Death by PowerPoint

6 May 2006

The term “Death by Power Point” has taken on new meaning for me here.

Before arriving, the term meant that I had to sit through hours of butt-numbing briefs, lectures, or classes in order to fulfill some training requirement.  The presenter would usually arrive with his 100+ slide presentation and, because he loved to hear himself talk, explain each slide, ad nausea.  Or, the presentation would be a slipshod job put together by some poor, young Marine being forced to cut his teeth on an “easier” audience before getting thrown in front of the Commanding Officer, or worse, the Commanding General.

Not here.  “Death by Power Point” is literal. 

I work in the Tactical Fusion Center (TFC, (everything has an acronym by the way (BTW)).  I am the Senior Watch Chief for the TFC (TFC SWC) at night.  My work “day” runs from 9:00 PM until about 9:30 AM.  Twelve on, twelve off, seven days a week.  The mission of the TFC is to fuse the information gathered into actionable intelligence.  That means we determine stuff the triggers pullers can attack.  This actionable intelligence usually comes in the form of a Power Point slide show.  There are over 100 Marines working is the various facets of intelligence in the TFC working the same 12/12, 24/7 to execute this war.  Most of them are very bright, young Marines.  Some are on their first deployment; most are on their second or third visit to Iraq.  These Marines sit in front of their computers and process the various bits of data that come to them and make a picture out of it for a Power Point brief.  I continually have to emphasize to them that the work they are doing is accomplishing a significant mission.  What they place in their Power Point slides has repercussions throughout the area and world.  It is similar to the science fiction novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.  Ender is a young lad being trained to defend the Earth from invading Aliens.  His training lasts several years and is very realistic and increasingly more difficult.  In the end he realizes that there was a transition from training to real combat somewhere along the way that was seamless, and he had succeeded in completely annihilating the enemy.  Most of these young Marines must feel like Ender, sitting at their computers, making products that have little meaning to them, oblivious to the gravity of the situation.  When in reality, those products are what drive this war forward.

“Death by Power Point” has become literal for the enemy on a daily basis, made possible by the many people here dedicated to carrying out our mission and returning home to our families.

Until next time

Rog