Who is going to invade the United States? What would they gain by doing so? Who is going to invade Europe? Who is going to invade Russia? Who is going to invade China? None of these countries or regions have any serious military threats, yet they all have very large military forces. Most if not all call these defense forces, but defense against whom?
North Korea feels or claims that South Korea and the United States are threats to its security. Ironically, any threat to North Korea will be because of its own bellicose behavior.
Pakistan feels threatened by India with some cause. They have had at least three wars since their independence from Great Britain. Pakistan was founded as a religious state, and as such it has a bit of paranoia against the secular state it split from. Ironically, there are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan.
Israel feels threatened by almost all of its neighbors, sometimes with reason, sometimes because of its own actions. It definitely could use more imagination in the carrot department instead of overuse of the stick.
What need does Egypt have for a large army? The large army led to a military dictatorship that, despite the downfall of Hosni Mubarak, still wields a lot of political power.
What need does Libya have for a large army? Despite the antics of Muammar Gaddafi, Europe was content to buy Libyan oil without feeling the need to invade it.
These last two countries show one of the downsides of a military that is larger than any foreseeable threat. Someone in the military decides to overthrow the government, legitimate or not, effective or not.
This is one of the reasons many of the writers of the U. S. Constitution were leery of a standing army. They saw how many of the European countries used standing armies for foreign adventures and control of the people.
Unfortunately, they were overridden and shown to be prescient about foreign adventures and control of the people. Let's see, Cuba, Philippines, Iraq, Panama, Granada, and many, many more. The Army was called out to put down many strikes. General Douglas MacArthur and Colonel Dwight Eisenhower had brought out machine guns to forcefully breakup the unarmed Bonus Army camps in Washington DC. The Bonus Army was made up of unemployed World War I veterans who felt they had been promised a bonus for their service.
