Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

by Robert Coram

He quoted Sophocles: “One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day has been.”

His motivation was simple: to get as close as possible to the truth. He would have been the first to admit there is no absolute truth.

“Tiger, one day you will come to a fork in the road,” he said. “And you’re going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go.” He raised his hand and pointed. “If you go that way you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and you will get good assignments.” Then Boyd raised his other hand and pointed another direction. “Or you can go that way and you can do something—something for your country and for your Air Force and for yourself. If you decide you want to do something, you may not get promoted and you may not get the good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won’t have to compromise yourself. You will be true to your friends and to yourself. And your work might make a difference.” He paused and stared into Leopold’s eyes and heart. “To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That’s when you will have to make a decision. To be or to do? Which way will you go?”

“They know more and more about less and less until eventually they know everything about nothing”

whoever can handle the quickest rate of change is the one who survives.

The most amazing aspect of the OODA Loop is that the losing side rarely understands what happened.