Don’t know about the Navy but the Army’s previous drawdowns occurred in only a few years. After Vietnam, the Army drew down from 1.3 million to 780,000 in 4 years. The drawdowns in the early 90s reduced the Army from 770,000 to 490,000 in a little over 5 years. This was despite a hold on force reductions put in place for the 91 Gulf War.
Democratic Presidents love to slash military forces.
They also like to make sure the officers that remain are loyal to them and not the Constitution.
During the Clinton reign of terror I watched as five different Air Force Majors were promoted and each one of them had "bad paper" in their jackets that should have precluded them from promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. At the same time I saw at least a dozen Majors who I knew to be some of the smartest and finest officers get passed over.
Promoting the bad seeds makes them loyal to the wrong thing. They do not care about the mission and war fighting but for their jobs and paycheck. They know where their bread is buttered and following the Oath of Office is not part of the equation.