Generals who commanded American forces in Afghanistan between 2008 and 2018 have gone on to serve on more than twenty corporate boards.

And not just any old corporate boards. But the boards of the Pentagon’s biggest defense contractors including heavy hitters like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Navistar International, Knowledge International, General Dynamics, L3 Harris Technologies, Raytheon.

Why settle for a $149,700 taxpayer-funded pension when the corporate-military complex wants to throw millions of dollars their way. All they have to do is hand over proprietary information, experience and contacts. It’s quite the payday.

Retired General Joseph F. Dunford Jr. serves on the board of Lockheed Martin where he’s paid over $300,000 a year. His employer received $74.2 billion in government contracts in 2020 alone.

Retired Admiral James A. Winnefeld Jr. serves on the board of Raytheon where he is paid $292,446 a year. His employer received $27.4 billion in government contracts in 2020.

Retired General James Mattis serves on the board of General Dynamics where he’s paid $127,458 a year. His employer received $22.6 billion in government contracts in 2020.

Retired General Mark Welsh III serves on the board of Northrop Grumman where he’s paid $299,261 a year. His employer received $12.7 billion in government contracts in 2020.

Retired General Jack Keane served on the board of General Dynamics where he was paid $257,884. He’s now executive chairman of AM General where he is paid over $480,000 a year. His employer received a $459 million contract in 2017 to provide more than 2,000 Humvees to Afghanistan.

They’ve all thrived in the private sector since leaving the war. They’ve amassed influence within businesses, universities and think tanks, for leading the most disastrous twenty-year war in history which killed an estimated 176,000 people, cost the US more than $2 trillion and ended with the restoration of Taliban rule.

Retired General Stanley A. McChrystal has profited more than any other military man.

McChrystal is a board member or adviser for at least ten companies. For a position on JetBlue’s board between 2010 and 2019, he was paid a total of more than $1.3 million. He made roughly the same amount between 2011 and 2018 from Navistar International. (A subsidiary of Navistar International agreed to pay $50 million to resolve claims it defrauded the US Marine Corps more than a decade ago by inflating the prices of armored vehicles used in Afghanistan and Iraq.)

With war ending in disgrace in Afghanistan, McChrystal has had to search for more lucrative revenue streams from corporations, governments and universities, commanding six-figure salaries for some of his board positions and high five-figure speaking fees.

At Yale University, the retired general even teaches a course called “Leadership”.

Apparently he’s not teaching irony.

References

“Corporate boards, consulting, speaking fees: How US generals thrived after Afghanistan” Washington Post (2021)

“Former Pentagon generals in Afghan war make top dollar advising military contractors” CorpWatch (2021)

“Mark Esper, former Raytheon weapons lobbyist, is in charge of the Pentagon” Citizens for Ethics (2020)