Training the Whole Circle: Blending Boyd’s Circle and Cooper’s Color Codes
Stephen Cliffe blends the traditional graphical representations of the OODA Loop and Cooper’s Color Codes into a new hybrid graphic. He believes this new graphic reinforces a conclusion that current law enforcement training often neglects important skill sets.
Stephen Cliffe:
We (John, Fred and I) all seem to be in general agreement that the majority of an individual’s training time, especially if they are Law Enforcement Officers, is spent on the “act” side of the OODA loop and we all pretty much concur that there is a detrimental disconnect between the action training and the all important process used to get there. The culprit? The premise of most personal protection/tactical training is that there is a well-defined scenario that can be met with force on force within a defined set of parameters. This leaves out several key skill sets that need to be addressed inside the OODA loop.
When we neglect fine tuning observe through orient into decide steps we pass up vital training, specifically skills that would speed our processing and better inform how the final action. We need to particularly look at training rapid threat recognition skills, for example the ability to discern a person picking an ID from their pocket from the distinct motion of a person drawing a weapon from their pocket…Developing skills for situational awareness and pattern recognition are key to properly working through Boyd’s cycle because if we are not placing things in their proper context we are potentially ignorant of the implications – in effect, we place ourselves in the White according to Cooper’s codes by neglecting this aspect of tactical training.
(via Fred Leland at LESC)
Related posts:
- Developing the Warrior Mind: Boyd’s OODA loop and Cooper’s Color Code lay the foundation Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Sgt. John...
- The OODA Loop: A simple concept for modern combat strategy Editor’s Note: This is a repost of a popular article...
- The OODA Loop: A simple concept for modern combat strategy The OODA loop is a decision making model developed by...
- How to zip through the OODA Loop As I discussed in The OODA Loop: A simple concept...
- Rebooting the OODA Loop Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Ron Borsch....
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Guys this is a very well thought out and written article and an area we cops must focus on creating and nurturing if we are to evolve tactically. Our physical response means very little if it is not steered by an AWARE, walking, talking and thinking cops.
During interplay between, humans, in conflict our strategy, tactics and operations blend and work together allowing us to adapt in real time to stop a threat. It only makes sense that the decision making concepts we utilize must blend cohesively as well. There is a time for persuasion and a time for force and as cops and security professionals we must balance this paradox in performing our duties. Steve explains this concept very nicely as he blends OODA with Coopers, white, yellow, orange and red color codes of awareness.
I often preach, learning, unlearning and relearning and its importance to becoming more effective on the street. The last couple of weeks I had to do just that, LEARN-UNLEARN and RELEARN. The Boyd Cycle and Boyd’s theories I firmly believe will save a cops life on the street by reducing friction in our decision making cycle and increasing friction in our adversaries. The theories of Boyd are complex, as is the nature of conflict and violence. We must be self aware and open-minded to new ideas to improving these concepts so we first and foremost understand them and then apply them in context of the ever changing and complex conditions we find ourselves in.
Steve has done a great job showing the relationship and how mindset enhances the Boyd cycle by blending it with Coopers Color Codes.
Thanks for posting Steves article here and getting the word out. With 162 officers killed in the line of duty as of today in 2010, the word must get out and be applied!!!