Been embracing the ability to pivot and flex. Sometimes calling an audible play is the greatest thing you can do. Take some pressure off yourself and flow with the go.
Reading this reminded me why golf mimics and teaches life. It both reveals and builds character, specifically because throughout a round you never know where that little white ball will end up and you must "play it as it lies" and figure out the next shot right then and there. Creativity and problem solving is built right into the game. Golf is not life or death, but much of it applies directly to our daily lives.
Interesting discussion. We had to complete SERE at the AF Academy the summer after our freshman year. It was a 3-week course with scoring and if you didn't pass, you had to do it again the next summer. My 3 man team missed a checkpoint, and one more check mark on our score cards would have busted us. We cheated our asses off during three more days on the mountains to make sure the aggressor force never found its. This was the summer of 1976.
I’m surprised that some Special Forces operators have difficulty with BOSS. From what I’ve read about Special Forces, they’re trained repeatedly in dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty. They have plans, but they know those plans rarely work out, and they have to improvise. I’ve heard that Delta Force trainees are sent alone into the field with an objective but no guidance on how to achieve the objective, the time frame expected, or whether they’ll be done when they reach it.
Perhaps they’re just overconfident in the civilian BOSS situation since they’ve often faced violent life or death situations? I dunno. 🤷♂️
I don’t think the problem is the spec ops guys have trouble adapting, I think the mind fuck for them is there is no objective. No target, specific rendezvous point etc.
FWIW, there is an objective in BOSS courses—adapt, learn specific skills—but it's more abstract than hitting a target, getting to a certain point in X hours, etc. So it's almost more of a mismatch in objectives.
Acquiring a skill, is more abstract, than getting to this point, by this time, kidnap this guy, get to extraction point by this time.
I can totally see how some Spec Ops guys are great at adapting to the challenges that pop up during an Op, but not just going with the flow type scenario with no parameters.
Not that I was a Spec Op guy, though I know a few, but I am like your Doctor friend, not knowing would drive me bananas.😝
This article helped me through a very difficult time this past weekend. We had traveled about six hours to support our adult son at an IRONMAN triathlon in Lake Placid, New York. We had arrived about 1:00 a.m. Saturday morning and the competition would be Sunday. About 8:00 a.m. we had a call from the skilled nursing facility where my wonderful mother in law lived. She was having some pain and they were starting a pain medicine and calling the doctor. About an hour later the nursing supervisor called and said they wanted to transfer her to the hospital because her blood pressure had dropped and they thought she had developed sepsis. We decided to return home. At age 91 we realized she was very fragile. We started the six hour trip back. The emergency department physician called today she was in bad shape along the way. Then the critical care physician called to confirm the same dire status. We arrived in her ICU room. She appeared to be in a coma. My wife sat and held her hand and assured her. About 10 minutes later she passed. As a physician I have heard of this type of thing but it was the first time I witnessed it. She had waited for my wife to arrive before passing. After dealing with the initial arrangements, we looked at each other. If we left, we could arrive back in Lake Placid by midnight. So we started driving. We awoke Sunday morning at 5 to cheer on the triathletes as they entered the lake. We then walked with our adult daughters to see our son at various points on the bike and running course. We witnessed his finish at around 10:30 p.m.
I am normally someone who plans out all the details after much research. I select gear, etc. Last weekend all plans went out the window. We had to live in each moment simply respond to changing situations. This article helped my mindset immensely. Instead of becoming fixated on the deviation from the plan, I focused on adapting to the changing situations.
There are times that uncertainty doesn't bother me. I don't know for certain, but I don't think that I would struggle with the unknown aspects of the BOSS course (not saying I would do WELL). Out in nature, you just do what you do. But the uncertainty that comes from raising 2 boys or having a wife that's on-call... that I've been struggling with these past few years...
Great article. Plans are great, however, as we all know they rarely end as they started. Working in EMS definitely teaches you to go with the flow. We constantly assess patients, change treatments and reassess some more. I use the same assessment tactic for being a husband, father, and department head.
Been embracing the ability to pivot and flex. Sometimes calling an audible play is the greatest thing you can do. Take some pressure off yourself and flow with the go.
Reading this reminded me why golf mimics and teaches life. It both reveals and builds character, specifically because throughout a round you never know where that little white ball will end up and you must "play it as it lies" and figure out the next shot right then and there. Creativity and problem solving is built right into the game. Golf is not life or death, but much of it applies directly to our daily lives.
Golf is one sport where my resilience is very low. lol.
Interesting discussion. We had to complete SERE at the AF Academy the summer after our freshman year. It was a 3-week course with scoring and if you didn't pass, you had to do it again the next summer. My 3 man team missed a checkpoint, and one more check mark on our score cards would have busted us. We cheated our asses off during three more days on the mountains to make sure the aggressor force never found its. This was the summer of 1976.
"We cheated our asses off" haha this is awesome. You gotta do what you gotta do!
I’m surprised that some Special Forces operators have difficulty with BOSS. From what I’ve read about Special Forces, they’re trained repeatedly in dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty. They have plans, but they know those plans rarely work out, and they have to improvise. I’ve heard that Delta Force trainees are sent alone into the field with an objective but no guidance on how to achieve the objective, the time frame expected, or whether they’ll be done when they reach it.
Perhaps they’re just overconfident in the civilian BOSS situation since they’ve often faced violent life or death situations? I dunno. 🤷♂️
I don’t think the problem is the spec ops guys have trouble adapting, I think the mind fuck for them is there is no objective. No target, specific rendezvous point etc.
They are used to a why, an objective.
That's a great point.
FWIW, there is an objective in BOSS courses—adapt, learn specific skills—but it's more abstract than hitting a target, getting to a certain point in X hours, etc. So it's almost more of a mismatch in objectives.
I should have been clearer.
Acquiring a skill, is more abstract, than getting to this point, by this time, kidnap this guy, get to extraction point by this time.
I can totally see how some Spec Ops guys are great at adapting to the challenges that pop up during an Op, but not just going with the flow type scenario with no parameters.
Not that I was a Spec Op guy, though I know a few, but I am like your Doctor friend, not knowing would drive me bananas.😝
This article helped me through a very difficult time this past weekend. We had traveled about six hours to support our adult son at an IRONMAN triathlon in Lake Placid, New York. We had arrived about 1:00 a.m. Saturday morning and the competition would be Sunday. About 8:00 a.m. we had a call from the skilled nursing facility where my wonderful mother in law lived. She was having some pain and they were starting a pain medicine and calling the doctor. About an hour later the nursing supervisor called and said they wanted to transfer her to the hospital because her blood pressure had dropped and they thought she had developed sepsis. We decided to return home. At age 91 we realized she was very fragile. We started the six hour trip back. The emergency department physician called today she was in bad shape along the way. Then the critical care physician called to confirm the same dire status. We arrived in her ICU room. She appeared to be in a coma. My wife sat and held her hand and assured her. About 10 minutes later she passed. As a physician I have heard of this type of thing but it was the first time I witnessed it. She had waited for my wife to arrive before passing. After dealing with the initial arrangements, we looked at each other. If we left, we could arrive back in Lake Placid by midnight. So we started driving. We awoke Sunday morning at 5 to cheer on the triathletes as they entered the lake. We then walked with our adult daughters to see our son at various points on the bike and running course. We witnessed his finish at around 10:30 p.m.
I am normally someone who plans out all the details after much research. I select gear, etc. Last weekend all plans went out the window. We had to live in each moment simply respond to changing situations. This article helped my mindset immensely. Instead of becoming fixated on the deviation from the plan, I focused on adapting to the changing situations.
Thank you for this article.
There are times that uncertainty doesn't bother me. I don't know for certain, but I don't think that I would struggle with the unknown aspects of the BOSS course (not saying I would do WELL). Out in nature, you just do what you do. But the uncertainty that comes from raising 2 boys or having a wife that's on-call... that I've been struggling with these past few years...
Very interesting. BTW, the current administration changed Fort Cavazos back to Ft Hood.
Great article. Plans are great, however, as we all know they rarely end as they started. Working in EMS definitely teaches you to go with the flow. We constantly assess patients, change treatments and reassess some more. I use the same assessment tactic for being a husband, father, and department head.