In the mid 1980s it ran into a problem: Its computers, hardware, and systems were advancing rapidly, but the human capacity to operate and maintain them wasn’t keeping pace. Imagine spending a year training a technician only to put him behind a new system he’d never been taught. The Air Force called this problem the “human technology gap.”
To help address the issue, Major Daniel Caulfield wrote a report for the Air Command and Staff College called Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Human Technology for Today’s Air Force.
According to Caulfield, the use of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) would reduce the time needed to train Airmen in their tasks and potentially allow them to adapt rapidly to new technologies.
And since it was 1986 and Star Wars had a massive cultural influence, the program became known as “Project JEDI” – since who wouldn’t volunteer for something called “JEDI.”
The idea behind neuro-linguistic programming
Major Caulfield said that Project JEDI focused on the “how” instead of the “why.”
First pitched in the 1970s, the idea behind neuro-linguistic programming is that there is a logical structure in the way people process information and that this structure can be identified, modeled, and taught.
Applying it to Air Force’s human technology gap problem would require finding the branch’s superstar technicians; then breaking down how the structure information – their internal beliefs, mental imagery, and linguistic patterns; and then model and teach that structure to other technicians.
This would theoretically turn an average technician into excellent one in a short period of time; reduce the fear and anxiety associated with learning new tasks; improve confidence; and offer better results.
It could also help leaders be more effective. NLP gives us three ways to process the world, visual, auditory and kinesthetic, or related to feelings.
If a leader can identify the best way their subordinates process the world they can more efficiently communicate with them. Visual learners need visualization, auditory learners can be told what to do, and feeling learners need to do it to learn it.
Testing the Jedis
To test the NLP concept, Major Caulfield developed a simple test: A control group and an NLP group had to take the Air Force’s M1911 pistol qualification course. The control group received the standard U.S. Army pistol marksmanship training conducted over four and a half days. On the other hand, the NLP group received one and a half days of training.
To train the NLP group, expert marksmen were taken from the Army Marksmanship Training Unit. These experts were first modeled by NLP researchers. They then were interviewed to figure out what they said to themselves, what they visualized, and what they were feeling at the moment of trigger pull.
The researchers found that the experts were different from each other psychologically and in their shooting styles. However, they held the same values and beliefs that motivated them to be experts.
The NLP group was taught to replicate these internal mental states and visualizations rather than solely focus on the manual of arms.
Both groups conducted a shooting test. The control group had 73% of their students qualify; they produced one expert, four sharpshooters, and three marksmen. The NLP group had 100% of the shooter’s qualify, with three experts, one sharpshooter, and eight marksmen.
Related: How much does it cost to train an Air Force pilot? A LOT
The end of Project JEDI
Sadly, I can’t find any evidence of follow-on studies or adoption of NLP by the Air Force.
The paper states that “Project JEDI was the first completed study by any DOD element trying to empirically establish NLP’s effectiveness. As such, inadequate research protocols, controls, and the small size of the test and control groups diminished Project JEDI’s very impressive results. However, JEDI personnel felt confident the results could be duplicated or even exceeded (with further refinements) under more scientific conditions and given adequate resources.”
The paper discusses some experiments by the U.S. Army to adopt the NLP concept to the train Soldiers for the M16, the TOW, and other systems Additionally the Air Force saw it as a way to also improve leadership, recruiting, instruction, and stress management.
Yet, Project JEDI seems to have faded away and so did neuro-linguistic programming as a whole. These days psychologists and neuroscientists consider it a pseudoscience and there is a lack of peer-reviewed, high-quality research on NLP.
Project JEDI seems fascinating, but it was apparently built on a faulty idea from the start.
Feature Image: A U.S. Air Force Pararescue Airman assigned to the 320th Special Tactics Squadron reads a ShinMaywa US-2 Flying Boat manual before a Search and Rescue training flight during Cope North 24 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Feb. 14, 2024.(U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Gerald R. Willis)
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