180K to do nothing- hell, somebody fire me for that deal

General Stanley McChrystal may have leapt out out of his plane parachuteless with his loose yap, but the federal government puts out big fluffy landing pads even for the disgraced:

Senior military officers were in widespread agreement that the president had no choice but to fire General McChrystal after he and his staff were quoted in a Rolling Stone article disparaging Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and other senior Obama administration officials.

But they said the president’s decision to allow General McChrystal to retire with four stars was an important indicator for future potential employers — perhaps some defense contractors lining the Beltway around Washington — that he was not radioactive, at least as far as the White House was concerned.

Forcing him to retire with three stars “would have sent a signal that he was out of favor,” said John A. Nagl, a retired lieutenant colonel and president of the Center for a New American Security, a nonpartisan military policy institution in Washington.

Under Army regulations, four-star generals must serve three years in that rank before they can keep it in retirement, but the president can waive the rule. General McChrystal was awarded his fourth star only last year, when he was made the top American andNATO commander in Afghanistan. He announced his plans to retire on Monday, five days after being fired.

The White House decision means that General McChrystal, 55, will receive 85 percent of the base pay of a four-star general with 34 years of active service, amounting to an annual pre-tax retirement income of $181,416, according to Pentagon calculations. Had he retired as a three-star, the Pentagon said, General McChrystal would have received an annual pre-tax retirement income of $160,068.

Colleagues said that General McChrystal, who has a grown son, had spent time with family in recent days in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He has also been in contact by phone and e-mail with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and General Petraeus, who praised him this week not only for his service in Afghanistan but for his “exceptional leadership” in Iraq, where for five years General McChrystal oversaw secret commando operations and aggressively pushed his ranks to kill insurgents.

Colleagues say that they do not know yet what General McChrystal will do in retirement, but that his background suggests a future as a well-paid outside consultant to the Pentagon or a government intelligence agency.