Let's imagine there was no cold war -pick your POD: Failed Revolution, the Nazis destroy the URRS as a world power even if they losse the war, the URRS falls apart after the war on several nations; let's simply pick one POD than lacks an european Superpower hostile to the US.
How big would the US army be in such an scenario?
Reallistically, the only reason the US has such a massive armed forces was the (quite real) communist danger. Such a huge army is an incredible drain on resources, and the US has never in the last sixty years attempted any kind of serious conquest of colonization for itself (depite the apparent obsession of many Us haters); lacking a powerful enemy than literally wants to conquer your nation -and the rest of the world- that would be the only reason to keep such an army. The US does not actually need military bases all over the planet, after all.
But what army do the US actually need? Mexico and Cuba to the south, Canada to the North, Europe to the east, China, Japan and Indonesia to the west (maybe India and Thailand too)
Even if we ignore the unlikeliness of, say, France of Canada declaring war (the Pentagon's job certainly should be to prepare for it anyway)... the asian nations and Europe are far away. Japan did bomb Hawai, but could it actually conquer -and KEEP- the islands? Much less the mainland? A navy the size of the Royal Navy or France's would be enough for any possible overseas enemy -at the very worst, it'd give enough time for the American war machine to start in earnest, as Japan discovered on its own.
For armed forces, Canada's population is a mere 34 million people to the US' 300. In a surprise attack it might blitzkrieg across a lot of territory and lay waste to a handful of cities, but it simply lacks the manpower to seriously menace its neighbor.
Mexico is harder -111 million people, enough to field an impressive army should it want to- but the RPC and industrial output simply cannot compare. It could become a serious contender if it developed fully into a first world nation (or a communist/fascist totaitarian regime bent on conquest), but then we would be sustantially changing the scenario, wich pre-supposes most nations not unlike they are now.
I doubt the US land army would need much more than the national guards and 100.000-200.000 extra federal forces -and given is friendly neighbors, even less.
How big would the US army be in such an scenario?
Reallistically, the only reason the US has such a massive armed forces was the (quite real) communist danger. Such a huge army is an incredible drain on resources, and the US has never in the last sixty years attempted any kind of serious conquest of colonization for itself (depite the apparent obsession of many Us haters); lacking a powerful enemy than literally wants to conquer your nation -and the rest of the world- that would be the only reason to keep such an army. The US does not actually need military bases all over the planet, after all.
But what army do the US actually need? Mexico and Cuba to the south, Canada to the North, Europe to the east, China, Japan and Indonesia to the west (maybe India and Thailand too)
Even if we ignore the unlikeliness of, say, France of Canada declaring war (the Pentagon's job certainly should be to prepare for it anyway)... the asian nations and Europe are far away. Japan did bomb Hawai, but could it actually conquer -and KEEP- the islands? Much less the mainland? A navy the size of the Royal Navy or France's would be enough for any possible overseas enemy -at the very worst, it'd give enough time for the American war machine to start in earnest, as Japan discovered on its own.
For armed forces, Canada's population is a mere 34 million people to the US' 300. In a surprise attack it might blitzkrieg across a lot of territory and lay waste to a handful of cities, but it simply lacks the manpower to seriously menace its neighbor.
Mexico is harder -111 million people, enough to field an impressive army should it want to- but the RPC and industrial output simply cannot compare. It could become a serious contender if it developed fully into a first world nation (or a communist/fascist totaitarian regime bent on conquest), but then we would be sustantially changing the scenario, wich pre-supposes most nations not unlike they are now.
I doubt the US land army would need much more than the national guards and 100.000-200.000 extra federal forces -and given is friendly neighbors, even less.