The older US pattern kept a small peacetime army, expanded rapidly for war, and then disarmed heavily afterward. The Korean War forced a re-evaluation of that cycle. This separates America's demonstrated ability to mobilise from a decision to maintain greater strength between wars. The watch point helps explain why the early Cold War altered force structure in a way the immediate aftermath of the Second World War had not.
Notable Point · 34:09-34:21
How Korea broke the older US mobilisation cycle
A compact aside identifies Korea, rather than victory in the Second World War alone, as the break in an older American cycle of a small peacetime army, emergency expansion, and rapid demobilisation.