According to Army Times, the Defense Manpower Data Center reported that nearly 2,600 soldiers left active duty in March and were not replaced. They also reported that the size of the active force has been reduced by 16,548 soldiers in the past year. The number of soldiers at the end of March was 479,172 which is 154 soldiers less than when the Army stopped its post-Cold War drawdown. This number is the smallest force since 1940. The drawdown is predicted to continue decreasing for two more years. Its goal is to have 460,000 in 2017 and 450,000 in 2018. Some military generals worry that a depleted force will pose a serious problem, especially if the military has to respond to a large conflict.
I think that this could be either a bad or good thing, depending on how you look at it. The decreasing Army size could symbolize the U.S. nationalism and less involvement in foreign affairs, just like before World War 2, when the U.S. was an isolationist country. However, the decreasing Army size could also be a bad thing because if U.S. got involved in a war anytime soon, we would be at a disadvantage, scrambling for more soldiers to fight.
http://www.newsmax.com/US/Army-Military-Size-readiness/2016/05/07/id/727711/
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