Old generals on the payroll

It’s usually hairstyles, fashions or smoking habits that date a movie.

But in the 1954 Christmas classic, White Christmas, it’s a song sung by Bing Crosby, called “What Can You Do With a General.”

Crosby croons:

Who’s got a job for a general
When he stops being a general?
They all get a job but a general no one hires

Nobody thinks of assigning him
When they stop wining and dining him
It seems this country never has enjoyed
So many one- and two- and three- and four-star generals
Unemployed

Crosby’s commanding officer has fallen on hard times, having invested his life’s savings in a Vermont inn in a year when there’s no snow. The song, aired on national television, prompts loyal troops to flock to the inn on Christmas Eve, saving their chief from bankruptcy.

A 2007 version of the movie might feature a generals-only business retreat, held at an exclusive resort in Idaho or Utah. The attendees would be paid top dollar for corporate board seats, consultancies, advisory posts and vice presidencies.

The map above shows just some of the jobs currently held by retired generals. Displaying them all would take a screen far bigger than an ordinary laptop. (For a better view, see the full-screen version.)

Not surprisingly, employers of old brass include major defense contractors, such as Rockwell Collins, General Dynamics and Honeywell. Communications and security companies also snatch up commanders after retirement.

CAE USA, which makes flight simulators and trains pilots, is chaired by former Air Force Gen. Michael E. Ryan.

Ronald R. Fogleman, also a retired Air Force general, heads his own consulting company, Durango Aerospace, and is a board member at several other firms, including Alliant Techsystems. (The head of Alliant, by the way, is not a former general but a former vice admiral, Daniel J. Murphy.)

MPRI, an L-3 Communications subsidiary that provides security services and training, is awash in stars. Retired Gen. Carl E. Vuono is president. Ronald H. Griffith, also a retired Army general, is executive vice president. General managers include retired Gen. William F. “Buck” Kernan and retired Brig. Gen. Dan Doherty.

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