"...A change in federal law to encourage experienced officers to serve longer careers allows top admirals and generals to make more in retirement than they did on active duty, Pentagon and congressional records show.
The new rules, part of the 2007 Defense Authorization Act, were supported by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was concerned that mandatory retirements forced the military’s most experienced senior people to hang up their uniforms in their early or mid-50s..."
