This man changed my life.  And the US military.  And the field of strategy.  And really, the world.

But few have heard of him.  I’ll briefly summarize some of his major accomplishments –  wrote the Air Force study on dogfighting, inspired the development of the F-16 and A-10, father of the OODA loop, author of his magnum opus Patterns of Conflict, heavily influenced the strategy behind Desert Storm.  

For a fuller understanding of this great man’s life, I recommend Robert Coram’s biography.  Better still, read his works – all available for free online.  Their concepts are applicable to any field or avenue of life.  

A fighter pilot by training (with no official kills, he probably had a few unofficial ones), he was such a good one, he would challenge anyone to beat him from a superior position within 40 seconds.  He never lost.

He was outspoken, principled, highly intelligent.  An engineer, warrior-philosopher, scholar, thinker, teacher.  Never really accepted or valued by his branch, the Air Force, he was “adopted” by the Marines.  At his funeral, the Marines pinned their Globe and Anchor to his casket, a rare honor for someone not their own.

I used a lot of Boyd in my work.  Primarily his focus on the moral, mental, and physical dimensions of conflict.  I also once advised the real life Law and Order SVU commander – a former Marine, math major, and a fan of Boyd.  He taught the OODA loop to his staff in the context of sex crimes investigations – to disrupt the loops of perpetrators.  He was pleasantly surprised when he found out that I too was a disciple of Boyd.  Unfortunately like Boyd, the NYPD, his own organization did not value him and he got pushed out.

I call Boyd my kids’ patron saint.  A true warrior in all forms of the word.  He saved countless lives with his work.