in right now, they don t really build up the overall size of the force all that much to fight these big, long new wars. we fought the longest war in u.s. history. we are currently still fighting the longest war in world history. look at the overall size of the military. we cut the overall size of the active duty military. army, navy, marine corps, air force, full-time guard and reserve. we kept it basically flat while we fought this giant extended wars. which frankly is the defining nature of the relationship between us civilians and the troops and military families who have suffered through our generation s wars over these past 13 years. for the first time in u.s. history, they ve really fought those wars alone without the rest of the country kicking in. there was no mobilization of the population to sign up and fight those wars the way there was for earlier wars. there was no draft. we kept the military the same size it had been overall, we just expected the people in it to do one, t
being spent on the military by the end of world war ii. but of course when world war ii was over, the size of the force shrunk back down again. but look at this. look at this chart about the size of the military over time. on this, we marked the various war eras here. see what was going on over time. look at what happens at the end of our wars over the last 70 years or so. this is kind of like looking at the symptoms chart of a patient who s getting inoculated over time because of repeated exposure to the same bug. just don t get the same reaction they used to. sort of getting used to this war phenomenon. early on there s these big spikes in the size of the force when wars start and big drop-offs thereafter. as time goes on, the drawdown after each war gets less and less dramatic. the baseline peacetime number just sort of stays where it is. and eventually by the time we get to the war that we re still in right now, they don t really build up the overall size of the force all that much
the end of world war ii. but of course when world war ii was over, the size of the force shrunk back down again. but look at this. look at this chart about the size of the military over time. on this, we marked the various war eras here. see what was going on over time. look at what happens at the end of our wars over the last 70 years or so. this is kind of like looking at the symptoms chart of a patient who s getting inoculated over time because of repeated exposure to the same bug. just don t get the same reaction they used to. sort of getting used to this war phenomenon. early on there s these big spikes in the size of the force when wars start and big drop-offs thereafter. as time goes on, the drawdown after each war gets less and less dramatic. the baseline peacetime number just sort of stays where it is. and eventually by the time we get to the war that we re still in right now, they don t really build up the overall size of the force all that much to fight these big, long new w