How much cash do we spend on defense, really? Center for Defense Information budget guru Winslow Wheeler provides this handy chart. Check out the $50 billion increase in the "peacetime" Pentagon coffers -- the money that doesn't get spent on Afghanistan and Iraq.
And where does that money go? Healthcare, paychecks, and new weapons, mostly. Check out this Pentagon chart.
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![Ukrainian serviceman runs tests flights with a Vampire hexacopter drone](http://images01.military.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_large/public/2024-05/trib-ukrainian-soldier-hexacopter-drone-1200.jpg?itok=y9n8Zs2S "A Ukrainian serviceman of the "Achilles" Battalion from the 92nd Brigade of the Ukrainian Army runs tests flights with a Vampire hexacopter drone ahead of missions, in the eastern Donetsk region on April 30, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images/TNS)")
