Eric t olson philosophy

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Eric Thor Olson

Admiral, U.S. Navy

Eric Thor Olson was born on 24 January 1952 in Tacoma, WA.

Olson graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1973 and qualified as a Naval Special Warfare (SEAL) officer in 1974. He graduated in BUD/S Class 76. He has served operationally in an Underwater Demolition Team, SEAL Team, SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team, Special Boat Squadron, and at the Naval Special Warfare Development Group. He has commanded at every level.

Olson has participated in several conflicts and contingency operations, and has served as a SEAL instructor, strategy and tactics development officer and joint special operations staff officer. His overseas assignments include service as a United Nations Military Observer in Israel and Egypt, and as Navy Programs Officer in Tunisia. He served on the Navy staff as Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Plans, Policy, and Operations). In 1993, Olson participated in the Battle of Mogadishu. In 1994, Olson became Commander, Naval Special Warfare Development Group, an American counterterrorism unit. Olson was promoted again in

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Adm. Eric Olson, USN (Ret)

How did your NPS education impact your ability to think strategically and lead throughout your career?

It's important, I think, for military officers, all military people, to have a balance between training and education. You train for skill, you train for certainty, you educate for uncertainty. You train to be able to do things, but you educate so that you can think in a different way.

I think as a Navy SEAL growing up, I had sufficient training to be expert at my craft. What I didn't have was the educational context to apply my craft in the best and wisest way, and I think coming to the Naval Postgraduate School gave me the experience in an academic environment that allowed me to be more thoughtful in the application of my craft and think through things in a better way. And it did have an immediate benefit, in that when I went to my first assignment after leaving the Naval Postgraduate School, the senior person there had actually read my thesis. It helped me get introduced to a new complex environment much more quickly. That

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Eric Olson is a retired United States Navy admiral who served as the commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) from 2007–2011. Long before special operations forces and Navy SEALs became household terms, Admiral Olson was among these quiet professionals performing the most difficult tasks in the most difficult circumstances. During his tenure as America’s top special operations officer, he was responsible for recruiting, training, equipping, and deploying broadly capable forces worldwide. Secretary of defense Leon Panetta said, “As a result of his hard work, we now have the best-trained, the best-equipped and the most experienced Special Operations Force in the history of the United States.” A senior member of the United States National Defense team, Olson is often described as one of this century’s great military leaders and credited with developing the specialized forces that have accomplished some of the most notable military operations of the last decade. Many of the military’s most significant operational successes of r