Hmmm, these numbers so far are looking a bit embarrassing for us Kiwi’s. Now for the Navy it’s easy to explain; more than half of both of our boats are so small they only need a captain. And for the RNZAF, the three maintenance crew take turns at setting the clock back on the hecilopter (I’m too little to say a big word like flopticopter)

On a slightly more serious note now,

Davidbfpo:
According to figures given to the UK parliament and cited in: http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files...ish_dorman.pdf (Pg.s 15 & 16)

In 2008

Army 1 : 7.1
Navy 1 : 5.1
AirF 1 : 4.4

In 2008 for all three armed services using consolidation of officer ranks to army equivalents, for an all ranks total of 187,100; we have 140 major generals, 350 brigadiers, 1180 colonels, 4070 lieut.colonels, 9600 majors, 11900 captains and 4460 lieut / 2nd lieut. A total of 31,700 officers for 155,300 other ranks.
I was about to state that UK and US are quite similar with the UK army being a nice average between US army and USMC…….until I discovered that the rates that Davidbfpo indicated are not accurate. (I’m a numbers-man more than a words-man. I was checking your link to find the ranks-layout for army only.) You divided the total by the number of officers, instead of the number of ORs by the number of officers. So it should read:

Army 1 : 6.2
Navy 1 : 4.1
RAF 1 : 3.5

In the NZ numbers, officer cadets are included. If we exclude them for the army, the ratio would be 1 : 5.5 (not stating this as a pissing contest, just that, well, I am a numbers-man and sometimes analy so)



Cavguy:
So about 16 officers or so on staff. Five line companies equals another 25-30 or so. (CO CDR, XO, 3-4 PL's) So the low 40's for a BN of officers is standard, and has been for awhile.

You really see staffs growing at BCT levels right now, due to the shift to the BCT of many functions once handled by divisions. You'd be shocked what a BCT has to synchronize on today's battlefield, and it takes a fair number of experienced personnel. BN hasn't grown that much.

Even 82redleg’s brigade numbers show a ratio of around 1 : 11, which is still a far cry from the army average of around 1 : 5/6.
I believe arty (for instance) are a bit higher on their officer ratios, other than that, I think this still applies:

So the 'excess' is to be found where Cavguy and Ken have identified them, above and to the peripherals of the combat units.

Another thing I have noticed, in both UK and NZ army, is the relatively low number of lieutenants. That makes the bottom of the pyramid a lot narrower than I would ever have guessed it.


And for those interested or with nothing better to do (like me at the moment), visit youtube for a NZ army recruitment clip, a NZ army promo (note the reflective safety belt a quarter of the way through) and a NZSAS promo.