Situational Awareness: The OODA Loop

The OODA loop is a decision making model developed by US Air Force Colonel John Boyd. It is also known as the OODA cycle or Boyd’s loop. It is a concept that has been strategically applied at individual as well as group levels. Understanding the OODA loop allows officers to prepare general tactics for commonly encountered situations as well as specific tactics when detailed circumstances are known ahead of time.
Concept

A simple OODA loop can be graphically represented as this:

In this process every combatant observes the situation, orients himself, decides what to do, and does it. Then the process repeats itself.

* Observe means to know what is happening through any of your five senses, not just sight.
* Orient means to understand the meaning of what you observed. When a suspect does the “felony stretch” looking for a direction to flee as he stretches his arms overhead, an experienced officer realizes the suspect is about to take off running.
* Decide is weighing the options available and picking one.
* Act is carrying out the decision.


Reactionary Gap

Most trained professionals such as police officers and experienced soldiers are aware of the reactionary gap. If two people are standing a foot apart facing each other, the first one is given instructions to touch the second one as fast as he can while the second one is told to slap the first person’s hand away before he touches him. The second person will never succeed because he has to go through a full OODA cycle before he can react and by that time the first person will have already touched him. If the two people are farther apart, the second person will have enough time to react because the distance adds time to the action and gives him enough time to observe and react. He already knows what the first person is going to do and how he will react so he moves instantly from observe to act. The way to diminish the effects of the reactionary Gap is to be situationally aware at all times.

You challenge is to incorporate the OODA loop into your lifestyle. Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Look for possible security threats. How many people look into a convenience store such as 7-11 or Cirlce K, to see if it is being robbed before they enter? Practice scanning your surrounding as see if you can pick up possible security threats – anybody who doesn’t fit in, anybody who is paying too much attention to something, …look for possible escape routes from which to take your family. Wargame possible confrontations. Be Secure, Be Safe, Be Situationally Aware.