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Sat Jul 14 22:49:12 BST 2007

John Boyd, COL USAF was a seminal thinker about modern warfare, and  the 
essential father of some of our most advanced warplanes as well as the major  
proponent of the OODA theory that lead to the stunning successes of Desert  Storm. 
He was enough of an iconoclast that the only way he made COL was being so  
good at his job and with his ideas, that he was able to garner support from high 
 enough up the food chain to prevent his immediate superiors from canning  
him. 
Here's how he would have answered folks who felt it was necessary to  'get 
along to get ahead.' 
from http://www.trauma.org/index.php/community/list/url/http:list.ftech.net/pipermail/trauma-list/2007-July/_http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/comments/c455.htm_ 
(http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/comments/c455.htm)  
<block quote> 
The Colonel's Universal Teaching  
Col. John Boyd, his biographer Robert Coram reports in his  well-written 
book, had a speech he often gave to those who, like the fighter  pilot himself, 
found that doing right did not always mean doing well. Known as  the "To Be or 
To Do" speech, Boyd used it to rally flagging spirits of  apprentices who, 
until they became involved as one of his Acolytes, had appeared  fated to climb 
the highest rungs of conventional success. The tenets of this  speech reflected 
both his spirit and values:  
"One day you will come to a fork in the road. And you're going  to have to 
make a decision about what direction you want to go." [Boyd] 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 the 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 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. "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?"  
</block quote> 
I have a number of friends and comrades who are most probably  alive after 
DS/DS because of COL Boyd's ideas... 
ck 
Charles S. Krin DO FAAFP

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