On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty To God and my country
And to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. –Scout Oath
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Col. John Boyd On Grand Strategy
Evolve and exploit insight/initiative/adaptability/harmony together with a unifying vision, via a grand ideal or an overarching theme or a noble philosophy, as basis to:
*Shape or influence events so that we not only amplify our spirit and strength but also influence the uncommitted or potential adversaries so that they are drawn toward our philosophy and are empathetic toward our success,
yet be able to
*Operate inside adversary’s observation-orientation-decision-action loops or get inside his mind-time-space as basis to:
*Penetrate adversary’s moral-mental-physical being in order to isolate him from his allies, pull him apart, and collapse his will to resist.
*****
I am always fascinated by the power of ideas. Here at FJ, I am always trying to find those ideas, and study how they came about and what makes them so powerful. One of those ideas I want to talk about today, is the Boy Scouts and the Scouting Movement that was behind the development of the Boy Scouts.
First off, I am an Eagle Scout and I am very proud of my Scouting background. If you talk with some guys in the industry and military, you will find that there are quite a few of us Boy Scouts floating around out there. It is interesting to me that the military/police/firefighters/medical/security contracting industries all attract Scouts. It is equally interesting to find out how Scouting has impacted all these folks in their careers. From the camping and hiking, to the navigation, knots and fieldcraft skills, the Boy Scouts is pretty cool. Not to mention the social connections you make with others, the love and dedication of your country and the respect you garner as a productive member of a community.
But it goes beyond just being ‘cool’, because during my time at the Scouts, I was also introduced to leadership skills. Leadership, as you know, is something that I am totally concerned with in this industry, and that is what makes the Scouts relevant to this blog. Not to mention all the land navigation stuff or first aid stuff we did, and I look back on my time with the Boy Scouts as not just cool, but essential life skills for all of my career choices.