Paul J. Kern never made big bucks as a four-star general. The Army pay grade for his rank was less than $200,000 a year.

One connection that impacted the war in Iraq for the better was the friendship between two soldiers, Gen. David H. Petraeus and retired Gen. John M. “Jack” Keane.

It’s not always that candidates for president or vice president have children who are serving in the military during wartime. But the 2008 election will be decidedly different.

David Barstow provided a fascinating report in yesterday’s New York Times, about the Bush administration’s courting of retired military brass who provide military analysis to the TV networks and other media outlets.

Northrop Grumman Corp. has hired a lobbying firm headed by two former U.S. senators to protect a lucrative military manufacturing project it won with Airbus for a new fleet of tanker planes.

Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin Corporation, two of the Pentagon’s largest military contractors, announced last week that they are teaming up to develop a new bomber for the Air Force.

The companies are likely to face Northrop Grumman as they compete for the program, which will cost tens of billions of dollars. The fleet of B-2 bombers, the most recent bomber program, cost the Pentagon at least $40 billion.

When Congress gets back to business in the New Year, one of its priorities will be consideration of the Bush administration’s request for a massive arms sale - in the neighborhood of $20 billion - to Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states.

Israel and Egypt also stand to gain billions more in U.S. weapons as part of the package Congress will review.

The proposed deal is controversial because of the Saudi component. Given the Saudi government’s questionable record on fighting terrorism and curtailing terrorism financing, its funding of extremist wahabbist mosques, its supply of foreign fighters into Iraq and a judicial system that recently ordered 200 lashes for a rape victim, some in Congress don’t believe the kingdom should be rewarded with top-of-the-line American weaponry.

It’s usually hairstyles, clothing or smoking habits that date an old 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.”

Sue Payton, the senior acquisition official in the Air Force, is an unlikely military reformer. She has spent a career in the defense industry and recently completed a long stint under former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

When Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne swore her in 17 months ago as the service’s top weapons buyer, he said her charge was to infuse “integrity and transparency” into the acquisition process after a procurement scandal.

The federal government is trying to reverse a recent judgment favoring a Department of Defense whistleblower who drew attention to overcharges on Lockheed Martin military contracts.

The chief of the Office of Personnel Management has asked the Merit Systems Protection Board to reverse its recent decision in favor of Ken Pedeleose, an industrial engineer with the Defense Contract Management Agency. Agency engineers and inspectors are the Pentagon’s front-line defense against contractor fraud.

Members of the International Peace Operations Association will have plenty to talk about at their October summit in Washington.

The trade group with the Orwellian name is an association of private military contractors, including besieged Blackwater USA, which faces investigations abroad and at home.

The association was formed in 2001, and has grown rapidly with the increased use of private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its mission is to “promote high operational and ethical standards of firms active in the peace and stability industry.” One of its stated aims is to combat the perception that its members are war profiteers.

The U.S. Army has accused an American company based in Kuwait of paying nearly $300,000 in bribes to obtain military contracts.

According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Alabama, Lee Dynamics International was suspended from contracting services in July, after an investigation in which two Army officers admitted taking bribes.

Environmentalists standards are finding unexpected support from the military and corporate America.

An organization called Securing America’s Future Energy, or SAFE, is headed by P. X. Kelley, a former Marine Corps commandant, and FedEx CEO Frederick Smith.

The goal of the high-powered nonprofit is to reduce the country’s dependence on oil, and to enlist other business and military leaders in the effort. Among its recommendations are increasing fuel-efficiency standards for passenger cars and light trucks, and expanding tax credits for efficient vehicles.

Don’t cry for Gen. Peter Pace. Or, Adm. Ed Giambastiani.

When they soon leave as chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, they will likely have ample opportunity to make big money in the private sector.