- Supply The Why: Difficult Conversations Season 4 Episode 3 Policing, Leadership and the Future
- Project Sapient Podcast E13: Leader or Boss?
- Embedding Our Values: Never a Better Time Than Now
- Difficult Conversations by Supply The Why Season 3 Episode 3 Warriors, Guardians or Are They One and The Same?
- Wellness for Warriors - Two amazing human beings who have been through so much, and go above and Beyond
- When One of us is Murdered: The Darkness A Project Sapient Podcast
- Project Sapient Podcast: Sheepdogs. HybridWolves. Crybabies | A Predator Hunting Predators
- "Supply The Why" Great Podcast Episode on Police Reform, Use of Force, Training and Development Discussed by a Great Panel
- Police Leadership: On Humility and the Dangers of Hubris
- Be You: Humility, Strength of Character and Swallowing Our Ego and Being Authentic Is Crucial To Sound Leadership
- Been Away From My Blog For a While...Time to Get Back At It!
- Supply The Why Doing Great Work Be Sure to Check Out This Episode
- 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!
- William McNulty-Team Rubicon: Boyd, Applied to Disaster Response
- Heroes Behind the Badge
- Chet Richards On Boyd...Is Your Orientation, Matched to Reality?
- Col GI Wilson on Boyd, Bureaucracy, Insight, Imagination, Intent and Implementation
- What hath Boyd wrought? With Remarks
- John Boyd, Conceptual Spiral, and the meaning of life
- Boyd and Beyond 2012, Quantico, VA — a quickie recap by Scott Shipman
- Finished Gung Ho! The Corps Most Progressive Tradition
- Dangerous Minds – The Relationship between Beliefs, Behaviors, and Tactics
- Guest Post: Super Cops - Can we create them??? “Yes you can!”
- "The importance of a proper command system...
- "Leaders gain confidence and become more tactically and technically proficient...
- Help staff practice thinking on their feet to prepare for emergencies
- More On, Gung Ho! Out of Seeming Defeat May Have Sprung Great Potential
- Latest P1 Column: The anatomy of victory (part two): Victory at minimal cost
- Chapter 1 Review of "Gung Ho! The Corps' Most Progressive Tradition
- The anatomy of victory (part one): What does it take to win?
- Proper Police Action Requires...What?
- P1 Column: Patterns of behavior, officer safety, and 'the rule of opposites'
- Be agile and win:
- Why Boyd is Agile
- Destruction & Creation: Are You Locked on One Way of Thinking or Are You Adaptable, Approaching Tactical Dilemmas?
- Book Review: Deadly Force: Firearms and American Law Enforcement, from the Wild West to the Streets of Today
- The power of a handshake!
- Winning at Low Cost: No better friend, no better role model, no better diplomat and, no worse enemy
- "The most efficient way to get the behavior you're looking for is to find positive deviants and...
- Book Review: Police Instructor: Deliver Dynamic Presentations, Create Engaging Slides & Increase Active Learning
- "Organizations by their very nature involves a series of balances...
- "Of every 100 men you send to fight, 10 shouldn't even be there. Eighty are...
- Column at Police One: Mental toughness and the power to adapt
- Mental Attitude Can Be Negative or Positive
- The Anatomy of Victory: What Does It Take For Policing To “Win"at Low Cost?
- "They can't understand why their parent organizations didn't better prepare them...
- Counter-Ambush Tactics: Thinking Tactically and Doing What You Know How To Do On The Street
- Train To Make a Difference! A Decrease in Officer Fatalities in 1st Quarter of 2012
- "They prefer to achieve their results by...
- Part 2: Train the brain: Using decision making critiques to leverage lessons learned: Published at Police One
- "Wild animals are taken by scouting, by nets, by lying in wait, by stalking...
- "If one has never personally experience war...
- Chet Richards On: Boyd's Really Real OODA Loop
- Destruction and Creation
- A Video Biography of COL John Boyd
- Book Review: Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer
- Book Review: Thinking Fast and Slow By Daniel Kahneman
- Train the brain: Using tactical decision games in training Published at POLICE ONE
- OODA Loops: The Explorer Mentality...And Recognizing Patterns of Behavior
- OODA Loop & Human Reaction Time
- The Leaders Ultimate Reward: 'I saw Someone Grow today, and I Helped'
- Where Have All the Warriors Gone? A Spot On Article, Every Cop Should Read
- Should Street Cops, Break Routines...and Think?
- Broken Windows...A Powerful Strategy, When Applied Robustly
- Lessons from SWAT the Street Cop Can Use on The Three Speeds of Operations
- Law enforcement interaction with the dangerously mentally ill
- Tip: Have an 'exit' strategy on vehicle stops
- What Those We Train Say About Us
- Mastering Tactics with Decision Making Exercises and Critiques
- The OODA loop, reaction time, and decision making
- Leaders share the faith...and promote heretics
- COL John Boyd: Building Snowmobiles and a Fine-tuned Situational Awareness
- Mindset and Winning is About Much More than Words, Isn't It?
- Interacting Tactfully and Tactically: Is This a Strategy, Law Enforcement Can Use?
- Emotion verses Strategy: Which Helps You Gain the Position of Advantage?
- "It Never Happens Here" So WHY Do We Train?
- Think 'FAST': A mnemonic to help keep you safe, by John Demand
- PoliceOne.Com Published: Are you prepared to adapt and win on the street?
- Understanding and Developing Adaptive Leadership During Pre-commissioning
- Book Review: If I Knew Then 2: Warrior Reflections
- A VISION AND THE MISSION FOR: THE FUTURE LAW ENFORCEMENT LEARNING ORGANIZATION
- Police Leaders as Educators and Trainers...Inspiring Cops to More Effective and Safe Policing
- You've Got To Have an Ace in the Hole. Are You Prepared to Adapt and Win on the Street?
- What has 2011 Taught You About Officer Safety and Effectiveness?
- Police One, column 'Staying Oriented' article #1: 'Red Teaming' the cop killer
- Mental Toughness and The Competitive Nature of Conflict
- Police Militarization, Professionalism, and the Balance of Persuasion and Force
- Mental Toughness and...The Power to Adapt
- Mental Toughness: Optimistic Enthusiasm as a Form of Realism
- Preparing for Crisis with Tactical Decision Games, After Action Reviews and Critical Question Mapping
- Great Recap of Boyd and Beyond 2011 By Scott Shipman
- Global Warrior Averting WWIII, John Poole's Latest Strategic and Tactical Insights to Protecting the Homeland
- Brain plasticity: A whole new idea for cops
- Boyd & Beyond is on for 14 & 15 October at Quantico.
- "SWARMING TACTICS" Published in the California Association of Tactical Officers official publication CATO NEWS
- Documentary: Massacre at Virginia Tech
- Book Review: TEMPO Timing, Tactics and Strategy in Narrative Driven Decision Making by Venkatesh Rao
- Fine Art, Fine Tuning Situation Awareness and Training Cops to See
- 15 Meters/11Seconds By C Flaherty and AR Green
- Too Focused? You Might Miss Something Important
- Dangerous Body Language: Digging Beyond What You See!
- Swarming & The Future of Conflict by John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt
- Swarming Tactics by Sid Heal
- More On Swarming Tactics...An Option For Law Enforcement
- Dangerous Body Language: Detecting Deception and Danger
- Cops Line of Duty Deaths Rising in 2011 "APPLYING"Lessons Learned
- Cops, Security, Citizens Need to Be Aware: Does the Climate & Environment Shift in the Wake of bin Laden's Death?
- Progress, Interrupt and Neutralize (P.I.N.) Swarming Techniques For The Tactician
- Should We Be Thinking Like the Bad Guys?
- Meet Officers Lewis and Clark-Exploring Situational Awareness
- Dangerous Body Language,The Boyd Cycle and Winning on the Street
- Dangerous Body Language: A Thousand Words...None Spoken! The Nose, Mouth and Lips
- The 10% of Mindset
- The 3 P's in Extreme Close Quarters Training: Pre-Assault Indicators, Precognitive Programming and Proximity
- Tactical IQ: Using "SURPRISE" to Set the Tempo of Confrontation.
- Tactical IQ: "FRICTION" Why is the Simplest Thing, So Difficult?
- Dangerous Body Language: A Thousand Words...None Spoken! Darting Eyes
- Operation Bold Strike: Follow Me Training Support Package
- Follow Me!!! Creating and Nurturing Tactical Decision Makers With Combat Tested Methodologies
- Training the Whole Circle: Blending Boyd's Cycle and Cooper's Color Codes
- Dangerous Body Language: A Thousand Words...None Spoken! "Gaze Avoidance"
- From OODA to AAADA ― A cycle for surviving violent police encounters
- Dangerous Body Language: A Thousand Words...None Spoken! The Thousand Yard Stare
- Baltimore Police Sergeants Training Using Adaptive Leadership Methodology with Don Vandergriff's AAR
- Achieving Outcomes on the Street with Integrity, Building Loyalty and Mutual Trust
- Intersecting Ideas from Cross Disciplines...and Taking Boyd's Theories Beyond
- Tactical IQ: Developing "Fingertip Feel" Shaping and Reshaping Dynamic Encounters To Gain the Advantage
- Reducing Law Enforcement Misfortunes...What About the Street Officer?
- Can technology suck your brain dry?
- Organizational Culture: Is Yours Congruent with What You Do?
- Fighting Complacency Reminder: Nothing We Do is Routine, NOTHING!!!
- Street Level Red Teaming: The Cop Killer
- Street Level Red Teaming: Assessing The Situation From the Adversarial Point of View
- Take A.I.M. and Prepare To Win Dynamic Encounters
- Don't Charge Police for Mistakes
- What is a Threat?
- Benefits of Conditioning Our Decision Making...The Boyd Cycle
- Superior Situational Awareness and Decision Making...Attributes And Skills of Full Spectrum Officers
- Earning "The Right to Lead" With Character and Courage
- JUSTIFIED: Are You Serious? The Balancing Act of Persuasion, and Reasonable Force
- Adaptive Leader Methodology: An Alternative for Better Outcomes
- When Do We Teach the Basics?
- Evolving Threats Small Arms and Small Unit Swarming Tactics as Tools of Terror...Are We Up To the Challenge?
- Positive Leadership: Invest in People Building a Culture of Innovation
- Harnessing The Street Cops Wisdom: Taking Whole of Conflict...And Effective Full Spectrum Responses
- Beyond Active Response: An Operational Concept for Police Counterterrorism Response
- The Badge: Much More Than a Piece of Medal
- Wellbeing Check to Knife Attack: Anticipation-The Double Edged Sword and its Affect on Winning and Losing, Up Close and Personal
- Tactical IQ: Fast Transients Maneuvers and Manipulating the Tempo of Conflict
- Leadership By Wandering Around!
- Defeat into Victory: Battling a Tough Climate with Faith, Perseverance and Lessons Learned
- Evolving Threats and the Fourth Generation Warfare Problem Here at Home
- We were ready, they weren't...40 + Years after Newhall, Are We Applying Lessons Learned?
- When Violence Prevention Fails, Planning Must Enhance Strategy
- After Action Review: Is It a Tool Used to Learn and Become More Effective or a Tool Used to Punish?
- Maintaining Mental Calmness and Not Losing Our Cool
- Evolution of Strategy and Tactics to Ongoing Deadly Action "Active Shootings" and Operational Art
- Tactical IQ: Interaction, Insight and Imagination, and Initiative...The Building Blocks of Police Operational Art
- Coffee and Conversation: Is "Officer Friendly" a Factor to Consider in Engagements with Our Adversary?
- "Sharpening Our Orientation" and Reducing Officers Killed in the Line of Duty
- Coffee and Conversation: Police Make Mistakes But Seldom Admit Them! What's Reasonable?
- The Tactical Decision Maker: The Devil's Definitely in the Details
- "Self Awareness" The Forgotten Attribute of Decision Making
- Coffee and Conversation: Issues that Affect Law Enforcement and Security: Walking our Talk to Officer Safety
- Coffee and Conversation: Issues that Affect Law Enforcement and Security: The Inevitable Failure of Suburbia?
- Officer Created Jeopardy: Reduce it with a Strategic and Tactical Mind
- Law Enforcement and the Utility of Force...Why Cops Can't Shoot Like the Lone Ranger?
- Tactics: Applying Methods to Madness
- Dealing with Conflict, Violence and Crises: by Fred Leland
Technological Negation of Human Sexual Dimorphism: A Guest Post by Franklin C. Annis, EdD
Submitted by Fred on Sat, 11/23/2019 - 11:48am.
Leveraging Technology to Bring Non-Battle Injury Risk Closer to Parity Between the Sexes by Franklin C. Annis, EdD
Abstract: As the nations of the world seek to integrate females within all aspects of military service, female soldiers are being placed at disproportionate risk for injuries in comparison to men due to the influence of human sexual dimorphism. Trying to bring the non-battle injury risks (musculoskeletal injury rates) into parity between the sexes will require extensive changes to equipment to reduce load carriage with special emphasis on lighter loads for females. The development of emerging technologies, like autonomous robotics, could be guided to take advantage of new technological advantages while supporting the targeted reduction of Non-Battle Injuries among female service members. This article will review scholarship on the impact of human sexual dimorphism on sex-specific injury rates, review current development of military ground robotics, and suggest methods of directly the development and application of military robotics to reduce the risk of non-battle injuries for female soldiers closer to parity with their male counterparts.
Keywords: Sexual dimorphism, combat load carriage, Non-Battle Injury, female service member, injury prevention, military ground robotics
Introduction
Countries around the globe have recently pushed to advance the equality of service opportunities within combat arms [1,14,15]. While there is often a political cry to allow anyone that can “meet the standard” to serve in combat arms, there is a grave disparity of Disease / Non-Battle Injuries (DNBI) between the sexes. Disease / Non-Battle Injury (DNBI) is defined as "a degradation of functional capability sustained by personnel and caused by factors other than those directly attributed to enemy action." U.S. Department of Defense, Joint Publication 4-02: Joint Health Services [23](p. II-1). Females may be entering combat arms roles that exceed the limits of their anatomy. Humans, a sexually dimorphic species, had different evolutionary pressures placed on the sexes due to different cultural and biological roles. While males have had thousands of years shaping their anatomy towards the requirements of combat, females have only recently thought to enter this field in significant numbers. With a lack of an evolutionary pressure on the female sex and the significant generations that would be required for biological adaptation, modern armies must find other technological means of reducing the stress on the female anatomy to allow them to serve with their male counterparts without assuming a disproportionate risk for DNBI. In this article, we will review the influence of sexual dimorphism on female soldiers, the disparity in DNBI between the sexes, the current development of military ground robotics, and suggest adaptation of this technology to reduce female soldier risk of DNBI closer to parity with male peers. This is done with the intent of expanding service opportunities for females, allowing for longer careers, and thus allow more women to rise into critical strategic leadership positions.
Human Sexual Dimorphism
Evolutionary pressures interacted differently on the sexes to create two distinctive forms. The evolutionary pressures on men in hunter-gatherer societies focused on the ability to hunt, carry heavy loads over long distances, and engage in warfare. Females faced evolutionary pressure surrounding childbirth and childrearing. When comparing Olympian athletes of both sexes, it is noted that males tend to have an ~10% advantage in all but a couple competitive events [18,21]. The average man tends to be larger in body mass with a corresponding increase in muscle mass, lower in body fat percentage, and can access anaerobic and aerobic energy at a greater maximal delivery rate in comparison to the average female [18]. Men enjoy the benefits of having higher concentrations of hemoglobin (red blood cells) to oxygenate muscle tissue [13]. The shape of the female pelvis and related birth canal evolved to allow for the birth of children with larger craniums and brain mass (allowing for children of higher intelligence), however this evolutionary change created bone geometry that is not optimized for athletic performance. Due to the relative angle of the pelvis and the femur in relation to the knee joint, the average woman will generate 1.4% less force from their quadricep muscle in comparison to the average man of the same stature and muscle mass [20]. There is a similar geometrical advantage in the male skeleton in relation of the carrying angle of the elbow [20]. Even when a man and a woman have the same “twitch” strength within their muscles, the male will generate more usable power. As a result, it isn’t enough to assert that women need to develop muscles of equal strength of males to have the same performance. If men and women were of equal muscle mass, a 1.4% degrade in performance could be overcome through physical training programs. But men on average carry 36% more muscle mass including 40% more upper body muscle mass than the average woman [18].
Increase DNBI due to Sexual Dimorphism
The increased risk of DNBI in the female soldier population has been well documented during both training and operational experience [7,9,12,17,25]. Female soldiers are at high-risk for DNBI during initial entry training. The female musculoskeletal injury rates range from 25%-80% in initial entry training into the U.S. Army and Marine Corps [2]. Women tend to join the military in less physically fit conditions than men and will typically require longer training programs to safely raise their fitness level and avoid stress fractures. Females in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) were noted to be at 10 times the risk for stress fractures compared to their male peers [7]. Many of the factors that contribute to high initial injury rates can be control through adequate training and nutritional programs. Ensuring proper diets can remove conditions such as calcium and vitamin D3 deficiency to ensure maximum bone density to avoid stress fractures.
Exercise induced urinary incontinence (UI) is common with heavy lifting and extreme exercise. This condition impacts an estimated one-third of the female service member population [8]. This may lead to secondary dehydration illnesses due to service members lowering their liquid intake to avoid social embarrassment [4]. UI is also a common cause for urinary tract infections.
One of the most significant DNBI disparities between the genders is the ability to carry weight. Females simply cannot carry the weight that male soldiers can without suffering significant injuries. When asked to carry the “same load” as their male peers, females will be carrying more weight in proportion to their body mass. Additionally, these loads often far exceed the common maximum of 25% body weight limit recommended in the civilian hiking community. A 2012 study of females assigned to three U.S. Army Brigade Combat teams deployed to Afghanistan found, "there was a 483% increase in risk [to females] with heaviest loads greater than 15% body weight [median of 21.9 Lb (9.9 Kg)] compared to those less than 15%. In [a] male dominated sample, risk did not increase until the heaviest load was 26% of body weight [median of 47.7 Lb (21.7 Kg)] and the risk only increased to 72%" [16](p. e1480). Recent load standards for light infantry operations in Afghanistan include a 62 Lb average fighting load, a 95 Lb average approach march load, and a 128 Lb average emergency approach march load (See Table 1) [22]. This would likely require female service members to carry loads in excess of 80% of their body weight. With the biological realities for the female body, the injury rate of carrying an emergency approach load over several miles would be at or near 100%. For this reason, the reduction of the weight on the female frame should be placed as the number one priority to attempt to reduce the disparity of DNBI between the sexes.
Thirty Pound Thought Experiment
Understanding the major cause for the disparity of DNBI rates for females was caused by carrying more than 30 Lb [17], a thought experiment was conducted. Could it be possible to design an infantry loadout or “kit” that weighed 30 Lb or less? For the sake of this exercise, I excluded the weight of the basic uniform and boots. After weeks of thought and research, it was determined that a fighting load limited to 30 Lb may be out of the reach of current technology. The lowest weight kit that was designed (~40 Lb) (See Table 2), representing a 35% reduction of weight from the lightest kit currently worn on operations of 62 Lb [22]. Maintaining the restriction to this light of load would need considerable discipline on both the part of the service members and unit leadership. Leaders will play a large role in communicating the reason for the weight of the load and ensuring that these soldiers aren’t tasked to carry additional items due to the perception that they are not “overly burdened” by their lightweight loadout.
It is critical to note here that lightening the kit to this level was done so at the cost of combat power. The weight/size of the weapon was reduced from an intermediate-rifle cartridge platform (The typical M-4 firing 5.56 NATO) to a far less powerful personal defense weapon (PDW) chambered in a pistol cartridge (Brügger & Thomet MP chambered 6.5x25 CBT) (Caliber selected to provide a limited anti-armor capability). This kit would also use the latest generation plate armor that would provide slightly less coverage than the standard issue Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV). This armor would closely resemble what is currently being used by Special Forces. While the side plates could be removed for further weight reduction, I do not believe that the U.S. Military nor commanders would want to introduce this degree of battle injury risk by removing this critical protection. Additionally, the theoretical weight saving of polymer cased ammunition was applied to reach this degree of weight savings. Besides the armor and weapon, this minimum weight that still exceeded the intended standard by 10 Lb, only allowed for the addition of water, night-vision, and a first aid kit. If US Army research was correct in the calculation that every increase in weight carried equivalent to 1% body weight correlates to a 4.2% increase in muscular-skeletal injuries in female soldiers [16], the proposed 22 Lb proposed weight reduction is significant. Female soldiers would be ~62% less likely to experience muscular skeletal injuries then carrying the standard 62 Lb kit.
Unable to reach the 30 Lb goal, let us reverse engineer the type of female that could be capable of carrying this 40.2 Lb load. Assuming a female should not carry more than 25% of her body weight, the minimum weight of female service members should be 160 Lb (73 Kg) with a body composition not to exceed 20% body fat. These physical requirements would likely eliminate 90%+ of the female population eligible for military service. However, in the United States it is assumed that ~246,000 females (or the equivalent of 1 Field Army) between the ages of 17-24 could be trained to meet this standard with ~1,600 voluntarily entering military service (equivalent to 2-3 Battalions). The following variables were used to make this calculation. It is assumed to meet have a healthy 160 Lb weight and >25% body fat that female recruits would be likely 5’9” (1.75 m) or taller. Approximately 3% of the United States population are females of this height or greater. Roughly 12% of the population falls within the ages of 17-24 with 49% of the general population being female. 70% of the population meet the minimum intelligence requirements with 68% lacking health conditions that would disqualify for military service. 10% of the population would be ineligible due to criminal records. It is also important to note this number does not reflect the amount of interest within this population to voluntarily serve in combat arms.
Now that we have discuss means of lightening the load on the female soldier, let us explore methods of overcoming the “gap” that now exists between what is being carried “on person” and the rest of the equipment needed for operations. How could up to 80 Lb [22] of non-carried equipment be made available? Below I will present some courses of actions to close this gap using autonomous robotics to work in teams with female soldiers. Not only would this fulfill the function of reducing the disparity of DNBI in female soldiers but would likely increase the functionality of combat arms units on the battlefield.
Historic Development of Military Robotic Aids
In 2005, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) after recognizing the problem of soldiers carrying extreme weight awarded a contract to Boston Dynamics to create what was essentially a robotic mule. The first-generation autonomous robotic equivalent to a pack mule was called BigDog and could carry 240 Lb (110 Kg) [3]. In 2009, the Legged Squad Support System (LS3) was developed [5] with an increased carrying load of 400 Lb (181 Kg) and added the ability to receive voice commands [10]. The intent of these systems was to carry the “ruck” sacks of an infantry squad. This would allow the squad to operate with less fatigue and move faster. The LS3 system was tested during the 2014 Rim of the Pacific Exercise. The LS3 system did display weaknesses in navigating only 70-80% of the terrain [6] and would need to be better “hardened” against enemy fire. The biggest complaint reported with both these systems was the noise level [19]. Powered by the equivalent of a two-stroke go-kart engine, they produced sounds in excess of 90 decibels (db). Assuming this project could be reactivated and common commercial “quiet generator” technology applied; it is likely a system could be manufactured to operate at under 50 db. This would represent a perceived sound level of roughly 1/16 of the original LS3 and be the equivalent sound to a household refrigerator. At this sound level, it would likely blend into light traffic sounds of urban environments. With no further funding provided, this project was put in storage in 2015.
Boston Dynamics has continued to advance robotic technology with useful military purposes with two other projects. The WildCat demonstrated that an autonomous robot could be designed to travel at 19 miles (32 km) per hour. “Spot mini” demonstrated a smaller and almost silent battery-powered robot could be created but does suffer from limited range. As Boston Dynamics and other companies continue to advance the autonomous robotic technology, we grow ever closer to reaching a point where this technology could mature to utility on the modern battlefield
Robotics Aids to Reduce DNBI Among Female Service Members
With all the advantages of integrating autonomous robotics into military operations, it is highly likely that nations will continue to invest heavily into this concept. Paring autonomous robotics with humans to optimize the performance of both is an attractive idea. While countries are investing into these systems and trying to address the larger problem of overburdened infantryman, it makes logical sense to utilize a female first approach. Not only is it unlikely that every infantryman would have a robotic partner due to initial costs, the DNBI risk to female combat arms service members is not going away. If we wish to support the social and political movement of integrating females into combat arms, we should do so with the first generation of human/robotic teams focused on female service members. By doing so, not only will we take advantage of this new technology, we will allow female combat arms soldiers to function on the battlefield without having to encounter significantly more risk than their male peers. I imagine a couple feasible applications of robotic teams to decrease the DNBI risk on female combat arms soldiers. The first concept would be a human/mechanical "pack dog" team. The second would be the use of robotic "runner" systems. Each of these concepts have their advantages and optimize different features of the evolution of autonomous military robotics.
The “pack dog” approach would require autonomous systems to evolve to be able to quietly move with individual soldiers with a power source sufficient for sustained operations, ideally a minimum of 72 hours. The advantage of this approach is that female soldiers could operate in the role of light infantry while having all the equipment common to an infantryman available but without the increase DNBI risk of carrying all the weight on a female frame. Additionally, with the evolution of artificial intelligence, these "pack dogs" could be utilized in scouting roles moving in advance of human service members. This would allow for greater situational awareness of the enemy without the need to expose humans to hostile enemy actions. Assuming technology continues to advance, these "pack dogs" could carry sensors that might allow for the detection of enemies beyond the biological abilities of humans to provide an even greater advantage. Assuming a minimum of one female / “pack dog” team was assigned to each infantry squad it could also provide greater Command and Control ability to commanders as these robots could transmit signals to be tracked via Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) or equivalent system. This would allow for maximum awareness of the position of infantry squads that is not currently available due to the weight of this additional equipment.
The robotic "runner" concept could be utilized if the noise level of robotics cannot be adequately suppressed to allow for tactical operations requiring near silence. This concept would have autonomous robotic mules utilizing the equivalent of "quiet generator" technology travelling 300 meters behind the infantry squad. At this distance, the sound level of the robotics at the location of the infantry squad would be less than 20 db (or the equivalent of rustling leaves). This would allow the squad to operate at near silence. During an engagement, when stealth is no longer required, the robots could rush forward in less than a minute. This approach could revolutionize the firepower of an infantry squad. Not only could this mule carry the gear required of female soldiers and other members of the squad, it could also theoretically carry heavy weapons systems, like the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun. This would be an unheard-of level of firepower for light infantry units of the past to carry on patrol.
Robotics could also revolutionize ground evacuation as they could allow the autonomous robotic systems to function as rapid patient evacuation platforms. Robotic systems could be utilized to pull wounded soldiers in Skedco litters to the nearest casualty collection point before returning to the rifle squad. In this way it may be possible to evacuate the wounded in a manner that doesn’t further expose human soldiers to enemy actions while decreasing the time for wounded to reach definitive medical care.
5. Conclusion
The impact of sexual dimorphism on female service members cannot be denied. Unless immediate actions are taken, female service members will continue to suffer disproportionately from DNBIs. The related combat power reduction will be increasingly felt as proportionately more females are recruited into combat arms. As autonomous military robotic systems become closer to an operational reality, we could shape the first generation of human/robotic teams to not only take advantage of this new technology but to also reduce the disproportionate risk of DNBIs between the sexes. One major way to reduce to disparity of DNBIs between the sexes would be to remove the weight of fighting equipment off females and onto a robotic system. The advantage of doing so would be significant as nations across the world could increase the pool of citizens to recruit or conscript into combat arms service. Paring female combat arms service members with military robotics would minimize the combat power loss to DNBI while maximizing the combat power that could be brought against the enemy. Additionally, this type of paring could significantly reduce the expenditure on medical and disability expenses in the female population while providing these individuals with the opportunity to have longer and more successful careers in the armed forces. This could translate into a greater percentage of females among the military’s highest-level strategic leaders. With all the social and political support for expanding the role of females into combat arms and the real need to mitigate their risk for DNBI, it would be a grave error not to shape this emerging technology to support a fuller integration of the sexes in our armed forces.
References
- "All British Armed Forces Roles Now Open to Women." The British Army. Available at: https://www.army.mod.uk/news-and-events/news/2018/10/women-in-ground-clo.... Accessed January 25, 2019.
- Bell, N. "High Injury Rates among Female Army Trainees A Function of Gender?" American Journal of Preventive Medicine 18, no. 1 (2000): 141-46. doi:10.1016/s07493797(99)00173-7. Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.536.5904&rep=re.... Accessed February 03, 2019.
- "BigDog." Boston Dynamics Is Changing Your Idea of What Robots Can Do. | Boston Dynamics. Available at: https://www.bostondynamics.com/bigdog. Accessed February 03, 2019.
- Criner, Judy A. "Urinary Incontinence in Vulnerable Populations: Female Soldier." General Clinical Practice. April 2001. Available at: https://www.cbuna.org/sites/default/files/download/members/unjarticles/2.... Accessed February 2, 2019.
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. "Legged Squad Support System (LS3) - Trade Studies." Federal Business Opportunities. December 4, 2009. Available at: https://govtribe.com/opportunity/federal-contract-opportunity/legged-squ.... Accessed February 03, 2019.
- Eshel, Tamir. "Innovative Robotic Systems Supporting Marines during Warfighting Experiment in Hawaii." Defense Update: Defense Innovation Review. August 01, 2014. Available at: https://defense-update.com/20140801_ls3_guss_robots_at_awe.html#.VG0u8J0.... Accessed February 03, 2019.
- Finestone, Aharon S., Charles Milgrom, Ran Yanovich, Rachel Evans, Naama Constantini, and Daniel S. Moran. "Evaluation of the Performance of Females as Light Infantry Soldiers." BioMed Research International 2014 (2014): 1-7. doi:10.1155/2014/572953.
- Johnson, Venerina, Julia Coyle, Rodney Pope, and Robin M. Orr. "Load Carriage and the Female Soldier." Journal of Military and Veteran's Health 19, no. 3. Available at: https://jmvh.org/article/load-carriage-and-the-female-soldier/. Accessed February 3, 2019.
- Le, Tuan D., Jennifer M. Gurney, Nina S. Nnamani, Kirby R. Gross, Kevin K. Chung, Zsolt T. Stockinger, Shawn C. Nessen, Anthony E. Pusateri, and Kevin S. Akers. "A 12-Year Analysis of Nonbattle Injury Among US Service Members Deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan." JAMA Surgery 153, no. 9 (2018): 800. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2018.1166.
- "Legged Squad Support System (LS3) (Archived)." Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Available at: https://www.darpa.mil/program/legged-squad-support-system. Accessed February 03, 2019.
- Mala, Jesse, Tunde K. Szivak, and William J. Kraemer. "Improving Performance of Heavy Load Carriage During High-Intensity Combat-Related Tasks." Strength and Conditioning Journal 37, no. 4 (2015): 43-52. doi:10.1519/ssc.0000000000000136.
- Marine Corps Operational Test and Assessment Activity. Ground Combat Element Integration Task Force: Experimental Assessment Report. August 2015. Available at: https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=2504584-mcotea-loe-3-gce.... Accessed January 26, 2019.
- Murphy, William G. "The Sex Difference in Haemoglobin Levels in Adults — Mechanisms, Causes, and Consequences." Blood Reviews 28, no. 2 (2014): 41-47. Accessed February 3, 2019. doi:10.1016/j.blre.2013.12.003. Available at: http://www.sah.org.ar/pdf/eritropatias/CADAE1408C.pdf. Accessed January 25, 2019.
- Orme, Geoffrey J., E. James Kehoe, and Stuart B. Pascoe. "Gender Integration into the Combat Arms: More Unknowns than Knowns for Team Cohesion." November 2016. Available at: http://www.defence.gov.au/ADC/ADFJ/Documents/issue_200/Orme_Nov_2016.pdf. Accessed January 25, 2019.
- Pellerin, Cheryl. "Carter Opens All Military Occupations, Positions to Women." U.S. Department of Defense. December 3, 2015. Available at: https://dod.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/632536/carter-opens-all-mil.... Accessed January 25, 2019.
- Roy, Tanja C. Sara R. Piva, Bryan C. Christiansen, Johnathan D. Lesher, Peter M. Doyle, Rachel M. Waring, James J. Irrgang, Charity G. Moore, Teresa L. Brininger, and Marilyn A. Shape. “Heavy Loads and Lifting Are Risk Factors for Musculoskeletal Injuries in Deployed Female Soldiers.” Military Medicine, Volume 181, Issue 11/12, November-December 2016, Available at: https://doi.org/10.7205/MILMED-D-15-00435. Accessed February 03, 2019.
- Roy, Tanja C., Bradley M. Ritland, and Marilyn A. Sharp. “A Description of Injuries in Men and Women While Serving in Afghanistan.” Military Medicine, Volume 180, Issue 2, February 1, 2015, Pages 126–131, https://doi.org/10.7205/MILMED-D-14-00321
- Sandbakk, Øyvind, Guro Strøm Solli, and Hans-Christer Holmberg. "Sex Differences in World-Record Performance: The Influence of Sport Discipline and Competition Duration." International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance 13, no. 1 (2018): 2-8. doi:10.1123/ijspp.2017-0196. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316849039_Sex_Differences_in_Wo... erformance_The_Influence_of_Sport_Discipline_and_Competition_Duration. Accessed February 03, 2019.
- Seck, Hodge. "Marine Corps Shelves Futuristic Robo-Mule Due to Noise Concerns." Military.com. Available at: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/12/22/marine-corps-shelves-futu.... Accessed February 03, 2019.
- Sutherland, Michelle A. B, Richard J. Wassersug, and Karen R. Rosenberg. "From Transsexuals to Transhumans in Elite Athletics." In Transgender Athletes in Competitive Sport.” London: Routledge, 2017.
- Thibault, Valerie, Marion Guillaume, Geoffery Berthelot, Nour El Helou, Karine Schall, Laurent Quinquis, Hala Nassif, Muriel Tafflet, Sylvie Escolano, Olivier Hermine, and JeanFrancois Toussaint. "Women and Men in Sport Performance: The Gender Gap Has Not Evolved since 1983." Journal of Sports Science and Medicine 9 (June 1, 2010): 214-23. Available at: https://www.jssm.org/volume09/iss2/cap/jssm-09-214.pdf. Accessed February 3, 2019.
- U.S. Army Center for Army Lessons Learned. The Modern Warrior’s Combat Load; Dismounted Operations in Afghanistan. Available at: http://thedonovan.com/archives/modernwarriorload/ModernWarriorsCombatLoa.... Accessed January 26, 2019.
- U.S. Department of Defense. Joint Publication 4-02: Joint Health Services. Washington, DC: Government Publishing, 2018. Available at: https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/jp4_02ch1.pdf?ver.... Accessed February 20, 2019.
- Williams, Antony · G. "Brugger & Thomet's MP9 in 6.5×25 CBJ." Small Arms Defense Journal. October 14, 2011. Available at: http://www.sadefensejournal.com/wp/?p=625. Accessed January 25, 2019.
- Wojcik, Barbara E., Rebecca J. Humphrey, Bogdan Czejdo, and L. Harrison Hassell. "U.S. Army Disease and Nonbattle Injury Model, Refined in Afghanistan and Iraq." Military Medicine 173, no. 9 (2008): 825-35. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7205/MILMED.173.9.825. Accessed February 20, 2019.
Dr. Franklin Annis is a researcher in the field of military education theory. He has been closely studying and advancing improved theories of military leader development for over 8 years. He created the “Evolving Warfighter” YouTube channel to share his research on Military Self-Development. The views presented are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Department of Defense or its components.
- Fred's blog
- Login to post comments