how many people make up the US armed forces including all branches of the armed forces?

Question

and how many people are in the Chinese armed forces? and which country in the world has the largest armed forces?

Answer 1

I'm not sure of the U.S. count, but the last time I looked, the U.S. was something like third-largest in numbers. Just under a million, standing.

China? their *peace-time* force level is more than the U.S. had at the peak of World War II. (8 million)

So much for numbers.

As to quality, I'd have to give the Germans the nod, after having both umpired and participated in several Reforger Exercises. (The Krauts haven't lost a damned thing since the days of Rommel)

Their size is a discount, though. However, what they have is top-notch. (since they still have a mandatory service draft, they can ramp up, and quickly.)

China's quality? Well, look at the (civilian) products they sell the US.

Will it always be that way? No, already they are showing improvement. Yes, they are currently reverse-engineering everything they buy (from us, from the Russians, from whoever). Upgrading their military, both air and naval as well as ground forces, is a big priority for them.

They don't currently have a solid blue-water Navy, but they are working on it. Same thing for their air forces.

The best estimates I have seen place them on at least a qualitative parity with the US somewhere between 2015 and 2020, all things being equal.

Things are never equal -- What's Japan doing? Thailand? Vietnam? Russia? (Ivan and Chou are friends in name only).

Still, 8 million of anything -- with automatic weapons or bolt-actions, on foot or mechanized, is still 8 million. Plus, because they could easily mobilize four times that many --

Push come to shove, We'll need to GNE.

GNE?

Go Nuclear, Early.

wsulliva

Answer 2

1.4 million

Who cares! The Chinese are not going to go after the best customer they have. The Banks there buy our treasury notes to invest the savings of their working class as we are more stable.
Like the US they operate at a deficit. Things like subsidizing the cost of energy takes a chunk out of the budget.
If there is a problem the military would be needed in China to suppress the riots.
Money from the US sent by Chinese here is just as important to them as it is to Mexico, VietNam and other countries.
Nothing to worry about! They have no way to move their Forces, small Navy, no carriers, 3 airborne refueling tankers. They have NO range!

Answer 3

Not sure, but I wouldn't worry about comparing numbers with the likes of the Chinese. The differences in tactics, training, and equipment make the two forces incomparable. N. Korean has one of the larges forces on the planet and they would be nearly worthless in combat right now.