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Military Serviceera

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Overview

Blank's military service in the U.S. Air Force (1972-1976) provided the discipline, technical training, and exposure to complex systems that shaped his later career. He enlisted during the Vietnam War, was stationed at three bases in Thailand maintaining electronic warfare and electronic intelligence systems on F-105G, F-4, and A-7 aircraft, and returned to the U.S. to work on B-52 bombers in Oscoda, Michigan.

Key Characteristics

The military experience gave Blank several things that would recur throughout his career:

  • Discipline and structure: By his own account, he joined seeking framework and discipline
  • Technical systems exposure: Working on electronic warfare systems gave him comfort with complex technology
  • Teaching from experience: His later ESL role developing Guardrail training drew directly on his approach to learning in the military — building training courses the way he himself would have wanted to be taught

    • Significance

    The military period connects Blank to the broader military-strategic tradition that includes Boyd and Wardley. While Blank did not draw directly on military strategy theory in developing Customer Development, the structural parallels between his methodology and Boyd's OODA loop — noted later by students — may reflect shared patterns absorbed from military experience: the emphasis on observation, adaptation, and iterative response to reality.

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    Steve Blank

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    Steve Blank