General Allen bails...Battle Rattle is wrong.

Battle Rattle was close but didn't quite hit the target....

The supposedly indispensable leader of the war in Afghanistan is in line to become top commander of U.S. European Command, according to another story in the Post. He could leave his post in Afghanistan as soon as next winter, in between fighting seasons.
How those two realities square with one another seems like  a fair conversation to have.
On one hand, there’s obvious reason for concern. “Another Afghanistan Commander Bails on the War Early,” reads a headline on Wired magazine’s popular Danger Room blog, and that’s a point of view that will certainly be held by many.
On the other hand, it’d be fascinating to know what’s going on behind the scenes at the White House and in Kabul that spurred this conversation.
Did Obama and Allen reach some sort of deal? Did Allen ask to move on? If so, why would the president agree to it when most educated observers believe the war in Afghanistan already has had far too many transitions in leadership in the last few years?

Yeah close but no cigar.

Rumor control has it that he tendered his resignation.

Rumor has it that the White House and the JCS went bonkers and begged prodded and scrambled for a face saving gesture and that the reassignment to Europe before retirement was the accepted compromise.

Fact.

The war is going badly, Allen's hands are tied and if he resigned at this time the enemy and the President's critics would have a field day.

Remember you heard it here first.

This is nothing but base, nasty, scum filled politics.

Friedrich Nietzsche would be proud.

A Dozen F-35's are at Eglin...

Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. May 15, 2012 – The twelfth F-35 Lightning II destined for the training fleet at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., was ferried today. U.S. Marine Corps pilot Lt. Col. Fred Schenk piloted the aircraft, known as BF-11, which departed Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas at 10:02 a.m. CDT for an approximate 90-minute flight to Florida’s Emerald Coast.
The F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing production jet is now assigned to the Marine Fighter/Attack Training Squadron 501 residing with the host 33d Fighter Wing, where it will be used for pilot and maintainer training

SPMAGTF African Partnership 2012 conduct Non Combatant Evacuation Exercise.

Photos by Staff Sgt. Jemssy Alvarez Jr.

Panetta smacks Air Force Leadership.

Thanks for the article Drake.

FREAKING OUTSTANDING!

Panetta did what USAF leadership was too stupid to do.  He listened to the troops, in this case two USAF pilots, weighed the evidence and made a fucking decision.

Check out this part of the article....

In what amounts to a rebuke of the Air Force’s handling of the issue, Panetta directed that F-22 flights be limited in distance so pilots can easily make an emergency landing at any given time. He also told the Air Force to speed up its plans to add backup oxygen supplies to the aircraft and to report to him monthly about efforts to pinpoint the cause of the problems.
“The secretary wants to add his muscle to this,” George Little, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters. “He takes very seriously the concerns raised by the pilots.” An Air Force spokesman declined to comment on Panetta’s directive.

Good news.

Now, if only he would fire a general or two....

Lockheed Martin F-35 chief test pilot

A website you should check out.

Wondering where the voices of reason are in the F-35 Canada debate?  Well its right here.

Go to F-35.ca and get some truth telling instead of a pile of Bull-Sheet Man!

Pun intended.

Frankish Queen Fredegund..vicious bad ass of the week.

You have got to read about this chick.

Talk about evil?  She makes Ghengis Khan and Hitler look like punks.  Uh yeah.  That's her slamming her Daughters head in a trunk...and she loved her.  Go here to read the full story but a few excerpts....

Long story short, Chilperic/Fredegund fought an epic seven-year war with Siegebert/Brunhilde, with either side sending their mailed knights charging spears-first into combat and shivving the fuck out of anyone in their paths. After a hard-fought campaign, Fredegund defeated her rivals, crushed them in battle, then had King Siegebert whacked by stabbing him in the kidneys by a pair of assassins while he was in the process of giving a speech about how he was going to get revenge and beat the shit out of Fredegund once and for all (I'm not sure if she planned the timing to work out like that, but it's badass either way). With the rival King dead, Fredegund overran the rest of Siegebert's men, captured Brunhilde, destroyed her cities, and then had Siegebert's top government official (who was admittedly a greedy evil bastard known as "The Breaker of Wills") executed by being systematically dismembered joint-by-joint with white-hot pokers and knives (holy shit).
Fredegund also planned to have Brunhilde whacked as well, but while she was trying to figure out some sort of awesome new cruel and unusual punishment to carry out some ass hole broke Brunhilde out of prison and snuck her out of the realm. But, whatever. Fredegund eventually tracked that guy down and had him stabbed to death by his own servants, then had his kid poisoned to death by an evil chef just for good measure.

and...

 In true badass back-room Emperor Palpatine conspirator fashion, Fredegund's primary method of disposing of her enemies was by hiring easily-bribeable men to poison or shiv her enemies for her. Thanks to her own personal charm, a collection of dirty secrets that would make Nick Fury want to high-five her, and a nearly-limitless amount of gold at her disposal, the Queen of the Franks routinely hired everyone from Dukes and Priests to slaves and brigands to take up oleander-coated daggers and shank douchebags in her name. Her personal favorite method of execution was to hire a band of thugs armed with heavily-poisoned Swedish eating utensils known as scramsaxes (it even sounds like an IKEA thing) to fall upon her target in the woods, beat the shit out of them, rob them, and leave them to die slow, agonizingly-painful deaths. Then, when the brigands would return to report the kill, Fredegund would have those assholes whacked as well, regardless of whether they completed their mission or not (though it's worth mentioning she'd just behead them with axes at dinner parties if they succeeded, whereas if they failed it was much worse... one poor cleric who failed to execute Brunhilde was punished by having his hands and feet cut off and then being thrown in a hole).

Geez.

Talk about a case of terminal PMS!

Merlin Upgrades in the budget. A Junglie & AEW version.

via Rotorhub (go there to read the whole thing).

PR12 has 'guaranteed' funding for the planned Apache life-extension programme and what is described as an assessment phase for the marinisation of the Merlin Mk3 helicopter fleet which is due to be transferred to the Royal Navy to replace the Sea King helicopters of the Commando Helicopter Force.
The MoD also confirmed that project Crowsnest will form part of the 'core equipment programme'. Crowsnest will deliver the Royal Navy's future carrier-borne airborne early warning (AEW) capability probably using modified versions of the EH101 Merlin, particularly now that the government has decided on the F-35B STOVL version of the Joint Strike Fighter to provide carrier strike capability.

I'll be interested to see how the Merlin performs in both roles.

The AEW version should be of interest because it could perform a mini-command and control platform for the V-22 in USMC service.

As far as the Merlin being a Junglie replacement, I would think that it would be a no brainer.  It can lift more, fly further etc.

The Royal Marines will be final judge on that though.  The main issue will be the cost of marinisation.  Otherwise it should be a straight copy of the Dutch Tactical Troop Transport.