I don't think this is surprising given globalism and the US. The countries got together and kinda said "hey, instead of having a bunch of armies why don't we just have one big army?" Thought being that countries with big militaries want to use them. So where to put that big military? Across an ocean and away from the first world. I mean that's essentially the super powers theory. It is of course a tricky cost benefit problem because the US spends more money on their military than other countries (and needs to to follow this line of reasoning) while other countries can use that money for other social programs. So that's a big cost. But a big benefit (or maybe a cost) is that the military industrial complex is extremely profitable and has helped the US economically. But of course this leads to the US being the neocolonial power. But we also act like the US is the only one in favor of many of the decisions it has made. The US is the biggest (Western) presence in the Middle East but far from the only.

It is a complex topic that for some reason we don't talk about much. I find the theory really interesting because hind sight we haven't had major wars like we did in the past. But clearly this leaves the US wanting to use its military (though that's the basis of the theory in the first place).