Story highlights
- Defense Secretary Leon Panetta sounds the alarm about draconian spending cuts
- Budgets and figures small and large provide glimpse into defense spending
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta provided a stark warning on Wednesday about the effects of impending budget cuts on the military unless Congress acts to avert them.
The result, he said, would be "the most serious readiness crisis" faced by the armed services in over a decade.
The outgoing secretary's address at Georgetown University included the first details of how the Pentagon would deal with the automatic spending cuts -- or sequestration in congressional jargon -- set to trigger March 1 across federal agencies.
Here's a look at recent U.S. defense spending, by the numbers:
Panetta to recommend pay cut for military 01:46
3.5 -- Percentage of the GDP now proposed to be spent for military purposes in 2013.
1/3 -- Portion of the military budget consisting of military pay and allowances, plus health care.
90 -- Percentage increase in military pay and allowances since FY2001.
$34,000 -- Average annual salary of a military mechanic in Waco, Texas.
$34,000 -- Amount it cost the Department of Defense to have a report prepared about the FY2012 budget.
8.4 -- Percentage of GDP spent on the military by Saudi Arabia in 2011. It's the highest in the world, according to the World Bank.
$48.7 billion -- Department of Defense Unified Medical Budget that supports the Military Health System
$17.6 billion -- Amount of money the Department of Defense will save over a five-year period by enacting a proposed annual fee for TRICARE for beneficiaries who are older than 65
46 -- Military protection manpower per 1,000 people in North Korea in 2008, the highest in the world.
5 -- Military protection manpower per 1,000 people in the United States in 2008.
$12 million -- Estimated amount the U.S. wasted each day in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a 2011 report by the Commission on Wartime Contracting.
