You are right. The book Science, Strategy and War basically promotes the idea that the Orient stage of the OODA Loop is where mental models come into play which

You are right. The book Science, Strategy and War basically promotes the idea that the Orient stage of the OODA Loop is where mental models come into play which makes sense since how else do you Orient without having an idea of what you are Orienting against. i.e, if you are in a dogfight with a Russian aircraft what are the mental models that you have that what mental models do they lack.