10th Mountain getting Africa.

If you didn't think that Africa is the next hot spot then check this out.  AFRICOM has picked a Brigade from the 10th Mountain to go to Africa.  Via Military.com

A U.S.-based unit has been selected as the Army's first "regionally aligned" brigade, and by next year its soldiers could begin conducting operations in Africa.
It is the first step in an effort to develop expert units to rotate through a region.
U.S. Africa Command will be the first to test the new rotational model, intended to give commanders a more reliable supply of soldiers available for short, training-focused missions.
Army chief of staff Gen. Raymond Odierno on Wednesday said that a brigade from the 10th Mountain Division has been picked to lead the effort in Africa.
Plans also call for brigades to eventually be aligned with Southern, Central and Pacific Commands, Odierno said. The number of brigades aligned with a given region will depend on the needs of the respective combatant commands.
"So as they go through a training process, then they become available for a period a time, nine to 12 months," Odierno said. "And then they can use those forces to meet whatever requirements they might have. It might be rotational forces. It could be building partner capacity. It could be providing security assistance. It could be doing exercises."
"The regionally aligned forces concept will be especially important in the Asia-Pacific region as we move forward -- home to seven of the 10 largest armies," Odierno said.
Similar rotational concepts also are being looked at in Europe, where the Army will reduce from four forward-stationed brigades to two, Odierno said.
Army planners have been working on the regional brigade concept for some time.
"We think it'll be more efficient. We think it will lead to better outcomes," Col. Andrew Dennis, the Army's chief of security cooperation policy and concepts, said in an interview earlier this year.
Dennis said the intent of the regional alignment concept is to send small platoon- or battalion-size elements to Africa, not a whole brigade at once.

The Army is about to fuck itself with this concept.

A platoon or separate Infantry Battalion is too light, too dependent to send alone.  The Marines establish Air-Ground Task Groups with attached Logistical Units to perform these type missions.

SOCOM does its own thing but that's SOCOM.  They have an entirely different logistics network to fall back on.

You can't play the game the Special Ops does if you don't have the support.  Prediction.

This won't work.

Ranger Assn Ain't Happy!

What's worse than having the entire USMC ready to pound your face into mush with the heels of their boots?

How about having the entire Ranger Assn, Rangers, Special Operations Assn, Special Forces and the rest of the military establishment ready to give you a heel strike to the little spot between the bridge of your nose and the rest of your skull.

General Orderino.   Welcome to your new reality.

Damn son.  Sucks to be you!

Check out the comments from the Rangers here.

The F-35 and a couple of idiot Democrat Congress Critters.

Ya know.  If you don't know what the hell you're talking about you should sit in a corner and shut the fuck up.

Conyers and Ellison should both take that advice.

I'm not even going to look these yahoos up because I'm sure I'd be punching walls and getting ready to body slam these guys if I got a look at their voting records...Congress Critters.  You can't live with them, you can't do what comes naturally with vermin.  Check this out.

Stop buying F-35's.

Buy more F/A-18's.

Amazing.

It won't pass and that's the good thing.  The House Republicans get alot wrong but they're solid on defense.


To Conyers and Ellison...

Ghost Recon.

H/T to Endo Mike~!



Medal of Honor just can't keep up with what the other guys are doing.  Great franchise but kinda dated now.

Weds. Wall Paper.

A U.S. Marine Corps A/V-8B Harrier receives fuel over Afghanistan from a KC-10 Extender from the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, Feb. 24, 2012. The 908th EARS provides critical air refueling to aircraft in the area of responsibility, delivering more than one million gallons of fuel to the fight every day. In 2011, the 908th EARS offloaded more than 390 million pounds of fuel to more than 28,000 aircraft, flew more than 36,700 hours in almost 4,600 missions. The average sortie length for a KC-10 mission in Southwest Asia is about eight hours. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Greg C. Biondo)

USAF Chief of Staff. Lying like a dog.

Check out this snippets from Flight Global...

The US Air Force has concluded that the short take-off vertical landing (STOVL) Lockheed Martin F-35B- model aircraft cannot generate enough sorties to meet its needs; therefore the service will not consider replacing the Fairchild Republic A-10 Warthog close air support jet with that variant.

and...

 Retired Lt Gen George Trautman, a former US Marine Corps (USMC) deputy commandant for aviation, disputes Schwartz's assertion that the F-35B cannot generate as many sorties as the A or C model aircraft.
"The F35B has highest sortie generation rate among the three JSF [Joint Strike Fighter] variants," Trautman says. "There may be other reasons the air force doesn't want the B, but sortie rate isn't a factor."
In fact, the USMC's concept of operations depends on the STOVL variant generating more sorties more rapidly than other JSF models, says retired USMC Lt Gen Emerson Gardner, a former naval aviator.
The key performance parameters (KPP) for the F-35 require higher sortie rates for the B-model at four sorties per day. The A and C models are only required to generate three sorties per day.

Wow.

This is why the critics of the F-35 get so much attention.

The supporters of the program...like the Chief of Staff of the Air Force is SUPPOSE TO BE.  Keep shooting themselves in the foot.

Why couldn't he simply say that it wasn't in the budget.

That he didn't want it.

Anything but a freaking half assed lie would have done.

But NO!  The dumbass had to show himself to be a dumbass.

Amazing.

Armed UAVs over the United States.

The Aviationist has the whole story.

The Police State has fully arrived here in the US.

God save us all.

We build roads/schools...they grow poppy.

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Dustin J. Howell with Combined Anti-Armor Team (CAAT), Weapons Company, 2D Battalion, 9th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 5 patrols through a poppy field during a satellite patrol in Marjah, Afghanistan, April 26, 2012. The CAAT took part in a fifteen-day operation to erect Patrol Base Sledgehammer Five and disrupt insurgent activity in the area.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. David A. Perez)

I am amazed at US policy toward Afghanistan.

Why are we trying so hard to Americanize these people?

We build roads, they grow poppy.

We educate their children, they grow poppy.

We liberate them from the Taliban and they shoot our servicemembers from behind.

Why are we in Afghanistan again?

The "TAB" is worthless...Ranger School going co-ed.

He is best who is trained in the severest school.

So much for the thinking of one Greek philosopher.

I can name on 3 fingers US Army schools that are prized by Marines...Schools that Marines would give body parts to go to.

Ranger...Airborne....HALO....

There might be a few others but these are the only ones I hear about people lusting for.

Cross Ranger School off the list...Why put yourself through the pain if its just watered down boot camp?  Via Military.com

The Army is addressing the specifics of the plan to allow female soldiers to join infantry battalions and – associated with that move – to make the prestigious Ranger School co-ed, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said Wednesday.
The Army's top leader said he wants to give women every opportunity to succeed in infantry battalions since the military reversed the policy barring them from infantry duty earlier this year.
Odierno noted that nine out of ten senior infantry officers have graduated from Ranger school and wear the Ranger tab on their uniforms. Not allowing women to earn their own tab could hinder their infantry careers, Odierno said.

I'm starting to see the total picture.

Looks like the Marine Corps did push back a bit on Women in the Infantry...so now they're going after the Army and Ordierno is more than happy to oblige.

Oh well.

Looks like Ranger School is going to have full quotas once again.

I can't wait to see the first all female class.  

I already have a nickname.  Not Ranger School.  Zena Warrior Princess Course.

Marines train for Urban Combat.

When Krulak came up with his 3 block war concept that put our collective bulls eye on urban combat, and humanitarian relief ops.

We made a slight mistake though.

Urban areas are where fighting will take place without a doubt, but for future combat it will not be major metropolitan areas, it'll be villages and the areas around them.

Look at the fighting in the Philippines.

You have villages surrounded by jungles and the terrorist are attacking/going into them for supplies then heading back out to safe havens.

JUNGLE WARFARE is where the future is.

Its tough, nasty and the environment itself is trying its best to kill ya.

That's where the Marines need to focus.  Jungle and Arctic Warfare.  That's where the future is taking us.  Whether we like it or not.

RIVRON 1

Photos via Lee.

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.

24th MEU at Eager Lion 12. Straight Grunt Work.

Photos by Lance Cpl. Tucker Wolf