# The Most Complicated Military PowerPoint... Ever?



## Marauder06 (Jan 25, 2012)

In class earlier this week, one of my professors put up a slide showing a flowchart related to a reading we had about the Roman Empire. He said it was the most complicated relational PowerPoint slide (I'm paraphrasing) that he had ever seen. And it was complicated, but I think we have him beat:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/apr/29/mcchrystal-afghanistan-powerpoint-slide







Anyone else have a better example?


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## JohnnyBoyUSMC (Jan 25, 2012)

Lol nope, that's about the most complicated! Remember when this came out, i don't know WHY they make it so complicated! Find bad guys, kill bad guys, protect the local population, train the host army nation, improve their government, improve economic and ground conditions. There, I just explained a basic coin stratagey in a few sentences, was it really that hard? Granted it does get more complicated given many factors, but the basics are still the same! Yet we need a power point that makes your eyes bleed and leave you screaming "we're doomed!!!!"


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## Marauder06 (Jan 25, 2012)

The worst part about it is, somebody (most likely a group of people) spent a lot of time working on it, and it probably makes a lot of sense & is useful to them.  But as part of a briefing to a four-star commanding general???   If it takes more than five or so seconds to comprehend, it's going to be disregarded, if not outright ridiculed.  Blow that thing up on the plotter and put it on the wall in the planning cell, don't pitch it to the CG.


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## JohnnyBoyUSMC (Jan 25, 2012)

I can see that briefing right now taking about three hours, with at the end the general going "ok wtf did u just try and explain to me?". No one seems to remember keep it simple stupid. Nah lets not come up with a simple yet comprehensive way to engage coin here, let's make a extremely complicated power point to impress a general! Sigh....


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## CDG (Jan 25, 2012)

Holy shit.... I can't imagine looking at that and thinking, "Yep, looks good.  I think they'll get it.  It's clearly laid out with arrows and colors and everything."


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## Diamondback 2/2 (Jan 25, 2012)

JohnnyBoyUSMC said:


> No one seems to remember keep it simple stupid.


 
No shit, my head hurts every time I look at the COIN FM, this graphic makes me want to break things...


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## Dame (Jan 25, 2012)

Marauder06 said:


> The worst part about it is, somebody (most likely a group of people) spent a lot of time working on it, and it probably makes a lot of sense & is useful to them. But as part of a briefing to a four-star commanding general???  If it takes more than five or so seconds to comprehend, *it's going to be disregarded, if not outright ridiculed.* Blow that thing up on the plotter and put it on the wall in the planning cell, don't pitch it to the CG.


As an American, I consider it my duty to ridicule that sad excuse for a representation of a plan.


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## SgtUSMC8541 (Jan 25, 2012)

I think my left eye just started to bleed.


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## reed11b (Jan 25, 2012)

I had thought the WTB flow chart was bad.....
Reed


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## Boon (Jan 25, 2012)

Yeah, I wouldn't want to brief that


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## 0699 (Jan 25, 2012)

On top of it, that slide was probably "the plan".  I can't count the number of times I sat through an ops briefing, only to find out at the end that there was no written ops plan (IAW the FMs) to go with the briefing, just the PP.   I would actually argue with mid-grade officers, with them telling me the PP was good enough.

And I'm not talking one-day STABO in Iraq; these were major theater-level exercises with multiple planning conferences & site surveys.

Arrrgh.


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## x SF med (Jan 25, 2012)

so............ that's what it looks like when a think-tank has a brain fart...  or is that when it mentally pukes?

just, WOW.....


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## JohnnyBoyUSMC (Jan 25, 2012)

My head hurts from staring at it too long....and I keep crying blood, dunno what that's from


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## Chopstick (Jan 25, 2012)

JohnnyBoyUSMC said:


> My head hurts from staring at it too long....and I keep crying blood, dunno what that's from


Tears of blood are acceptable.  Just dont urinate on it ok?


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## Mac_NZ (Jan 25, 2012)

Holy shit.  They need to break that thing down into parts before anyone can digest it.


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## Brill (Jan 25, 2012)

My S-1 showed me a similar one when I asked where my travel voucher was.


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## AWP (Jan 26, 2012)

Y'all are a bunch of uneducated pussies. That chart has colors...probably even flavors. Hell, the colors are even grouped together like all of those tiny paint-strip thingies at Home Depot. My wife said she wanted blue and I came back with ANSF Tactical and she was like, "No motherfucker, I want Tribal Governance." and that's when I realized she was more concerned about the Gov't Integration of Local Tribal Structures and her Goddamned throw pillows while I was thinking she wanted some ANSF Manpower Recruiting and Retention to accentuate the curtains in the dining room. Well, fuck me running, you know?

If creating Powerpoint like that is wrong, I don't want to be right.


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## policemedic (Jan 26, 2012)

I'm dizzy. :sick:


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## Marauder06 (Jan 26, 2012)

Freefalling said:


> Y'all are a bunch of uneducated pussies. That chart has colors...probably even flavors. Hell, the colors are even grouped together like all of those tiny paint-strip thingies at Home Depot. My wife said she wanted blue and I came back with ANSF Tactical and she was like, "No motherfucker, I want Tribal Governance." and that's when I realized she was more concerned about the Gov't Integration of Local Tribal Structures and her Goddamned throw pillows while I was thinking she wanted some ANSF Manpower Recruiting and Retention to accentuate the curtains in the dining room. Well, fuck me running, you know?
> 
> If creating Powerpoint like that is wrong, I don't want to be right.


 
lol

You've spent too much time deployed, brother.  Time to come home...


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## AWP (Jan 26, 2012)

Marauder06 said:


> lol
> 
> You've spent too much time deployed, brother. Time to come home...


 
Sell the house, sell the kids, sell the car....


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## Brill (Jan 26, 2012)

Freefalling said:


> Y'all are a bunch of uneducated pussies. That chart has colors...probably even flavors. Hell, the colors are even grouped together like all of those tiny paint-strip thingies at Home Depot. My wife said she wanted blue and I came back with ANSF Tactical and she was like, "No motherfucker, I want Tribal Governance." and that's when I realized she was more concerned about the Gov't Integration of Local Tribal Structures and her Goddamned throw pillows while I was thinking she wanted some ANSF Manpower Recruiting and Retention to accentuate the curtains in the dining room. Well, fuck me running, you know?
> 
> If creating Powerpoint like that is wrong, I don't want to be right.


 
Now, calm down there AFT Angry Ranger.


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## Loki (Jan 26, 2012)

This looks like some young Lt. or Captains presentation at a command staff briefing... I was present in a briefing at Eggers one time watching a young O give a brief. Pretty funny because I thought the commanders head was going to explode. They then starting putting limits on colors, amount of slides and time. All we could do was laugh and have a drink back at the engineers compound, I mean ahhh tea.  Hilarious!


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## SpitfireV (Jan 29, 2012)

This looks familiar and I think it might be because our favourite officer sir has posted it before?

:-"


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