We believe that men still serve for the sake of service and we find it doubtful that anyone would sign up for military duty only for the possibility that they could one day become a consultant for a defense contractor. Yet it must be acknowledged that gone are the days when our generals returned home to quiet lives of retirement running family farms and businesses, teaching at universities and military academies, or other non-defense related businesses. Today, when Generals seem to always become high paid consultants the day they leave their posts, for companies from which they authorized billions in purchases, it tarnishes the perceptions the rest of us have of these men. In fact, it relegates our retiring soldiers from a position of reverence to the same impression we have of retiring Congressmen, opportunists who simply take advantage of the profits from the revolving door.
What is stunning is the rapid and dramatic increase in the Generals retirement from the military and directly into the military industry immediately following their retirement. The Boston Globe reported that from 2004 and 2008, 80% of retiring three- and four-star officers went to work as consultants or defense executives. That compares with less than 50% only a decade prior from 1994 to 1998. These statistics don’t even mention or include the more frightening fact of the additional soldiers that have become consultants or advocates for foreign governments, reported, as required by law, or not.
