John Boyd was arguably the greatest American military theorist since the sea power strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan at the turn of the 20th Century. Best known for his formulation of the OODA Loop as a model for competitive decision making, Colonel Boyd was also an original thinker in developing tactics for air-to-air combat, designing warplanes, and the fluid, mobile warfare known to the Germans as blitzkrieg and to modern armies as "maneuver warfare." As much as anyone, John Boyd was the architect of the two great campaigns against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, both the 1991 liberation of Kuwait and the 2003 "March Up" to Baghdad by the U.S. Army and Marines. But what of the costly, drawn-out insurgency that baffled the invaders once Baghdad had fallen? In this short book, Daniel Ford applies Boyd's thinking to the problem of counter-insurgency. Unlike the U.S. military in 2003, it turns out that Boyd had indeed put considerable thought into what might transpire after an effective "blitz" campaign. Indeed, he found many similarities between "blitzers" and what he preferred to call guerrillas, and he thought that they might be defeated by turning their own tactics against them. This is an expanded version of a dissertation submitted in the War Studies program at King's College London.
A Vision So Noble
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About the Author
Daniel Ford has spent a lifetime reading and writing about the wars of the past hundred years, from the Irish rebellion of 1916 to the counter-guerrilla operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is best known for his history of the American Volunteer Group--the 'Flying Tigers' of the Second World War--and his Vietnam novel that was filmed as Go Tell the Spartans, starring Burt Lancaster. Most recently, he has turned to the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Germany and Soviet Russia. Most of his books and many shorter pieces are available for Amazon's Kindle ebook reader. He lives and works in New Hampshire.
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Daniel Ford has spent a lifetime reading and writing about the wars of the past hundred years, from the Irish rebellion of 1916 to the counter-guerrilla operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is best known for his history of the American Volunteer Group--the 'Flying Tigers' of the Second World War--and his Vietnam novel that was filmed as 'Go Tell the Spartans', starring Burt Lancaster. Most recently, he has turned to the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Germany and Soviet Russia. Most of his books and many shorter pieces are available for Amazon's Kindle ebook reader. He lives and works in New Hampshire. (Photo by Liz Handy, London)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Overview of John Boyd's Thinking,
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This review is from: A Vision So Noble: John Boyd, the OODA Loop, and America's War on Terror (Paperback)
Dan Ford, after exhaustive study of all the available sources on Boyd's thought has written a very useful and concise summary of his major theories. Having read everything written about John Boyd, I found Ford's treatment perhaps the best treatment of his thought for those not interested or unable to invest the time in the very dense work of Osinga or the more breezy account by Coram. Ford's treatment of the OODA loop is particularly helpful and may be the best explication available. If this short work is your first introduction to John Boyd, it will surely whet your appetite for more. As others have said, for a concentration on the theories, see Hammond; for more on the personal life, read Coram. If you're willing to be challenged intellectually, spend time with Osinga. Well done, Mr. Ford!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Helpful addition to the John Boyd literature,
By Nemo (Herndon, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Vision So Noble: John Boyd, the OODA Loop, and America's War on Terror (Kindle Edition)
Short, but an interesting read. I'm not sure if this would be the best introduction to Boyd's work, but it fills some gaps and provides some clarity around Boyd's ideas. Coram is a good place to start if you're interested in the person; Hammond if you're more interested in his ideas or Osinga if you're an academic. If you've already read the above, you should read this, too.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
expanded version of two earlier monographs,
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This review is from: A Vision So Noble: John Boyd, the OODA Loop, and America's War on Terror (Kindle Edition)
A Vision So Noble is available both in paperback and in Kindle e-book editions. It's loosely based on my thesis in War Studies for King's College London, which a while ago I published as an e-book under the title "Let the Americans Live in the Village" (no longer available). I also incorporated two other academic papers on the same general topic, one of which is also available for the Kindle: When Sun-tzu met Clausewitz: the OODA Loop and the invasion of Iraq.
What fascinated me about John Boyd was the elegant way in which his OODA Loop--the notion that all human competition is a cycle of observation > orientation > decision > action, until one of the competitors goes down in defeat--provided an escape from Clausewitz's very rigid triad of planning > strategy > tactics. It's not all top-down, as later German military doctrine preached. Military operations must also be bottom-up, with the "strategic corporal" making decisions (calling in an air strike on a village) that can affect the reputation of a nation. John Boyd died before America became fully engaged in the war on terror. Had he lived a bit longer, he would certainly have addressed the question I raise here: how to battle a terrorist enemy? There's a clue in his call for "a vision rooted in human nature so noble, so attractive that it not only attracts the uncommitted and magnifies the spirit and strength of its adherents, but also undermines the dedication and determination of any competitors or adversaries...." Blue skies! -- Dan Ford
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