 4th Generation Warfare Interview and Yes There Are Lessons for Policing
- Keys to Training Excellence: Evidence Based Research Policing Can Use
- Adopting Mission Command: Developing Leaders for a Superior Command Culture by Don Vandergriff
- Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude: Book Review
- PODCAST: Tactical Decision Games with Bruce Gudmundsson and Don Vandergriff
- Podcast: Human Factors and Officer-Involved Shootings
- Donald Robertson - Stoicism and Thinking Like a Roman Emperor
- Dr John Sullivan and MAJ John Spencer - The Complexity of Modern Urban War
- Great Podcast: The Courageous Police Leader – Combating Cowards, Chaos, and Lies
- Recommended Reading: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
- Another Approach to Tactics Guest Post by Bert DuVernay
- LYNCH & KENNEY: react to clips of LtGen Van Riper’s “On Discipline” interview on All Marine Radio
- Outstanding Interview: ON DISCIPLINE: LtGen Paul K. Van Riper, USMC (ret)
- The Learning Insurgency: It’s an Evolution, not a Revolution By Donald E. Vandergriff
- On Policing a Free Society Episode 3: Toxic Bosses
- On Policing a Free Society Episode 2: Repairing Dysfunction in Police Organizations
- On Policing a Free Society Podcast: Episode 1 Dysfunctional Organizations and Their Impact On Response
- On Policing a Free Society with Fred Leland A New Podcast Coming in 2019
- Making Police Training Stick...and Learning How to Learn
- A New Conception of War: John Boyd The U.S. Marines and Maneuver Warfare
- Utilizing The Case Method: Some articles by Bruce Gudmundsson to Help Shed Some Light on How Too
- Use of Force Policy: Dispelling the Myths by Lexipol
- How to Make a Small Unit Decision Forcing Cases by Bruce Gudmundsson
- Facilitating Learning a Hybrid Of Methods to Effective Police Officer Development
- Why The OODA Loop Is Forever By Dan Grazier
- 15 Tips to Remember when Promoting a Growth Mindset in the Classroom: A Guest Post from USA Test Prep
- New Edition of Boyd’s Discourse on Winning and Losing by Grant Hammond
- My Book Review: On Tactics by B. A. Friedman
- Of Garbage Cans and Paradox: Reflexively Reviewing Design, Mission Command, and the Gray Zone:
- On Tactics: An Interview with B.A. Friedman
- Podcast Part 2 from Professional Military Education: John Boyd, Maneuver Warfare, and Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication-1
- Podcast from Professional Military Education: John Boyd, Maneuver Warfare, and Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication-1
- Walk,Sacrafice, Work ...Always Hungry Never Satified! What it Takes to Fight Complacency
- The Ten Deadly Errors, Plus...Failure to Learn, Failure to Anticipate and Failure to Adapt
- Turning Tragedy into Victory...We Must Start APPLYING LESSONS LEARNED
- Police Responses Demands Constant and Repeated Action...Throughout the Tactical Encounter
- All Police Actions Take Place in an Atmosphere of Uncertainty
- Adapt or Die: The Call for Police Reform...Is It Reasonable or Necessary?
- Force Science Assesses Proposed “Necessary” Deadly Force Standard
- Special Tactics Online Course Intro
- LESC is Honored to be Part of Special Tactics New Online Training Academy and Full-Featured, Professional Networking Site
- Leading Discussions and Facilitating Better Training Outcomes
- Police Leaders Mentoring and Coaching Their People: the Cornerstone to Top Performance in Crises
- Research: Adaptive Skill as the Conditio Sine Qua Non of Expertise
- Developing Adaptive Expertise: A Synthesis of Literature and Implications for Training
- How the Germans Defined Auftragstaktik: What Mission Command is - AND - is Not by Don Vandergriff
- Avioding Hostilities is the Goal But Sometimes to Gain The Advantage Reasonable Force Must Be Used
- Navigating Chaos: How to Find Certainty in Uncertain Situations
- The Protector Ethic: Morality, Virtue, and Ethics in the Martial Way
- Police Ethos:The Warrior and Guardian Mindset Are They Not One In the Same?
- Neighborhood Watch is Homeland Security at the Most Local Level
- Developing Police Sergeants: Getting the Outcomes and Measures of Effectiveness Right
- Col John Boyd's Patterns of Conflict Expanded to Policing Part 3: Disrupting an Adversary Using Soft and Hard Tactics
- Col John Boyd's Patterns of Conflict Expanded to Policing Part 2: Don't Just Be a Reactor..Be a Shaper Too!
- Col John Boyd's Patterns of Conflict Expanded to Policing Part 1
- Smart Tactics Takes Thinking Police Leaders...Leading Thinking Cops
- Wrestling With Delayed and Immediate Entry, Solo and Team Tactics...Are We Really Expecting All to Go as Rehersed?
- Guardian Joe: How Less Force Helps The Warrior
- Making It Safer: A Study of Law Enforement Fatalities Between 2010-2016
- Professional Reading and Development: It Doesn’t Give All the Answers, But It Lights What Is Often a Uncertain Path Ahead
- What Are The Force Multipliers That Allow Police Organizations to Operate at Rapid OODA Loop Tempos?
- Why Frontline Employees Should Make All Decisions:Lessons Police Can Learn From The Corporate Rebels
- What was Boyd Thinking and...What Can Policing Learn From It?
- Proper Mindset, Situational Awareness, Skill Proficiency and Physical Fitness: Force Multipliers of Great Value to Police
- Recognizing The Signs and Signals That Lead To Violent Acts At Our Schools and Making Collaborative Efforts to Prevent Them
- Adaptive Leader Program: Developing Thinking Leaders Who Lead Thinking Officers
- What Are Mission-Type Orders and How Do They Influence a More Effective Crisis Response?
- Tactics Are They More High Diddle, Diddle Straight Up the Middle the Devil Be Damned or Maneuver and Boyd Cycling an Adversary?
- There Are No School Solutions, Formulas or Recipes to School Shootings, so How Can We Develop Better Courses of Action?
- Great Break It Down Show Focus on School Shootings
- Developing Critically Needed Leadership: A Podcast on Mission Command Building Trust and Cohesion
- Powerful Facilitation: Two Critical Approaches
- Powerful Facilitation: Three Critical Competencies
- STARTING AND GROWING A NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
- Adaptive Action: Leveraging Uncertainty In Your Organization a Book Review
- The Case Method In Developing Police: "Cold Calling" Will Have to Be Unambiguous
- The Biggest Obstacle to Tactical Progress… and How to Beat It
- Pete’s Combat Wish List Pt 2: Mental Models, Mistakes, Reflection and Learning on the Fly
- Pete’s Wish List for Combat Warriors. Perhaps Some Lessons for Poliicng as Well?
- What Affect Does the Human Dimension and Human Bias Have on Policing?
- What virtues are the most essential for a warrior to live by in order to prepare for, protect against and prevent violence?
- Exploring Criminal Justice Careers Check Out the Community for Accredited Online Schools
- A Great Break It Down Show Podcast on Interview and Interrogation: A Candid Straight Up Discussion
- Experiential Learning a Big Part of The New Recruit Officer Course In Massachusetts: Looks Promising!
- Run Out and Buy: Anatomy of a Warrior: The 7 Virtues All Warriors Must Live by to Successfully Protect and Serve
- Devising Solutions to Complex Police Problems: How Can We Get Better?
- Podcast with the Break It Down Show A Candid Discussion on Policing a Free Society, Mission Command and More
- Understanding Problems Range in Complexity and Designing Police Operations
- When it comes to Police Training, When is Good Enough, Not Good Enough?
- On The Job Training and Deliberately Framing Experience
- Police Officer Discretion…and Focusing Our Efforts on Better Outcomes
- Strength of Character: The Foundation of Working Together and Getting Things Done
- A free chapter from our new book now available on Amazon
- A Major Problem We Must Confront as Police Trainers and Students: How To Improve Performance?
- MISSION COMMAND THE WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN AND WHY An Anthology
- Conflict and Crisis are Full of Friction: The Force That Makes the Apparently Easy so Difficult
- PODCAST: Don Vandergriff on Military Personnel Reform: The Ideas Discussed Can (SHOULD) be Adapted to Policing As Well!
- Fire Nobody! by Dave Smith
- Teaching United States Marine Instructors New Tricks: Developing Adaptability Through Experiential Learning
- The Why was born out of pain
- Inspiring People to Lifelong Learning & Impacting Their Ability to Make Sound Decisions
- We Can't Just Use the Same Mental Recipes Over and Over Again: In Police Training We Must Challenge The Prevailing Mindset
- Reflection Leads to Deeper Learning...Put Each Day Up For Review
- We Must Train and Educate Within an Uncertain Environment to Prepare to Adapt
- Defining Policing 's Training & Education Challenge...Some Ideas On Achieving High Levels of Professionalism
- Defensive Tactics for Today's Law Enforcement
- Uploading John Boyd: The Legend Delivering His Opus is Online...and is as Relevant as Ever
- Make Many Mistakes and Learn
- Is Your Purpose in Life Based on Self Awareness and Strength of Character or Are You Just Following the Crowd?
- An Officer’s Principal Weapon is His Mind: Professional Development In Policing
- Outstanding Manual: Law Enforcement Close Quarter Battle: Urban Tactics for Individuals, Teams and Tactical Units
- The Art of Police Training is the Ability to Move Officers Through the Fog and Complexity of Human Interaction
- Brian Willis Interviews Yours Truly on Teaching Adaptive Leadership
- The Police Leader's True Work: Train Them, Trust Them, Let Them Do Their Job
- Sir William Slim on His Leadership Motto: No Details, No Paper, And No Regrets
- The Grid: Is There Better Ways to Approach Police Interactions?
- Teaching Officers How to Think verses Telling Them What To Think
- Develop a Philosophy and Understanding of Crime Fighting and Problem Solving That Considers Complexities of Policing
- Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission Book Review
- Thinking Leaders, Leading Thinking People is the Adaptive Leaders Focus
- Take Policing From a Training Culture to a Learning Culture
- Are You Serving Those You Lead?
- Vehicle Stops Strategies and Tactics: Being Safe and Effective Is About Options, Not Best Practices
- Teaching Adaptability and Making Marines More Effective Trainers
- Break It Down Show Podcast: Better Understanding Policing and Why it Matters
- The Last 100 Yards Series: High Diddle, Diddle Straight Up the Middle or Maneuver: How Are Your Tactics, Officer?
- Police officers I beg you to please run out and buy this book! What a great tactical resource!
- Second Episode in This Podcast Series with Complete Emergency Managment: Leadership in Public Safety
- Podcast: I sit down with George Whitney of Complete EM and discuss: Active Shooters and After Actions
- Sir Robert Peels, Nine Key Principles of Policing: Fair and Impartial Policing Defined Back In 1829!
- Herman Goldstein, Fundamental Objectives of Policing: Are They Relevant Today? I Say Yes!
- Shaping and Adapting: Using the Environment (The Last Hundred Yards) To Unlock the Power of Colonel John Boyd’s OODA Loop
- Informative Fair and Impartial Podcast: Do the legal rules for using deadly force, still make sense?
- Crisis Intervention Teams & Police Interactions with People with Mental Illness: Evolving Tactics That Make a Difference
- How Does The Last Hundred Yards, Enhance Tactical Responses to Crises?
- Complacency and False Sense of Urgency: Why We Fail to Take Advantage of The Last Hundred Yards?
- The Last Hundred Yards: Operate On Blind Luck or Win Consistently?
- My Good Friend Coach Kevin Kearns talks with 5th & 6th graders about Vision
- Keeping The Peace in a Free Society Let Us Not Forget Why We Do What We Do
- How Do We Better Assess and Grade Decision Making and Adaptability in Those We Train?
- Types of Cases
- Report: Deadly Calls And Fatal Encounters
- Developing Individuals with the Ability to Work Together Solving Real World Problems
- Five-Year Study of Police Officer Deaths: RoboCops or Guardians?
- The role of humility in the Socratic method by Bruce Ivar Gudmundsson
- Keeping the Peace
- Experiential Learning Defined
- How We Learn Versus How We Think We Learn
- Reducing Violence is About Not Grabbing a Gun
- Boston PD & Boston Red Sox: Full Scale Complex Operating Environment Training Exercise
- Scouts in Contact Tactical Vignettes for Cavalry Leaders A Book of Tactical Decison Exercises for Cavalry Leaders
- What is the Mission and Intent of Policing a Free Society?
- Sound of Silence A Tribute to Policing and All Those Who Serve The Homeland
- Problem-Oriented Policing: Where Social Work Meets Law Enforcement
- Thoughts on Policing a Free Society: Altering Public Expectations
- Thoughts on Policing a Free Society: Rethinking Widely Held Assumptions Regarding Police Fuction
- Thoughts on Policing a Free Society: Our Failure to Concern Ourselves...
- Thoughts on Policing a Free Society
- Simon Sinek: Why Leaders Eat Last
- 8 Tips to Keep Your Home Wireless Network Secure From Hackers: a guest post from Wichly Cazeau
- John Boyd's Patterns of Conflict Part 3
- Engaging The Community and Making Meaningful and Lasting Change
- The Pre-Class Preparation Pyramid By Bruce Ivar Gudmundsson
- We All Lose When it's Us Verses Them!
- Facilatating The Adaptive Leader Program at The Army ROTC Leadership Conference at Harvard University
- A Break It Down Show Pod Cast: Paying Criminal Not to Commit Crimes or is There Something More to The Story?
- Harvard ROTC Leadership Conference
- A Discourse on Policing a Free Society
- We Made the Mandatory Reading for the US Army MPs
- Patterns of Conflict Pt 2
- Hand in Hand Project, a new initiative promoting dialogue and interaction between local police officers and young people
- How May We…Rebuild the Bridge Between The People and The Police?
- Why Adaptability Trumps Hierarchy?
- Military Reform Through Education: From The Straus Military Reform Project, Something We In Policing Can Learn From
- In Building Trust, Actions…Speak Louder Than Words!
- Somewhere Along the Way
- Taking It Personally
- The Facts of the Case By Bruce Ivar Gudmundsson
- J.J. DID TIE BUCKLE Traits I live By
- On Fitness: Learn from my weakness, my mistakes, and my bad habits
- Don’t Do It Alone: Developing a Shared Sense of Destiny Requires We’re all on the Same Sheet of Music
- Recommended Reading List From The California Association of Tactical Officers
- Values For A New Millennium: A Book That Will Help Bridge the Gap Between People and The Police
- Teaching Adaptability…and Firearms Training
- Simon Sinek: Why Reciprocity Improves Mentor Mentee Relationships
- Felix Nader Discusses The Value of Workplace Violence Prevention
- Breaking Down Police Work and How To Win at Low Cost: Part 2 Podcast Break It Down Show
- Boyd: Adapting Isn't Good Enough
- Simon Sinek on the responsibility that leaders have to create environments where people are more productive,and inspired
- The Hunting Story - the meaning of human equality
- Ethical Warriors with Jack Hoban
- Emotional Intelligence: Re-Thinking Police Community Relations by Mark Bond
- Approaching LE with the 'What's important now?' perspective
- Staying in control when a suspect is aggressive
- 10 Overlooked Truths About Taking Action
- Warriors vs. Praetorian Guard – Which Mindset Fits You Best? By Mike Ox
- ITOA News: Articles By John Farnam, Patrick Van Horne, Jeff Chudwin, Don Vandergriff, Yours Truly and More
- The importance of mindset in policing with Chip Huth
- A Discussion on Police Work and How to Win At Low Cost, Connecting The People and Police Gap
- Be Passionate, Back Up and Empower Your People, and You Will Get The Culture Right
- Why Are Shared Visions So Important?
- Technical Skill as a Component of Creativity by Bruce I. Gudmundsson
- I Am Spartacus…No I Am Spartacus: Is Your Police Organization United?
- The Demand For Autodidacts – The Self-Taught in an Age of Shrinking Budgets by Patrick Van Horne
- It’s How You Say What You Saw by Patrick Van Horne
- The Path of Don Vandergriff: A Discussion On Leadership, Learning organizations and Adaptability
- The Newhall Incident: Failure, Adaptation and Success…Or Lost Opportunity? Published in the latest ITOA News
- NYPD’s New Strategy for Dealing with Stressful Interactions, Absurd or Realistic?
- The Mind Can Be Convinced But The Heart Must Be Won
- Imagine a Police Culture Where People Wake Up Every Day Inspired to Go to Work
- Open Letter to President's Task Force on Policing by Louis Hayes
- The Blame Game: Who @#$%ed This Up?
- Breaking Down the Stranglehold of Formality
- Boyd and Beyond: From Marine Corps University to FBI National Academy Boyd' Ideas are Expanding
- From The Art of Manliness: John Boyd’s Roll Call: Do You Want to Be Someone or Do Something?
- Pamela Meyer: How to spot a liar
- The Case Method Increasing the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Marine Education by Captain Paul Tremblay Jr USMC
- Simon Sinek: If You Don't Understand People, You Don't Understand...
- Using Official Histories as Quarries for Case Materials By Bruce I. Gudmundsson
- Left of Bang By Patrick Van Horne and Jason Riley
- The Most Dangerous Weapon in Law Enforcement by Brian Willis
- Sizing Up Situations Is A Skill, We Need To Develop
- Change the Culture If I could Only Change One Thing by Don Vandergriff
- The Five Learning Disciplines
- Using Complete Stories in Decision Forcing Cases by Dr. Bruce I. Gudmundsson
- Newhall Shooting: A Tactical Analysis
- Tactical Decision Games, Obscure Information and Generating New Ways to Thrive in the Climate of Chaos and Uncertainty
- Calling on Cops in Class: An Anecdote for Developing Character, Confidence and Sound Tactical Decision Makers
- Solving Tactical Dilemmas with Indirect Experience (Education & Training) and White Castle Cases
- Ugly Police Force: Misunderstandings of Law & Human Factors by Lou Hayes
- Design and Facilitate, Decision Making Exercises Using The Sandwich Metaphor
- Strategic Rifleman: Key to More Moral Warfare by H. John Poole
- Developing Teamwork, Leadership Skills and Decision Makers with Case Study's "Washington's Crossing"
- FBI Report: A Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States
- The Art of Manliness Discusses...The Tao of Boyd: How to Master the OODA Loop
- Courage: The Backbone of Leadership by Gus Lee
- A Police Officers thoughts on the “Militarization” of our police forces.
- Cops With War Toys: Militarizing police is the worst way to fight crime.
- “Just the facts Ma’am”
- Re-Imagine the Way We Lead!
- A Milestone in Boydian Theory at the Tactical Level
- CASE STUDY: Ferguson Missouri shooting incident and aftermath by Louis Hayes
- What is Leadership?
- Use of Force Investigations: a Manual for Law Enforcement
- Do You Know How to Get Fullfillment?
- How Great Leaders Inspire Action
- Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
- Adaptive Leadership Handbook, Reviewed [by Mark Safranski, a.k.a. "zen"]
- Have We Not Learned Anything From History? Don Vandergriff's Book Review on American Spartan
- How Do We Inspire Action?
- Book Review: Rubicon: The Poetry of War
- Book Review: American Spartan
- Command Culture: Officer Education in the U.S. Army and the German Armed Forces, 1901-1940, and the Consequences for WWII
- What are the Basics? Developing for Mission Command by Donald E. Vandergriff
- IN COMMAND AND OUT OF CONTROL
- Adaptive Leadership By Charles “Sid” Heal and John R. Engbeck
- Why good leaders make you feel safe
- Guardians vs. Warriors: What it Takes to Win at Low Cost
- After Action Review on The Christopher Dorner Incident
- Adaptive Leader Program
- Crisis Meta-Leadership Lessons From the Boston Marathon Bombings Response: The Ingenuity of Swarm Intelligence
- Outstanding piece! The Myth of Mission Command by Don Vandergriff
- Cops or Soldiers?
- Situational Assessments: Being Mindful of What’s Important Now!
- Convinced or Committed?
- Discipline: The Lost Art of Leadership
- How Do We Develop Adaptability?
- Improve the Work…Develop the People
- Incident Strategy and Tactics: The Baby Diaper Analogy
- Adaptive Leaders …Develop Strength of Character
- How About Some Empathy, Please?
- Get Into the Sandbox, Think and Play and Let’s Inspire… Adaptability
- Stoning The Gatekeepers: Is It Not Time Society Attempts To Better Understand Police Use of Force?
- First-Line Supervisors Do The Most Important Training
- Why Tactical Decision Games? Because They Challenge The Status Quo & Emphasize Tactical Options In Developing Courses of Action.
- Why Does Understanding The OODA Loop Matter to Cops?
- How Do You Develop Strength of Character and Adaptive Leaders?
- Adaptive Leadership Handbook: Innovative Ways to Teach and Develop Your People
- Don’t Fear Failure; Instead Make Failure Your Classroom
- In Forging Adaptability…Distinguish Technical Problems from Adaptive Challenges
- The Doctor in SWAT School (and What His Performance Says About Police Culture)
- Designing Law Enforcement: Adaptive Strategies for the Complex Environment by John A. Bertetto
- Guest Post: Toward a Police Ethos: Defining Our Values as a Call to Action by John Bertetto
- Adaptability is Key in Handling Crisis Situations…Be In Command and Out Of Control
- For Meaningful Lasting Results, Get Into the Weeds…and Identify Root Causes
- Want to get better and be safer? Debrief!
- How to Forge Adaptability in Police Leaders and Culture
- Adaptive Leadership is Purposeful Learning in Real Time
- Book Review: The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and The World
- Growing Leaders Who Practice Mission Command and Win the Peace, Lt. Col. Douglas A. Pryer, U.S. Army
- Achieving Greatness by Giving Control and Creating Leaders
- Choosing Adaptability by Gary Gagliardi and The Science of Strategy Institute
- The Review of Boyd & Beyond 2013…..
- Have You Thought About Why You Choose To Lead?
- Incident Command: the big picture by Louis Hayes
- Understanding the OODA Loop by Derek Stephens
- The Cops Amaze Me by Bob Lonsberry
- I Am An Optimist. It Does Not Seem Too Much Use Being Anything Else!
- Mike Rayburn Asks...What Makes A Good Street Cop?
- Fighting the good fight with moral clarity by Lt. Dan Marcou
- Are Gated Communities Really Secure?
- Top 25 Criminal Justice Blogs We made the list at # 3
- Incident Command: the team cohesion aspect of the SitRep
- Book Review: Always Picked Last: Conquering the Bullies: A Guide To Finding Your Way in Life…
- To Continuously Improve We Must Set Boundaries and Expectations
- Elite Performance...Takes WORK? Say it ain't so!
- Create Your Fantasy Island Organizational Culture by Tracey Richardson
- Have You Stopped a Car Today? Improving Patrols Tactical Effectiveness with Vehicle Stops
- Incident Command: Communicating the Situation and Location By Louis Hayes
- Incident Command: a problem-solving approach By Louis Hayes
- SWAT Cop Says American Neighborhoods Are 'Battlefields,' Claims Cops Face Same Dangers As Soldiers In Afghanistan
- Overmilitarization: Why Law Enforcement Needs to Scale Down Its Use of Military Hardware and Tactics By Evan Bernick
- John Boyd’s Art of War Why our greatest military theorist only made colonel. By William S. Lind
- Police militarization and rise of the warrior journalist by Lance Eldridge
- Strategic Studies Institute: Cartel Car Bombings in Mexico Authored by Dr. Robert J. Bunker, Mr. John P. Sullivan
- To Strengthen And Preserve Cohesion Your Values...Equal Their Values
- Another Must Read Book From Don Vandergriff: "The Path To Victory" Revised Kindle Version with a new foreword
- Safe Streets, Overruled By Heather McDonald of the City Journal
- Must Read Book On Leader Development, Updated Kindle Addition: Don Vandergriff's, Raising The Bar:
- Brian Willis Offers Great Info on Defeating...The Enemy Of Innovation
- Police militarization and the Ethical Warrior By Jack E. Hoban & Bruce J. Gourlie
- “A Way” To Develop a Toxic Leader: How We as Leaders Create Our Own Monsters
- The Guy Behind the Guy, Behind the Guy: A Case for Taking our Roles More Seriously
- Flatenning the Decision Cycle in Tactical Units
- Tactical Supervision: Coaches and Chessplayers: Guest Post By Louis Hayes
- To effectively function in the initial, chaotic stages of a crisis, develop adaptive leaders
- FEAR VS COURAGE: IT'S YOUR CHOICE By Danny Cox
- Skid Row Terrorist
- Col John Boyd: Question and Answer Video
- Great Piece on Adaptability by Brian Willis: The Dinosaur versus The Cockroach Training Model
- The Psychotic Militarization of Law Enforcement
- The Missing Piece of NIMS: Teaching Incident Commanders How to Function in the Edge of Chaos by Police Chief, Cynthia Renaud
- The Human Problem? by Frank Borelli an Officer.com article
- From Police One 3 techniques for controlling your brain with Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D.
- Great Article From Police One with Val Van Brocklin: How to create 'fierce followers' in law enforcement
- Deadly Force: Have We Lost Our Senses? Guest Post by Louis Hayes
- Tactical Philosophy 101 A Guest Post by Louis Hayes
- Leadership in Unconventional Crises
- Unconventional Crises, Unconventional Responses: Reforming Leadership in the Age of Catastrophic Crises and “Hyper complexity”
- JOHN BOYD WAS A PATRIOT, A MORAL LEADER, AND A BONAFIDE VISIONARY. AND YES, HE WAS A MAVERICK.
- Force Science Research Study: The Influence of Officer Positioning on Movement During a Threatening Traffic Stop Scenario
- Guest Post: Adaptive Decision-Making by Sid Heal
- “More Better,” Ideals, and To Be or To Do: Guest Post by Scott Shipman
- Learning Like an Expert: A Guest Post by Marshall Wallace
- What Represents a High Level of Professionalism?
- This Memorial Day Remember: The Path of The Warrior
- School Security: Sharing and Enhancing Best Practices
- Guest Post by Michael G. Moore: Boyd's Snowmobile ...or what made Alexander “The Great”
- Coffee Pots and Baseball Bats: Household Items Offer Protection
- Learning to Adapt With A Professional Reading Program
- Boyd and Beyond 2013
- Guest Post by Tyana Daley: Developing Law Enforcement Leaders and Nurturing Smart Thinkers
- Somewhere Between Born and Made: Where Good Leaders Come From
- Is Today Your Day?
- Guest Post by John Demand: “You look for the bomb…we look for the bomber”
- What Do OODA Loop’s Mean to the Street Cop, Wanting To Become “World Class” Tacticians?
- The Psychology of a Boston Marathon Terrorist: 10 Questions for a Retired Marine
- Watching Boston “Work Together” Made Me Proud to Be a Police Officer
- What Makes a "World Class" Tactically Proficient Peacekeeper?
- Tactical Decision Games to Increase Speed and Maturity of Problem Solving: The Lessons Learned
- The Path to Better Execution in Seeing, Understanding and Solving Complex Problems is a Learning Organization
- A Systemic Concept for Operational Design: a Robust Tool Law Enforcement Should Use in Preparing for Chaotic Crisis
- How shift debriefings can improve officer safety Published at P1
- Boyd and Beyond Boston 2013: Balancing Pursuasion and Force in The Moral, Mental and Physical Dimensions of Conflict
- Don Vandergriff, Discusses: Misinterpretation and Confusion: What is Mission Command?
- Huddling-Up To Acheive Successful Law Enforcement Outcomes
- Building Cohesive Law Enforcement Agencies That Can Decide In Crisis Situations
- Mistakes ultimately ended ex-LA cop's rampage
- Red Teaming The Workplace Violence Shooter and The "MR. Uncomfortable Factor"
- Top 30 Criminal Justice Blogs of 2012 : LESC is Number 5!
- Showing Up Is Overrated. Necessary But Not Nearly Sufficient. Can Taking An "Interest" In What You Do Enhance Performance?
- Handling Dynamic Encounters...Go Get Him, Or Set Him Up To Get Him...With An Adaptable Response
- Shift Debriefings: How Can We Be More Deliberate, More Disciplined, and More Thorough in our Approach to Learning?
- AOW Card Deck Lesson 6: Provoke Your Adversary’s Reaction
- Does Mass Violence Unfold Randomly and Chaotic or is There Hidden Order We Can Leverage in Our Prevention Efforts?
- Police One Column: 13 questions to answer in 2013: What has 2012 taught you about officer safety and effectiveness?
- Take Small Steps, Towards, Lifelong Learning In 2013
- Positive Adaptive Leadership...Tools and Tips and Critical Questions To Explore in 2013 Inspired by Many Of Those I Follow
- AOW Card Deck Lesson 5: Sheath Your Sword
- AOW Card Deck Lesson 4: Score A Small Victory Along The Way
- In Mastering Tactics Shouldn’t We Be Blending Policy and Procedures with People and Ideas?
- Ready, Aim, Ready?
- IMPLEMENTATION (OODA LOOP OR BOYD’S CYCLE) by Sid Heal
- AOW Card Deck Lesson 3: Engage Your Adversary From Many Directions
- AOW Card Deck Lesson 2: Lure The Tiger Out Of The Mountain
- AOW Card Deck Lesson 1: Catch Your Adversary Sleeping
- The Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck…Simple, Yet, Great Tool for Developing Strategic and Tactical Mindset
- "Certain men…come to be accepted guardians and transmitters, instructors, of established doctrines...
- On Vision
- Book Review: The Rite of Return: Coming Back From Duty Induced PTSD
- Restoring the Wounded Spirit
- Deciding Under Pressure…and Fast: You Need to Understand the Concept of “Coup d’oeil”
- How Do Adaptive Leaders Think?
- Capt Evan Bradley on Boyd, Adaptability and Understanding the Bigger Picture in Conflict
- Captain Lindsay Rodman On Boyd and Taking Ownership of What You Do!
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JOHN BOYD WAS A PATRIOT, A MORAL LEADER, AND A BONAFIDE VISIONARY. AND YES, HE WAS A MAVERICK.
Submitted by Fred on Thu, 06/20/2013 - 11:17pm.
My friend Don Vandergriff was given the text for the speech delivered last Thursday June 13th by MajGen Jack Shanahan at Nellis Air Force Base upon the rededication of Boyd Hall. He got the speech from his friend, Robert Coram, author of Boyd: The Fighter Pilot who Changed the Art of War. He was just present at the dedication of the John Boyd Building at Nellis, AFB, Nevada. My purpose for sharing is that you read the speech and get an understanding of John Boyd's integrity, leadership abilities and impact on this country and how he continually pursued excellence through adaptation. There are many lessons in this speech every cop can learn from and emulate. Stay Oriented! Fred
USAF WEAPONS SCHOOL
BUILDING 118 BOYD HALL RE-DEDICATION CEREMONY
13 JUNE 2013
1330L
Original dedication was 17 Sep 1999.
GENERAL LOFGREN, GENERAL MOORE, COLONEL GARLAND, ROBERT CORAM AND JEANNINE ADAMS, DR LEOPOLD AND MICKI DEMARCO, DARTH DRABANT, MR FUNK, MR NIEHUSER; OTHER SPECIAL GUESTS; COMMANDERS AND AIRMEN OF THE WARFARE CENTER, 57TH WING, AND WEAPONS SCHOOL; AND ESPECIALLY MARY ELLEN BOYD AND JOHN SCOTT BOYD, WELCOME. THANK YOU ALL FOR JOINING US THIS AFTERNOON.
I NEED TO THANK ALL OF THOSE WHO MADE THIS CEREMONY POSSIBLE -- WHICH INCLUDED SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS OF YOUR TIME, MONEY, AND BOYD MEMENTOS. IN PARTICULAR COLONEL GARLAND, CHIEF CLEVELAND, CAPTAIN WETZEL, CAPTAIN GILPIN, ROBERT, MARY ELLEN, DR LEOPOLD, MR DONNELLY, COLONEL CATTON….AND MANY OTHERS. AND SPECIAL THANKS TO MAJOR WOODY FIGUEROA AND THE RELATIVELY SMALL TEAM OF LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE HERE AT THE WEAPONS SCHOOL FOR THEIR ADMIRABLE TENACITY IN TURNING CONCEPT INTO REALITY, CULMINATING IN THIS AFTERNOON’S DEDICATION CEREMONY; PROOF THAT THERE IS YET ANOTHER GENERATION OF YOUNG AIR FORCE OFFICERS EAGER TO PERPETUATE JOHN BOYD’S LEGACY.
I FIND IT RATHER IRONIC, AND PARTICULARLY SATISFYING, TO STAND BEFORE YOU THIS AFTERNOON DELIVERING REMARKS AT THIS BOYD HALL RE-DEDICATION CEREMONY. YOU SEE, 14 YEARS AGO, WHEN I WAS THE COMMANDER OF THE AIR FORCE WEAPONS SCHOOL SUPPORT SQUADRON HERE AT NELLIS, I WAS TASKED TO BE THE PROJECT OFFICER FOR A PROPOSED BUILDING DEDICATION FOR AN AIR FORCE OFFICER I HAD BARELY HEARD OF. THE SENIOR AIR FORCE LEADERSHIP AT THE TIME HAD PROMISED CONGRESS THE AIR FORCE WOULD DEDICATE A BUILDING AT NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE TO THIS DECEASED OFFICER, WHO HAD RETIRED AS A FULL BIRD COLONEL. AFTER NOTHING HAD HAPPENED FOR MANY MONTHS, THERE WERE ADDITIONAL CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRIES. THE FOUR STAR CALLED THE THREE STAR, WHO CALLED THE TWO STAR, WHO CALLED THE ONE-STAR WING COMMANDER , WHO CALLED THE COLONEL COMMANDANT OF THE WEAPONS SCHOOL, WHO CALLED ME, A LIEUTENANT COLONEL AT THE TIME,TO SAY I NEEDED TO GET MOVING. OTHER THAN BEING ON THE RECEIVING END OF THE TASKING WHIP, I HAD VERY LITTLE OTHER ACCOMPANYING GUIDANCE OR BACKGROUND INFORMATION TO WORK FROM. NOW, IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THE AIR FORCE DID NOT PROPOSE DEDICATING A BUILDING TO THIS FAMOUS, OR RATHER INFAMOUS, FIGHTER PILOT AND THINKER. THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS DEDICATED PART OF THEIR LIBRARY AT QUANTICO TO THIS MAN. FAMOUS MARINE GENERAL OFFICERS SUCH AS AL GRAY, CHUCK KRULAK, AND PAUL VAN RIPER EMPHASIZED THE MAJOR INFLUENCE THIS AIR FORCE FIGHTER PILOT HAD ON THE CORPS. IN COMPARISON, OUR AIR FORCE HAD NOT DONE ANYTHING. THE IMPETUS CAME FROM OUTSIDE OUR SERVICE, FROM CONGRESS, SPARKED IN TURN BY RELENTLESS PRESSURE BY A FEW HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL ACOLYTES WHO DEVOTED COUNTLESS TIME AND EFFORT TO ENSURE THIS ONCE-IN-A-GENERATION OFFICER WAS APPROPRIATELY RECOGNIZED FOR HIS MONUMENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE AIR FORCE AND OUR NATION.
ONCE I WAS TAGGED WITH THE PROJECT, I REALIZED I NEEDED TO LEARN EVERYTHING I COULD ABOUT THIS MAVERICK FIGHTER PILOT WITH THE NAME OF COLONEL JOHN BOYD, RETIRED. IT WAS A FASCINATING JOURNEY. NOT ONLY DID I HAVE ACCESS TO ALL OF BOYD’S OFFICIAL RECORDS AND PERFORMANCE REPORTS FROM HIS AIR FORCE CAREER, BUT ALSO TO SOME GROUND-BREAKING MATERIAL HE WROTE WHILE AN INSTRUCTOR HERE AT THE WEAPONS SCHOOL AND IN LATER LIFE. THE MORE I LEARNED, THE MORE I WAS HOOKED. INDEED, MY SENSE OF PROFESSIONAL INADEQUACY GREW WITH EVERY NEW FACT I ABSORBED. BOYD WAS A MAN WHO, DESPITE SOME SELF-ADMITTED FLAWS, MADE MORE OF AN IMPACT IN ANY GIVEN FIVE-YEAR PERIOD OF SERVICE AS AN AIR FORCE OFFICER AND CIVILIAN THAN MANY OF US HAVE MADE IN OUR ENTIRE CAREERS.
WHILE THERE WAS HEARTY SUPPORT FROM THE WEAPONS SCHOOL COMMANDANT FOR DEDICATING A BUILDING ON BASE TO BOYD, THERE WAS LESS ENTHUSIASM BEYOND THE PERIMETER OF THIS WEAPONS SCHOOL. SUFFICE IT TO SAY THAT I HAD TO FIGHT A LITTLE BIT OF AN UPHILL BATTLE DURING THE PLANNING PROCESS.
WHILE PREPARING FOR THE ORIGINAL DEDICATION CEREMONY, I BECAME ACQUAINTED WITH ROBERT CORAM, WHO HAD STARTED WRITING A BOOK ON BOYD’S LIFE. WHEN I FOUND OUT ABOUT ROBERT’S PROJECT I INVITED HIM OUT TO NELLIS AND GAVE HIM A TOUR OF THE BASE, THE OFFICERS’ CLUB, THE WEAPONS SCHOOL, AND THE FLIGHT LINE. I ALSO HELPED HIM INTERPRET BOYD’S OFFICER PERFORMANCE REPORTS, SOME OF WHICH WERE UNLIKE ANY OTHER REPORTS I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY CAREER. IN SHORT, BOYD WAS NOT AFRAID TO SPEAK HIS MIND; A FEW OF HIS SUPERVISORS AND COMMANDERS LIKED AND EVEN ENCOURAGED THAT PERSONALITY TRAIT, OTHERS DID NOT! ROBERT BECAME A GOOD FRIEND. HE ALWAYS TELLS IT LIKE IT IS. FOR THE FEW OF YOU HERE THIS AFTERNOON WHO HAVE NOT ALREADY READ HIS MASTERFUL BOOK ON BOYD, DO SO. IT IS A REMARKABLE READ. DITTO FOR HIS BOOKS ON COLONEL BUD DAY AND GENERAL BRUTE KRULAK.
FOR THESE REASONS, IT IS A SPECIAL HONOR TO STAND IN FRONT OF YOU TO PAY TRIBUTE TO YET ONE MORE WEAPONS SCHOOL GRADUATE, OR “PATCH WEARER,” WHO HAD A LASTING IMPACT ON THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE. TO PLAGIARIZE A PHRASE THE ASSISTANT COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS USED RECENTLY DURING A CEREMONY DEDICATING WALT HALL AT QUANTICO, WE ARE HERE TO FOCUS ON THREE “ATES”: TO DEDICATE, TO COMMEMORATE, AND TO PERPETUATE. WE DEDICATE THIS BUILDING TO JOHN BOYD AND HIS FAMILY; WE COMMEMORATE HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR NATION; AND WE MUST PERPETUATE HIS IDEAS AND WARRIOR SPIRIT IN ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS OF AMERICAN AIRMEN.
WHILE WE ARE HERE TO RECOGNIZE AND ACCLAIM JOHN BOYD’S ROOTS AT THE WEAPONS SCHOOL, LET US ALSO NOT FORGET THAT HIS IMPACT EXTENDED FAR AND WIDE THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES MILITARY. ALLOW ME A FEW MINUTES TO TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT COLONEL JOHN BOYD AND HIS MANY ACCOMPLISHMENTS, AND WHY WE ARE RETURNING TO HONOR HIM A SECOND TIME.
IT HELPS TO BREAK DOWN JOHN BOYD’S MILITARY CAREER AND LIFE IN RETIREMENT BY REVIEWING THE FOUR NICKNAMES, OR CALLSIGNS, BY WHICH HE WAS KNOWN OVER HIS 25 YEAR MILITARY CAREER AND SUBSEQUENT RETIREMENT. SINCE WE ARE HERE AT THE ORIGINAL “HOME OF THE FIGHTER PILOT”, I’LL START WITH HIS FIRST CALLSIGN, “40 SECOND BOYD,” EARNED WHILE HE WAS STATIONED AT NELLIS IN HIS EARLY CAREER.
JOHN AND HIS WIFE MARY WERE STATIONED AT NELLIS FROM 1954 TO 1960. JOHN GRADUATED FROM THE F-100 FIGHTER WEAPONS SCHOOL IN 1955, AND CONTINUED TO HAVE A MAJOR IMPACT ON BOTH THE WEAPONS SCHOOL AND ON AIR COMBAT TRAINING THROUGHOUT THE AIR FORCE. THEN-CAPTAIN BOYD FLEW TWO TO THREE SORTIES A DAY FOR ALMOST FIVE YEARS. IN THE SAME MANNER WE DEMAND OF OUR “PATCH WEARERS” TODAY, HE WAS CONSTANTLY SEEKING A BETTER WAY OF FLYING AND FIGHTING. HE KNEW THE HORIZONTAL AIR COMBAT TACTICS THEN IN VOGUE HAD SERIOUS FLAWS. HE ALSO KNEW HIGH “G” MANEUVERS WERE NOT THE SOLUTION TO EVERY TACTICAL PROBLEM. WITH A MATURITY AND INTELLECT NOT FOUND IN YOUR TYPICAL YOUNG FIGHTER PILOT, CAPTAIN BOYD SPENT HUNDREDS OF HOURS ANALYZING HIS AERIAL COMBAT MANEUVERS, AND MORE IMPORTANT ANALYZING HIS OPPONENTS’ COUNTER MOVES. HE SOON PUBLISHED AN ENDURING WORK CALLED SIMPLY THE “AERIAL ATTACK STUDY.” THIS SEMINAL WORK PUT DOWN ON PAPER WHAT JOHN BOYD HAD BEEN TRYING TO GET ACROSS TO HIS FELLOW WEAPONS SCHOOL FIGHTER PILOT INSTRUCTORS AND STUDENTS FOR YEARS. IT IS FAIR TO SAY THAT MOST OF THE CONCEPTS OUTLINED IN CAPTAIN BOYD’S AERIAL ATTACK STUDY ARE STILL USED TODAY THROUGHOUT WEAPONS SCHOOL AIR-TO-AIR TRAINING.
WHILE HERE AT NELLIS, CAPTAIN BOYD EARNED HIS “40 SECOND BOYD” CALLSIGN FOR HIS STANDING OFFER THAT HE COULD MANEUVER FROM A POSITION OF DISADVANTAGE IN FRONT OF HIS OPPONENT’S GUN SIGHT, TO A POSITION OF ADVANTAGE BEHIND HIM, IN 40 SECONDS OR LESS. IF HE LOST, HE WOULD PAY HIS CHALLENGER FORTY DOLLARS. ONE OF COLONEL BOYD’S FRIENDS SAID THEN-CAPTAIN BOYD USUALLY NEEDED ONLY TWENTY SECONDS TO WIN, BUT HE LIKED A LITTLE PAD FOR INSURANCE. DESPITE ONE OR TWO DUBIOUS CLAIMS TO THE CONTRARY, IT IS BELIEVED THAT CAPTAIN BOYD NEVER LOST HIS BET.
AFTER LEAVING NELLIS IN THE EARLY 1960s, JOHN BOYD WENT TO GEORGIA TECH FOR HIS DEGREE IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING. HE AND MARY WERE THEN SENT TO EGLIN AFB, WHERE HE PICKED UP THE SECOND OF HIS FOUR CALLSIGNS—HE BECAME KNOWN AS THE “MAD MAJOR.” NOT, OF COURSE, IN REFERENCE TO HIS SANITY (THOUGH SOME OF HIS ENEMIES HAVE SUGGESTED OTHERWISE), BUT IN HONOR OF HIS SUPREMELY INTENSE DEVOTION TO DUTY. THE AIR COMBAT LESSONS GLEANED FROM TWO THOUSAND HOURS OF FIGHTER TIME SERVED HIM WELL IN HIS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT JOBS AT EGLIN. WITH HIS BOISTEROUS EXTERIOR HIDING A TRULY INCISIVE, PENETRATING INTELLECT, MAJOR BOYD DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO REALLY UNDERSTAND WHY AIR BATTLES WERE WON AND LOST. HE TAUGHT HIMSELF ENOUGH CALCULUS TO PUT SCIENTIFIC CREDIBILITY BEHIND HIS NEW THEORIES. WITH THE CLOSE, SURREPTIOUS SUPPORT OF THOMAS CHRISTIE, HE CONCEIVED, INITIATED, AND MATURED HIS GROUND-BREAKING WORK ON ENERGY MANEUVERABILITY. KNOWN SIMPLY AS EM THEORY, IT PROVIDED FOR THE FIRST TIME A METHOD OF COMPARING FIGHTER AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE. IT ESTABLISHED THE CRITICAL LINK BETWEEN ENGINEER AND TACTICIAN—ONE THAT HAD BEEN MISSING FOR YEARS IN FIGHTER DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION. ARMED WITH EM THEORY AND A SET OF SO-CALLED ‘EM DIAGRAMS,” FIGHTER PILOTS WERE ABLE TO COMPARE THEIR AIRCRAFT WITH OTHERS, FRIEND AND FOE ALIKE. THEY COULD THEN SELECT THOSE REGIMES OF THE FLIGHT MANEUVERING “ENVELOPE” ADVANTAGEOUS TO THEM, WHILE IN THE SAME MANNER AVOID THOSE AREAS OFFERING THEIR OPPONENT A SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGE. MAJOR BOYD’S EM THEORY WORK WAS, IN A WORD, STUNNING. TO HIGHLIGHT HOW IT HAS STOOD THE TEST OF TIME, EVERY AIRCRAFT TACTICS MANUAL PUBLISHED TODAY INCLUDES A SET OF EM DIAGRAMS, PATTERNED ALMOST EXACTLY AFTER BOYD’S ORIGINAL WORK.
AS MAJOR BOYD MOVED ON HIS CAREER, HE WAS PROMOTED TO LIEUTENANT COLONEL AND BECAME ONE OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THE SO-CALLED “FIGHTER MAFIA.” THIS WAS A SMALL CADRE OF FIGHTER PILOTS GRAVELY CONCERNED THAT THE AIR FORCE WAS HEADED DOWN THE WRONG PATH IN DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION FIGHTER AIRCRAFT. THE FIGHTER MAFIA KNEW WHAT AIR COMBAT WAS ALL ABOUT, AND THEY WANTED A SMALL, INEXPENSIVE, LIGHT-WEIGHT, HIGH PERFORMANCE FIGHTER. THEY USED JOHN BOYD’S EM THEORY TO PROVE THEIR POINT. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO ARGUE WITH THE FACTS. COLONEL BOYD’S INPUTS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR TRANSFORMING THE PROPOSED 60,000 POUND, SWEPT-WING, LOW PERFORMANCE FIGHTER INTO WHAT BECAME THE F-15 EAGLE, UNDISPUTABLY THE WORLD’S SUPREME AIR-TO-AIR FIGHTER FOR ALMOST FORTY YEARS.
BUT JOHN BOYD WAS NOT CONTENT. HE STILL THOUGHT THE F-15 WAS TOO HEAVY AND NOT MANEUVERABLE ENOUGH -- HARD AS THAT IS FOR MANY OF US TO BELIEVE TODAY. HIS FIGHTER MAFIA TEAMED UP WITH A FEW SELECT ENGINEERS AND DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES TO BECOME THE DRIVING FORCE IN THE DESIGN OF A NEW LIGHTWEIGHT FIGHTER—A LOW COST, EVEN MORE MANEUVERABLE AIRCRAFT. IN SHORT TIME THIS CONCEPT BECAME REALITY WHEN THE F-16 “FIGHTING FALCON” ENTERED PRODUCTION. I COULD GO ON ABOUT THE F-16’S RECORD OVER THE PAST TWO DECADES, BUT THE VIPER’S PEACETIME PERFORMANCE AND COMBAT RESUME SPEAK MUCH LOUDER THAN ANYTHING I COULD OFFER. IT IS AMAZING TO THINK THAT COLONEL JOHN BOYD AND HIS SMALL FIGHTER MAFIA INFLUENCED THE SHAPE, CHARACTER, AND CONTENT OF THE TACTICAL AIR FORCE FROM THE 1970s TO THE PRESENT. THEY CAN LEGITIMATELY CLAIM PARENTHOOD OF THE F-15, F-16, AND EVEN THE A-10 WARTHOG.
NOW, IT IS ONLY FAIR TO PRESENT ANOTHER SIDE OF THIS STORY. AS SOMEONE WHO FLEW THE F-15E STRIKE EAGLE FOR ALMOST TEN YEARS, I HAVE TO SAY THAT IF BOYD HAD HAD HIS WAY, THE F-15E WOULD HAVE NEVER EXISTED AND THE F-16 WOULD HAVE NEVER BECOME THE ALL-WEATHER, DAY-NIGHT, PRECISION-WEAPON DROPPING STRIKE FIGHTER THAT AMASSED THAT INCREDIBLE COMBAT RECORD OVER THE PAST 25 YEARS. HE WOULD HAVE FOUGHT AGAINST BOTH IDEAS, AS THEY WERE CONTRARY TO HIS CONCEPT OF A LIGHTWEIGHT, INEXPENSIVE SINGLE-MISSION FIGHTER. YET TO BOYD’S UNDIMINISHED CREDIT, IF IT WASN’T FOR HIS INSISTENCE AND PERSISTENCE ON CHANGING THE WAY FIGHTERS WERE DESIGNED AND BUILT AT THE TIME, INSTEAD OF THE EAGLE, STRIKE EAGLE AND VIPER TODAY WE WOULD HAVE ENDED UP WITH A BIGGER, SLOWER, LESS MANEUVERABLE F-111, F-4, OR F-14. HE CHANGED THE RULES OF THE GAME. ALMOST OVERNIGHT. AFTER THAT, IT WAS UP TO BIG AIR FORCE TO TRANSFORM THE F-15 AND F-16 INTO WHAT YOU SEE TODAY.
IN THE EARLY 1970s JOHN ACQUIRED THE THIRD OF HIS FOUR CALLSIGNS WHEN HE SELECTED AN UNUSUALLY MODEST LIFESTYLE DESPITE A PROMOTION THAT NORMALLY WOULD RESULT IN NEW PERKS AND DEFERENCE. NO SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR HIM. KNOWN AS THE “GHETTO COLONEL,” HE LIVED AN AUSTERE LIFE. BRANCHING OUT FROM HIS STUDY OF AIR COMBAT AND FIGHTER AIRCRAFT DESIGN, HE BECAME DEVOTED TO A STUDY OF SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY, AND THE HUMANITIES. HE STUDIED AS MUCH HEISENBERG AS THUCYDIDES; AS MUCH GODEL AS SUN TZU; AS MUCH KANT AS CLAUSEWITZ. HE BEGAN TO WEAVE SEEMINGLY UNRELATED BITS OF INFORMATION TOGETHER, FINDING A COMMON THREAD AMONG THEM AND USING THOSE THREADS TO DEVELOP INNOVATIVE STRATEGIC CONCEPTS NOBODY ELSE HAD THOUGHT OF. SOME SAY THAT IS ONE OF THE UNIVERSAL SIGNS OF GENIUS. AS BOYD APPROACHED RETIREMENT, HE ADVANCED YET ANOTHER GROUND-BREAKING CONCEPT, THAT OF THE OBSERVATION—ORIENTATION—DECISION—ACTION, OR OODA, LOOP. THIS CONCEPT WAS CONCEIVED IN THE AIR COMBAT RANGES OVER NELLIS, BUT IT TOOK COLONEL BOYD ANOTHER FIFTEEN YEARS TO APPLY IT TO CONFLICT AND COMPETITION IN GENERAL. THE CONCEPT OF DISRUPTING AN OPPONENT’S DECISION CYCLE IS AS OLD AS WARFARE ITSELF, BUT JOHN BOYD’S THEORY OF OPERATING INSIDE AN ADVERSARY’S DECISION CYCLE, OR OODA LOOP, WAS A BOLD NEW CONCEPTION. IT SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE THAT THIS CONCEPT WAS USED WITH STUNNING SUCCESS IN OPERATION DESERT STORM. WHILE COLONEL BOYD NEVER RECEIVED MUCH CREDIT AFTER THE WAR, WHEN YOU HEARD GENERAL OFFICERS ON TELEVISION TALKING ABOUT GETTING INSIDE THE IRAQI’S “DECISION CYCLE,” IT WAS NOT TOO HARD TO FIGURE OUT WHERE THE IDEA AND THE WORDS CAME FROM. PERSONALLY, I HAVE SPENT COUNTLESS HOURS THINKING ABOUT THE OODA LOOP AND WHILE I WON’T EVER PRETEND TO SAY I UNDERSTAND IT IN THE WAY THAT BOYD AND HIS ACOLYTES INTENDED, I HAVE A DEEP APPRECIATION FOR THE ROLE OF THE ORIENTATION PHASE OF THE DECISION CYCLE; IN FACT, IT BECAME THE BASIS FOR MUCH OF MY THINKING ABOUT INFORMATION OPERATIONS AND NON-KINETIC EFFECTS IN MY PAST FEW ASSIGNMENTS.
AFTER COLONEL BOYD RETIRED FROM THE AIR FORCE IN 1975, HE GARNERED HIS FOURTH AND FINAL CALLSIGN—“GENGHIS JOHN.” HE BECAME THE CREATOR, CHIEF STRATEGIST, AND SPIRITUAL LEADER OF THE DEFENSE REFORM MOVEMENT. HE WAS CERTAIN THE UNITED STATES MILITARY HAD LOST SIGHT OF HOW TO WIN WARS. HE WAS CONVINCED A BLOATED BUREAUCRACY AND BALLOONING DEFENSE BUDGET WOULD BREAK THE UNITED STATES MILITARY, AND CAUSE NEEDLESS LOSS OF LIFE IN THE NEXT CONFLICT. IT WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT TO SAY HE WAS AHEAD OF HIS TIME. TEAMING WITH CHUCK SPINNEY, BOYD’S PREDICTION OF A “DEFENSE DEATH SPIRAL” WAS PRESCIENT -- AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THE MULTIPLE BUDGET CRISES THREATENING OUR MILITARY TODAY. BOYD BECAME RELENTLESS IN HIS PURSUIT OF FINDING A BETTER WAY TO FIGHT WARS. HE GAVE HIS FAMOUS “PATTERNS OF CONFLICT” AND “A DISCOURSE ON WINNING AND LOSING” BRIEFINGS TO HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE. SENIOR MILITARY LEADERS OF ALL SERVICES, FAMOUS AND NOT-SO-FAMOUS POLITICIANS AND STAFFERS ON CAPITOL HILL, AND EVEN WORLDWIDE INDUSTRY LEADERS SAT THROUGH HIS BRIEFINGS, SOME OF WHICH WOULD RUN THIRTEEN HOURS OR MORE. HE WAS A CHAMPION OF MANEUVER WARFARE. THE GOAL WAS SIMPLE, THE MEANS MUCH MORE COMPLEX: THROUGH CALCULATED DESTRUCTION OF AN OPPONENT’S ORIENTATION, ISOLATE THEM PHYSICALLY, MORALLY, AND MENTALLY. HE APPRECIATED THE ADVANCE OF TECHNOLOGY, BUT HAD LITTLE PATIENCE FOR THOSE WHO EXPECTED TO RELY UPON TECHNOLOGY TO WIN WARS. AS HE THUNDERED TIME AND TIME AGAIN, “MACHINES DON’T FIGHT WARS. TERRAIN DOESN’T FIGHT WARS. PEOPLE FIGHT WARS. YOU MUST GET INTO THE MINDS OF HUMANS. THAT’S WHERE THE BATTLES ARE WON.” COLONEL BOYD’S IDEAS AND BRIEFINGS SERVED AS THE INSPIRATION FOR THE MARINE CORPS’ NEW FLEET MARINE FORCE MANUAL NUMBER 1, AND WERE PARTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MAJOR RETHINKING OF ARMY DOCTRINE WHICH LED TO THE “AIR LAND BATTLE” CONCEPT. AND AS I ALREADY NOTED, OUR MILITARY’S BRILLIANT SUCCESS IN THE DESERTS OF IRAQ CAN BE TRACED BACK TO COLONEL BOYD’S INFLUENCE ON OUR NATION’S MILITARY AND POLITICAL LEADERSHIP OF THE TIME.
COLONEL BOYD DIED ON MARCH 9TH, 1997. I USED HIS FOUR CALLSIGNS—“40 SECOND BOYD,” “THE MAD MAJOR,” “THE GHETTO COLONEL,” AND “GENGHIS JOHN” TO SKETCH A DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE PICTURE OF THE MAN AND HIS EXCEPTIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE AIR FORCE AND TO THE NATION. JOHN BOYD WAS A PATRIOT, A MORAL LEADER, AND A BONAFIDE VISIONARY. AND YES, HE WAS A MAVERICK. HIS INTEGRITY WAS LEGENDARY. AS HE WOULD TELL HIS FRIENDS, LOYALTY WAS IMPORTANT, BUT INTEGRITY WAS PARAMOUNT. “IF YOUR SUPERIORS DEMAND LOYALTY,” HE SAID, “GIVE THEM INTEGRITY; BUT IF THEY DEMAND INTEGRITY, ALSO GIVE THEM LOYALTY.” (I USED THAT VERY PHRASE JUST LAST WEEK IN MY FIRST MEETING WITH MY SENIOR STAFF AS THE NEW COMMANDER OF THE AIR FORCE ISR AGENCY.) IN ADDITION, COLONEL BOYD WAS KNOWN FOR HIS FAMOUS “TO BE OR TO DO” SPEECH. IN SHORT, HE SAID YOU HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN TWO PATHS IN A CAREER: ONE LEADS TO PROMOTIONS, TITLES, AND POSITIONS OF DISTINCTION. THE OTHER LEADS TO DOING THINGS THAT ARE TRULY SIGNIFICANT FOR THE AIR FORCE. THE FORMER MEANS BEING A TEAM PLAYER AT ALL TIMES; THE LATTER MEANS HAVING TO CROSS SWORDS WITH THE PARTY LINE ON OCCASION. TO BE OR TO DO, THAT IS THE QUESTION. IT IS NO SURPRISE TO THIS AUDIENCE THAT JOHN BOYD ALWAYS CHOSE “TO DO” OVER “TO BE.”
AS I CLOSE, LET ME EMPHASIZE COLONEL BOYD’S IMPACT ON THE AIR FORCE AND OUR MILITARY. LIKE MOODY SUTER, HE WAS COLORFUL AND CONTROVERSIAL. SOME MIGHT EVEN SAY A PAIN IN THE ASS. HIS RELATIONSHIPS WITH GENERAL OFFICERS WERE STRAINED (TO BE HONEST, HE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE DRIVEN ME CRAZY AND I’M NOT SURE HE WOULD HAVE LIKED MY LEADERSHIP STYLE). BUT HISTORY IS CHANGED NOT BY THOSE WHO ALWAYS SEEK COMPROMISE, BUT BY THOSE WHO THRIVE ON CONTROVERSY. THE WORLD MAY BE SUSTAINED BY THOSE OF US WHO TEND TO THINK IN INFINITE SHADES OF GRAY, BUT IT IS FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMED BY THOSE WHO SEE THINGS IN BLACK AND WHITE. SO IT WAS WITH JOHN BOYD. ALONG THE WAY HE MADE MANY FRIENDS, AND MORE THAN A FEW ENEMIES, BUT BOYD HAD A MOMENTOUS AND ENDURING IMPACT ON HIS BELOVED AIR FORCE AND ON THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES MILITARY.
AS WE RE-DEDICATE THIS BUILDING IN COLONEL JOHN BOYD’S HONOR, LET US NOT FORGET HIS ROOTS AT NELLIS AND IN THE WEAPONS SCHOOL. HIS FIRST AND MOST LASTING IMPRESSION WAS MADE AS A YOUNG OFFICER NOT TOO FAR FROM THIS SPOT. IF NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE WAS THE “HOME OF THE FIGHTER PILOT” FOR OVER SIXTY YEARS, THEN SO IT MUST ALSO REMAIN THE HOME OF COLONEL JOHN RICHARD BOYD.
IF YOU BELIEVE, AS I DO, THAT TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS, THEN THIS RE-DEDICATION IS THE OFFICIAL BEGINNING OF THE HEALING PROCESS FOR THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE AND COLONEL JOHN BOYD. WE MUST NEVER FORGET THAT IT IS NOT THE RANK ON THE SHOULDERS THAT DETERMINES ONE’S IMPACT IN LIFE. I AM A GREAT ADMIRER OF THE MARINE CORPS, BUT IT IS TIME TO WELCOME JOHN BOYD BACK INTO OUR AIR FORCE FOLD. THROW A NICKEL ON THE GRASS. [PAUSE] LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THANK YOU.
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