On the OODA

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

You already know that the OODA is, "Observation, Orientation, Decision, and Action" loop developed as a teaching tool by Colonel Boyd, a fighter pilot. By itself it isn't that much but when explained fully and completely through his works one can understand how it can help folks understand the process we humans go though to see things, to orient on them, then with that information we need to make decisions that drive the next action loop. 

Now, even that is not enough and because this is about self-protection of self and others as a civilian according to social realities along with legal and legal system mandates we have to drive a bit deeper to make the loop work for us as a training tool toward understanding and applicable methodologies. 

OBSERVATION

The standard retort to that is to look and see through awareness and then the individual is pretty much left to figure out on their own what that awareness is and how it must be used. To see you have to have concepts to translate stimuli into something usable in this sense, self-protection of aggression and violence. Concepts are those encoded, trained, things in our mind gathered by a variety of means such as, "words both spoken and written and recorded; thoughts, idea's, theories, etc., from academics coupled with training and experiences that come from the intent and concepts that are aggressions and violence. In short, a whole lot of things that are often left to 'assumptions and assumed understanding' because most teachers don't really know how to articulate and teach such things so the sound bites are left to suggest and influence. 

If you DO NOT HAVE a solid foundation of knowledge and understanding that are the very concepts of your efforts to handle self-protection then you are NOT seeing and therefore not OBSERVING and then UNABLE to trigger that concept so that you actually can ORIENT on the situation(s). 

This is just example and very, very basic with the hopes one understands a lot of research, study and applicable practice in training are required to achieve successes in self-protection... in short, learn the 'rest of the story!'

Observation done properly, completely and comprehensively means you now have the awareness to trigger orientation on stimuli at a distance and with enough time to take actions toward avoidance, etc.

ORIENTATION

If you have all the data and concepts then orientation can be achieved as long as you are aware and you listen to that little voice in your head, or the rumbling in the stomach or gut, that says, "ops, something ain't right." If you are not buried in some electronic do-dad taking your awareness away so you can't see, can't here and can't feel your environment then the information and concepts in the observation loop are frozen, distracted and suppressed. 

To orient you have to know, be aware, recognize and then trigger trained processes that allow you to orient on what may be triggering your little voice. If you bypass the observation learning process then the rest of the loop just... FREEZES!

You need all, I mean all the information available so when the brain, the lizard, starts processing it in real-time you can come to conclusions that when you trigger the next step in the loop you can find answers in the blink of an eye. 

It should be noted here that if you have the full monty of conceptual data necessary to make decisions and actions that follow you are not just trigger actions of a physical type, i.e., the fight, but you are including those decisions and actions necessary to avoid and/or deescalate entirely. 

DECISION

Decisions are about what concepts are necessary to take the next step of actions and if you have trained in the proper reality-based adrenal stress-conditions that are as close as you can get to real violence and aggressions then the decision you do make, if any, will not suffice to end an attack. 

The decisions you need to make to act must be such that they encompass all possibilities and not just those cool movie-like combative fight efforts that are cool up on the movie screen but, as you already know, not so cool in the real self-protection for self-defense defenses. 

You also have to have the emotional stability, intelligence and maturity to allow the monkey to stay away and let in all answers that have nothing to do with status and ego and the cool-factor but honest legal and socially accepted endeavors that allow for all levels of self-protection from complete avoidance to handling ramifications of the after if violence happens. 

ACTIONS

• Are those self-defense moves realistic?
• Are they adequate to get the job done?
• Are they appropriate to the circumstances and situations according to social realities and both legal and legal system mandates?
• Is the level of force appropriate according to social realities and legal requirements?
• Is the level of force and the methods applied appropriate to all the above?

These and many other questions are required to be answered and articulated in order to make the entire loop process work. If you train and practice above and beyond the human instincts of "fight, flight or freeze" say in the fight process to the level that exceeds the moving chaotic line the legal and social mandates set in each moment and each situation then you are going to fail whether your self-protection model either succeeds or it fails. Either way, other bad things happen in this part.

OODA is a simple concept with some complex issues and needs and concepts that must be created, built and maintained to make it and the self-protection skills work to your benefit. The OODA overlap and intermix as it is processed with the ultimate goal to speed past the OD processes in such a manner as to trigger appropriate actions with little or no apparent though simply because you trained, practiced and applied ALL the knowledge and SKILLS necessary to handle any present moment situation. 

Even this article barely touches on what you need to understand and therefore apply appropriately to handle aggressions and violences. Don't miss a step and don't leave anything out as that will have catastrophic repercussions on your actions regardless of whether they work or whether they fail to work. 

For reference and sources and professionals go here: Bibliography (Click the link)