It's worthwhile to note that this month's Soldier of Fortune magazine also has a revealing article about Air Force generals acting to protect themselves and their sacred cows, rather than the front-line pilots.
This isn't just Air Force and F16 history, the events covered affected all services, the military history ranges from the Korean war to the Gulf war. It includes an introduction into J. Boyd's thinking on conflict. According to the book, some put J. Boyd's work into the same class as Sun Tzu and Clausewitz. Similar to those two, his ideas have entered the lexicon of business strategy, and probably (though more quietly) into that of politics.
It's well worth the time. There are a couple of web sites dedicated to Mr Boyds work.. but I didn't note them on the first pass through the book, so you'll have to wait for somebody more thorough to find them .. or lookup 'OODA Loops' on the web.
I was never in the military, but J. Boyds approach to the problems of being right but non-orthodox while working in a large organization struck home to this cubicle dweller.
Boyd and Military Strategy
... From Air Force Fighter Pilot to Marine Corps Warfighting: Colonel John Boyd,
His Theories on War, and their Unexpected Legacy," thesis by Major Jeffrey L ...
www.d-n-i.net/second_level/boyd_military.htm - 43k - Cached - Similar pages
Warfighting, Brought to You by John Boyd
... of tactics at the Amphibious Warfare School, Marine Colonel Michael Wyly (decanting
wine, at right of picture) to retired Air Force Colonel John Boyd in 1979. ...
d-n-i.net/fcs/cowan_proceedings.htm - 28k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from d-n-i.net ]
Robert Coram | New
... F-15. Coram lives in Atlanta. | RETURN TO TOP |. "The military services
should welcome more people like Colonel John Boyd. He was ...
www.robertcoram.com/new.html - 16k - Cached - Similar pages
[DOC]A Security Model for Higher Education:
File Format: Microsoft Word 2000 - View as HTML
... The purpose of this paper is to explain how I adapted a process model developed
by Colonel John Boyd, USAF, called the OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act ...
www.giac.org/practical/Lance_Jordan_GSEC.doc - Similar pages
Barnes & Noble.com - Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art ...
... It is all there...Bravo! —William Diehl. From the Critics From James Schlesinger
The military services should welcome more people like Colonel John Boyd. ...
search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/ isbninquiry.asp?endeca=1&ean=9780316881463 - 46k - Cached - Similar pages
JOHN BOYD SYMPOSIUM
... Pvt57@aol.com" BULLETIN. The works of the late Colonel John Boyd, USAF
(ret) will be central to our study. Anyone interested in information ...
www.infowar.com/conf/confzc.html-ssi - 10k - Cached - Similar pages
www.infowar.com/iwftp/cspinney/c199.txt
... men? I met Colonel John Boyd in 1973, when I went to work for him
in the Pentagon as a 27-year-old captain in the Air Force. He ...
33k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.infowar.com ]
Another book on the "must read before I die list."
I better live to 120, or else go to prison for a long long time.
Also - I must be wrong, but my recollection is that Marine ground forces weren't used in Desert Storm except as a bluff. Can somebody set me straight on this?
I remember reading a book by Adolph Galland in which he claimed that Woerner Moelders (sp?) A German pilot, developed most modern combat fighter tactics.
As an AF Academy cadet in the mid '70's, I took a course taught by a particular Captain whose name now eludes me. This was a fascinating course that was, in effect, a class on "problem solving techniques". It was, hands down, one of the best courses I ever took. The "strawman" technique of building a solution, then tearing it down until very little remained......only to begin rebuilding your solution yet again, repeating this painful process over and over........was incredibly powerful.
The Captain had been a protege' of a Colonel who this Captain claimed to be the "father of the lightweight fighter program". The man was, apparently, a true genius......and my instructor couldn't say enough about him. I'm wondering if it was Boyd.
IF it was Boyd, two interesting tidbits passed on to us by the good Captain.
A) The Colonel once said that he could develop the best tank on earth.............because he knew absolutely nothing whatsoever about tanks.
B) The Colonel used to delight in the fact that his measured IQ was only 85. You read that right...........85.