I view it more as a massive junior varsity constituted for different reasons - with an opportunity to cherry pick the very best of the mandatory two year people to supplement the professional cadre. in World War II, the US military fought for less than a year in Holland, Belgium, France, and Germany/ Austria. Adding the Italian campaign only adds 6 to 8 months to that year. We had our smaller professional army doing tour after tour in the Middle East, which was not a good thing for our personnel. Right now we see Ukraine hanging on by a thread because they cannot rotate enough soldiers. Stalin was right about very few things, but he was right that quantity has a quality all its own. While drones and Geo smart munitions have changed the face of modern war, to take an hold territory you need boots on the ground in sufficient numbers to advance/hold once you have Air Superiority. I was number 27 in the Vietnam selective service draft, but was not called up because they were arguing about the shape of the table in peace negotiations. I will absolutely defer to military professionals who have far more insight than I do, but as a non-serving citizen looking at the last 30 years of US military involvement - and the recent Ukraine Russian fight- I feel like we need a bigger military so long as China is acting salty. Could be wrong, I am a known idiot.