I'll tell you what speakes volumes about a standing army, the federalist papers and the debates, letters and opinions of the framers of the constitution.

It was determined that standing armies in the absence of a declared war pose a significant threat to the liberties of the citizen. It's hard to imagine now (if all you know is a smattering of American history), but this was (and in many parts of the world still is) of grave concern to a group of true patriots and freedom fighters/givers in the late 18th century. People who had learned far more world history (and lived it) than any two people on these boards combined.

It's the same reason military is not allowed to intervene in civilian affairs. You can't possibly understand the ramifications of the constitution unless you learn why it was written. It was designed to protect the free people of these United States from the feudalism and tyranny that has run rampant in nearly every government in the history of the world. Historically, a large standing army with nothing to do tends to find itself turned against it's countrymen by the order of their elites.

A large standing army in times of peace runs CONTRARY TO COMMON SENSE in every historical aspect. Exactly who are you afraid of? We are a heavily armed citizenry, with resources and reasonably well educated. Look at what the Arab countries have done with what little they have to work with... do you really think any foreign army is itching to invade the US? LMAO

Now, for those of you who love to take things to the extreme, I'm not saying there should be no standing military during times of peace, but a greatly reduced one. Keep your intel gathering, keep the air force at decent numbers.