Colonel kicked out of war for hating PowerPoint

[Renew Deal]

An Army reserve colonel on his second Afghanistan tour has been kicked out of that country for writing an editorial about how much he hates PowerPoint.

Colonel Lawrence Sellin was on the staff of the International Security Assistance Force’s Joint Command, the organization that, according to Spencer Ackerman, "formed last year to oversee the war’s day-to-day operations." PowerPoint enthusiast and Afghanistan war commander David Petraeus loves the IJC. Sellin thinks it's a pointless bureaucratic nightmare that accomplishes nothing.

So he wrote a hilarious editorial about the IJC, which was published by UPI.
<snip>

So Sellin was promptly kicked out of the war for his unauthorized editorializing. According to regulations, officers and enlisted men may not present "written or oral presentations to the media" without clearing it with a public-affairs officer.
<snip>

http://www.salon.com/news/afghanistan/?story=/politics/war_room/2010/08/27/afghanistan_powerpoint_hater_fired

[damntexdem]

1. Hey, the U.S. can't possibly project its power without PowerPoint.

;-)

[DCKit]

2. Hopefully, the beginning of a widespread trend.

If we can get them all home, one way or another.

First-hand reviews of KBR, Halliburton, DynCorp and our other contractors "services" would be an interesting read.

[Arkana]

3. This just in: the 82nd Airborne has expressed a unified hatred of Microsoft Access.

[SlimJimmy]

4. And they are considering a direct assault against

Excel spreadsheets.

[LiberalFighter]

7. Which version?

Forget it. All versions of Access probably suck.

[LiberalFighter]

6. One way to get them home.

How about everyone adopting a soldier and writing an editorial in their name?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

5. "Death By PowerPoint" claims another victim. nt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_by_PowerPoint

[pinboy3niner]

8. Thanks for the link! The BEST excerpt:

Military excess

A PowerPoint Ranger is a soldier who relies heavily on presentation software to the point of excess. Some junior officers spend the majority of their time preparing PowerPoint slides. Because of its usefulness for presenting mission briefings, it has become part of the culture of the military, but is regarded as a poor decision-making tool. As a result some generals, such as Brigadier-General Herbert McMaster, have banned the use of PowerPoint in their operations.

According to Jim Nelson, who served as a civilian translator with the Russian and American peacekeepers in Bosnia in 1996, the Russians said, "If we ever had a war, while you are working on your Power Point, we would be killing you."

[nashville_brook]

9. i hate power point too. i can't believe it has become a military stand-by. we are truly fucked.

[Canuckistanian]

10. Tsk, tsk... NEVER diss corporate America

Especially when fighting for corporate America.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html?_r=1