Re: I knew that
Personally, I think that in smaller countries like NZ, they should ditch 90% of the standing military forces and turn them into an engineering/search and rescue/logistics corps. Since that's what they do 95% of the time. Obviously this organisation would be mandated to provide support operations to the actual military if required. Perhaps they'd need small-arms training for deployment to risky zones overseas, but I don't think all staff would need to be "certified" in such a way.
Despite some family urging, I was never interested in joining the military, but if it'd been an engineering corps, I would have joined in a flash.
For the actual remaining military, get them the latest and best gear and training so it's basically like a souped-up SAS team, so they can do anti-terrorism and peacekeeping operations. Because, to be frank, if anyone wanted to invade NZ with all the coastline and 4-5 frigates to "defend" it, they wouldn't have to work very hard.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
