The US Army is planning to reduce the size of its force by 40,000 soldiers over the next two years, according to US media reports.
The cost-cutting exercise will also see an additional 17,000 civilian employees cut from the army.
The reported plan would see the US troop level drop to about 450,000 soldiers by the end of 2017.
The US army had about 570,000 troops in 2012 at the height of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The army would have to cut a further 30,000 troops if automatic budget cuts known as sequestration come into effect in October, according to USA Today.
Nearly 10,000 US troops still remain in Afghanistan after plans for a gradual withdrawal were delayed until 2016.
In Iraq, nearly all US troops were withdrawn in 2010 when President Barack Obama ended combat operations.
But there are about 3,500 military personnel there now to help Iraqi forces take on the Islamic State (IS) group.
The planned army staffing levels would be the lowest since 1940, a year before the US entered World War Two, when it employed about 270,000 active-duty soldiers.
A year before the 11 September 2001 attacks, the level was about 480,000.
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Source: BBC