This is what the American people wanted at the time after we won the Cold War and everyone wanted their "peace" dividend.
You need to go further back than Clinton to understand the reduction of troop strength. Attrition started under Bush I and the only reason why it wasn't accelerated during his administration was because of Desert Storm.
This is what the American people wanted at the time after we won the Cold War and everyone wanted their "peace" dividend.
You are correct about the time frame. I would have liked a peace dividend as well as a pull out from the 130 or so countries we now inhabit. A strong military for our defense, most certainly, but without the attached empire troops we now have in 1/3 of the nations in the world. I think we could have had both under my "plan" as opposed to what we have now, namely a decimated military at home and an occupying army's worth of troops overseas too commited to maintaining our presence in other nations to be of effective use in real nation defense situations.