How to win in Anbar - a hilarious KISS guide for E-1 to 0-10

[Pete0331]

Found this little gem of a presentation buried on another forum.

It is ridiculously funny because it offers both a realistic assessment of the situation and a realistic goal.
The presentation is from around 2006 and was made to present a complex problem on simple terms anyone could understand.

A little about the author. Not my words.

Army CPT Travis Patriquin
Travis gift of being able speak "Durka Durka" made him an invaluable asset to any team.

Travis was hand picked and pulled from the 82nd to supervise a platoon of special operations SOT-A's during OEF-1.

Trav was one of the few Pashtun speakers in the military.

Trav inserted into the SHA-e-KOT valley when his teams were attached to 101st during operation ANACONDA in late FEB of 2002. He sucked up mortar, Arty, RPG, and Machinegun fire alongside the 101st soldiers.

Trav scored 3/3 (the highest rating) on his defense language proficiency test (DLPT) in Arabic, Dari, Urdu, and Pashtun. Travis was starting to learn Farsi so he could "talk to the Durka man when we take Iran down next".

Using his superb language and people skills, Trav started an initiative to encourage the Iraqi people in Anbar to turn against the AQIZ fighters there.

Many people were too stupid to "get" what Trav was trying to do, so he made a Power Point presentation that even a 4th Grader (or 4th ID General) could understand.

He was killed was killed in an explosion while conducting operations in AL Anbar province, Iraq on 6 DEC 2006.

The presentation:
http://www.geardo.com/docs/how_to_win_in_anbar.pdf

[Sergeant M]

That's kind of sad really. It's too bad that Iraqi's don't listen to a ****ing word we say.

[StoneTheWeak]

That's pretty insightful. Too bad the dickheads up top don't care at all. Their way is the "only" way.

[Pete0331]

The program was implemented and succeeded.
It just took awhile to get higher to see the light.

[jackson07]

Just a side note.... a 3/3 is not the highest possible score on the DLTP.

[jackson07]

Though I do commend the Capt. Hearts and Minds can go a long way.

[Petz]

yut.... silly slide show... if he was so smart why was it done in english?!