Patterns of Conflict
| The works of |
| Works of John Boyd |
|---|
OODA WIKI Edition
Quantico Transcription
Boyd: Okay? Now look at this, blitz and counter blitz, main features. Heavy intelligence and recce action. Infiltration/penetration or penetration/isolation. You penetrate. You isolate. And then you subdue—
[46:39]
[End of Tape 4, Side 1]
[Begin Tape 4, Side 2]
Boyd: —Generate surprise, mission/schwerpunkt philosophy, acceptance of gaps and risk. In fact, they don't regard them as “gaps” and “risks.” They regard them as “avenues” and “opportunities.” It’s only a gap and risk if you're not confident. If you're setting things up, then it’s an avenue and opportunity. Let him come through and cut him to ribbons. It is a risk if you think it is a risk. It is a gap if you think it's a gap. But if you think it's an avenue, it's an opportunity to hose the guy. It's a mental, it’s a mindset problem. That's why I've got quotes around gaps and risks. Think of gaps as an avenue, and risks as an opportunity.
Echelon-in-depth. Always echelon-in-depth because that gives you a basis to adjust. If you got everybody up forward, they get behind you, and Christ, you lose your whole force. Reserve— keep reconstituting, setting up all the time. Only use what you have to. Keep reconstituting your reserves, because that gives you the basis for adjusting in the future, generating uncertainty in his mind and dealing with uncertainty. And then your positions that we talked about before. Keep changing though, so that the guy you're presenting, a very ambiguous, deceptive, or uncertain picture. He can’t understand what you're up to. Makes it very— he doesn’t know how to deal with you. See, when a guy can sand-table you, that means you're predictable. You heard [unintelligible]. You want to make it so he can never sand-table you.