The Debrief: Lessons from the F/A-18 Community

Author at Al Asad Airbase, Iraq

In my experience in the F/A-18 community, it was common to spend hours planning and debriefing a 90-minute mission.

This wasn’t overkill. It was the standard.

Before the first engine turned, the flight crew:

- Broke down objectives and contingencies

- Rehearsed the comm plan and formation timing down to the second

- Assigned roles so clearly that no one had to ask, “Who’s doing what?” mid-flight.

After the mission, we didn’t just move on to the next meeting. We sat in a room and debriefed with brutal honesty:

- What went right?

- What went sideways?

- What impacted the mission, good or bad?

To do this well, in a meaningful and impactful way that makes the next mission better than today’s we needed that level of openness. The kind that welcomes discussion, surfaces tough truths, and focuses on learning over blame.

And that kind of openness? It starts long before the debrief. It’s built during the grind of planning, in the hours of preparation, in the shared focus and effort that goes into flying well together. That hard work creates trust and that trust creates the space where individuals and teams can learn, grow, and perform at the highest level.

Debriefing isn’t a checkbox. It’s how high-performing cultures get better, faster.

Where in your organization do you create the space and time to focus on getting better every day?