My spin on the OODA loop
August 13th, 2010First, here is how I explain it. Col Boyd was a American pilot in the Korean War, he hypothesized that from his research and experience that pilots who survived their first couple of dogfights were more likely to survive the rest of their tour, and the reason for this was the speed at which they processed information. Here is the loop-
Observe- you see the stimulus
Orient- you process what it means to you
Decide- based on the overall situation you decide which action to take
Act- you do something
The example I give to people in classes is by calling their name and tossing them a pen or coin underhand-
Observe-they see my hand moving in an underhand toss motion, because of previous experience they recognize that I am going to throw something even if they cannot see it.
Orient- the begin to make calculations based on the size of something I could fit in my hand as well as how far away they are from me.
Decide- they decide they need to put their hands up and protect their face.
Act- they put their hands up and “attempt” to catch the object.
Over the last several months I have been contracted to teach High Threat Driving to military personal from plumbers to pilots that are getting ready to deploy. It has almost become a joke as to who are the flyers in the class. The reason is that I have concluded that although they are high speed and proficient in the ground, their skill sets do not readily transfer to driving. On the flip side you would not want me to fly a plane you were on. On the other hand when I have police or firemen in the class they smoke it.
So where am I going with this? That you need to have exposure to, and train in environments that as closely resemble the environments where you will be most likely to fight. When I say exposure what I mean is just spending time. Time around, the people, sights, sounds, and climate. Training is too often sterile and point focused. The more at home and comfortable you become in chaotic situations the more efficiently you process information, and make decisions.
For most people here that would be going through the normal day, where ever you live and work. See if your local police department offers ride alongs. Instead of just having them assign and officer to you, try striking up a conversation with and officer who inspires confidence. You don’t want to get stuck with someone retired on duty. This ride along may chance the way you look at things.
If a ride along is not available to you consider training with someone who is very familiar with the environments you are interested in. This will usually be police, whether they are training firearms or martial arts. They may be able to point things out to you that you had not thought of. Usually the reality of the aftermath of a use of force.
Lastly, read your local newspaper. Look for homicides, rapes, robberies. Things that happened where you live and work. Consider the time of day, background of people, how they came in contact with each other, how many people were involved. Learn areas and addresses where these things happened. Play over in your mind what you would have done differently.
When I go somewhere to teach I will often look up new stories and follow them up. For instance I was in IL, Quad Cities area training. Not long ago they had a shooting their on a bridge where and officer shot and killed a suspect after he bit a chunk out of his face. I had studied the case and have my own notions about it, some were confirmed when touring the scene, and some were proved wrong.
This is a mental game, a pyramid which the foundation is preparation and mindset, the very tip of is pulling the trigger. To solely concentrate onf the physical action of pulling the trigger instead of awareness, and avoidance first almost insures failure.




