Sump'n's not quite kosher about Ham

As a general rule, I tend to tune out almost all POLMIL gossip after Labor Day of an election year until the silly season is over.  People are emotional, people are looking for that October surprise that will change an election - and there are the general gossip-monger trolls that keep yelling, "Squirrel" in order to avoid higher brain function about real issues.

However, there are enough smart people asking questions about the following to make me pause a bit;

On October 18, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta appeared unexpectedly at an otherwise unrelated briefing on “Efforts to Enhance the Financial Health of the Force." News organizations and CSPAN were told beforehand there was no news value to the event and gave it scant coverage. In his brief remarks Mr. Panetta said, "Today I am very pleased to announce that President Obama will nominate General David Rodriguez to succeed General Carter Ham as commander of U.S. Africa Command.”

Read the RUMINT at the link. As a recidivist staff weenie, I'm not buying it. There would be multiple sources by now. The Caine Mutiny on the AFRICOM watch floor is not classified and would spread like wildfire from multiple sources. There may be some "there there" - but my money isn't on that. 

The smart money is to follow the trail set by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) in the video below about his conversation with General Ham. My initial reaction was that there was no story here - but Rep. Chaffetz has me rethinking that.
   

Read more, listen more, and ponder. 

Interesting. GOFO do not go early without good reason. The fact that we know more about why RADM Gaouette is going home than General Ham should give all pause.