The First Series

We, at United Modern Arnis, have recently finished the first in a series of professional video productions with the invaluable help of Matt Lamphere. Matt can be found at http://www.defensecraft.com/ or http://www.mattlamphere.com/. Matt brought colleague Bill Bednarick and they made a great team.

It was a long two and a half days and could not have been completed without the dedication and commitment of students Steve Hartono, Chris Bender, Brett Barton, Andrea Ratulowski, Scott Reilly and Dave Williams, and of course, the support of my family who thought the whole process was way cool!

As long as the days were, it was a fun and rewarding experience.

The projects that we completed, or are in the editing phase, included Banda y Banda, Exploring Rompida, Disarms and Variations, and the Eight Empty Hand Anyos of Modern Arnis. The titles are still being worked out as the editing is being finished, and I have to write the credits. The projected date of completion is February 1st. I am very excited to see the finished product!

We have other projects planned and I am looking forward to working with Matt again. He was very organized and professional. There is much to be said for strategic alliances.

What follows is an article written by Londale Theus about the OODA Loop.

THE OODA LOOP

aka the Boyd Cycle

The significance of the Observation-Orientation-Decision-Action cycle was first note during the mid 1970's by John Boyd, a young captain in the US Air Force assigned to study air to air combat during the Korean conflict.

American aviators were especially successful in Korea, achieving a 10 to 1 kill ration against their opponents. Why?

The first possibility John Boyd considered is that the Americans simply had better planes. But, as it turned out, by most measures of aircraft quality, the American F-86 was inferior to its Korean War opponent, the MiG-15. The MiG-15 could climb and accelerate faster and turn quicker than the F-86. Nevertheless, the F-86 had two advantages over the MiG-15. First, its pilot could see out better. Second, it had quick, high powered hydraulic controls, and the MiG did not. This meant that, although the MiG could perform many individual maneuver activities- turning, climbing, accelerating- better than the F-86, The F-86 could switch from one activity to another much more quickly than the MiG.

Using these two advantages, American pilots developed tactics that forced the MiG into a series of maneuvers. Because the pilot of the F-86 could see how the situation had changed and could switch faster to another activity, at each maneuver the F-86 gained a beat on its opponent. With each switch, therefore, the MIGs responses were less appropriate to the situation, until they were so inappropriate that the MiG was exposed to destruction. Often it appeared that the MiG pilot realized what was happening to him and panicked, which made the American pilot's job all the easier.

John Boyd then turned to ground combat to see if circumstances paralleled those of the air war over Korea. He found a similar pattern. ONE side presented the other with a sudden, unexpected challenge or series of challenges to which the other side could not adjust in a timely manner. As a result, the side with the slower response was defeated, and it often defeated at a small cost to the victor. Moreover, the losing side was frequently materially stronger than the winner and, in many cases, the same sort of panic and paralysis the MiG pilots had shown in Korea seemed to occur.

What do the winners in these cases have in common? John Boyd's answer is that they consistently went through the OODA Loop, sometimes called the Boyd Cycle, faster than their opponent and thereby gained a tremendous advantage. By the time their opponent acted, they were doing something different. With each cycle, the slower sides actions were less apt and they fell farther and farther behind. This is what happened in many of history's most decisive battles.

Hannibal went through the OODA Loop faster than the Romans and Cannae and won one of history's greatest tactical victories. The Germans beat the French in 1940 and the Japanese beat the British in Malaya in 1942 because they went through the OODA Loop faster than their opponents. In some of these cases, a single, sudden action was enough. In others, a series of Boyd Cycles was required. But in every case, the critical competition was in time and the faster side won.

Most athletes, amateur as well as professional, know from experience that this ability is often the key to victory.

To say that the Boyd Cycle is important is not to say that it is everything. In some real time competitions, material factors predominate. In sports, the ability to out hit, outrun, and outlast your opponent usually trumps over observing and orienting skills. Advantages similar to strength, foot speed, and stamina are provided in wartime by a nation's personnel pool and its industrial, technological and logistical base. As Napoleon Bonaparte observed, "God is on the side of the big battalions."

I would also add that in many real time competitions, frame of mind is extremely important. Winners have grit. In battle, grit means physical, moral, and intellectual courage. In sports, it means the will to win. Again, as Napoleon observed, "In war, the morale (mental) is to the material (physical) as the ratio of six to one."

In war, one of the most effective strategies combines offensive operations with defensive tactics. By this I mean taking a defensive position that threatens the base of your opponents, thereby forcing them to attack a prepared position or to withdraw ignominiously. If your opponents attack, they often expose themselves to destruction in the form of a well timed counter attack. As in war, it is easier to defend a given position than to attack it successfully. (by Dr. Fred Thompson)

I believe that the OODA Loop takes place in almost everything we do. Sometimes it is not a conscious act, but is there none the less.

Train smart, train well.

Ok. Time to catch up. In the past 3 months my father in law passed away, a friend of our eldest daughter had 2 lung collapses in separate incidents, my wife and youngest daughter were in a car accident (no injuries), our middle daughter moved away to college, our eldest daughter was in an accident (with injuries), our middle daughter moved back from college to attend closer to home (we're good with that) and we're having to deal with an insurance company regarding one of the accidents. Neither of the accidents were our fault, the other people were cited. All this and both of us working and trying to run a business as well.

No pressure here. None.

I can see the light though. We are all healthy and whole. I am thankful for that.

On the educational side, I learned a few things in terms of spontaneous pneumothorax (collapsed lung not due to an injury). It has been statistically borne out that tall, thin body types who are first born are susceptible to having "blebs" or small blisters on the top of their lung fields, which tend to pop spontaneously. In addition, once there is one spont. pneumo., there is now a 25% greater chance of having a second one. If there is a second one, there is now a 50% chance of having a third. On the prevention side, there is procedure whereby they go in and "clip" the "blebs" and suture the area, apparently preventing a future spont. pneumo.. Interesting stuff.

On Labor Day weekend, I went to an annual camp called Water and Steel. It is a multi discipline martial arts camp on Raft Island on Puget Sound. It is hosted by Kelly Worden. Gorgeous area. I trained with some old friends and made some new ones. I met a producer/director and 3 stunt men from L.A.. What a great group of people. No chest beating, just great training at a very high level, some of the highest in the country. I have already e-mailed with the L.A. guys who have sent me pics of some of their work, and gave me a list of some of the movies that they were in, or produced and directed. I also met a great tattoo artist from Alberta, Canada named Bear Lamont. The bottom pic is of (from L. to R.) Myself, Bear, Dave (a friend who went with me). The middle pic is a group shot on the dock, where we trained a few times. The top pic is a shot from the same dock. You can just see Mt. Rainier on the horizon. I also had a BLAST, in general, but also with a group of Canadians who we shard a cabin with, and many who we trained with. The laughs were side splitting. I look forward to next year.

PLEASE READ

A friend of mine was an M60 gunner in the Navey and served in the Persian Gulf. His then Master at Arms Cheif had a son who was about 9yrs old at the time. This young man is now in his mid 20's and a sniper with the 1-91st Airborne Cavalry. His name is Nick and in the above pic he is front row, third from the left. I believe his spotter is same row 2nd from the left. Partly beacuse of this connection, my friend has started a thread at the below link. He is sending MOAB's (mother of all boxes) regularly to help support these fine soldiers. I have the privilege of contributing. I could go into all the latest activities and missions here, but if you'll go to the site and read the thread, you can see for yourself. It is awesome to get up to date info. on what is going on over there that does not make the evening news. You can see pictures of the platoon and read what they are up to and where your contributions go. Every penny, or item, goes directly into supporting these guys. It is heartwhrenching to read when one of them is injured, or killed, which have both happened. They are on a 15 month deployment. I would encourage those interested in supporting our troups to go to this site and do so. If you can't figure it out, leave me a message and I'll guide you through.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=593882&page=1

FUNNY, INTERESTING

(A FRIEND SENT THIS)

Don't know who wrote this - but it's GREAT !!! Maybe it's time for Bush to do just this - let's face it, he's pretty much finished as an effective President thanks to a 3% approval rated Congress that is doing everything it can to make life miserable - and a media that won't let up. Let me repeat that ... a 3% Congress !!

BUT, if he were to do this, he could go out 'in a blaze of glory', so to speak - and Americans would understand simply because we ALL LOVE a fighter - regardless of political affiliation. Look at Truman, he went out with lower poll ratings than Bush, but is respected to this day as one who "Walked the Talk".

Personally - I'd LOVE it if Bush did just this - but then, as in the closing statement ... we'd have Pelosi, and that scares me even more ...

Regardless, it's a GREAT read - the author makes some extremely poignant observations, so even if you hate Bush, it's absolutely worth reading the entire "speech".

The speech George W. Bush COULD give: Normally, I start these things out by saying "My Fellow Americans." Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer. To all that are listening, you know "who you are", and to others, you also know "who you are not". I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit.

Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: There's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office, contrary what the liberal blogs and biased media wish. The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people. I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out. Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank. And that's despite record numbers of homeowners, including record numbers of MINORITY homeowners. And while we're mentioning minorities, I'll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high. Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton Administration. I've mentioned all those things before, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in, nor is it every reported by the media. Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets. Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beachfront property than your economic security. We face real threats in the world. Don't give me this blood for "oil" thing. If I were trading blood for oil I would've already seized Iraq's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell.

And don't give me this 'Bush Lied; People Died' crap either. If I were the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered.' Duh!!

Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty. Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named ' Clinton ' established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you? Of course not, it's not in the 'fair' media's interest to report that FACT!! You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to outspend and out-tech them. That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That'd be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are.

They want to kill you and your loved ones. Most ironic, yet somewhat satisfying, is knowing that the Hollywood "types", who are the first to condemn our actions against these rabid fanatics, would be the first to be executed simply because of their 'licentious and adultrous behavior' which goes directly against the beliefs of these 'Jihadists' and their corrupted beliefs. And know this, the bastards are all over the globe. You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11. But you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement, and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of 'Survivor'. Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops, or 44-minutes of uninterrupted Law & Order to see the crime solved. Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, dammit, you might just as well FedEx a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing. In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet. It just isn't on the pages of the New York Times or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol or Who Wants to be a Superhero. I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a Category 5 hurricane approaching. I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet or hard work, is where the money comes from. But I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads So I quit.

I'm going back to Crawford. I've got an energy-efficient house down there (unlike Al Gore's who's yearly electric bill is over $30,000.00 !!!) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I'm done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again. It is my sincerest wish that I die before the last pillars of America fall - so I don't have to watch as this great country fails. Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too. That means Nancy Pelosi is your new President, with Harry Reid and his ilk right by her side.

You asked for it. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there are just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008. So that's it. God bless what's left of America . Some of you know who you are and what I mean. The rest of you, kiss off.

GW Bush

REALITY BYTES

It has been a while. Some of what has transpired includes my father in law passing away, our eldest daughters boyfriend having a spontaneous pneumothorax (collapsed lung) the day after the funeral, and my lovely wife and youngest daughter sitting at a traffic light and being hit by a person who missed her turn. The mini van in which they were riding is probably totaled. We haven't heard for sure yet. Thankfully, no injuries. All within 2 weeks. I have found that God gives us grace often just when we need it, not a moment sooner sometimes.

Some humor; about a month ago, a friend at work was telling me how he will never get drunk and get on the computer and go to http://www.gunbroker.com/ again. He said that he had bought a Kimber model 1911. He showed it to me. Sweet. Of course he got it for a really great price. Well, he was telling me yesterday that he did it again. Unfortunately I didn't get to find out what he bought this time. Maybe the next day we are on duty I'll get to see. If you haven't been to that website, there are some great deals. Just be sure to stay sober. For now, enjoy this pic of a Kimber 1911 Grand Raptor II

On August 31st I'll be headed to Raft Island on beautiful Puget Sound for the 2007 Water and Steel camp hosted by Datu Kelly Worden. You can see some pictures of past camps on Raft Island at http://www.kellyworden.com/ . This is a great time to train, learn, relax, meet new people, make new friends and enjoy some of the most beautiful surroundings anywhere. You can train at your own pace, at your own level, or you can train with some of the highest level players in multiple styles with no pressure or chest beating. It is really a great time and Kelly is an awesome host, practitioner and teacher.

PROMOTIONS AT THE HMAC

HILLIARD MARTIAL ARTS CENTER

Our youth aikido program had some recent promotions. Thank you to Bill Reed for doing such a great job with our youth!

A huge congratulations goes out to:

Tuesday 5/29 - SJMS Aikido for Children -Promoted to 13th kyu:

Liz

Chris

Will

Aaron
Claire

Kerry
Jaime

Felix
Alena

Nick
Jared

Coleman

Saturday 6/2/7 - HMAC Aikido for Children-
Promoted to 12th kyu
Melinda

Promoted to 13th kyu
Patrick

Tuesday 6/5/7 - HMAC Aikido for Teens

Promoted to 7th kyu (highest we go in kids classes)
Vito

Keep up the good work! You are awesome!

The HMAC staff.

Sometimes earning a living gets in the way of living life


There has been alot happening. One child getting ready for college. Hosted a camp. Went on a cruise. Work. Work. To name a few.
I was at an aikido black belt test over the weekend. One of my students did a wonderful job. Another student gets much credit for meeting early in the morning, for about 6 weeks, to help prepare the candidate for his test. The camaraderie is humbling, and appreciated. It is good to see how some things can bring friends/ people together and strengthen the bond that forms when people train together. It doesn't have to be just physical training either.
Last month, at the camp I hosted, there were about 9 people who tested and the level of training and commitment to each other was readily apparent. Again, humbling. I think this is one reason that I do what I do.
Of course, there are instances of people bringing un necessary drama to a place where others do not want it. When it gets out of hand, the leader must lead in order to maintain the homeostasis (look that one up) of the group. That is one of my least favorite responsibilities, albeit necessary. And time moves on. I try to be careful how I spend mine.

WHOA! TIME SURE FLIES.


It seems I've been slow on the blog lately. Things have been busy around here.
I'll give it some thought and post something soon. My, how it seems that time flies by so fast sometimes.

For Your Consideration

I recently had the opportunity to compare two pistols, side by side. A Ruger .40 caliber (top pic) and a Taurus 24/7 9mm ( bottom pic and Pistol Of The Year in '05).

I was told by the Rangemaster that I may be surprised by the lack of noticeable difference in recoil between the two.

I first fired 25 rounds form the Taurus, taking particular notice of the recoil. Then I fired the same number of rounds from the Ruger. The difference in recoil wsa nearly un noticeable, just like the man said. Then I fired a bunch more rounds from both just because it's fun!

What I like about the Taurus is the grip. It is comfortabel in my hand and a pleasure to shoot. What I like about the Ruger is the control for a larger caliber pistol compared to a 9mm. Actually, I really like them both. I just happened to own the Taurus.

Please own responsibly.