In a program called Innovation Boot Camp, the Marine Corps demonstrated their superior ability for improvising. Brad Halsey, the originator of the program, created a hell week to weed out the scientists and engineers who wouldn’t be able to contribute under high-pressure conditions. He found that truck mechanics and radio repairmen from the Marines were better than engineers with degrees from Stanford or MIT at improvising rapid-fire solutions to problems such as making a rudimentary vehicle out of a pile of junk, creating a device to track cars, and devising grenade sensors.
