Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

by Robert Coram

Generals are allowed to indulge their egos as few people in business or government are allowed to do. A general is surrounded by people whose careers depend on what he says on their ERs. Every word he utters is considered as if Moses brought it down from the mountaintop. What in most of us would be harmless quirks seem rather bizarre when codified by a man with stars on his shoulder. And as the number of stars on a man’s shoulder grows arithmetically, his bizarre behavior grows exponentially. Stories abound of a general who would let no one in his office who had a mustache, of a general who ordered a blinking red light be turned on in the hall before he entered as a signal to lesser mortals that they must disappear, of a general who ordered that the back side of traffic signs be painted brown, of a general who ordered that no one walk beside him but instead a respectful two paces behind, of a general who ordered that subordinates wear the same type of headgear he wore, then hourly switched between a cap and a hat. Generals rule with such absolute power that few dare confront them, so when someone has the audacity to point out they are wrong—as did Spinney—they often have no recourse but to fall back on hyperbole and emotion and personal arguments. The Air Force knew no other way to react toward Spinney.