Wonder no more: the defense budget will be increasing in the years ahead.

The Washington Post has published two articles in the past two days that point the way. On Thursday, Ann Scott Tyson reported that the military was having to pay bonuses to keep mid-level officers. The amount -- $25,000 to $35,000 -- wasn't much by Wall Street standards. But it is one of the best indications yet that personnel costs for the Pentagon will be increasing justso the Pentagon can keep the force it already has.

Today, The Post has an Associated Press story by Richard Lardner about how the military has had to provide substantial bonuses to get members of its elite forces to stay in uniform.

This is just the start. Higher pay and better benefits for officers and elite forces will be followed by similar changes for lower-ranking troops. There will also be spending increases for research and development, procurement, and family housing. And if as seems likely the Pentagon is successful in convincing Congress that overall troop strength has to be increased, personnel costs will be even higher.