He began working as a Second Lieutenant engineer in the flight dynamics lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. In 1975 he left military life and eventually re-joined the Pentagon in 1977 as a civilian analyst in the Pentagon's Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation (better-known by its former name, Systems Analysis, set up in 1961 to make independent evaluations of Pentagon Policy) under his mentor, the famous fighter pilot Colonel John R. Boyd.
He started as a Second Lieutenant engineer in the flight dynamics lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He left military service and later rejoined the Pentagon in 1977 as a civilian analyst in the Pentagon's Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation (better known by its former name, Systems Analysis, established in 1961 to conduct independent evaluations of Pentagon policy) under his mentor, the renowned fighter pilot Colonel John R. Boyd.