FLYING CAMELOT by Michael W. Hankins

Author:Michael W. Hankins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
Published: 2021-08-24T00:00:00+00:00

Philosophical Bedrock

In August 1975, five months after Boyd’s advice to Slay went unheeded, Boyd retired from the Air Force. In the two years leading up to that, Boyd had begun working not only with Leopold, but also with Captain Franklin “Chuck” Spinney, who had already been working closely with Christie since 1968.24 When the three were not collaborating on internal reports seeking to improve the procurement process, Boyd spent time attempting to outline what he called his “learning theory.” By 1974 he had completed early versions of this project, which eventually coalesced into a short paper called “Destruction and Creation.” This was an attempt to outline his own thought process and to explain how systems and societies change through a cyclical process of destruction and creation reminiscent of Thomas Kuhn’s concept of paradigms developed in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

Although not directly related to the reform movement or defense, the paper reveals much about Boyd’s thought process. He placed the role of the individual above all else, arguing that individuality and individual action were the primary drivers of human existence. Boyd asserted that systems and organizations that are too inwardly focused can create incorrect assumptions about the world, compromising the decision-making process. The remedy, Boyd argued, was for a bold individual to lead a process of destroying the old system and creating a new one. This process was a cycle to be repeated, resulting in the improvement of humanity’s capacity for independent action of individuals.25 Some analysts have found that “Destruction and Creation” has merit on its own terms. Although that paper has been studied as a philosophical work on its own, it is also evidence of Boyd’s frame of mind or a self-defense of a stereotypical fighter pilot’s mentality: extreme individualism and questioning authority to the point of destroying systems.26

Boyd prided himself on living out these ideas. He had continually accused the Air Force of being too inwardly focused—on its bureaucracy and on chasing technology for its own sake. He thought that the Air Force was stuck in a loop of its own internal inertia and had lost the ability to see the larger picture of winning large-scale wars. He saw himself as a person who could challenge that authority, destroy old systems, and build new ones that emphasized what he thought was important. Specifically, that meant a focus on air-to-air combat. Yet in the mid-1970s, Boyd’s thinking drifted to areas outside of just the Air Force. Although he had little regard for the US Air Force as a system, he began to apply his criticisms of the service to the entire military, viewing it as an “inwardly focused” system that needed to be re-created.

Even though Boyd retired from the Air Force in August 1975, by early 1977 he was back in the Pentagon. Christie was still working in OSD/PA&E and offered Boyd a consultant position in the Tactical Air Division. Spinney, who had also retired from the Air Force in 1975, joined the same division in April 1977. Leopold, who had spent some time teaching at the Air Force Academy, joined the others in 1980.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.