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Hey Jan, I love your writing, so keep that in mind . . . It is more than a little difficult to know enough about every armed force on the planet, but you do reasonably well. I'm a little uneasy about the Australian / New Zealand commitments to Korea, particularly in the case of the Kiwis.

First, with the Australians, I still have to make the general comment here that I it troubles me that you are sending sizeable (by Australian standards) forces to Korea and the Middle East, when Indonesia has launched an attack on our north. (To put the size of the forces you are deploying abroad into perspective, Australia maintained a brigade-size deployment in Vietnam and its operation in East Timor was initially, and only initially, a brigade-size force. These are the only times we have sent brigade-size forces overseas since World War 2 - with our contribution to the Korean War peaking at two battalions). I seriously cannot see the Darwin-based 1 Brigade being deployed away from northern Australia when an air campaign is ongoing. Forces would only be deployed outside the immediate AO if it became clear that Indonesia was limiting its activity to air strikes, but then why would they do that? Indonesia's rationale for its actions needs to be explained.

I would think that in light of the unprovoked air strikes, Australia's attention would be squarely on Indonesia. We would be particularly concerned with East Timor - a former Indonesian possession which, of course, shares a land border with Indonesia. A campaign aimed at destabilising the East Timor Government would be expected here. We also be concerned about Australians in Indonesia - particularly in the holiday destination of Bali. There is also the worry that Indonesia shares a land border with Papua New Guinea, the largest recipient of Australian foreign aid. If Indonesia's mission is merely to support the Soviet war effort by keeping Australia occupied in its own backyard then it has the opportunities to do so. If its mission is to take back East Timor, then it also has a serious shot at doing so given our major ally - i.e. the US - would be otherwise occupied. In light of all of this, I could not see two brigade groups deployed offshore - maybe one to Korea, but I would think it would be smaller than your ORBAT.

Secondly, moving on, the ORBAT of 3 Brigade looks ok . . . but we would be most unlikely to send Reservists as a forward element to provide security. A Commando company or one of the infantry battalions is far more likely. Meanwhile, the ORBAT does raise the question of how the Army is structured if it has a 2nd Armoured Regiment (not historical, but hey I like it!).

Thirdly, and finally, on the Kiwis, for similar reasons to my first point, but more importantly due to questions over capability, I seriously doubt the Kiwis would deploy a brigade group anywhere - they haven't done so since World War 2 and would lack the capability to do without some time to prepare for such a deployment. If you look at the Kiwi army website, their reserve battalions are structured in an interesting way. Basically, each is expected to be able to contribute one rifle company with supporting sub-units to a deployment. The idea is that two companies would `round out' the two regular Kiwis battalions - bringing them up to four companies. The remaining four reserve companies would then be formed into a third battalion available for deployment. However, the intention would be that the third battalion would be available for a rotational-type deployment - not an immediate, short-notice one.

Just to be positive in my comments, here's what I would suggest -

Middle East: A Royal Australian Navy (RAN) taskforce, a special forces taskforce (an SAS squadron, a Commando company, and support units giving a total of maybe 300-400 on the ground) and possibly a small Royal Australian Air Force taskforce (with a P-3C Orion detachment). A one-star officer would command Australia's national commitment to the Middle East.
Korea: A RAN/RNZN taskforce escorting its own amphibious ships, carrying the bulk of an ANZAC brigade. The ORBAT of this brigade could be - either the Townsville-based 3 Bde or the Brisbane-based 7 Bde HQ, 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (with two squadrons of ASLAVs and a squadron of Abrams), 1RAR, 6RAR - both with Bushmasters, 1/2RNZIR - with LAVs, 4 Field Artillery (with two Aus and one NZ batteries, and an air defence battery), 5th Aviation Regiment (with a squadron of MRH-90s, a squadron of Tiger ARHs and a detachment of Chinooks) and combat engineer, command support and combat service support regiments. This would be a brigade-size force (6-7500 troops) with integral armour and aviation which could operationally come under a US Marine Expeditionary Force HQ, with a lot of similar equipment in use. Depending on the ongoing campaign against Indonesia, an RAAF/RNZAF contribution to Korea could include at least one fighter squadron, a couple of Wedgetail AEW&Cs, a couple of AAR aicraft, 3-4 P-3Cs, and transport aircraft. The overall force would come under a two-star officer.

This would leave the bulk of the RAAF and the Army home in Australia to reinforce East Timor, deter an attack on PNG and defend Australian territory against low-level incurrsions.