Science, Strategy and War The Strategic Theory of ... - Boekje Pienter

officer training institution which allows the subordinate a very great measure of freedom ofaction and freedom in the manner of executing orders and which primarily calls forindependent daring, initiative and sense of responsibility’ 76 .From this Boyd’s insistence of the primary role of a common outlook or orientationpattern stems and the element of previous experience in the OODA loop graphic. Indeed hemakes it a point that ‘without a common outlook superiors cannot give subordinatesfreedom-of-action and maintain coherency of ongoing action’ 77 . In this one page Boyd thushighlights the crucial relations between action and effectiveness during combat, commandand control philosophy, organizational culture and peace time training and education andshows how the one is predicated upon the other. However, at this point, neither theSchwerpunkt concept nor the Mission concept have been sufficiently explained and Boydtherefore takes his audience deeper into the Blitzkrieg philosophy.Mission, Schwerpunkt, and getting inside the OODA loop. The mission concept can bethought of as a contract, he argues, ‘hence an agreement, between the superior andsubordinate. The subordinate agrees to make his actions serve his superior’s intent in termsof what is about what to accomplish, while the superior agrees to give his subordinate widefreedom to exercise his imagination and initiative in terms of how the intent is to be realized.As part of this concept, the subordinate is given the right to challenge or question thefeasibility of his mission if he feels his superior’s ideas on what can be achieved are not inaccord with the existing situation or if he feels his superior has not given him adequateresources to carry it out’ 78 .While this explains one element required for maintaining cohesion at higher levels aswell as adaptability at the lower level, it actually only gives form and expression to what isexpected between an individual superior and subordinate. It does not suggest ways tocoordinate or harmonize activities among many superiors and subordinates as a collectivegroup. Here the Schwerpunkt concept comes in view. As Boyd explains it 79 : theSchwerpunkt acts as a center, or axis or harmonizing agent that is used to help shapecommitment and convey or carry-out intent, at all levels from theater to platoon, hencean image around which:- maneuver of all arms and supporting elements are focused to exploit opportunitiesand maintain tempo of operations,and- initiative of many subordinates is harmonized with superior intent.In this sense Schwerpunkt can be thought of as:- a focusing agent that naturally produces an unequal distribution of effort as a basisto generate superiority in some sector by thinning out others,as well as76 Ibid, p.74.77 Ibid.78 Ibid, p.76.79 Ibid, p.78.201