The John Boyd collection (merged thread)

[Cavguy]

Okay,

Probably stepping into a minefield here.

I was reading Selil's blog on the new Boyd book coming out and it got me thinking.

First, I'll admit ignorance similar to I had on EBO a few months ago. I've heard of OODA (big shrug of shoulders, failed to see how it could change my life in any away) and know he was a deep thinking fighter pilot who concentrated on how to do things faster/better/more efficiently. I also understand he was a magnetic personality, kind of a Tony Robbins for the military.

What continues to puzzle me is the almost Jesus-like devotion to the man by certain groups and organizations, like DNI and others. Reading some of the fanboi material I am wondering what he has done besides develop the OODA loop that makes him worthy of such reverence. I found this on an amazon.com review -

Personally, after becoming acquainted with Boyd's work (I carry printed copies of his only published work, an essay called Destruction and Creation, in my computer bag read while traveling---giving copies to clients and friends) my business has changed and to a great extent, my life has changed. Boyd's method of synthesizing data from disparate sources has helped me to help clients solve problems and exposed me to areas I would have never investigated otherwise.
This book is important and highly recommended.

(emphasis mine)

Frankly, the level of messianic devotion of Lind & Co. kind of makes me wary of the stuff surrounding him. The tone of many of the DNI publications is invested with a certainty of opinion that rivals Paul Wolfowitz.

A recent paper discussed here termed him "The greatest American military strategist". A pretty strong assertion.

So educate me (I'm prepared to be convinced) - what is the big deal?

[carl]

I am a bit baffled too. I read a biography of him and concluded that he gave a hell of a briefing, could articulate things well that guys like Grant, Chamberlin and Forrest had a demostrated mastery of and was a hell of a stick and rudder man. The legend came apart a little too when it was explained how he was able to pull off his fabled trick of putting a guy on his six then turning the tables on him in a very short time.

The only thing I can figure is the devotees' never read much about the Forrests of old or of other pilots. (the sayings attributed to Forrest "keep up the scare" etc., are the best.)

[carl]

Oh, I forgot. To me, his best work was the first thing he did, whereby he explained the things good pilots did to beat not so good pilots so the not so good pilots could get better.

[sullygoarmy]

CavGuy...I'm sure a marine type can jump in here but working with the Marine Version of BCTP (MSTP)...they worship his OODA loop. Every class they gave us involved something with the OODA loop. Easier to remember than MDMP I guess.

Remember, this is also big stuff if you are a civilian...very sexy. Observer, orient, decide and act....makes a great t-shirt for a weekend offsight.

[slapout9]

Link to zenpundit blog about how Glenn Beck is using John Boyd's Strategy construct of 3 levels. The Moral...The Mental...The Physical. The Moral is the first and most important and if you get that right all else will follow?


http://zenpundit.com/

[zenpundit]

Here's the permalink to the original post by Lexington Green:

http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/15295.html

FWIW: Lex's primary interest is politics and history but he is a serious aficianado of military history, especially 19th century British/Victorian period. His site, Chicago Boyz, a large conservative group blog, has occasionally been graced by familiar names like Wilf Owen, Chet Richards, Gian Gentile and Steve Metz. I post there too on occasion.


Here's the permalink to my post which links to both Green and Beck:

http://zenpundit.com/?p=3524

Personally, I don't know much about Beck, never having watched him, beyond what is said about him in the media/online (I'm not all that interested in writing about domestic political foodfights). Lex may be on target in terms of identifying Beck's intention or Beck's actions might just fit into Lex's larger analysis of a potential political strategy. Either way, it was a thought-provoking, if partisan, analysis.

[slapout9]

Zen, I don't know how much he knows about Boyd either, but he does use classic UW Propaganda techniques extremely well, Bob's World would recognize them instantly. He also boasts of having extensive ties to the Special Operations community how true that is I don't know. He uses my 3F technique(the relationship between family,friends and finances in criminal/political organizations) using a blackboard,chalk and pictures with absolute precision.....but often draws the wrong conclusions. But he definitely has struck a chord with the American public.

[slapout9]

From Zenpundit.

http://zenpundit.com/?p=3526#comment-21169

Link to GB's post from Friday....read the part about MLK pledge and how this goes with SWC own Robert C. Jones many post on MLK.
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/art...cle/198/39452/

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