Back in 1940, America's official policy was isolationism. Polls showed that most Americans were against getting involved in another “European War.” Fortunately, FDR knew that war was inevitable and began to take the necessary steps to prepare. Had he waited until the Pearl Harbor attack to begin building up the military (including the necessary industrialization), we might well have lost. As it was, most of 1942 was a holding action until the flow of personnel and equipment changed from a trickle to a torrent.

My parents' generation appears to have been something special. I've read several accounts of men who were devastated by being physically unfit for service (often as a result of poor nutrition during the Great Depression), some to the point of suicide. I've read of underweight men who'd stuff themselves with several pounds of food to meet the minimum weight requirements, a stark contrast with the men of the Vietnam era who starved themselves to fail their physical.

During WWII, the threat was that a totalitarian regime like Nazi Germany would take over the world. During the Cold War, the treat came from the Soviet Union. Starting almost immediately after WWII, my parents' generation also rose to that challenge. Today, the treat is the spread of Islamic radicalism. It's every bit as big a danger as Hitler was and it's far bigger than one organization like Al Quaeda in one location like Afghanistan.

Fortunately, today's military doesn't need anything even remotely approaching the force levels of WWII. Today's weapons and tactics are many times more effective than anything available back then. It does appear they're meeting the current recruitment and retainment goals, at least for now. Quite likely, we need to expand the size of the Army to restore some of the units cut during the 1990s, starting with the Bush 41 administration in 1992. In 1991, we had about 2 million active duty personnel. Today, the figure is about 1.2 million. I suspect the number should be somewhere around 1.4 to 1.6 million, but it takes time to build up forces. We need to get started.