Enjoy your money while you can ...

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Military spending - Brief article

More than any other service, the Army has relied on Iraq-war funding to refurbish vehicles and acquire new hardware. In 2008, the Army is seeking $55 billion for weapon acquisitions, more than half of which will come from war-emergency requests.

The affluence may be short lived, however, says the Army's chief acquisition executive, Claude M. Bolton Jr. If history is any guide, money only lasts as long as there are troops under fire. Once the shooting stops, "they take the money away. And they do it very...