What's OODA Got To Do With Training?

[Paul Gomez]

Recently, I was sitting through a lecture on OODA loops and the instructor said that the idea was to "bypass the Orientation phase" so as to decide and act more rapidly. This was not the first time that I'd heard someone say this, but it really bugs me to see this put forth. This is absolutely incorrect. Without proper Orientation, you cannot make correct descisions and you cannot initiate proper actions.

Take a look at the classic sketch:
http://www.belisarius.com/modern_business_strategy/boyd/essence/ooda_loop_sketch.htm

"Note how orientation shapes observation, shapes decision, shapes action, and, in turn, is shaped by the feedback...".

Orientation is developed, consciously and unconsciously, through our life experiences.

When we train, we are effecting our ability to orient. Think about it, if you have never had to deal with a big, hairy fist swinging towards your noggin, it will be a novel stimulus. You will not have a frame of reference immediately accessible to allow you to deal with it. However, if you have been exposed to the stimulus in training, you will be able to orient to it much quicker.

Tony Blauer refers to "Mental Blueprints and Psychological Voids" in his training program. Through being exposed to various situations in the training venue, you build up a stockpile of mental blueprints which allows you to orient more rapidly than someone who has never been exposed to those situations. Pyschological Voids are, simply, the lack of Mental Blueprints. If you have not considered the possibility of a given attack, if you have not worked it in training, then you have no frame of reference if it should occur in the real world. This leads to an inability to orient.

In law enforcement training, you sometimes hear reference to Stress Inoculation Training. It's roots are the same. It's purpose is the same. To expose officer's to situations in training so that they may better orient to the problems in the real world.

Proper orientation, which comes after observation (awareness of sensory input), is crucial to proper decision making and proper decision making leads to proper action. If you fail to orient, you fail to make appropriate decisions and you fail to take adequate actions.

Have you ever heard about how someone's "life flashed before their eyes" during a traumatic event? Want to know what that's all about? They are frantically attempting to ORIENT to an event that they have no frame of reference for. They are scrambling around through every iota of information stored in their brains, trying to make sense of what is happening.

Orientation is the phase that every elite athlete in the world struggles with. The fields of Performance Enhancement Psychology and Mental Toughness Training are both dedicated to improving the ability to orient and to recover when they have failed to orient correctly.

It's only after proper Orientation that Hick's Law and mental branching and all that other stuff comes into play. Minimizing the number of tools/ mental branches allows you to more efficiently and rapidly move through the Decision phase and iniate Action, but they both presume that you have correctly assessed the situation up to that point.

Sorry for the rant. Comments, thoughts, BMWs.....

 

[fastbolt]

Well, based simply upon your description, it does indeed sound as though the instructor might not have been doing any favors for his (her?) students.

Without naming names, can you offer a bit of a resume for the instructor's qualifications? Just wondering if this was a possible case of misspeaking what he really meant, inexperience, or just someone trying to reinvent the wheel without really understanding the "wheelness" of the wheel in the first place.

I agree with your description of the importance of properly understanding Orientation, and how it's inextricably connected to both the Observation & Decision phase of a situation.

I think some students of martial disciplines, especially related to Asian martial arts, fail to grasp that when someone describes the ability to "Act without thinking", it's not the same thing as acting without awareness, or acting without understanding ... and "awareness" (Observation) implies the necessity of knowledge and understanding of the necessity of action ... which is gained through knowledge, training and life experience ... and is Orientation. Otherwise, how can a Decision be reached, even on a subconscious level? Talk about a frame-of-reference problem ...

I think that the ability to fully understand the Orientation process, and how it's affected by our cummulative experience, knowledge, training and emotional states, is sometimes less than properly emphasized by some instructors. Proper training and acquired knowledge can be used to "accelerate " the Orientation process, but I don't see how it's possible to completely eliminate the Orientation phase of our mental process, not and still be able to reach an appropriate Decision.

How can we expect "people" to properly and effectively execute the Decision part of the process, after only Observing something, without being able to Orient themselves within the situation? Machines, perhaps, but only within the parameters of their programming ... and even then, wouldn't their Programming incorporate key elements of the Observation aspect of the loop?

Every time we ask a student WHY they just did something during a range training scenario, and receive an "I don't know" answer, it makes you wonder if they failed to properly perform the Orientation part of the loop, doesn't it? We immediately address this by discussing not only the possible tactical responses and shooting skills that might better address the particular circumstances, but the importance of recognition of when different skills and tactics are needed. Orientation.

Not having a particular skill or bit of tactical knowledge is one thing. However, having the necessary knowledge or skill, and then failing to recognize the need for a particular course of action which incorporates that knowledge or skill, might indicate a problem in the critical Orientation aspect of their thought process. Rushing to perform an action without having Oriented yourself to the exact problem ... can certainly be a problem.

Hmmm ... Maybe the content of my posting indicates a problem in MY Orientation process. :banghead:

Well, you know what I mean, don't you?

I think I understand what you mean, at any rate.

 

[El Tejon]

Paul, so, he is talking about immediate action drills? If so, does not one still have to orient himself to the situation, right. E.g. "Oh, hammer and anvil ambush, I do this."

Bypass is the wrong word/term. How about, "fast forward through."

 

[Paul Gomez]

I've actually heard this "bypass orientation" thing from a couple of different sources, so I guess it's one of those things where someone learns a thing[in this case OODA] in a specific venue and doesn't recognize the broader implications of it or they assume that the students understand what they intend to say [rather than what they actually say]. Since it's impossible to bypass orientation, I assume what they are going for is to move through it rapidly (which I agree with), but the only way to move through Orientation rapidly, correctly, is to have an internalized understanding of the concepts involved, which allows you to rapidly comprehend/orient to the reality of what is going on. Not by trying to ignore it. Of course, if you could bypass orientation, you'd wind up shooting everything that made you flinch.

Observe
Large, fast approaching mammal. Fast approach=Big & getting bigger. Speed, proximity = aggressive action.

Orientation
[Bypass]

Decision
Fight, Flight or Freeze
Choose Fight

Action
Bang

Congradulations, you just shot the pizza guy who was rushing out of the store to make a delivery.

Cognition takes place during the Orientation phase. Without cognition, I don't think that you can justify your actions.

 

[sanchezero]

Dammit, man! Whats all this thinking nonsense? Trust your feelings , Luke.

I think too many people like to rely on thier 'instincts' (which we don't have) but never put in the necessary time, thought and attention-to-process to develop reflexive skill.

 

[Jeff White]

I don't see how you can bypass orientation. You may have trained so well to recognize a threat that orientation seems automatic or that you bypassed it, but you really didn't. I think the people teaching this are mistaking being so oriented to a threat that it feels like you are bypassing orientation for actually bypassing it. They are taking the old example of automatically moving your foot off the gas and covering the brake pedal with it when the ball rolls into the street down the block with bypassing orientation. In reality you don't bypass orienttion then, you are so familiar with the problem posed by the ball that you seem like you bypass it.

This could be very dangerous with more complicated problems. You can't possibly wargame every posible scenario in your mind. Even El-Ts example of an immediate action drill has an orientation phase to it. Something triggers your execution of the drill.

Not enough new stuff out there. Some people have to continually change things in order to fill classes and sell books and magazine articles. Personally, I've never seen anything wrong with the basics.

Jeff

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Sadly, this instructor, like so many others, actually fails to understand what the OODA is, not what the letters mean, but what the concept is and that is that it is nothing but an explanatory theory to explain the decision making process that is used ... specifically for combat, but is essentially used for any other sort of decision process. There are many way different ways to describe such processes and OODA loop is one of them.

Contrary to the bizarre instructor, you really don't have the cognitive ability to consciously remove a step of the OODA loop process.

Along with the discussion so far, you can't bypass orientation. You simply don't get to Observe, Decide, and then Act. What is missing is called Orientation. It could go by a variety of other names such a Comprehension or Value Assignment. You observe something, then much do the math, so to speak, and Comprehend what it is that you are observing and that process may involve the database search for previous circumstances noted previously, or some form or fashion. In essence, you are assigning a value to that which has been observed and based on said value, you are now prepared to make a decision. Those people who no frame of reference will have the longest period of delay as they try to unconsciously compile relevant information to make sense of what is going on. Once some form of Comprehension or Value Assessment is reached, then one may decide and Act.

Suggesting that one can cut a stage out of the mental process to make it work better or faster is a kin to saying that you don't need to point your gun at the target before pulling the trigger and that you can still expect the round to hit the target. Either in OODA or the physical act of pointing the gun, they are critical steps that cannot be removed from the processes.

Remember, OODA Loop is a 100% non-empirical mental construct explanatory theory of a process we perceive to go on inside people's heads

 

[Sean Smith]

You can't "bypass" orientation if you belive that Boyd's OODA loop tells you something about the underlying mental process for dealing with conflict. You might as well talk about pulling the trigger without moving your finger. It is completely illogical.

Sometimes I wonder if the OODA loop isn't expected to carry more weight than it ought to when used out of its original context. Boyd presented it about 10 years AFTER he came up with his theories for one-on-one aerial combat (his "New Conception for Air-to-Air Combat," aka "Energy-Manuver Theory"*), and it was as far as I know first presented in his huge "Patterns of Conflict" briefing, which dealt with military strategy. For folks who wouldn't know Sun Tzu from Sonny & Cher to apply OODA to everything from finance to gunfights speaks well for OODA's fundamental insight, but also often makes it clear how the folks in question don't really understand what it is about in the first place. Seems like OODA is being used as a gimmick by people who can't really think.

Which is a long way of saying the instructor has no clue, and probably should skip challenging subjects like Boyd's theories of conflict and stick to Massad Ayoob's silly gun rag stories.

---------
* Which ended with the handy nugget, "He who can handle the quickest rate of change survives."

 

[Double Naught Spy]

OODA Loop is just another description theory much like the color codes schematic. It has its place in description, but people lose touch which they transfer it from the original and correct format and start giving it magical qualities, it takes on a life.

You heard about being told to just lose one stage of the cycle. I have been taught in several classes to "get inside" or "upset" another's OODA loop in order to get a tactical advantage. There is some sort of stupid belief that if you are ahead in the cycle of the OODA loop that you will then be able to defeat your opposition. This is where the notion goes from functional descriptive text on a thought process to some magical conversion into being a METHOD to apply in combat. Being ahead of somebody else's OODA loop is far from making you somehow superior in combat as what you have to do to be victorious in combat may still be much greater than what your opposition has to do. Suffice it to say that being ahead in the loop may just mean you understand your own death first. Depending on mindsets, the OODA loop cycle may be as little as 0.20 seconds. So you 'reset' somebody else's and you both have the same 0.20 cycle. That means you are ahead of the opposition by some fraction of 0.20. That isn't much time. It might be enough to win, but it is far from some sort of huge tactical advantage as is played up in the instruction of OODA Loop to gun students.

Let me overly simplify things on OODA and Color Codes, a sort of Father Guido Sarduche 5 Second School of Tactical Understanding...

Color Codes means Be Aware. Be more aware when circumstances mandate.

Applied OODA Loop - Make your opposition react to you.

While the world cruises by with people who have PIV computer brains, I must function with my tiny Commodore 64 brain and take these great big complicated concepts and break them down to the smallest number of useful parts or my pea-brained computer just won't handle them.

I like something Clint Smith taught when refering to precision rifle shooters. He noted they get bogged down and overloaded with too much mental and physical stuff. While shooting from the tower just a couple hundred yards, he noticed several shooter with considerable experience can't manage to get off first shots fast. Why? Since they are not shooting level, they decide they need to calculate the angle, distance, and determine the new drop rate based on the information to adjust aim accordingly from how their rifles are set up for level shooting. As he notes, "It is just 200 yards, just shoot the threat! The 1/2" difference isn't relevant and fixation on the innane will get you or somebody else killed." The last part is some really good words to consider...."will get you or somebody else killed."

 

[Shawn Dodson]

The only part of the OODA Loop that can be "bypassed" is the Decision phase, in which one is able to quickly understand the situation (Observe and Orient), and then perform intuitive decisionmaking vs. analytical decisionmaking.

In reality one isn't "bypassing" the Decision phase. Instead, one progresses through the Decision phase much more efficiently.

MCDP 1-3, Tactics (page 27), describes it as, "Leaders with strong situational awareness and broad experience can act quickly because they have an intuitive understanding of the situation, know what needs to be done, and know what can be done. This insight has often been called coup d'oeil (pronounced koo dwee), a French term meaning literally "stroke of the eye." It has also been called "tactical sense."

This is what training is all about -- to develop intuitive skills that enable you to progress through the OODA loop at a faster tempo than your adversary. You take in information, process its meaning (i.e., read the situation), make a decision, and implement the decision.

 

[G-Raptor]

I don't think it's possible to "bypass" any part of the OODA loop; it's a continuous feedback system.

Observe: There's a long, brown object on the ground
Orient: Is it a stick or a snake?
Decide: Ignore, avoid, or strike
Act: May be null

Orientation is the process of putting the observation into context. It's affected by the current environment and past experience. Without a context, no decision can be made. However, we are hard-wired with a default context of danger[/i] when confronted with an unexpected simulus; i.e. the startle response.

Orientation can be nearly instanteous (or predetermined), giving the impression that it is being bypassed, but it is not. For example, you are standing on the range and you are told that you will shoot the El Presidente drill, but you have your back to the targets and can't see their position. When the buzzer sounds, you turn and observe the position of the targets. Your orientation is already set (you know the context), and you have already made the decision to shoot (and in what order). So it "appears" that you have bypassed two steps in the OODA loop, but you have not.

Another example: You come home one evening in a relaxed mood. As you enter the house, you hit the lightswitch by the door. You are immediately confronted by a large man who yells "Hey, turn off the f@#*%ing light!" . You have to immediately orient to this new information; is it a threat or is it your brother trying to get your goat? If you were expecting your brother to visit, the orientation will be faster than if you were not.

Orientation can be "reflexive" if you have had similar prior experiences. If it's a first time occurrence, it can take longer.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Yep, they are not by-passing the Decision stage as much as they are working on a pre-programmed reaction. In short, whatever is come up with in the Orientation stage may determine what the Decision is and hence what the action is.

Getting away from all the big examples of what commanders do, break it down to the simple. You are at a match. You walk to the like for your stage and when the timer beeps, you do you thing. How did that happen so quickly? Simple. You "Observed" the sound. Sorry, I didn't make up the stupid names of OODA Loop stages. Put differently, you received empirical stimulus. Your mental computer did its search and determined that this tone is what you associate with the GO tone of the match and that in fact it was YOUR go tone since you were on the shooting line. Without much additional consideration, you draw and fire.

You were in a very short decision tree. You had two responses for the situation, draw or not draw. You didn't draw until the right empirical stimulus was presented. This "decision" was made by you, but the leg work of the decision was made before you got to the firing line. You did not react as a robot to the BEEP. You did decide to draw and fire because you had decided previously it was okay to do so if the criterion were met. So the Decision was NOT bypassed. IN fact, most of the decision process turns out to have taken MUCH longer, only you did the work prior to when needed.

You can't cut any of the stages of the OODA Loop and still Act on a stimulus. You can cut out Decide and Act from the OODA Loop and stand slack jawed in fear, amazement, or whatever. Your OODA Loop will be shorter, but you will not have completed the cycle.

 

[Shawn Dodson]

Yep, they are not by-passing the Decision stage as much as they are working on a pre-programmed reaction.

Not a preprogrammed reaction but an intuitive sense (gut feeling) of the situation. I refer you to "Implicit Guidance and Control" from Orientation to Action, as it appears in the OODA Loop Sketch. In essence it "bypasses" Decision.

While I don't believe competition shooting (as presented) is a valid example of the OODA Loop in action, I'll just go with the example that's already been presented. Suppose that when you turn your back while awaiting the beep, someone secretly changes the all targets to no-shoot targets. Thus when you hear the beep and you turn to engage the targets you're faced with an unexpected situation. If you execute a preprogrammed reaction and shoot any of the targets, you failed to adapt to the new situation. Reality did not match your expectations and the penalty you accrue will depend on how quickly you can cycle through your OODA Loop to determine what the proper action is, either to stop shooting the no-shoot targets or to not press the trigger at all. If or when you realize the situation (observe and orient) you won't pause to analyze the situation, you'll just intuitively stop shooting.

You "Observed" the sound. Sorry, I didn't make up the stupid names of OODA Loop stages.

My understanding is Boyd used the term "Observe" because you form a mental picture from what you sense.

For example, from a technology standpoint, modern SONAR systems display sound as a visual depiction, which can alert an operator to a situation that would otherwise go undetected.

 

[msneen]

Excellent Thread guys. I've been working in this direction too. A friend showed me this article on auto racing. http://supervroum.free.fr/pilotageetcerveau2.htm The author suggests that the OODA cycle applies to the conscious mind. In activities that happen under stress and compressed time frames, it is more efficient to use the subconscious mind, as a couple of you mentioned above. The author uses an analogy of the subconscious mind working like a "Template Engine", matching templates directly with "Observations" to link the correct action. Whether this runs under the OODA cycle, or has it's own cycle is an interesting question. He goes on to suggest that the conscious mind should be trained to quietly "Observe", so that it is ready to jump in if the subconscious mind runs into a situation that it can't match a previously trained template. Then it jumps in, runs a few OODA cycles and turns control back to the subconscious. I've been playing with it in flying, martial arts and force on force training. It does seem to be a very efficient way to use the brain.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

The "template" of the subconcious is the pre-programming I mentioned. It may also go by the name of conditioning or conditioned response. It shortens the decision tree, but it is still part of the OODA loop at a simple level. OODA loops get 'reset' when there is some sort of situational factor that does not match any of the training or expected responses. For example, say your opponent bursts into flames. Chances are, that is going to stimy you quite a bit as you assess what has happend and try to come up with a new and more relevant course of action relative to the parameter change.

Unfortunately, you don't get to decide whether you are going to get to use your subconscious or conscious mind in any given situation. They work simultaneously, each guiding each other and each responding to each other and they do this all the time.

It is NOT intuition and intuition does not come into play. If you observe, hence orient to the situation, and then alter your behavior accordingly, such as to not shoot or stop shooting at No SHOOT targets, then you have made a decision.

Now, if you decision to not shoot NO SHOOT targets that do not have an empirically perceived attribute that designates them as no shoot, then maybe that would be intuition. If you see they are NO SHOOT and stop shooting, you have observed, oriented, decided, and acted. You OODA'd it!

 

[msneen]

I agree with your statement that it is not intuition.

I will need to think about your statement that you can't decide whether to use your conscious or subconscious. Numerous martial arts have drills and exercises to teach clearing the mind, using the subconscious, and keeping the conscious ready to jump in.

I'm also witholding judgement on whether or not the subconscious goes through OODA cycles. It undoubtedly goes through some kind of cycle, but it may be something like Observe --> Match Template --> Act. The subconscious seems to be much faster at doing known things. I suspect part of the reason for that speed is that it is doing less.

If the mind is being used as the article I posted suggests, then the person bursting into flames is what kicks the subconscious out of it's loops(whatever activities they may consist of), and starts the conscious in the OODA loop.

If you have any experience with computer networking, a couple friends of mine compared it to the difference between a switch and a router. A router looks at a packet of information, examines it, and makes a decision as to where to send it, perhaps like the conscious. A switch compares specific points on a packet to known patterns it is looking to match, and if it finds them, it sends the packet to a particular place, perhaps like the subconscious.