( CNN ) -- 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 . Military pay in play in game of political poker . Here 's a look at recent U.S. defense spending , by the numbers : . 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 . Panetta to recommend pay cut for military . CNN Explains : Sequestration .
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta sounds the alarm about draconian spending cuts . The Pentagon is cutting its budget by $487 billion over 10 years, a cut of more than 20 percent from current levels.