The sad truth is Rob you cant make Army any smaller our Combat strength is way below peace time manning requirements, if you combine both Regular Infantry Battalions you would just scrape one Unit of 800 men & women with absolutely no ability to form a second rotation if another East Timor style intervention occured in our area of responsibility.
Riflemen are easy to train, Section 2ic, Section Commanders, Platoon Sergeants, CQMS, WO2, Lt, Captains, and Majors are not they require time, mentoring, internal exercising, TEWTs, School of Infantry Command Courses, Command Schools, overseas exercises all while trying to rebuild our Core Infantry skills that were degraded to the point of disappearing.
Lastly if our Infantry Battalions are struggling it has a direct impact on our only tier 1 unit NZSAS where the majority of troopers are recruited from but as this is a RNZN thread I will leave it at that. Time to pay the bill by our Government and fund a proper NZDF fully with the tools, manpower & support it needs to carry out our Government Policy.