The distinguished gentleman from Virginia is asking why the military has so many flag and general officers (generals and admirals):
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., is pressing the Defense Department for justification of why the military has so many flag and general officers, and he also wants to know why the military is paying salary and tuition assistance to officers on loan to some Washington, D.C., think tanks.
It’s a good question, with about 1/10 the men in uniform as at the height of the 2nd world war, we have more active duty general officers .
Additionally, we just have more officers, with one officer for every 5 enlisted men, up from the traditional number of 1 for 10 that was the standard for the military throughout most of history.
The answer is, I think, that much like the incompetent banksters thinking that it is all about the banksters, the officer corps thinks that its all about the officer corps.
Lots of navel gazing, and lots of waste.
Cut back on the officer corps, and spend it on senior NCOs, and you will get a better military.