What I wrote was "Synthesizing the new information (from observing) with prior information", not new ideas. Synthesize means "combine into a coherent whole" (am

What I wrote was "Synthesizing the new information (from observing) with prior information", not new ideas. Synthesize means "combine into a coherent whole" (among other things, but this is the definition I intended; it's the one programmers ought to become familiar with since we "synthesize" solutions to problems by combining existing and new programs and possible physical components into a whole, our field is fundamentally synthetic). Here it's the act of combining information into a more coherent and accurate model: Present observations, past observations (part of your prior knowledge), and previous training and whatever else (the rest of your prior knowledge). All of that gives you your present orientation, your position, in either a literal or figurative sense. And then there's your "opponent" (if there's not one, OODA may not be the right mental model to use). In your observations of your opponent and repeated orientation you are building up a model of them, synthesis again. You start with any prior knowledge (have you encountered this opponent before?) or an assumption (maybe a worst case, or estimate based on sizing them up). Then you engage, and in the engagement you observe and determine their real capabilities, which feeds into orientation for rendering a more accurate model of the opponent. Orientation is taking the existing knowledge, adding new knowledge or information, rendering a better model (hopefully). Then you decide based on that model, act on that decision, and observe. Of course it's not actually linear, all of this is happening at the same time, or can be. You don't stop observing while you orient, decide, or act. And you don't stop acting while you observe, orient, or decide.