[GZG] Troop potential

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ay,
 
John's little comment the other day did raise some interesting GZGverse
questions for me. 
 
1) Of those smaller nations that John pointed to as punching above their
weight all/most have compulsory military service (which Canada and
Australia don't*). I don't know whether this conscript troops are being
sent to the middle east or not (though my guess would be not), but does
the very fact they exist backfill holes at home that 100% volunteer
forces would find it difficult to fill. I know that between Iraq,
Afghanistan, Timor and our other Pacific postings Australia now has as
many troops on rotation as it has had at any point since WWII (recently
had the biggest returning soldier march since WWII) and that is
stretching the army very tightly.
 
2) This brings me round to point 2 of interesting implications for
GZGverse background. What are the efficiencies of scale that you see
once you reach a US (and presumably) UK troop size.
 
* Just for future reference - or maybe as  a plot fiction point for the
NAC - its not exactly a tension free event to mix up members of the
Commonwealth, because like siblings we see greater differences between
us than outsiders would... Canada for instance isn't an ANZAC member,
whinging or otherwise.
 
Cheers
 
Beth