New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) chief of staff Brigadier Tim Keating is in Dunedin this weekend as guest speaker at the city's Armistice Day commemorations.
Yesterday, he said the NZDF had proposed the rationalisation and centralisation of many of the services in the naval volunteer reserve, the territorial force of the New Zealand Army and the air force territorial force, including reshaping and modernising the reserves so they have a more integrated role with regular forces.
He said the challenge with the forces at present was old-style territorials were becoming "less and less relevant" in today's military.
"In days gone by, Otago's territorial forces could be put together at short notice and sent off to war. But that model has become less and less relevant because today's soldiers need to be full-time professionals.
"The equipment they use, the tactics we use - the whole profession requires people to be 100% dedicated.
"You can't put someone who has had one weekend a month of training into combat and expect him to perform and survive in modern-day combat situations."
Brig Keating said the model the NZDF was proposing would use people with skills the defence force did not hold: skills such as engineering, dentistry, medicine, nursing, provincial and town planning.
"That's a significant area where New Zealand territorial forces could add value to the defence force.
"The whole concept of territorial and professional military forces will become blurred. We are not going to be two separate identities.
"There's going to be a fully integrated force across the three services: army, air force and navy."
Dunedin is home to a naval reserve, based at HMNZS Toroa, and the 4th Otago South Battalion group, based at Kensington Army Hall.
Brig Keating did not comment on the configuration of territorial forces in the future or where groups would be based.
However, he did call on more people to join the territorial forces.
The proposal came from a review in which every part of the defence force was analysed to see if it was a cost-effective and efficient use of the tax-payers' dollar.
He said a decision on the future of the territorial forces was expected in May next year.
