Duke you state "We are not a middle power." I am not sure if you are implying we are bigger or smaller.

I suppose "middle power" depends on how you measure it. Canada has 166k active military personnel similar to Spain (135k), Italy (176k), France (222k), Britain (169k). The US has 1.5m. That sounds like a middle power to me.

There are other measures of military capability of course but I would contend that aside from nuclear arms our personal are pound-for-pound as good as other NATO ally troops and superior to other nations that rely on sheer numbers.