All Good Masters Are Servants

The question we want to ask about Man's 'central' position in this drama is really on a level with the disciples' question, ' Which of them was the greatest?' It is the sort of question which God does not answer. If from Man's point of view the re-creation of non-human and even inanimate Nature appears a mere by-product of his own redemption, then equally from remote, non-human point of view Man's redemption may seem merely the preliminary to this more widely diffused springtime, and the very permission of Man's fall may be supposed to have had that larger end in view. Both attitudes will be right if they will consent to drop the words mere and merely. Where a God who is totally purposive and totally foreseeing acts upon a Nature which is totally interlocked, there can be no accidents or loose ends, nothing whatever of which we can safely use the word merely. Nothing is 'merely a by-product' of anything else. All results are intended from the first. What is subservient from one point if view is the main purpose from another. No thing or event us first ir highest in a sense which forbids it to be also last and lowest. The partner who bows to Man in one movement of the dance receives Man's references in another. To be high or central means to abdicate continually: to be low means to be raised: all good masters are servants: God washes the feet of men.

Unifying Awareness

Situational awareness is almost a Marine Corps training tenet. Attention to detail is probably the first situational awareness concept that a Marine learns. From that point on each Marine gains tool that permits him or her to execute multiple tasks simultaneously or linearly depending on the specialty training and core competencies taught and learned in the Marine Corps. Some of these interrelated tools used to enhance situation awareness are the skills, concepts, and competencies listed below.

• Estimating the situation - METT-T and METT-TSL
•  Utilizing the OODA Loop 
• Development of paragraph one, situation, of the five paragraph order
• Cognitive skills development and application 
• Effective communications skills using any media and format 
• Combining experience, training, and environmental factors

The combination of these creates a mental awareness that allows the Marine to make better decisions, which is the goal of situational awareness.

OODA Loop Goal

The goal of the OODA Loop is to develop decision-making superiority. Decision-making superiority occurs when leaders and Marines can make decisions faster and more effectively than the opposition. The ability to make simultaneous decisions by exercising the human mind correlates to enhanced performance in every aspect of life and the operating environment.

Elements of Tactical Decision Making - Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to combine observations, experiences, and theoretical solutions into one practical solution. Depending on the depth and breadth of the problem, the solution may have to be multilayered, meaning analyzing and subdividing it into multiple smaller problems which can be solved more simply and easily, and by subordinates, either independently, simultaneously, or in linear fashion to achieve the desired output.

The Boyd Cycle

The Marine Corps' heritage binds the past and future together via commitment to warfighting excellence in the present. A keystone of Marine Corps training and education is the commitment to develop leaders that can out think the opposition.

Colonel John Boyd, USAF (Retired) served as a distinguished fighter pilot in Korea and Southeast Asia. Boyd's theory and experience was a great contribution to the military. Boyd realized that power and speed were not the quantifying factors to air superiority, but merely a conveyance coupled with the most powerful weapon, the human mind.

Warfighting Decision Forces

In warfighting, the Marine making decisions should understand the operational perspective of the Marine Corps and its commanders, and the relationship between doctrine and decision making, which is not normally discussed. The section addresses the interrelationship between warfighting doctrine and its influence on decision making.

Lack of Moral Courage

Decision making requires leaders to make tough decisions in the face of uncertainty and to accept full responsibility for those decisions. Anything less undermines authority and discipline.